New clients from other salons

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kerrie

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Life in the salon again after so long is so much fun :D

Alot of my new clients this week have been coming for the first time for infills having had thier sets done elsewhere.

This morning i had a girl come with very thick long fanned nails , as i took her polish off i seen that she had white tips that had grown way past her natural smile lines, she had had the set on for about 4 weeks and had not been back for an infill, she explained that this set was done after her complaint to her last nail tech that she had visible fill lines in all of her nails, she then told me that the nail tech used a pair of clippers and clipped them all off :shock: and put a new set on for her , i was amazed that she had no damage to her nail plate. She was also charged $65 australian for this privilidge :shock:

I suggested to her that i soak her nails off as they were very thick and that i could not do a white infill for her without getting a grey shadow between the white tip and her new smile line, but as she said she didnt have enough money for me to soak them off and apply a new set she asked if i could try and fix them up as she was desperate she was going to a party tomorow.

I said to her i would do my best to reshape them and thin them down and do a pink infill and we could let the white tip grow out and in the meantime she could wear polish over them.

My question is i spent almost 1 hour just filing these very thick nails down to be able to get them into some kind of shape and something decent looking.

Should i be charging extra for this service for infills from other techs? i would never speak bad of another tech to a client, personally i only think that this is badmouthing and trying to make me look good, but i do try and advise them of what kind of service they should expect and look for, but this has been very time consuming for me this week but on the other hand i know that perhaps they might see how i do things differently and keep returning hence getting myself a loyal client, and im afraid if i do charge more i might not get that opportunity.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

thanks again kerrie :)
 
Well you can always advise the client that if she wants nails that look like yours then it will take a bit more of your time and will cost more than a rebalance but maybe not as much as a fullset. Sounds to me like these clients are not 100 % happy or they wouldn't be giving you a try!!

On the other hand, to help to build your reputation in your new situation you are doing the right thing in saying nothing and letting your work speak for itself. I like people who have a long-term approach to things as it shows that you do not have a greedy nature!

Maybe offer this service for the first month or two n the salon for the sake of 'good will' and then call a halt to it if it seems to be getting outof hand and costing you too much ... it's also so BOREING isn't it?
 
Yes my thinking was that my work could speak for itself, i have had a few clients coming from the salons in the larger suburb near ours, there they have alot of ummm cheap 12 table salons to try and describe it nicely :D service is fast and not much english is spoken between the client and the nail tech and not very much communication about taking care of their nails.

I dont exactly have everyone beating down my door as yet :D and maybe my time is an investment in my future as a small business in the beginning, but as you suggest if after a month it becomes the "norm" i might start charging a little extra for my time.

I have also have printed up a little sheet on home maintenance for care of enhancements, all the do's and dont's and i leave it on my table and give one to each of my new clients, even though when i am doing their nails i explain all the do's and dont's i know that its easy to forget once you get home, so i send them home with something they can refer to to help them get the best from thier enhancements and to keep them looking good between infills, and to also help with less breakage and accidents. Im finding alot of clients going wow :shock: i have never been given anything like this or told how to look after my nails, they have just said come back in two weeks and dont open soda cans with your nails :D

Im hoping that good service and a show of caring for my clients might make me stand out from the rest and also good communication.

Kerrie :)
 
Hi ya Kerrie,
:D Oh aint it fab when the Salon buzzes with clients.................
You sound very professional and are building solid foundations for a sound business.
Your foundations being Caring, professional and not being greedy... 8) .....
Clients will love you just for that.......................
Oh yea and your fab nails lol...... 8) ...........
But don't be soft either !!!!!!!! ;) !!!!!!!!!!

Yes I agree with Gigi (as :thumbsup: usual) lol...................
Do this for a short period of time and then maybe incoperate it into the clients service menu.....

But maybe also ask them to come in for a little consultation, cause if by any chance they have :pukeoff: MMA on their nails, you will be filing till Kindom come and times wise would cost you more .................

But also I would say that you can :thumbsup: vouch for your work, but if you are going over other techs work you cant be resonsible for what :huh: lurkes underneath lol................................

Hope this helps,
Love Ruth xxxxxxxxx
 
That was one thing i was wondering about today Ruth, was MMA, how would i be able to tell by looking at a clients nails? i did notice and odd smell when i was filing them, kind of hard to describe it without being impolite on here :D but it was kind of a cat urine smell? if that makes any sence at all :?

Im not really sure if MMA is even used or available here in australia , i do check on my own products and always see EMA so i know that mine are safe, and if i do suspect MMA what should i do about it? should i tell the client that i suspect it? and try and advise them? or say nothing and just suggest a soak off perhaps in the near future if its not possible for them that visit?

