Ep. 158: HOW TO GET MORE REVIEWS FOR YOUR PMU, MICROBLADING OR LASH BEAUTY BUSINESS WITH SHEILA BELLA, SHAY DANIELLE, NATALIE DELAVERDE OF BADGALBROWS AND AMANDA BREUER OF EASTSIDE MICROBLADING AND BEAUTY ANGELS

  

REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS.

     

Can't live with 'em can't live without 'em, you know? Reviews are critical to the success and survival of our beauty businesses. Good reviews let potential clients know that they can trust us, that their brows, lashes, hair, nails, etc., are in safe hands. But bad reviews? Well, they always feel like they can break us.

Here's the thing - we all get bad reviews. We all get them. They're pretty much unavoidable. But they don't have to break us. We don't have to give them that power!

For this episode, I brought on a couple of my favorite kick-butt beauty bosses: Shay Danielle, Natalie Delaverde, and Amanda Breuer, to talk about how to get not only MORE REVIEWS for your beauty business but BETTER reviews for your beauty business. We also have a couple of friends share their experiences with reviews, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Remember, beauty boss, you're never alone! Let's do this.

 

 

Here are the episode highlights:

‣‣  [09:09]  First I want to give two scenarios for us to jump off of for this conversation. We've all been in these kinds of situations when it comes to reviews.

‣‣  [14:42]  Shay kicks off the conversation about how to get better reviews. She shares an automation service that she uses that helps with booking and encouraging reviews.

‣‣  [17:02]  Natalie talks about how to improve your Google reviews.

‣‣  [18:50]  Here Amanda shares how she asks for QUALITY reviews.

‣‣  [23:10]  I want to talk about the importance of personalization and automation.

‣‣  [29:17]  Here we talk about how to handle negative reviews. We all get them.

‣‣  [45:06]  Mary shares an experience she had with a really bad Yelp reviewer.

‣‣  [51:24]  Meghan talks about a client who she thought had a good experience but then turned on her just because she wanted to take her money.

‣‣  [01:00:23]  Here Lili asks a great question about what we think of getting clients to sign waivers to ensure you don't get bad reviews.

‣‣  [01:11:33]  Sidney shares a really great strategy for building up some quality reviews after on person tanks your rating.

‣‣  [01:14:45]  Sometimes clients just aren't good candidates for microblading, whether that be because of their skintone or because of their medical history, and people can be really upset when you have to turn them away.

 

 

 

I WANT MORE REVIEWS ASAP! (Listen Here) 

 

I'm so grateful that these incredible PMU artists joined me for this episode. Make sure to follow them all on Instagram!

Shay Danielle PMU @shaydanielle.pmu

Natalie Delaverde of BadGal Brows @badgal.brows

Amanda Breuer of East Side Microblading @amandabreuerofficial

 

You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!

  

Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast! 

Pretty Rich Bosses

The Elusive Clubhouse UNLOCKED

Beauty Biz Secrets - FREE Facebook Group

Text me! (310) 388-4588

 

---

 

FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES

You can enjoy this podcast by downloading it on iTunes here.
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FOR MY READER BOSS BABES

You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.

Sheila Bella:

Reviews are freaking important, you guys. Online reviews are important. People trust them. You will just get more clients if you have better reviews and more reviews. That's just the way it is. It is an incredible piece of content, but make no mistake. It's still content. The person with the most content wins and this type of content is called social proof. So, today, we're going to chat all about how to get more social proof, how to get more reviews for you and your beauty business.

 

Welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast, where you're totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella, and I built a seven-figure PMU beauty biz and a seven-figure online biz without a degree, without a fancy website, or a sugar daddy. And if you and I hang out on here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it, too. How about that for a side effect of listening to this podcast, because you really can. 

 

 know you think, "I don't know you. I've no idea who you are," but I do. I really, really do because I am you. I was you. And I believe we are all on the same journey together.  My perfect job didn't exist, so I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring me, wanted nothing to do with me. So, I skipped the line and hired myself as CEO, just like you can. So, consider me your secret beauty biz BFF. In case, you need to be reminded on a weekly basis, that power is never just handed to you. You have to take it. Are you ready, beauty boss? Let's jump in.

