This is a strange and unprecedented time. The world is changing, our habits are changing, and it's becoming clear that the art of doing business is changing. Because we’ve never been through a pandemic and global business shutdown like this before, a lot of what we find ourselves doing is uncharted territory. While we've never dealt with this specific set of circumstances before, one thing certainly hasn't changed: people still need to be connected to each other - arguably now more than ever.

If you're in that 'in between' of not having an opening date for your salon yet, but want to ramp up your clients for that glorious day, this blog post is for you! If you have an opening date scheduled, but you're not sure what to say to clients about how exactly it will take place, this post is for you, too!

There's no denying that we're in a touch-and-go situation at the moment. The choices you make in your business right now can be the difference between moving forward strong, and having to regain trust and responsiveness from some of your salon clients. My hope is that after reading this, you have a clearer perspective on what those choices should be, and how to meet clients where they're at right now (hint: they have many of the same questions as you do!)

Many businesses have chosen to be relatively silent during the shutdown - perhaps for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing and hurting their bottom line. In reality, it is silence that can end up really hurting your salon and damage client relationships long term.

Right now (middle of May as I’m writing this) is a delicate time filled with questions and anticipation. Millions of people whose roots are 3 inches long have gone for months feeling like a cave troll locked up at home, and they are aching to be beautified. There is a nervous excitement in the air - the anticipation of regaining a sense of normality, the chance to reconnect with your favorite clients and having them reconnect with you - and the opportunity to finally get your hands on all those DIY haircuts that the pandemic has birthed (yikes!)

There are going to be hoards of people looking for appointments. The next few months will likely be incredibly busy for you! And this rush could last several weeks to several months. Communicating efficiently with your clients to make sure that they feel understood and taken care of while you’re figuring everything out will be crucial.

You may feel the need to work extra to accommodate - working longer hours, more days open, burning the midnight oil. And if that’s what you want to do, awesome! That’s your prerogative and is very understandable, given how long you've been shut down and how much catching up there is to do.

The trick is to make sure you communicate to your clients that you have a solid game plan in place before you re-open, while keeping up the excitement and anticipation that they're feeling for opening day. Let's make sure you have all this information at your fingertips and ready to share with your clients.

Tell your clients where you're at, right now!

When do you plan to have clients back in your chair?

Now?
In the next few weeks?
You’re not sure when?

Many salons are in the process of re-opening their doors. If that's not you yet, your clients want to know. They want to be updated on the latest, even if that's just you saying “I don’t know when we’re opening up again, but here’s what we’re doing in the meantime…”

One of my friends who owns a hair salon has opened up online booking for the past few months, and has had to keep pushing the dates back and contacting clients as the government updates her on when they can open back. While this can feel understandably awkward for her, she's doing the right thing - staying in touch, even with temporarily unfortunate news. Her clients appreciate being kept in the loop, and she'll see the benefit of that when she finally gets to open her doors again.

Some salons don’t allow online booking yet, but they are keeping a VIP 'reschedule' list of people who had appointments before shutdown, and people who pre-purchased gift cards with them so they’ll be the first to get an appointment. This works as a great placeholder for a confirmed appointment, and allows clients to breathe a sigh of relief. Their roots will be fixed - they're on the list!

But regardless of whether you have clients banging down your door to get an appointment with you right now, or you’re kind of caught in limbo, you need to communicate with all clients, in every way you can. Even the quiet ones you haven’t heard from in six months will want to know that you're ready when they are. Put those feelers out - you'll get a response, and it will be appreciated.

Speaking of appreciation, now is the time to respect that all of your clients are going through a weird time. If you can be a comforting familiar voice for them, it can only help your business.

Your client relationships might be delicate right now

This is a precarious time for your clients. They’re feeling confused and out-of-sorts. The nicer weather is here, and they’re ready to go out and about a bit more, but there are all sorts of new guidelines about how, where, and when to do it. Your clients want to feel good about heading back into the world. Some of your clients have long-term, close relationships with you, but not all of them do. Some of them are casual clients who might be hanging in the balance of deciding whether to stick with you or try out a new salon.

