¶ Setting Boundaries With Clients
responding with people at all different hours of the day and night came out of fear of not having a strong business .
Welcome to the Messy Hairstylist Podcast .
I'm Kelsey Morris and I'm Abbey Warther . Whether you are a mess , literally or figuratively , we are here to help you take imperfect action to find your success as a hairstylist .
Imagine you're out with your friends for , like , a much needed girls night . You're just living your best life . You know where I'm picked right now is this new bar that just opened around here .
It's like a bar rush the country one you know and we had table and my friends and I are having drinks and we're just dancing and then your phone starts blowing up , which happens to us all the time and it's clients and you know you're like , okay , I'm just going to let this go , because I'm off and I'm enjoying a night out with my friends and I'm just
decompressing , and then it's persistent . They're like trying to get in touch with you and we have this overwhelming sense of guilt , Like I need to respond because my business depends on it . Number one , I don't want to lose the interest of my client . Number two , I don't want to be rude and not respond . What do we do in those situations ?
How do we handle that ? And I am so curious about all these people I'm seeing lately on social media , these posts and things like about having set business hours for responding to clients talking to clients , I mean , and I just think that would be a great topic today , Like let's dive deep into that .
Yeah , cause that's a real problem , and we'd all be lying if we hadn't been responding to people when we knew we know we probably shouldn't be . Like this is our sacred time , and or maybe we've had family members or loved ones that are upset with us because we're on our phones responding to clients . I think that's super real .
I know I've been there , I'm sure you have . Yeah , what just stood out to me ?
is maybe we shouldn't be responding to clients . I think that's super real . I know I've been there , I'm sure you have . Yeah , what just stood out to me is maybe we shouldn't be responding to clients .
And I was just laughing at myself because I was thinking in my head you've had like a couple , you're a couple of drinks in and you're like , of course , I'll do your extensions tomorrow at 8am . It sounds like a great idea . You know like no , I shouldn't be responding to this right now .
But the major thing is the time with loved ones , and I think that is where it becomes a real problem for us how to draw that line . And you're right . I have been through situations where you know people are like you're always on your phone , you're always this and you're always that , and I'm like you guys don't understand .
Like you guys have a nine to five job and you can leave your work and you're done with it and walk away from it for the day , but our work is constantly attached to us with the same phone that I'm texting you on , or like the same phone that's , you know , ordering us door dash . That is where it's coming from . So it's a real problem .
It is . It's very real to be able to . Yes , you could be working constantly and getting back to people constantly , but it's so important to not . It's so important to not . And I just know that from my own personal experience because I vividly remember when I now it's all once I've gone independent . When I was with a commission salon , I had the opportunity .
That is the beauty of working for a commission salon is coming to work , finding out what's happening for the day , and then when I left , I didn't have to worry about anything . If someone called , they were calling the front desk and talking to the reception . I'd find out when I came back in the next day . The salon didn't bug me on my days off .
They were really good about that One of the very few things they were good at . That was one of the good things that they were good at . So I know . When I went independent , responding with people at all different hours of the day and night , came out of fear of not having a strong business and trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I'm given .
And then there's also the fear of when a client does text you on non-working hours . I mean , what's your first thing ? That if you see someone's name pop up and you just did their hair ?
Oh , every single time you're like oh , they don't like their hair .
Yeah .
And that's why they're texting me , and so you just look at it real fast and normally I mean it's not always that right . I mean sometimes it is , but normally it's not and it's something else , but then you just get caught into it .
But my other fear this is a genuine fear , because this happens to me all the time is , if I don't respond to it immediately , I'm going to forget about it and it's going to get lost in the text thread .
Yes , I was going to say that Every time I'm like the world's worst texter and I think people don't understand how many messages we have coming in all day long From different places , from different places .
Yes , yeah , so that's one of the things that I really really remember when I the first handful of years that I was in business for myself is I had I did do something really smart and I still recommend this for people is I got something called a Google voice number . Have you heard of that ?
Yeah , I love your like . You're acting like . That's not a normal thing . I got this new thing and it's called a Google voice .
It was new , uh , how many years ago when I started my business .
you know what I mean . I hear what you're saying and I love that I also have a Google voice number .
Like 14 years ago .
Yes , I know , I know , okay , but question about your Google voice number . Yeah , cause when you were saying this it all of a sudden just came to me . I'm like wouldn't it be great if there was a way to like filter out which messages are client messages and which messages are like not client messages ?