 

Hey, y'all. What's going on? I got a really, really good one for you guys today. So, this is a live Clubhouse recording with Shay Danielle, with Natalie of BadGal Brows and Amanda Breuer of Eastside Microblading and we all shared our tips and tricks for how to get more reviews. And some of you might be super interested to find out how we handle bad reviews. And Amanda had an incredible story actually of how a bad review actually got her more business and it's about how she handled it. 

 

I can't wait to jump in with you guys on this subject and by the way, if you are not on Clubhouse yet, it is a brand new social media platform that you must get on. It doesn't matter what you do, whether you're in the beauty industry, service industry, online business. It doesn't matter. Clubhouse is changing marketing for the better, in my opinion.

 

And trust me. When I first heard of Clubhouse, I said, "Oh, no! Not another app to keep up with," but honestly, it's very, very low maintenance. And since I've joined Clubhouse, I have booked several clients through Clubhouse and I've gotten more business, but I think that the best part of Clubhouse are the connections that I typically would not be able to make without them. I was able to connect with some people in my industry that I don't know. They're just not on Instagram, but they're people that I've always wanted to connect with. Influential people as well. There's influential people and they're not all on Instagram, you know what I mean? And also, other influential people who are on Instagram I've been able to dive deeper with and it's all through this amazing audio-only app called Clubhouse. You've got to try it. 

 

And I actually have a very low price course that will teach you guys how to use Clubhouse and leverage it for your business. It's called The Elusive Clubhouse Unlocked, and if you are on Clubhouse and you're not using it to help you make more sales, get more students, get more clients, get more business, you must be using it wrong and all you got to do is go to sheilabella.com/clubhouse to get it. It's only $47 and yeah, even if you get a couple of clients, you're not just going to get a couple of clients. You're going to get a lot of clients through using this. It definitely pays for itself. So, go check it out.

And by the way, if you have been enjoying this podcast and have been getting value out of it, if you still haven't left this podcast a five-star review on iTunes, I want to encourage you to do so, because these reviews really help keep the show going. As you know, I do this podcast for free and typically, the topics that I discuss are the topics that you guys tell me to discuss on my Instagram @realsheilabella. So, I love that we are having a two-way conversation. I never just want to be talking at you guys. I want to be creating content with you, for you, through you. 

 

Also, I wanted to invite you to my free Facebook group called Beauty Biz Secrets where I actually go live sometimes and I give you guys the opportunity to be coached by me one-on-one and be put on the hot seat. So, check that out. Beauty Biz Secrets on Facebook. The link is in the show notes description and it's also the link in my bio, @realsheilabella on Instagram. 

 

All right. Without further ado, here's me and my friends hanging out on Clubhouse, but giving some really, really awesome information. The feedback after this Clubhouse room that we got was really, really stellar. So, if reviews have ever been a worry for you, if a bad review has ever kept you up at night, this is the episode for you. Here we go. Happy monslay. 

Amanda Breuer:

Hi.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah.

Sheila Bella:

All right. Hey! Look at this room through of beautiful profile pics.

Shay Danielle:

Oh, wow! We're filling up fast. Hi, Amanda. Hi, Natalie. 

Sheila Bella:

Hey, guys. How's it going?

Natalie Delaverde:

Hey, ladies. How are you all?

Sheila Bella:

Aw! Natalie, what time is it in Leeds? What time is it there?

Shay Danielle:

I was just going to ask that.

Natalie Delaverde:

It's 1:00 a.m., 1:00 a.m.

Sheila Bella:

Oh, my goodness!

Natalie Delaverde:

It's not too late. I've been known to be on this app at 3:00 a.m. before.

Sheila Bella:

Oh, my goodness! Natalie, I love you so much.

Shay Danielle:

She's a night owl. 

Sheila Bella:

Thank you so much for joining us when I asked you to join us today. I said, "It's at 6:00 p.m. Pacific." What time is it? I was afraid to ask, but I'm so glad you made it happen. 

