Friends and Family .. Grrrrr.

[topcuts]

I am finding it increasingly hard to remain nice and polite when friends and family ask "how are things going" "is the salon doing ok" "its so hard at the moment with a business" "are you still open" etc etc when they are not supporting me by booking in with the salon!

I know we cant expect everyone to come to the salon but seriously, they all know its so hard at the moment and then "pop in" with their new hair do / colour etc or spray tan having been somewhere else because its more convenient etc.

How do you cope when your friends and family dont support you?

My Grandparents live 3 miles away and have never once even come to see either of my salons!

Grrrr.

 

[tigi]

Its a very tricky one but just remember that having family as customers can bring its own raft of challenges too.

Just make sure they know your door is always open to them and focus on YOUR clients.

Dont tell them too much either, just be proffessional and polite and remember that you and they have choices where you all go. Yo ucould offer to hold a family event at one of your salons? or, you could throw a family party at your salon? treat all as prospective customers and hold an open evening maybe?

tigi
xx

 

[Keeley20]

hi i get asked the same questions all the time 'hows it going' 'are you busy'?
I know they are only interested and want the salon to do well but some people are just plain nosey!
I feel like i have to say yeah salons really busy, even though some days its not. Just to shut them up! lol

Im having an open night at end of month to focus on gettin new clients in. Alot of my family and friends are coming...some havent even seen the salon yet(opened in sept) xx

 

[Nails<3]

I get it all of the time. My mum and friends especially.

Since I started shellac last year I have been asking my mum to do her nails, one excuse or another it's always no.She thinks I'm going to ruin her nails Or I offer her a spray tan as she moans she is pale and it's like oh no u will make me orange!! She drives me insane so I don't bother anymore.she has no confidence in my work and talent kind of makes me sad and she is so judgemental of my career choice but that's a whole other thread haha

Also I wanted to do my best friends nails to be told by her that her mum brought her a gel nail kit out of a magazine haha and now she does her and her mums nails. She actually had the cheek to come round my house and ask to use my tips and things. Ermm no!!

Sometimes I would just like a little bit of support. My other friend knows I do spray tans but yet she goes to a another therapist above a flower shop to have hers done and by god it's awful.

You just have to get on with it x x

 

[xkatiex]

I get it all of the time. My mum and friends especially.

Since I started shellac last year I have been asking my mum to do her nails, one excuse or another it's always no.She thinks I'm going to ruin her nails Or I offer her a spray tan as she moans she is pale and it's like oh no u will make me orange!! She drives me insane so I don't bother anymore.she has no confidence in my work and talent kind of makes me sad and she is so judgemental of my career choice but that's a whole other thread haha

Also I wanted to do my best friends nails to be told by her that her mum brought her a gel nail kit out of a magazine haha and now she does her and her mums nails. She actually had the cheek to come round my house and ask to use my tips and things. Ermm no!!

Sometimes I would just like a little bit of support. My other friend knows I do spray tans but yet she goes to a another therapist above a flower shop to have hers done and by god it's awful.

You just have to get on with it x x

Only one of my friends will let me spray tan her! She loves it and says she wishes she could afford one every week. The rest of them won't have one as they don't want to stand in front of me in their underwear (seeing them in a bikini on holiday apparently doesn't count!)

Last weekend I was sat in the sunbed shop with one of my friends (whilst another was on the sunbed) and my friend had the cheek to ask the woman in there about the spray tanning that they offer (one of the automatic booths!) She said she might book in for one....what a slap in the face for me!!!

I sometimes think that some of my friends think I'm doing this for a laugh and that I don't actually have a clue what I'm doing....grrrrrrr!

 

[xkatiex]

sorry to hijack your thread OP!!

 

[MissD]

I have a friend who's hair I don't do but she has no qualms about asking me to trim her hair if her hairdresser isn't around when she needs it done. I normally say no because it is a true slap in the face. But the last time i decided to do it. She afterwards said, oh, you trimmed it nicer than the other girl. I'd bet my life savings she still won't ask me to do it in future. On the flip side though, I have lost friends through them expecting deals and me not charging them lower prices, or have friends who've not been happy with what I've done. But you know what, you can't please everyone all of the time.

 

[Lunarstorm]

To be honest, if I where you, I'd count my blessings that your friends and family do not use your salon. Business and private lives very rarely mix well.

Look at it as they ARE supporting you by staying away, therefore keeping any stress and bad feelings from effecting your relationship with them.

I "forgot" to tell my mum I was now trained as a nail techician until I let it slip one day by mistake. When she started asking about me doing her nails, I told her I would need a doctors letter first due to her medication (morfine being one of many) and her diabetes which has deveolped in the past few years. This may sound mean, but I know my mother and she would find fault with something or call me at 2 am because shes chipped a nail (no really, she would!!). Funnyly enough she dropped it then, as soon as she had to make an effect on her part lol.

I only do one friend and she insists on paying me for at least the cost of my products. I did not want her to pay a penny, as when I was homeless, this friend was the ONLY person to help me in anyway. She let me do my washing at her house, had me and my then 2 yr old around every night for dinner and so I could bath my little guy as there was only a shower at the B&B, which little guy was scared off and the B&B had no way of cooking.

 

[millyspook]

I've just noticed on facebook that even my cousin has liked a competitors facebook page, traitor... she has never been to me for any treatment, despite me offering ridiculously low prices for her. Oh well, her loss, she doesn't know what she is missing.....

 

[Martin Duffy]

I agree that it's not always best to make a client base of friends and family. Also, you have to remember that sometimes family and friends don't feel comfortable going to someone close for a treatment. I personally wouldn't use a friend or family for a service as I like the anonymity of going to a stranger. It can also be especially hard for parents, aunties, grandparents etc to put themselves in a 'client' position when they are used to being the one's in a position of control with the 'therapist'. Just a few thoughts!

 

[topcuts]

Thanks everyone. You have made me feel so much better. I dont even want to do my grandparents hair, I just want them to come and see my salon! My Nan asked me the other day "so its still going then?" as if it was a fad, hello? This is my life!

As for lack of support from friends, well there isnt much more I can really say except stop moaning when I cant afford to come out with you!

I had a friend wanting to trade swap, nails for hair, well obviously foiling hair etc is more expensive than nails so I said she could swap a set of nails and infills for me to do her hair (I would still be the one losing out) and she said no thanks she needs the money more. I have not seen her since, everyone wants something for nothing