If you communicate well during this time...

You’ll be showing both long-term clients and casual clients that you care about them
You’ll make them feel special, seen, and understood
You’re keeping them interested in an appointment with you, because they know that you’ll contact them as soon as it's an option!

But if you under-communicate with your clients right now...

Your long term loyal clients could feel snubbed
Casual clients who have only come in a couple of times, or a while back, may have been planning to return after quarantine. But if they have a hard time understanding when you’re accepting appointments, and don’t hear from you, they may choose a different salon.
Some clients may need to know exactly how you plan to deal with the new government health and safety guidelines, and if you're not clear, you could lose them.

There is a certain salon in Ottawa that I started going to about a year ago. I’ve gone several times to get balayage, cut, and styling. I’ve been pretty happy with them overall.

However, I have not received a single communication from them since the shutdown. I didn’t have any appointments booked, and they only contacted clients who already had something on the books.

But what about the rest of us? I didn’t receive a single email or text message. I checked on their website to see about making an appointment for June, and I didn’t see any information except the fact that they’re closed.

It’s like they’ve disappeared. And I know it’s tough for them, I get it. But I’ve been disappointed in how they haven’t shown up for me or communicated about what’s happening. I kind of got the feeling they don’t care that much.

Please don’t let that be the experience that your clients get.

Let's get clear about what you should lay out for your clients, to inform, educate, and encourage them before you see them again.

What all of your “update” communications need to have

It can be really weird to talk about re-opening and appointments if you’re not sure when you’re opening again. But even if you’re not sure about your exact dates, it’s still better to speak than be silent. Light the fire for your clients to come back! It will happen, so give them what they need to hold on til then.

No matter where you are with your journey of re-opening, these are the four things you need to cover in all your COVID-19 communications:

Acknowledge the situation
Be positive
Tell them what they want to know
Give next steps

Acknowledge the situation

Clients are worried because they don’t know what’s happening. One single update that you posted back in March isn’t enough. So every week, or at least every 2 weeks, communicate and acknowledge the situation of what’s happening:

“Hey everyone! We wanted to keep you updated on the COVID-19 situation and how it affects our business. As of this week, we still have not heard from the government when salons and personal service businesses will be able to open back up. So for now, we’ll have to remain closed…"

Be positive

Yes, it’s important to show your heart and tell your clients how you’re feeling. Even a heartfelt post saying that you’re feeling down and discouraged is perfectly fine, and personally, I think it’s important to be real on social media. But you also need to be a beacon of positivity and hope for your clients. So try to put a positive spin on these kinds of communications, too:

“Although it’s tough to stay closed, we know that the government is doing their best to ensure that we can all return to work when it’s safe, respecting everyone’s health. And we’re so excited to start serving you again soon…"

Tell them what they want to know

Many clients will be jumping onto your website and socials, and eagerly opening up emails for word on when they can book soon. So tell them! Obviously the wording for this will change based on what you’re doing for booking right now, and when you’re planning on opening:

“Many clients have been asking about appointments, and when we’ll be opening them back up again. Since we don’t know exactly when our doors will be back open, we’ve paused online booking for the moment. We hope that we’ll be making it available by mid-June. Of course we’ll keep you updated on social and by email as soon as we know more...”

Seeing as this is a sensitive time for the health and safety of your clientele, it is important to include any safeguards and guidelines that the government has stated will need to be in place. There will be new rules about personal care services, and your clients will want to know they will be kept safe, and that their health is of the utmost importance to you. As guidelines are announced, include them in your communications.

Give next steps

And lastly, in each communication you want to give them something to do next, to take proactive steps towards getting back in your chair! Whether that’s a link to your online booking if you offer it, your online shop, or a link to sign up for updates, give them some way to continue communicating with you and supporting you:

“To get updates from us as things continue to change, please sign up for our mailing list here: [link to sign up for your mailing list].