So in your , when people message you via your Google voice number , yeah , does it go to like a Google voice box , like a thread ?
or a separate app . Yeah , yeah , there's an app on your phone and it pops up . It's just like a message , like if on your iPhone you have your green bubble messages app .
Yeah .
Right , there's a Google voice I'm showing you right now . Look , let me see it . Google voice .
Click on that thing . Click on that thing .
All of my text messages , oh my gosh . I kind of love that .
Okay , so I was making fun of you about not knowing . Okay , so I have the Google voice , but I don't have the app , because it's like one more app that I'm going to forget to have .
I don't really have Google voice . Okay , come on . No , I do . I just don't have the app . You're not utilizing it all , I'm not utilizing the real tools of it .
But the point is , I guess I could just like put that little app icon , the little icon , down by my text message and then you just go through both . That's kind of amazing .
Yes , ma'am yes .
So here's the thing .
Well , no , let me say this really quick .
Okay , you go .
So yes , it in the prehistoric ages , when Google was new and nobody knew what it was Right have an app and there wasn't text messaging capabilities with it back then . So it was just the phone number that ran into your same phone .
So I didn't use it for many years and I started using it again I so , just to be clear , I use this strictly as my education phone number so students in my program , they can text me on here and call me on here . So what about your clients ?
at the salon , though .
Where do they have a separate ? Now I have a separate cell phone , actually for the salon .
Do you have to carry both cell phones with you ?
No , I leave it there . I treat it like a landline , and so clients can text it . Obviously , they can call it , leave a voicemail , but I treat that as a landline . So when I initially opened everything up , I got a Google voice number and that's the number I use , that people could call me back in the day .
And then eventually , once I had a whole team and all this stuff , I got a secondary cell phone . I transferred that Google voice number over to the cell phone and so that's my salon . So this is a good topic , because I did all the wrong things before and now I have all of the boundaries set up currently .
Yeah , I'm kind of loving this because I'm exploring this idea of a second . Let's talk then . Yeah , See , this is why I wanted to get into this , because I'm exploring this idea of a secondary thing and trying to figure that out .
So what you're saying is this was what I was actually going to ask you and you kind of answered it yourself , but you don't have clients texting you on your phone , on your actual phone your phone , unless they're like , unless they're the VIP of the VIPs of the VIPs . Yes , they do so they text or call other phone the other salon number yes .
That's at work , and then when you get back to work then you respond to it . Yeah , exactly . Now I tell .
I tell clients that , um , so if you need to get ahold of me , if you want to make an appointment and you don't see anything available online , you can either call or text the salon number . Um , but if you really want to get ahold of me , email me .
So I tell them to email the salon email I , because I am only at the salon two days a week and I live 40 minutes away from my salon . So , I've taught my clients like if you really want to speak with me and get something taken care of , email me . So that leaves another little buffer between my phone blowing up , because I did that years ago .
I remember being on vacation in Hilton Head and responding to clients pretending like I wasn't on vacation and booking appointments , changing appointments all of these things for people because I was newer in owning my own business and I also would have people texting me at 10 o'clock at night on a regular day .
I would have people texting me at six in the morning . I would have someone who was unhappy with their hair texting me on a Sunday day . I would have people texting me at six in the morning . I would have someone who was unhappy with their hair texting me on a Sunday , ruining my Sunday with my family . I've done all of those wrong things .
I also then had the problem of people were either calling me , texting me , email me , facebook messaging me , so I would have so many different lines of communications in different ways that it wasn't streamlined . So I felt so overwhelmed . I felt like I had to check all these different avenues to make sure I didn't forget to respond to somebody .
And yeah , I've done all of those things and I always felt like I was failing at my business just because I couldn't communicate properly with people .
I think that is an incredible way to look at it . As you were talking , I'm thinking about my text thread , currently One I would like to say I get about . I must be on like a favorite list for election text messages , because I get about 18 of those a day . No joke , I am not kidding you Knock on wood .
I haven't had like . I have had barely any , and I don't know how I have skirted past the system . I'm living under the radar .
Somehow , because I'm not 18 of them and so I have to like constantly delete
¶ Improving Client Communication Strategies
them out . But then , like , what it does is then it bumps , bumps , bumps . Someone who had responded to me lower , lower , lower . So you're right , I have that . I just got a DM this morning from someone that I'm like okay , I'm working through that . There are so many different avenues .
So then what happens because this is my type of personality is I start to get overwhelmed and then I shut down .
Yeah , and then I completely shut down . I'm like , okay , and you don't respond to anybody , totally Because I don't even know where to start .
I don't even know where to find them . I'm like there was a conversation in my brain . I know it was there , but I can't remember where , who it was with or what place . Yeah , but the thing about your system which is bugging me I think I would get stressed out about that too because of my what , what I would be like the unknown .
This phone over at the salon , that's like an unknown , you know what I mean . Like when I walk , what if I need to access it ?
But I think you can also take that and make it your own .
So , like for me , if I did have a salon phone , I could like bring it home with me and have it here that I could access it if I wanted to , but like at the same time , it's not on my personal line creating this congestion , that I can't find anything .
Yeah , and I think that maybe in the beginning I brought it home with me , but I want that there because of all the style .
you know I've got a salon full of stylists that need that line of communication , because I've taught my stylists to never give out their personal number and some of them do because of their longtime clients , but a lot of times when they get new clients they give out the salon number . So I really encourage them to do that . So I leave it there .
Now we have such a great team that if somebody leaves a voicemail for me or text me , they screenshot it and they send it to me , or you can text message a voicemail to somebody as well , so we're really good at making sure that we relay messages . Is it perfect , are there ? Sometimes people don't get responded to yeah , but it's better .
I say , oh , I just got back into the salon this week and then I respond to them .
So it sounds like you have some good boundaries set up and I'm proud of you for that . And that's one of the things that I'm working on this year , not just because I feel like , oh gee , I don't wanna respond to people or like that . I think my time is more valuable . It's not necessarily that I'm saying that .
It's that it starts to get lost and with all the things that we're juggling all the time , my two-year-old will have my phone and she'll be playing on my phone and someone will text message me and then it just gets bumps , bumped lower and I don't see it , and so it's almost like it's just getting lost .
So that is definitely something I'm working on , and I was going to ask you how you felt about people saying you know these are my office hours , these are the days I'm going to respond , et cetera . You know these are my office hours , these are the days I'm going to respond et cetera .
But it seems like you're very on board with that . Yeah , I am . Now , I don't love the blanket statement on social media , that kind of stuff .
I think we've talked about that before .
I think that maybe that's why I am such a fan of email marketing . So if you were to send an email and say I'm going on vacation and I won't be responding to messages , but for me I just handle it on a case by case basis .
So if somebody does respond , does reach out to me in a way that I could respond and I see it , and it's not when I'm working , I just wait until I'm working to respond . It's our job to show our clients how we communicate with them , right , yeah ?
I think that that's a hard transition for people like myself , who have always just been available all the time . And then now you're going to start to do something new and I can see where myself and others would be like , oh gosh , then my clients are going to be annoyed that now I'm not responding .
But I don't think so . I don't think so . I think that that is the fear . I don't . Your clients respect you , and I think that's what every stylist needs to remind themselves . Your clients respect you , and if they don't , then they then should they be your client , right ? So so maybe you do .
You know , even though I don't love it , I don't think it's terrible . Maybe you do like say I am updating how I communicate with my clients so I can better serve you . Making that about what I was having better service .
Maybe put that post out , maybe put that email out , maybe put that sign on your station and say going forward , I will be doing my salon communications Monday through Friday , whatever it is , and just make it more about . If you don't hear back from me immediately , don't worry . The next business day you will . Yeah , I love that .
And I think that just creates an openness to the situation and awareness . So if you just all of a sudden go rogue and be like now , I'm not responding .
Yeah , oh , for someone like me , but that's what happens . So it's like you're worried about not responding to somebody , but when , when times really get tough and busy , you end up ghosting them anyways .
Right , that's the problem . That's where I'm at , so I With no plan in place None , none plan .
So what's better Agree ?
Agree .
So and then with our clients , I think that when you have this line of communication with them , they're actually going to feel more comfortable reaching out to you . Cause I'm going to just guess , if you were like to pull people , like , do you feel bad when you have to message your stylist ?
I guarantee they feel so bad and they don't want to bug you they don't want to bug you , but if they knew you had like communication office hours , then they'll be like oh okay , it's Monday at 2 pm .
Oh yeah , I can totally message her and they'll feel comfortable with that Absolutely , because I don't know how many times I get a text message from a client who's like I don't want to bother you , I'm so sorry . Or like they have messaged me and then I don't respond , so then they have to follow up and they I don't respond .
So then they have to follow up and they're like I'm so sorry to bug you and bother you again , but blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . I'm like , I'm sorry , I'm the one that didn't respond , you know . So you're right . Like if they knew that there was specific hours .
And even if those hours aren't always consistent , a hundred percent consistent , at least they have a better understanding of what those hours look like . And because my brain is like well , I might not . You know , my work schedule fluctuates , so I always work Monday , wednesday , but I usually pick up a Tuesday , thursday .
So for me it might be hard to like dictate exact hours , but I do love what you said . Either I could bring said salon phone home with me or trust my team to be like hey , if you're in there and the salon phone has a message for one of us , just make sure someone else gets it . Like that's , it's that simple .
So it's a real it's a real great way to simplify what seems like an overwhelming process . You know , these kinds of things overwhelm me . You know this technology stuff that you're good at the Google voicer , you know , can overwhelm me . The Google voicer , but yeah , but when you really just break it down and simplify it , it's not that hard .
No , and one of the other things that you said is you talked about like getting messages on Instagram and things like that . So first thing to that is we have to tell people how to communicate with us . So that's why I say you can either call or text a salon phone or you can email me . Those are the two ways and you will get a response from me .
If you choose to then reach out in a different capacity , I can't guarantee that I'm going to respond to you . Now , there's been times where someone might DM me like especially if it's a new client inquiry or something . I don't always respond to those .
Okay , so that was my next question for you on social media platforms . Do you have there are things that you can set up like responses and different things ? I know you've used that for with like posts and stuff like that .
Is there a way to set something up on a social media for , like , a new client inquiry , so that you can like make sure you get it , or or something that would be like , hey , you know , like automatically message them back to be like to reach out , please ? Send okay , what is that ?
so you can do this on facebook messenger or facebook messaging or instagram messaging . You can have a blanket thing so somebody messages you during certain , an auto response will pop up and it can say you know I'm not near my phone right now , or the salon owners are this and that to better reach me email or call this number . So you can have that .
I don't always love those because they can pop up when it's not when you're having a conversation with somebody like for real . You can also invest just 15 a month in the service called many chat and that's why you can use it for so many different things .
So if somebody like were to um , um , put in a keyword like , you could say , maybe the keywords appointment . If someone dms you like , hey , I want to make an appointment , do you have any appointments available ?
On , an automated message can come up that you have and you can actually put buttons on there and you can say you know , you can have some sort of like generic message saying like I'm not , you know I'm not in the salon right now . Are you looking to book an appointment ? Do you want to change an appointment ?
And you could have different buttons that go to your online booking . You could have a button that goes to your email . You could have you know . It can be that initial and a line of communication to say like I am not here right now , here are some things you could do If not email me here and I will get back to you . So there are ways .
The other thing that you can do with Instagram . So I do allow communication as an educator through my Instagram DMs . Like , I do use that as like a lead generation and stuff like that . So what you can do in your Instagram DMs is you can actually flag conversations to say it's a lead or to just flag it in general .
So if somebody so somebody did do this , they actually this is actually a great share . Right here Over the weekend , someone DM to me about our podcast and I'm going to message her and you can see , but there's a little orange flag right there .
So I saw that this weekend like late at night and here's what she said I'm going to share this because it's so great . She said I just had to message you because your podcast is changing the game for me .
I'm in my second year behind the chair and I own my own suite and I just started implementing email marketing and so many other great things that you are sharing on here and I just can't thank you enough . Isn't that so nice that is so nice I know , so I flagged that and I'm going to message her today .
So you manually flagged it . Yeah , yeah , that's what I have . I've been , I've been flagging things in my DMs too , and that's been very , very helpful .
It is so helpful so that's another system yes .
I love it . Just a small little shift in systems to really help anything we can to organize ourselves .
¶ Utilizing ManyChat for Client Communication
I love the ManyChat Question for ManyChat . Does that work for Facebook too , or is it just Instagram ?
Yeah , manychat works for a lot of different platforms . Currently it does not . I don't think it has anything for TikTok , but it works for so many different platforms . I love it . It's like 15 bucks a month .
Yeah , such a great investment to organize our time a little better . Yeah , so I think the overall context of this is that we don't necessarily believe in blanket terms . I love that you said that we don't necessarily believe in a terms .
I love that you said that we don't necessarily believe in a blanket post that says no longer responding to clients out of my work hours .
However , I think it's okay and actually very appropriate for us to set some boundaries , to not only give us back more time with our families and our friends , but to be more effective in communicating with our clients as far as responding and making sure we're following up with those text messages that might get lost in the thread . So I love this conversation .
I'm so glad we did it . I've got some great ideas and some notes and . I will be implementing it soon .