Hairdressing and Beauty Services: Improvement Paper Example

The beauty and cosmetics industry is one of the largest service-provider businesses operating in the world. The industry gives people the opportunity to enhance their looks and style their hair. Both men and women demand the services of makeup artists and hairdressers who help maintain the youthful looks and hair (Khan & Tabassum, 2010). This service requires customers to avail themselves to the provider and leave once they are satisfied with the quality of treatment received. Therefore, a service provider in the beauty and cosmetics industry needs to have interpersonal and communication skills so that he or she can professionally relate to both potential and existing clients. Communication allows the client to inform the beautician of the style that he or she needs and expects the service provider to deliver (Chen & Quester, 2015). The responsiveness that a beautician has towards the clients determines the number of return customers. Clients desire to have a reliable service provider who does their work accurately and considers their needs. Some of the problems facing the beauty industry are lack of proper planning and mismanagement of demand by the service providers, as well as poor customer service. Areas that need to be improved in a hairdressing and beauty parlor include coming up with an application that customers can use to book their hair appointments, ensure that a manager hires competent and qualified staffs, and offer discounts on return clients.

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A beauty parlor that takes advantage of the advanced technology can customize an application (Garzaniti, Pearce, & Stanton, 2011). The application can be downloaded by customers that have Smartphones and book their appointment with a beautician. Making reservations would mean that a client secures a space, and he or she has a right to be served by the service provider within the stipulated time. Clients would only need to pay a small amount of money if they cancel their appointment. A client can also estimate the cost of services he or she wants to receive and choose to pay a deposit or pay once he or she has received the full service. In addition, a client will specify the type of service that he or she wants to be done on their hair. The reservation system would allow customers to view time slots on a beautician's schedule that have not been reserved to avoid overbooking. Applying this strategy for demand management would ensure that a service provider accommodates all customers' needs (Khan & Tabassum, 2010). Further, all walk-in clients will have members of staffs that will handle their needs. This will ensure that each customer leaves satisfied with services received at a hairdressers'.

Customer service is one of the core areas that businesses can use to positively affect the flow of clients in an organization (Garzaniti, Pearce, & Stanton, 2011). Customers want to be treated right and get quality services which are equated to the value of their money. Managers of hairdressers and beauty businesses should carefully select staffs that will work at the premises. Staffs should have the necessary training and experience so that they can extend quality services to clients. Employees interact with employees directly (Yeadon-Lee et al., 2011). Therefore, they should have good communication skills that can convince clients to seek services at the premises. Customers must have a pleasant service encounter based on satisfaction received from the hairdressers. The management should train its staffs on ways to handle clients that place unreasonable and unrealistic demands, as well as those that portray inappropriate behavior. Staffs should behave professionally and have emotional maturity that will prevent them from engaging in verbal exchanges with clients that behave unethically.

One of the areas that lead to poor customer experience in the hairdressing and beauty services establishment is when staffs fail to meet the expectations of clients (Wei et al., 2013). A customer makes a reservation with a hairdresser with the expectation that the style or service they want will be fulfilled. It is important for the manager of an establishment to encourage staffs to engage clients to understand what they want. This will allow the member of staff to inform the client is a service is unavailable. It will prevent clients from leaving dissatisfied with a service that was poorly done. It is also unethical for a hairdresser to misrepresent the credentials and qualifications of his or her establishment. A manager that notices a gap in the market will make a decision to fulfil the needs of clients (Chen & Quester, 2015). For instance, if clients keep on asking for particular services from a hairdresser which are unavailable, a manager will hire new staff that can deliver them. Consequently, a hairdresser can hire staffs both on a temporal and permanent basis, based on the demand of skills they possess. Staffs that work on temporal basis will have their services required if there is a high flow of unexpected clients. This will help reduce the waiting time for clients.

Offering price incentives is another strategy for demand management that hairdressers can adopt in their establishments (Chen & Quester, 2015). Price incentives can be extended to loyal customers and those that bring referrals. Loyal customers are those that visit the premises regularly for diverse services. A manager can extend special treatment by giving them free services like a manicure or pedicure once they make reservations to have their hair made. Strong customer relationship management will enable a manager has client details like their birthdays or anniversaries (Wei et al., 2013). During those special days, loyal customers can be given free makeup or have their hair redone at no cost. Clients that come back with their friends will also get a discount for introducing a new customer. The manager can also offer discounts to clients at particular times of the year. For instance, during public holidays, a manager can reduce prices of services offered at the premise to attract clients. However, service providers should strive to maintain the high quality of services offered to customers during this time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, service providers must always be on the lookout for ways in which they can improve customer satisfaction. Competition in a market necessitates an organization to introduce incentives that will attract and retain customers both in the short-term and in the long-term. A hairdresser can have a designer develop an application that will allow customers to book appointments from the comfort of their homes or workplaces using their phones or laptops. Customers that made reservations will have secured the time slot and will only need to avail themselves at the specific time. Staffs affect the success of a business directly. Competent staffs interact with clients. Communication and interactive skills are paramount in the service industry since staffs are expected to initiate conversations with clients to understand what they want, then deliver. Clients are attracted to a premise that allows them to save their cash. Therefore, incentives like offers or discounts will attract customers.

References

Chen, S. C., & Quester, P. G. (2015). The relative contribution of love and trust towards customer loyalty. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 23(1), 13-18.

Garzaniti, I., Pearce, G., & Stanton, J. (2011). Building friendships and relationships: the role of conversation in hairdressing service encounters. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 21(6), 667-687.

Khan, P., & Tabassum, A. (2010). Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction of the Beauty-Care Service Industry in Dhaka: A Study on High-End Women's Parlors.

Wei, J. T., Lee, M. C., Chen, H. K., & Wu, H. H. (2013). Customer relationship management in the hairdressing industry: An application of data mining techniques. Expert Systems with Applications, 40(18), 7513-7518.

Yeadon-Lee, T., Jewson, N., Felstead, A., Fuller, A., & Unwin, L. (2011). Bringing in the customers: Regulation, discretion and customer service narratives in upmarket hair salons. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 6(3), 101-114.