My thoughts on Cancellation Policies {clients and salon professionals}
I have been a stylist behind the chair for ten years, and have worked in salons for twenty. Beyond being a stylist, I’m also a businesswoman. My field might be creative, but it’s also my living. I am lucky to love what I do, but it’s not charity: it’s work. And as most businesses in service industries do, we have a cancellation policy. The salon business model is pretty cut and dry (excuse the pun): if a client is in the chair, we are performing a service and make money, but if the chair is empty, we lose money. We kindly ask for 24 hours notice if someone needs to reschedule their appointment. If they cancel with less than 24 hours notice, we will try and fill the spot with the clients on our cancellation list. If the spot fills, we won’t charge them, and if not, we do. We charge a flat $100 fee, not the full price of the service. Which, in my opinion, is quite generous considering most services top $200!
Whether for a beauty service, massage, or manicure, salons have cancellation policies. Nowadays, when it’s easy to make (and forget) an online reservation, many restaurants even take a credit card to hold your reservation! Once, years ago, I missed an appointment with my therapist. She called asking where I was, and I had simply forgotten the appointment. In that same phone conversation, she asked: “Would you like to send me a check, or give me your card over the phone?” I can tell you I had complete respect for her policy AND I never made the same mistake again.
I pride myself on treating my clients with the utmost respect, by accommodating their schedules, being flexible and punctual, and giving them the best service I can provide. Because of this, I have grown my clientele to the point where my book stays full, and I have a wait list. I am not sharing this to brag, but to make a further point about what a no-show does to our business: when a client cancels last minute or is a no-show, it’s not just about the one to three hours (the time of a typical appointment) that are lost, but it’s about the people on my waitlist who wanted that spot and now are forced to wait longer, or worse yet, go elsewhere.
And look, we’re all human. Mistakes - and life! - happen. In recognizing this, at Stilisti we have our OWN service cancellation policy: on the rare occasion that we have to cancel a client’s appointment with less than 24 hours notice, our clients are given the option of seeing another stylist OR receiving $100 towards their next service with the stylist that had to cancel. So we give the respect that we expect to get.
Unfortunately, I can’t say that every client I’ve had over the years has had the same respect for our salon’s cancellation policy. Once, a client wrote me a note telling me that she loved me and loved her hair, but after being charged the cancellation fee, she “just couldn’t go to a salon that did that.” I was sad to lose a client, but stand by a policy that respects my work, my time, and my profession. I also had someone tell me, “I wish I could give the $100 to you, not the salon!” My response was to ask: “Where do you think the money is going!?” That policy is in place to protect ME. I am fortunate enough to work for a small business that provides me with health insurance and benefits like a 401K (this is still not the industry standard). A salon could simply not afford to do this if we didn’t enforce these policies. If you want top notch work, education, and professionals, you have to treat us as such. In my ongoing work to elevate the hair and beauty industry in the minds of clients, being respected as a professional is essential.
To the clients that have left due to the cancellation policy: the enforcement of our business policy is not a personal attack. It protects your stylists and ensures they can make a living wage providing great service.
To my fellow salon professionals: it’s common to discuss client service and the great relationships that come along with our industry - but it’s also important to hold to policies and practices that sustain and grow our business.
In the salon industry, the lines between personal and professional can be blurry. Often, stylists will shy away from introducing potentially helpful products to their clients because they don’t want to feel like they are “selling”. When actually, they are doing their job and helping their client care for their hair! On the same token, cancellation and other policies are often not enforced because stylists are afraid of upsetting the client and damaging their relationship. But the relationship should be based on mutual respect. As I like to tell my students when I’m teaching: You can care for someone genuinely and still run your business with authenticity and integrity. These things can co-exist.
