Home Salon - Client Arrivals & security

[Miss Sylk]

Hello! I am setting up my business from home, never done from home before so any tips and hints would be great!

My querie i have right now that i cant seem to get my head around, is when clients arrive. I have always worked in salons where there is either a waiting room, that is secure, or a manned reception. As this is my house im wondering what to do??

* Pre-arrange over phone for them enter the house and sit by door. I will have to trust them in my home (scary) and also pop my head out of treatment room to see who it is, disturbing my treatment :-(

* Ask them on booking to sit in car until i wave them in, bit unprofessional and also they may not all have cars!

* Ask them to wait at the door, what if its raining and freezing?

* Book appointments quite far apart (loosing potential money) :-(

* Offer no extra add ons on the day, as that will carry me over the next clients arrival (if they are early) or close to the next clients appointment time. This is also a loss in earnings, and a not very happy customer who decided she wanted nail gems at last minuite and couldnt have them as my other clientn is waiting in the cold ouitside or could be mooching around my house unsupervised!

I really dont know what to do, can you all tell me what you do and how it works for you, also have you ever had any security breaches in your home? Are you nervous and supervise them whilst they go to the toilet (lol i mean standing nearby the bathroom)

Thanks xx

 

[Ruth Mills]

I see a therapist who works in a home salon for waxing and eye treatments. Her treatment room is at the back of her house; it is a terraced house and the treatment room is in the bit that sticks out of the back of the house, and the door to it opens out onto the back yard rather than the rest of the house.

She always times appointments so that she is there to answer the door when I get there though. Sometimes I wait for a couple of minutes in the treatment room while she fetches a drink, but I have never needed to wait in her house while she deals with another client.

So I am guessing that she must space her appointments out so that there is no risk of overlap.
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[Jen Smith]

I always space my clients out so there is no overlap. Yes I can loose some potential revenue, but I am happy with what I earn and I would rather know a client is not kept waiting or sitting in a private part of my home while I am still working on another client. It works very well for me, my clients and importantly, my family.

 

[Ruth Mills]

Also, my therapist's partner or one of her sons is usually in the house when she's doing treatments in the room at the back of the house.
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[Poshfloss]

Hi Hun,
I allow 30 mins between appointment start and expected finish times. I only allow add on treatments if I have no one else booked in.
I too have worried about home security, so all of my doors have locks on them.
I do sometimes have young girls from a local high school, typical they have to bring a friend with them......drives me mad, but they are not always confident enough to come on their own. :lol:
So to prevent having to leave my treatment room to make a coffee, I keep my Dolce Gusto coffee machine in my room, and some bottled water, so I can still offer drinks. I do this because I have often wondered if I leave the room, will I later find a nail polish or something missing.
I know we should not expect any clients to steal, but I know it did happen to me when I rented rooms over a hair salon. I lost a full box of nail gems, and quite a few polishes.
Also for hand washing after my nail treament I have a very nice bowl for them to wash their hands in, I have a container with warm water in ready for use.
They only need to leave my room to go to the loo, then I always leave the treatment room wedged open, so they cannot pass it without me seeing them.
Good luck with your home salon, you will soon see who is OK and you can trust, it is only the odd few who may try something on, usually they don't come back for more treatments.
Ltsa luv x x :hug: :hug: x x

 

[Miss Sylk]

Thanks guys youve been most helpful. I think id be stupid to let people come in, i guess for the small amount of people who will ask for add ons, its going to be worth it to say "sorry i cant" i think i will try to do the spacing out thing, although i really dont want too loose time and money :-( i see no other option?
my salon is right at the front door and i can put a chair there, but i will not answer door during treatments and disturb my clients time in my salon & as i said id be silly to just trust strangers, cant be bothered counting stock and home items when someone leaves and then what if they pinched anything? dont fancy a confrontation either.

Do you think i should state to people on their first booking to try to arrive as close to the appointment time as possible as my door will be locked if they arrive too early i may be ina treatment? does that sound ok and not too demanding? I might get a bench for them to sit on, although in winter they will freeze! Maybe they will learn then to come as close to the app. time as they can.

Thats a great idea about the drinks in the room! I was just going to nip next door to the kitchen but i think to be safe ill put it all in the salon.

Thanks so much. xxx

 

[Pebbles#1]

I too work from home and security and trust is always a concern. This is coming from someone who has been burgled three times (in the last 20 years), still three times too many, had my purse lifted from my bag when shopping, had a bank card cloned and worse still my daughter was the victim of robbery and assault.....yes, the gang responsible for this were found guilty in Crown Court but the punishment was a slap on the wrist
I have only had products stolen from me once, and it was two 16 year olds who came in for prom` nails. It was only after they had left I realised items were missing. One even had the nerve to want to come back for a rebalance! It is very rare I have two people wanting to come together but unless they are having tans I will only let them arrive at separate times.
I always allow for a bit of extra time when booking appointments.

 

[Jolicatellas]

I work from home and specifically picked this house b/c it offered an office/salon with another room adjacent that is used as a waiting room with sofa, coffee table and mags.

I always allow an extra 1/2 hour longer for services so that I am fully finished and cleaned up in time for the next client. Clients do have to knock on my door and will only walk straight in if I leave the door open for them, and if they rock up early, I see them in and seat them in the waiting room while I finish.

In a sense it's no different to a salon where I'd be pausing to greet some one coming in the door. My clients have never been bothered by any interruptions b/c in fact interruptions are less likely in a home salon. The answering machine is always on during my services and I have my jug of water in the room ready to offer refreshment. As for thefts, I've never had anything happen. I have a bowl of lollies by my nail table and this keeps the ladies (and myself) occupied enough :green: