Advice Needed

[SUEM]

Hi, I have worked alone in my salon for 4 years now and have decided to employ another therapist to take over the Saturdays and the Friday evenings. This week she came in to work alongside me for a day to get the feel of things, she did a facial and some waxing. I was impressed at the waxing as she does speed waxing and Holllywoods Brazilians etc and the results were fine.

However i have had a phone call from a client she did saying that the lash and brow tint were fine also the shape of the brows was fine but she seems to have waxed one brow noticebly shorter than the other, she starts next week what do i do! Do i tell her and if so how without knocking her confidence or do i say nothing and put it down to nerves but i cant afford to lose regular clients and i have always prided myself on the care and attention i give to eyebrow waxes, I am in a dilema because she is better qualified than me and has more years experience and everything else she did seemed fine. Any advise would be great.
Thanks
Sue

 

[Hannah1984]

It may have have just been nerves on her first day.

 

[rouge]

I think you have to tell her. If she's got a few years' experience then it won't knock her confidence but it will make her more careful. Also you have to feel you can trust her or there's no point employing her - you'll be nervous every time she does a treatment. Just because she's more qualified doesn't mean she's a better therapist anyway.
This is YOUR business and YOUR reputation that's on the line. If someone is unhappy with a treatment then it will reflect badly on you, not the other therapist, because the client will remember the salon name.
Have you actually seen this woman's eyebrows? If not, maybe it would be an idea to invite her to the salon so you can see it for yourself. It will give you more confidence when you approach the therapist as you will know that it's not just the client's opinion. Does that make sense? I can't think of another way to word it!
Best of luck hun.

 

[gillian w]

You must tell her.She needs to know what you expect of her.If your standards are high she needs to maintain them. Start as you mean to go on. It may seem harsh, but it is your business.All i would do though is have a look myself first to see exactly how bad it is so at least when you approach her you know what you are talking about ,It may be nothing but she needs to know about the complaint ...Firm but fair goes a long way.

 

[littlepinkfairy]

you should tell the therapist what the lady has said, but also you need to get the woman in to have a look at the brows yourself. I'm not saying that she's lying, but she might be exagerating because she wants a reason to stay as your client and not move over to somebody else, especially if you have been doing her treatments for a long time. Also, if they were that bad why not say something to the therapist at the time, instead of walking out into public with discracefully different eyebrows!!!

 

[fats28]

I'd get the woman in so you can see for yourself, one must be shorter than the other for her to say it but whats noticeably? An inch, half an inch, a couple of mm, you need to see before you can say anything. You should definitely tell the therapist, you can't employ someone if you don't feel you can tell them about customer complaints or comments. A professional therapist would want to know if they have done something wrong, I know I would.

 

[chantell simone]

i would say you most definately have to tell the therapist and also ask the client to return so you can see it for yourself

and then take it from there

 

[DaddyWishFish]

I agree, tell her and ask the woman to come in but also it could be first day nerves, give her a chance but be to the point.

 

[SUEM]

Thanks for all of your advice Im going to ring her next week to tell her what has happened Its just how to word it without her getting upset or thinking Im being a bitch to work for before she'seven started!

 

[bombini]

You must tell her.She needs to know what you expect of her.If your standards are high she needs to maintain them. Start as you mean to go on. It may seem harsh, but it is your business.All i would do though is have a look myself first to see exactly how bad it is so at least when you approach her you know what you are talking about ,It may be nothing but she needs to know about the complaint ...Firm but fair goes a long way.

Yep i agree. Get the client in asap so you can have a look.

Another thing to consider is that if this client is one of your regulars she will be used to the way you style her eyebrows not the new therapist. So she may see it differently, if you know what I mean.

Its difficult as you don't want to upset the client or the new therapist. Let us know what happens.

 

[blossom]

I think you have to tell her. If she's got a few years' experience then it won't knock her confidence but it will make her more careful. Also you have to feel you can trust her or there's no point employing her - you'll be nervous every time she does a treatment. Just because she's more qualified doesn't mean she's a better therapist anyway.
This is YOUR business and YOUR reputation that's on the line. If someone is unhappy with a treatment then it will reflect badly on you, not the other therapist, because the client will remember the salon name.
Have you actually seen this woman's eyebrows? If not, maybe it would be an idea to invite her to the salon so you can see it for yourself. It will give you more confidence when you approach the therapist as you will know that it's not just the client's opinion. Does that make sense? I can't think of another way to word it!
Best of luck hun.

I agree, you do have to say something. As she has some experience she should take it well enough. Definitely have a look at the lady too. Good luck. Don't worry too much - it's YOUR business at the end of the day.

 

[bexi]

At my 1st ever job a lady came in for an eyebrow wax - they were very fair and I suggested she came in for an eyebrow tint as well she agreed so i waxed her eyebrows and booked her in for a tint and wax next time!! Anyway i checked constantly with a mirror for her opinon throughout (sorry really bad english) she said at the end she loved them and tipped me. The next day I came in only to be called in my manager - she really layed into me about the fact the woman had complained - she had said i was incompetenat (sp?) and that she only had half an eyebrow left on one side - she said her whole family ridiculed her and that she couldnt go out etc.

During my managers rant I calmly suggested she invited the lady in - we did this and the lady came in 4 days later - eyebrows looking perfect (even if i do say so myself) and she said they had fully grown back!!!! The client was a complete liar who caused alot of problems with my job and complelty knocked my confidence

Anyway the moral of the story is be careful how you approach the employee - as other geeks said definatly get her in - get the therapist to talk to her - get the client to say what she really wanted!

Sorry bout the length hope its helpful!!!

becki x

 

[nikkirocco]

Would be interesting to find out what happened with this one. Did the client come back to show you etc? It might be a good idea to also go through all treatments with this new girl to see how she performs them. She will learn some things from you and you will learn from her. We all have our own ways of doing things and it is a good idea to see exactly how she performs each treatment and vice versa. I have recently started a new job and the owner has shown me how she does things and has watched me too. That way you can be confident letting her loose without worrying and hopefully she will feel happier too knowing whats expected and keeping some consistancy within the salon. I think its very important to communicate any worries etc and let her know that its your job to help her if she has any difficulties. It can be very hard changing jobs. Working with different people, personalities new products, environment and nerves.

 

[Katelisa]

you need to get the client in really to see what she means, the client may just be being picky!!

It may be, that the therapist is TOO confident, and has become complacent with her standards, in which case this also needs to be addressed. You dont want you clients getting anything but 100%!!

When it comes to eyebrows speed isnt everything (dont know how quick she did them obviously! lol). If i need 15 or 20 minutes to get it perfect ill take it!!

 

[SUEM]

The outcome of all of this was, last week i had another brow wax client in, i was telling her about the new therapist starting and it turned out she had been to her before. The client was quite honest and said to me that if she was going to work in the salon she would most definately not be back as it took months and months to grow her eyebrows back after the therapist had ruined them. I then rang some of the clients she had done whilst working with me and all but one expressed some concern, the facial she did said it was ok but therapist talked all the way through!
My mind was made up i havent slogged away for 5 years for my business to go down the pan so i contacted her and let her know that i couldnt take her on and she actually seemed releived. So its back to the drawing board and back to working weekends!

 

[rouge]

Better to work weekends yourself than to be constantly getting complaints. Or, worse still, losing clients. I hope you get someone trustworthy really soon.

 

[Brandywine]

It sounds like you had a lucky excape! I hope it goes well for you in the future.