I am a 53 year-old life-long nail biter, who has searched high and low for a nail expert who can help me, without success. Everywhere I go, I am treated as a pain, as someone theyd rather not touch if they can avoid it. But you should be seeing me as a major business opportunity!
Nail biters need love, care and understanding. Personally, I dont want a one-off application of nail tips, I want sympathy and understanding (and I dont care whether you use gel, acrylic, or fairy dust, I just want to trust that you know the best solution for me).
Dont just charge nail-biters for one consultation, for one application of tips. We are a long term project. You KNOW that the first appointment is going to last for hours, you know were going to be difficult, you know well be coming back more often than your other easier customers. So expect it, take advantage of it, and charge us accordingly. Establish a special nail-biters programme and charge us up front £500 for ten visits over twelve weeks (nothing less than this time or this cost will have any impact whatsoever). We dont mind that we have to come back every week because were difficult we just want to be loved and cared for. The more you charge, the more I trust you.
Dont tell us to go away and come back once weve grown some nails to make it easier for you (with or without some special potion that you so generously provide). Thats like a hairdresser telling you to go away until youve grown enough hair to make it easier for them to cut. Live with it, handle what we have NOW. Love us NOW, not next week when were easier to love.
Because thats really what this is about. Love us and understand us, now, as we are. You can have no idea how much courage its already taken to get us through your door. Resist the temptation to screw up your nose, wince or suck your teeth when you see our disgusting bitten little stumps. And dont, whatever you do, say Ugh"...even under your breath.
Instead, tell us that were really not that bad, that youve seen far worse,. Tell us that something can always be done, that you are a miracle-worker, that you (and only you) can make us look better and feel better. Give us hope. Please.
Most nail biters hide their hands away, even from themselves. They dont like to read a book in public, to hold the strap on a tube, to hold a glass at a party. So use gentle touch to welcome us. You are holding in your hands the part of our body that makes us most ashamed, most embarrassed and most unloved. Simply holding our fingers, stroking them gently, laying them on a soft pink towel can move us to tears, we are so unused to the care and the touch. Dont treat our fingers like ugly sausages, to be pulled this way and that. Were already embarrassed enough to have to lay them out in full gaze of someone else. Treating us softly is enough to make us want to come back.
And while were talking about embarrassment, never, NEVER, call someone else over to have a look, to discuss my nails, even to talk about options. This is a secret, its between you and me, and I will die of embarrassment if you show my fingers to someone else (even once beautified by you). I already have a difficult enough relationship with my hands, so please dont air my problem in public. I still blush at the memory of one thoughtless manicurist who found that the bed of my thumb nail is so soft that it moves under pressure, and who said loudly Eeewww, thats really weird, come and have a look at this to all her colleagues. I wanted to weep. I never went back, but the shame burns to this day. Remember, were ashamed enough already. Love us and understand us.
Take before, during and after photos. And let US have a copy, dont just keep them for your own website. Email them to us, to give us hope that one day we might kick the habit. This is not a one-off visit, this is a project, and you are the project manager for the entire twelve weeks.
Accept that we will NEVER kick the habit completely. Like an alcoholic, we will always be a recovering nail-biter, never a recovered one. And thats great news for you, because you have a client for life! Remind us, even once we have some semblance of our own nails, that its a long-term habit, and that we need regular care (more than most people). Make us feel special, not freaks.
Make your salon cosy and private so that others cant see our shame. Soft music, gentle lighting cocoon us, dont sit us in the window for all to see. And during the session, instead of talking about your own foul journey into work today, remember that we are a project, a big ball of stress already, we dont need yours adding to our own. Talk instead about how I could reduce my stress levels this coming week, about what specific moods or points of the day are most likely to make me bite my nails, or whats making me want to stop right now? Nail-biting isnt about nails, its about handling stress. So you could extend your business by learning other skills related to stress-management - how about incorporating a hand massage as a reward on the interim visits when you only have to do a couple of repairs or in-fills.?Instead of giving me a little bottle of solar oil to take away, treat it as one of my ten sessions and massage it in for me. Think holistically, not simply "nails".
Above all, dont hand me over to someone else on my next visit. I trust you, and you alone. You earn the right to charge me more, because youre more than a nail technician, youre a nail-biting consultant.
This is not a one-off. You KNOW this is going to be difficult. You also know I will be a long term client if you treat me well. So agree to take me on as project, provided I make some commitments in return. Why not have an agreement that I have to sign, that says I will do my best to reduce my stress levels in the coming weeks, that I promise to use my lovely new nails as jewels not tools, that I will be on time for appointments, that I will do my best not to bite my own nails if and when the tips fall off (which they will, of course). Make me pay up front as an indication of my commitment to the project. Plan in the diary all of the ten visits over the next twelve weeks., in advance. If you promise me in return that, if I stick to these commitments, in twelve weeks Ill have made some progress and will have, if not nails to be proud of, at least nails that Im less ashamed of, I will sign right now. And will happily pay £500 for the program. Up front.
Love us, understand us, and we will become your very best customers.