Shay Danielle:

Hey, let's all take a second to ping some friends into the room. This is going to be a really good talk, you guys. Something that's going to benefit your business and we just keep coming up with the best topics, Sheila. Every week I'm more and more excited to get into these rooms.

Sheila Bella:

Aw! You came up with this one. [crosstalk 00:06:56].

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. I did.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah.

Shay Danielle:

Actually, I think it was Blair.

Sheila Bella:

Blair is ... He's a silent genius. 

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. He's helpful sometimes. 

Sheila Bella:

Okay. Awesome! Okay, everybody. Ping your friends. Today, we're going to talk about strategies to increase positive reviews and also tactics to deal with the not so good ones. Also, everyone, please take a second to follow our speakers for today and check them out on Instagram. 

 

So, today we have Amanda from Eastside Microblading and Natalie, aka BadGal Brows. So, we're excited to introduce them to you guys. All right. Guys good?

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. Thank you guys for being here.

Amanda Breuer:

Thanks so much for having us. This is going to be an amazing room tonight. 

Sheila Bella:

Yup. I can-

Shay Danielle:

It really is.

Sheila Bella:

Can you feel it? Can you-

Amanda Breuer:

I can feel it.

Sheila Bella:

I can feel it, too. This is going to be a fun, positive room. Let's do this.

Shay Danielle:

I've had a glass of wine so it's going to be extra fun. 

Sheila Bella:

Oh, man. I miss those. I can't right now. I'm half way there. I'm half way.

Shay Danielle:

Half way!

Sheila Bella:

Almost half way.

Shay Danielle:

Baby on board.

Sheila Bella:

17, oh, 18 weeks. I'm 18 weeks. I'm almost half way. Almost!

Shay Danielle:

Wow! 

Sheila Bella:

That's going to be the first thing I grab is my Pinot.

Shay Danielle:

Pinot or Botox?

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Pinot and Botox. I miss those days. Okay. Hey, you guys. Welcome to PMU talk. Like I said, today we are going to chat all about how to increase your positive reviews. So, we're going to uncover the truth about reviews and their importance. 

 

So, if you're wondering if reviews actually matter in the buying decisions of your potential clients, this talk is for you because we're going to talk about different schools of thought and we're going to talk about tactics for how to increase positive reviews and how to deal with not-so-good ones. Like I said, we've all been there. All the scenarios. 

 

So, let me go through the different scenarios. I've two. Scenario one, casually perusing the internet and you come across your competitor's Yelp or Google page and you realize that they have 10 times more positive reviews than you do and you start to panic, wondering, "What am I doing wrong? Why does this person have so many more reviews? They're in the same town. Why do they have more reviews?" What are you doing wrong? We've all been there. 

 

Scenario two, this one's the worst. A client that you thought was a happy customer unexpectedly leaves a bad review on Yelp and the review is detailed. And it's full of inaccurate accusations that, to your honest recollection, never happened. This leaves you sad, confused, angry. But most of all, it's kind of embarrassing. It's because the review is there forever for the entire world to see and you know how hard you work to give your clients an amazing service. 

 

So, why didn't she tell you she was unhappy so you could have remedied the situation right then and there? Who's been there? 

Shay Danielle:

I think we've all been there, for sure, and I can't wait to hear more about what these girls have to say about reviews. So, before we get into it, Amanda, do you want to go ahead and just introduce yourself to the group real quick and we'll do a quick introduction and then we'll get into the juicy stuff.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Go for it.

Amanda Breuer:

Sure. Well, thanks for having me on. First of all, I just want to say how incredible it is being here with Shay and with Sheila, absolute pioneers, just doing amazing things in our industry and I know that if you're on this, if you're listening right now, it's because they are offering so much free value for you today. 

 

So, my name's Amanda Breuer and I'm based out of Bellevue, Washington in the Seattle area and now the Scottsdale, Arizona market. So, we're building a second location here. So, we do all cosmetic tattooing. We have a live and an online academy. So, I'm a grand master training for Beauty Angels Academy in the US and we do microblading, powder, and removal, and it's just, it's so cool being able to support other artists and people that are looking to be new in this industry and to learn and to grow, because I think this is one of the best groups you can be in is right here on this recording right now. 

Sheila Bella:

Love it. Guys, go follow her, eastsidemicroblading⁣ on Instagram. Thank you so much, Amanda. Natalie, go ahead and introduce yourself and show us your lovely accent.

Natalie Delaverde:

Hey, everyone. Thank you so much to Shay and Sheila for inviting me. It's an honor to be on the stage with you. And you, Amanda, as well. Thank you so much. I am amongst good company. So, I'm Natalie. I'm the owner of BadGal Brows and I am based in Leeds in the UK. I have a brow salon and academy where I do training in all things brow, so brow lamination, henna brows, definition brows, and also ombré brows microblading. I'm just about to launch my first online course, so I'm a bit nervous about that, but I also have had to pivot my business because, in the UK, we've been in lockdown on and off now for almost a year as probably most of the world. So, I've now started to do beauty business coaching, which is going really well and thoroughly enjoying it.

 

So, that's me, and yeah, it's just an honor and a pleasure to be here at Clubhouse. I'm often, well, Clubhouse junkie because I am awake late at night and that's where I'm making all my connections, especially with people on the other side of the world. So, yeah. It's a great app and it's a great opportunity for them and community and that is exactly what I'm ... Thank you. 

Shay Danielle:

Thanks for being here, Natalie. I sure hope you sleep in in the mornings.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. I hope so, too. I don't know if I can manage. I've realized that my body needs a minimum of seven hours of sleep and I could get away with six and a half, and so I actually think sleep is a waste of time because, I don't know, I'm crazy. So, I just get the bare minimum and then go. So, I really like getting up early. 

 

Okay, you guys. So, onto our topic. Guys, listen. Reviews are everywhere and people read them. So, a lot of consumers generally know that a review online can also be embellished, but they still matter because they present the worst-case scenario. Now, when I look at a review, I'm like, "Oh, that's the worst-case scenario," but they also help me validate my purchasing decision. So, and it's no secret that great reviews also give you a lot more exposure online and if you guys didn't already know, they improve things like SEO, which stands for search engine optimization and brand awareness. 

 

So, how do you get more positive reviews? Let's go ahead and take turns answering those questions. Who wants to go first?

Shay Danielle:

I'll go first. I will admit, I'm honest with you guys. Reviews have been on the back burner for me. It's something that I don't think a lot about, but I should. I should definitely consider thinking about it more, but because I've been in the industry for so long, they just roll in organically, which is lovely.

 

But when you're starting out, it doesn't always come in organically as quickly as you want it to. So, for me, I use a booking software. It's called Timely. That's the one I use but there's so many good booking apps out there and softwares that you can connect to your business for online bookings. And in that, it has an automation system which is new to the app, which I'm really excited about and you can auto populate text messages to your clients as soon as they are done. 

 

So, for me, I have it set to two hours after their appointment or after they leave the studio. It automatically sends them a text and you can put in whatever you want it to say. And for me, it's just a check-in. It's saying, "Thank you so much for your business. I'm so glad that you chose to come to Shay Danielle Studio and I would love to know what your feedback is, good, bad, and otherwise." And we actually include the link to our Google Review page right there, so it's easily accessible to them. And it does make the world of difference, I will say, if you present it to your clients. They're willing to do it especially when they're on that high of like, "Oh, my god. My brows look so good," and they're feeling hot and sexy and powerful. That's when they want to write a good review. 

 

So, if you really put in the effort during that appointment and you impress them and you take care of them and you treat them like a VIP client, which you should with every single client, even though this is very repetitive to us. We see clients in and out. It kind of becomes a factory in some cases. You're not going to get the good review without the good service, so the good service has to be there. But if you give them the tool to just easily click and rate and post, they'll do it. So, for me, that makes it very easy. And something I don't even have to think about when it's automated.

Sheila Bella:

Love it. Love it. All right. Who's next? I'll go last, so I don't repeat anybody's tip. Go ahead, Natalie.

Natalie Delaverde:

I'm eager to go. I want to talk really about Google reviews. That's kind of what we mostly use in the UK and how easy it is and how it can really benefit your business by improving the SEO. So, I get a lot of hits on my business even though we're closed. That is just because of the SEO with all the Google reviews that I have and you can a great way of getting people to actually leave reviews is just kind of ask them at the appointment and just say, "Hey, I really like it if you leave me a Google review. It's really helpful for small businesses like myself. And if you enjoyed this service, yeah, please go ahead and leave me a review. I'll text you a link for it later." 

 

And then, later on that day, when you finished, you or a staff member can just go ahead and text the link and make it personal, so include their name, so Google provides this link anyway, where it says, "Hey." It says something like, "If you enjoy, please leave me a review." But you can make it even more personal by just including their name and a signature so, "Thanks. Love, Natalie," or "Natalie with a kiss," or something like that and then they really feel like they're connected to you and it's more personalized. And that way, they feel more invested to make that review. So, that would be my tip.

Sheila Bella:

Love it.

Natalie Delaverde:

Or one of my tips. 

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. You got to ask. You got to ask. Amanda, you want to go?

Amanda Breuer:

Sure. Well, I think that we've all had clients where we just have that vibe. Maybe they come in after their touch-up and you just know they're really happy with their service. 

 

And so, what my goal is is not the quantity of reviews but the quality of the review. And so what I ask them is when they're leaving, I'm like, "Hey, did you found me from my online reviews, right?" And every time they go, "Oh, my gosh. I read every single review." I'm like, "Well, it would be so cool if you could help me to help other people find the right brow artist because I know that's how you found me, right?" And they, "Yeah. Yeah, it is." 

 

And so, what I ask is I say, "Well, be super real and authentic and just share about your experience and things that you think they would want to know." And when I ask that way, what happens is I get very detailed reviews and, everyone listening here, would you say that you would be more likely to book with somebody that has a hundred five-star reviews that have five words or 20 five-star reviews that are paragraphs long about their experience?

Sheila Bella:

Oh, yeah! Love it.

Amanda Breuer:

And I go for that 20 review with the five-paragraphs long, because they feel like they already know me walking in my door based on those reviews. And so what I do is I make sure to follow up with those really happy clients I vibed with. If they haven't posted a review within 24 to 48 hours, those are the ones I reach out to. I don't reach out and harass everyone for reviews. I ask those clients that are going to do the paragraph reviews and that's so valuable. So, that's kind of a little tip I wanted to give you guys.

Sheila Bella:

Do you want more clients? Do you want more customers or students for your training? Do you want to build a profitable online beauty business that teaches other people how to do what you do? 

 

I know you know that I'm the host of this program, but what you may not know is that I've built two multiple seven-figure beauty businesses, one, a permanent makeup studio, and the other, a profitable online business. And both of them make six figures a month, and I am on a mission to help every woman I meet do the same thing. 

 

My mentorship program, Pretty Rich Bosses, is pretty incredible. It's my online mentorship program where it's one-on-one and it's also group. It's something that I've built to help beauty entrepreneurs just like you find their way to success so that they can meet their highest potential. And if you're wondering if this is going to work for you, you're wondering, "Is this a scam," don't just take it from me. Listen to these incredible testimonials from real students currently in the program.

PRB Student #1:

I was able to quit my corporate job and I quadrupled my income since then.

PRB Student #2:

Pretty Rich Bosses has taught me how to make more money than I've ever dreamed of in the middle of a pandemic.

PRB Student #3:

I went from homelessness to $88,000.

PRB Student #4:

I was able to sell enough courses in two weeks to make my full six-month program investment back.

PRB Student #5:

Because of Sheila, in my first few weeks, I closed five clients in my coaching program, and I'm not even in microblading.

PRB Student #6:

The honest sales strategies have led to the most bookings I have ever had.

PRB Student #7:

I've got to tell you, last week I made 5K working from home and not even launching my freaking full courses yet.

Sheila Bella:

If you're ready for transformations just like these, go to sheilabella.com/apply and let's set up a complimentary strategy call to see if  Pretty Rich Bosses can help you get the results you know you deserve to. Again, go to sheilabella.com/apply.

 

Man, oh, man! And you know what? That's so true. I would rather go to the person with long, detailed reviews. You know what I would want as a consumer? If I was really happy with a service, I wouldn't even mind if the business owner wrote the fricking review for me because sometimes I'm just so happy but, "Yeah, sure, yeah. I'll pimp you out. I'll say anything because I'm so happy with my service." For me, I put myself in the position of the consumer and the most difficult thing is writing the dang thing, you know what I mean? So, my tip would be to give them ideas on what to say. Give them written ideas on what to say. 

 

Okay. So, I have a tip, too, that might be a little bit unconventional but I liked it. You guys order from Amazon? Everyone here orders from Amazon, right? There's 15 Amazon boxes on my door every single day. I feel like the neighbors are like, "What's going on in there?" 

 

And so, anyway, so, a lot of times, the sellers always email and then they request reviews via email. And it's always a really nice email. It's like, "Oh, hey, Sheila. We hope you enjoyed your purchase and," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I have to admit, even though I'm happy with the product, I don't really write very many reviews for them or I'm not really inspired to write a review, because, I mean, it's kind of like you just get the email automatically that you're kind of like desensitized to it. 

 

But there was one time, I forgot which product it was for. There was one time when I opened the Amazon package, and remember, we get 15 packages a day over here at the [Rouge 00:24:15] household. One time, I opened a package and there was this note and it was handwritten and it said, "Hey, this is Jenny and John," blah, blah, blah. And it was so personal. And I was like, "Whoa. This is handwritten. And they took the time to do it." And then I looked even closer and then I was like, "Wait a second. This isn't handwritten. This is printed." But they were smart enough to print something that appeared handwritten.

 

So, I did a Google search and I found this morning this website called Handwrytten, H-A-N-D-W-R-Y-T-T-E-N, and you can basically choose a card, any card you want and it will do it in your words in ink. It'll even do it, from my understanding, in your handwriting. 

 

So, I believe that whoever this Amazon seller was used a service such as this, but because we're just so desensitized from these automated emails, I thought that was a really cool way to kind of stand out and give it a personal touch. I had not used the service myself, but I plan on testing it out. And so, with that said, I think the concept of reverse personalization, I think will win over automation.

 

But right now, I got to say, most things are automated for my business, but I do do something that is similar to the handwritten note. What I've done and I've had all of my artists do is prerecord a video thanking the client for their visit, asking them how their treatment went. It's just a video on your phone and at the very end, very casually requesting if they could leave a review for us and their honest feedback on Yelp or Google, and then we send them a link. We text them this video as well as this link. Yeah, via text message. 

 

So, that way, each and every customer gets this seemingly personalized video from the artist that worked on them, because when you're seeing a ton of clients every day, if you have the time, if you don't have very many clients, I think you should take the time to send them personally handwritten notes or send them videos. If you're aching for business and you have holes in your calendar. I mean, and your goal is to fill them up, I think being able to send that personalized touch is very effective because, I mean, in our world today, we're just inundated with digital automation. 

 

But then, once in a while, when you get an old school handwritten note or a video like someone's face showing up on your text message, looking into your eyes seemingly, I feel like that kind of disrupts the pattern and gets you to actually move. So, that would be my tip on how to increase reviews. 

Shay Danielle:

That's so freaking genius, Sheila and I know that you do that and that, I just think think it's amazing. And if you're not cool with being in front of a video, you can also do a voice note. That would be another great option, but your clients, they just have such a personal experience with you in the studio. You guys are all artists. You know how personal these appointments can become and you get into deep conversation and you just spilled your guts and they've spilled their guts to you. 

Sheila Bella:

Therapists.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. So, to just send them an automated text. I mean, once you get to the point where you're so busy and automation is pretty much the only option, it's fine. It will do the trick, but when you're hungry, like Sheila said, and you're starting out, try to make it as personal as possible-

Sheila Bella:

... you. 

Natalie Delaverde:

Sheila, I absolutely love that. That is incredible, because the thing is, you only have to film that once, right?

Sheila Bella:

Yeah.

Natalie Delaverde:

So, that is incredible. I'm going to start doing that and I'm going to get my team to do the same.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. It's pretty cool. I did get my team to do that, too, and front desk sends out those videos. By the way, this also works for pre-appointment stuff like their pre-procedural care and then telling them where to park and then also that reminding them of other services that they might want to add at the time of their appointment and it's all in one video. 

Shay Danielle:

You are the Jedi Master in so many things. I'm not even lying. It's such great information. 

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Thanks, you guys. Okay. Next question.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. Let's get into the guts of it. The negative reviews.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. This one's tough. So, yeah. What do you guys do when you get a negative review?

Amanda Breuer:

Well, I'll be really honest. When I was starting out two years ago, there was this one client. I was going in for an urgent jaw surgery and she needed one more touch-up at the beginning of her brows where it didn't hold, just two, three strokes. And I couldn't see her for three weeks. Going into it, obviously a surgery and I had communicated that. 

Sheila Bella:

Oh, my gosh!

Amanda Breuer:

And she demanded, she tried to strong-arm me and say, "If you don't give me a full refund because you can't see me this week, then I'm going to make your life miserable," basically. I was like, "Girl, I am happy to give you a complimentary touch-up for your two, three strokes, but I'm going to an urgent surgery in Florida." 

 

And so, and I told her, I was like, "I'll be back in three weeks and can do your brows." And she was just trying to get money back. And so, of course, I probably should have just refunded her, but what's interesting is she wrote this big, negative review, which half of it was saying nice things and then she was just being crazy, but I wrote a response and I actually Googled how to respond to negative reviews-

Sheila Bella:

Nice!

Amanda Breuer:

... and I studied it. And I was like, "How the heck?" Okay. So, don't make it too long. Don't make it too short. Address things. Be positive. 

 

And so, I literally would Google these and I made a response that was professional and addressed the situation. I communicated that I could've done her free touch-up if she would have waited an additional two weeks. 

 

What's interesting is I have had probably hundreds of clients because of how I handled that review. I've had so many people that came in and they're like, "Oh, I read all of your reviews and I even saw a negative one, but how you dealt and responded with it really won me over." And I was like, "Wow!" 

 

And one thing that I researched, too, that I think is really interesting for you to know is people mentally are more likely to click on a company that does not have all five-star reviews. Say, there's one that takes it 4.9 stars, because we're curious. We want to know why. So, if you see three different companies, of course, they're going to click because they're going to scroll right to that negative review and they're going to read it. 

 

So, I wanted it to be on display as a really professional representation of who I am and how I would handle their situation if they were unhappy, which is extremely rare but that's how the buyer thinks. So, that was a really interesting experience for me that's resulted in a lot of revenue. 

Sheila Bella:

Nice, Amanda. I love it. Yeah. I can tell that's ... I can hear you handling negative review with your professional voice that you're using right now and I'm like, "Yeah. You go. You go, girl."

Shay Danielle:

Get them!

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. That's really awesome.

Shay Danielle:

I think it's so important to handle those negative reviews, like if you don't get them very often, whenever you do get one or two, yeah, to take a step back and take the emotion out of it because our first gut reaction is it tends to be emotional and prideful. So, we have to take some time to breathe and formulate a response that what lives on the internet, what you put out there, it stays there. You can't really remove it. So, you have to be careful with your response and that's so good, Amanda that you took the time to Google it and find out what is the best way to respond to this situation because I agree. When I'm looking at reviews, if it's all five stars, do you know what my mind goes to automatically? It's like bots or fake or how could somebody not have a single negative review and, like Sheila said, we want to look at those worst-case situations before we go into a big purchase or a permanent tattoo on our face. So, good for you.

Amanda Breuer:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). 

Sheila Bella:

Yeah, Amanda. That's awesome. Yeah. I think it's really important to respond when you're no longer as emotional or have someone else do it for you. Maybe it's not the artist. Maybe it's-

Amanda Breuer:

Blair, Blair, Blair.