Also another thing i have noticed on a few web sites i have been looking around is that some nail techs charge different prices for infills depending on length between infills, ie: 2 week $25 3 week $30 4 week $35 ( just as an example), is that the norm? i know the longer it has been between infills the more work it is, but i know alot of clients wouldnt understand that and its really not the norm around here, but sometimes some nails i see i just want to cry they have left it so long .

Thank you for your encouragement too Ruth :)

Kerrie :)
 
Thats MMA for sure, well as sure as I can be.....................
It's the Cats Pee Odour that gives it away, hard to file, almost like trying to file Plexiglass........................

To test for MMA, just file a little of the nail and sniff lol, a bit like.........
Scratch n' Sniff test ................
I can just see it on the Service Menu, ..........
FOR NEW CLIENTS, PLEASE BOOK IN FOR YOUR FREE SCRATCH N' SNIFF TEST............................

Well love,
I am sure MMA is a vailable all over the world....................
Dentures are aren't they................same acrylic type as that..............
Some greedy people out there, or maybe just uneducataed people out there, still sell the stuff...............
And Worse some Nail Techs still buy it, so if there was no byuers then there would be not takers, and then there would not be an MMA issue..................
Stop me before I ramble to much MMA is my soap box lol ...........
Well it was all the rage yonks ago, when MMA was hailed as the best thing since sliced bread.......................
Well dont scare the hell out of your clients, because ones it's on the nail it's pretty harmeless as far as the Chemical side of it goes...............
Just tell them that you use far supirior products, specially design for the Nail Industry and not a by-product from the Dental industry..............

Well I see that price scaling over gere too..............
I dont use it, but some do................ Hey what ever floats their boat.........
But joking appart, it usualy relates to the time factor...........the longer they leave it , the longer the service will take, but it makes clients come back in the shorter time span, so maybe it's a deterrend too ?????
You can price yourself by the time it takes do do services...........
Break it down to what you are worth an hour and take it from there........
and never discount love ................lol ....................
A little special gift yes.............but never discount............
So maybe you can soften the blow in pricing that way lol............

Any way must dash..........
run out of Milk, Ciggies, Bread and Butter......not relevant but shows I am not that organised lol.......
So speak soon
hope this helps
Love Ruthxxxxxxxx
P.S. You'll be a winner, I can feel it in my resin xxxxxxxx
hope this helps
 
I can just see it on the Service Menu, ..........
FOR NEW CLIENTS, PLEASE BOOK IN FOR YOUR FREE SCRATCH N' SNIFF TEST............................

LOL I remember them T Shirts from the 70's when i was kid :D

Maybe i could retail T Shirts, PASSED THE SCRATCH N' SNIFF TEST!!

lol


Yes her nails were especially difficult to file down so im thinking from the smell and the hardness that MMA was used, but she was soooo pleased when she walked out the door and rebooked her next appt!! She also told me a few of her friends go there as well , so hopefully if i can convert her i might have a chance with her friends.

I'm not sure if MMA is illegal here or if we even have any guidelines, i might do a little investigating even if just to educate myself and any new clients i have coming in with it.

The salon and I are putting a large add in the local news paper next week introducing my services so instead of a discount for new clients i was thinking of a complimentry bottle of cuticle oil for each new client, i buy it in bulk from my supplier and bottle it myself, so the cost to me is very minimal , but also forms good habits for my clients and helps them appreicate thier nails and look after them between visits.

With the pricing i think i might just stick to my regular prices, it was just something i was wondering about, i have a few clients that can go 3 - 4 weeks with no problems no lifting or anything, but then i have other clients that just make the 2 weeks lol, i guess it just comes down to educating my new clients and recommending they come back every 2 weeks.

Thanks alot for the encouragment and advice Ruth :D

Kerrie :)
 
Hi ya Hun,

The Oil thingy brill idea, and not one word of discount lol..........

For MMA info there is the geeksite and the Beauty Tech site too.........
What I did is, put a short MMA info sheet together, just stating a few facts, nothing scary, just mma is for teeth not for nails..............

Like you wouldn't use White nail polish to whiten your teeth , so why use dental Acrylic to enhance your nails lol
Get my point lol , well they do eventually, but it's a long road............

Lots of love Hun
Ohhh yea scratch N' sniff lol it was so much fun
Love Ruth xxxxxx
And must say I admire your confidence and your professionalism {{{{huggs}}}}
 
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