(I found only one person ever who did most of the above, but she has stopped nail work to have a family. So if you already do all of the above and are within an hours drive of Woking in Surrey, please let me know!)
Nail biters need love, care and understanding. Personally, I dont want a one-off application of nail tips, I want sympathy and understanding (and I dont care whether you use gel, acrylic, or fairy dust, I just want to trust that you know the best solution for me).
Dont just charge nail-biters for one consultation, for one application of tips. We are a long term project. You KNOW that the first appointment is going to last for hours, you know were going to be difficult, you know well be coming back more often than your other easier customers. So expect it, take advantage of it, and charge us accordingly. Establish a special nail-biters programme and charge us up front £500 for ten visits over twelve weeks (nothing less than this time or this cost will have any impact whatsoever). We dont mind that we have to come back every week because were difficult we just want to be loved and cared for. The more you charge, the more I trust you.
Dont tell us to go away and come back once weve grown some nails to make it easier for you (with or without some special potion that you so generously provide). Thats like a hairdresser telling you to go away until youve grown enough hair to make it easier for them to cut. Live with it, handle what we have NOW. Love us NOW, not next week when were easier to love.
Because thats really what this is about. Love us and understand us, now, as we are. You can have no idea how much courage its already taken to get us through your door. Resist the temptation to screw up your nose, wince or suck your teeth when you see our disgusting bitten little stumps. And dont, whatever you do, say Ugh"...even under your breath.
Instead, tell us that were really not that bad, that youve seen far worse,. Tell us that something can always be done, that you are a miracle-worker, that you (and only you) can make us look better and feel better. Give us hope. Please.
Most nail biters hide their hands away, even from themselves. They dont like to read a book in public, to hold the strap on a tube, to hold a glass at a party. So use gentle touch to welcome us. You are holding in your hands the part of our body that makes us most ashamed, most embarrassed and most unloved. Simply holding our fingers, stroking them gently, laying them on a soft pink towel can move us to tears, we are so unused to the care and the touch. Dont treat our fingers like ugly sausages, to be pulled this way and that. Were already embarrassed enough to have to lay them out in full gaze of someone else. Treating us softly is enough to make us want to come back.
And while were talking about embarrassment, never, NEVER, call someone else over to have a look, to discuss my nails, even to talk about options. This is a secret, its between you and me, and I will die of embarrassment if you show my fingers to someone else (even once beautified by you). I already have a difficult enough relationship with my hands, so please dont air my problem in public. I still blush at the memory of one thoughtless manicurist who found that the bed of my thumb nail is so soft that it moves under pressure, and who said loudly Eeewww, thats really weird, come and have a look at this to all her colleagues. I wanted to weep. I never went back, but the shame burns to this day. Remember, were ashamed enough already. Love us and understand us.
Take before, during and after photos. And let US have a copy, dont just keep them for your own website. Email them to us, to give us hope that one day we might kick the habit. This is not a one-off visit, this is a project, and you are the project manager for the entire twelve weeks.
Accept that we will NEVER kick the habit completely. Like an alcoholic, we will always be a recovering nail-biter, never a recovered one. And thats great news for you, because you have a client for life! Remind us, even once we have some semblance of our own nails, that its a long-term habit, and that we need regular care (more than most people). Make us feel special, not freaks.
Make your salon cosy and private so that others cant see our shame. Soft music, gentle lighting cocoon us, dont sit us in the window for all to see. And during the session, instead of talking about your own foul journey into work today, remember that we are a project, a big ball of stress already, we dont need yours adding to our own. Talk instead about how I could reduce my stress levels this coming week, about what specific moods or points of the day are most likely to make me bite my nails, or whats making me want to stop right now? Nail-biting isnt about nails, its about handling stress. So you could extend your business by learning other skills related to stress-management - how about incorporating a hand massage as a reward on the interim visits when you only have to do a couple of repairs or in-fills.?Instead of giving me a little bottle of solar oil to take away, treat it as one of my ten sessions and massage it in for me. Think holistically, not simply "nails".
Above all, dont hand me over to someone else on my next visit. I trust you, and you alone. You earn the right to charge me more, because youre more than a nail technician, youre a nail-biting consultant.
This is not a one-off. You KNOW this is going to be difficult. You also know I will be a long term client if you treat me well. So agree to take me on as project, provided I make some commitments in return. Why not have an agreement that I have to sign, that says I will do my best to reduce my stress levels in the coming weeks, that I promise to use my lovely new nails as jewels not tools, that I will be on time for appointments, that I will do my best not to bite my own nails if and when the tips fall off (which they will, of course). Make me pay up front as an indication of my commitment to the project. Plan in the diary all of the ten visits over the next twelve weeks., in advance. If you promise me in return that, if I stick to these commitments, in twelve weeks Ill have made some progress and will have, if not nails to be proud of, at least nails that Im less ashamed of, I will sign right now. And will happily pay £500 for the program. Up front.
Love us, understand us, and we will become your very best customers.
(I found only one person ever who did most of the above, but she has stopped nail work to have a family. So if you already do all of the above and are within an hours drive of Woking in Surrey, please let me know!)