And in the meantime, did you know we’ve got an online shop so you can get haircare products delivered to your door? Here are the special promos we’re offering right now in our beauty shop…”

Post something like this on your Instagram at least every two weeks, and send out regular emails to your client list with updates like this. I know you might feel like you’re over-communicating, but trust me, your clients will appreciate it so much!

Remember that most of your followers miss your posts (usually only 10% of them will see them) and lots of emails get unread or go to spam (although I do prefer email to social media for really important communications). The more updates you give, the more likely it is that your clients will hear you and remember to put your salon on their 'to do' list after lockdown.

But where do you communicate this?

Okay, now that you know what your communications to clients should include during this super-strange time, your next question might be: but where? Where do I share this info with clients?

My answer: everywhere! Anywhere that your clients, followers, or potential clients (who might want to finally come in for an appointment after they’ve been creeping you for months) might connect with you online…put it there!

Also, just keep in mind that this is for “mass communications” to everyone. For clients who have confirmed appointments, you’ll want to call to remind them, send a text, or a one-on-one email. Keep it personal and friendly to ensure they follow through with the appointment and still trust you to make them glow again!

Write a blog post

This is a great place to put all the information about your shutdown and re-opening in one place. You can keep it freshly updated with information and links whenever there’s a change. Create a blog post called “COVID-19 updates at [Salon name]” and put all the information above, plus any links to resources, your booking page, online shop, etc. You can link to this from the homepage of your website (preferably at the top), your Instagram bio, in your emails, and anywhere else.

Post an Update Post on Instagram

Once a week or once every two weeks, I recommend you create a graphic-based post on Instagram with information about what’s going on right now. Here’s an example of a graphic or image based post you might want to share:

The reason I prefer that it’s a graphic with big bold text is that many clients who want to book with you or find out what’s going on will go to your Instagram first. You want to make it easy for them to see which post to click that contains this info.

If you want some templates of what to post for this, be sure to download my freebie below with several images and graphics that you can use for Instagram when giving COVID-19 updates!

Update your Instagram bio

Put a link in your Instagram bio that has all your updates in it - preferably your blog post that has all the information about booking appointments, links to your online store, etc. This is where people will click first, so make it easy to get that info. Don’t just leave your online booking link up there without explaining how it's working. Remember: inform, educate, encourage!

Send out an email to clients who didn’t have appointments

I’m going to assume that you already called or texted your clients who had appointments in order to move them around. Awesome! But what about the rest of your clients? What about people who haven’t visited your salon in six months, but were planning on coming in soon? What about those casual clients who come in twice a year… don’t they deserve to know what’s happening, too?

If you haven’t yet, this is honestly the most important step you can take to communicate with clients right now: send them an email. Even if it’s been a while since you’ve mass emailed your list, there’s never been a better time. Use the template above (The Four Things your communications need to have) and send out a heartfelt update email to them. Include a recent photo of you. Tell them what you’ve been up to in business and life since quarantine. But be sure to also include those four points. Do not skip this!

Reach out and encourage

When things are uncertain and guidelines change by the day, it can be tough to be a good communicator. You’re worried about sounding confused, you don’t know what to say when the future is unclear, and you don’t know how your clients will take the news.

The solution is not to go silent, and to hope clients will figure it out on their own - on the contrary, now is your chance to be an encouraging guide through this confusing time. You owe it to your clients, both your loyal long-term clients, and your casual not-yet-loyal clients, to communicate clearly, efficiently, and often with them. They’ll appreciate your honesty and assertiveness so much more than the “ let's wait and see” approach. If you reach out and talk with them often during this period, they’ll remember how much care and attention you showed during this time. They’ll be more likely to stick with you long term, and refer their friends to your amazing salon!

As mentioned earlier, If you my templates pack of photos and graphics to post on Instagram so you can update your clients on what’s going on, download them below!

Why you need to be 'Extra Connected' with your salon clients right now