Sheila Bella:

Because you're like, "I was so nice to her. I even gave her marital advice." 

Amanda Breuer:

Oh, my gosh!

Sheila Bella:

"I even gave her sparkling water in a real glass." We do all these little things and we're like, "I didn't know. I thought we were something. I thought it was real." It's heartbreaking sometimes, you guys. Okay.

Natalie Delaverde:

Here's the thing, yeah? Talking about emotions, this is people do, so people are more likely to leave a negative review than a positive review. This is why we really need to hold our client's hands and tell them that we want them to leave their positive review because if we don't, not just go off and they won't bother, because there's not really that deep emotion involved, but when we tell them how important their review is to our business and that they're more likely to feel that emotion to the business and that connection and leave the review, but here's the thing. If you are so upset with a business and you've got that anger that's built up inside and you really want to rap and rant about it, you go into leave a negative review.

 

But the good thing is people will actually, well, they would rather buy from a business negative reviews that a business that doesn't have any reviews. How funny is that? That's a little bit of research that I did today. So, it's all based on emotions. So, the thing is, if you respond to those negative reviews like what Amanda said, then people will know that you're genuine, you do care, you want to try and make it right. 

 

So, yeah. I had a negative review and it was a fake one, unfortunately, and it said something about, "I know my eyebrows are supposed to be sisters not twins, but mine are distant cousins." You guys go and have a look at it, honestly. Google BadGal Brows and look and found this review. It's actually hilarious and then it goes onto say that, "My boyfriend broke up with me because of my eyebrows." It's just ridiculous.

Sheila Bella:

Stop it. Stop it. 

Natalie Delaverde:

Honestly. It's so fake, it's unbelievable. So, I responded and I just said, "Look. I'm really sorry, but we don't have any record of you actually attending BadGal Brows. Please email me or call me," or whatever I said. "But contact me and I'm more than happy to deal with this." But I responded because I knew that if I didn't look like that's, I'm trying to [inaudible 00:36:21] of you. It was definitely a fake review because I never got any response and I do brow mapping, so there's no way that somebody could have one brow up here and one brow down there. You need to read it, guys. Honestly. It's hilarious, but yeah. Negative-

Sheila Bella:

Post it and tag me. I'll repost it.

Natalie Delaverde:

I'm going to do that right now. 

Sheila Bella:

Wow! 

Shay Danielle:

Isn't that sad that that exists? People will write fake reviews and you don't know who's writing it. It happens. It happened to me once before as well and I responded the same way that you did, Natalie. If you guys have a negative review and you choose not to respond to it, it's not good. You always want to respond one way or the other and whether it's exactly like what you did, Natalie, which is what I did. "I'm so sorry, but I've searched your name in the system. We have absolutely no record. Please contact me. I would love to get to the bottom of this." At least there people who are reading it, they're going to read the response. If they're reading the negative review, they've invested. They want to hear the response. They're going to check it out. 

 

So, very important to always respond to all reviews, not just the negative ones but I go into my Google reviews and I respond to all of the positive ones as well. It's very important to thank your clients and to make those responses personable as well and say, "Thank you so much for coming in. I loved working with you and I can't wait to see how they heal. Keep in touch." Something along those lines. It goes a long way, not for just the reviews but for that personal relationship with your client.

Sheila Bella:

Absolutely. Yeah. Respond to everything. You want to know, too, as the consumer, how does a business handle the heat? Can they stand the heat? It's like a relationship. You're nice to me now but when things get ugly with every relationship, how do you handle that? You want to know. 

 

So, okay. I'll go. So, okay. What do I do when I get a negative review? Yes, I always respond. I always respond professionally and kindly. So, in the beginning of my career, I used to take these reviews so personally, but then the more brows you do, the more people you service, the more confident you are in your skill. And so, if I know that I did something wrong, of course, I'll give you a refund. I'll give you a free touch-up, whatever it might be. 

 

But if I know that somebody is just, sometimes you get clients unfortunately that nothing will make them happy. Nothing will make them happy and you know that it's not you. You know that it's deeper than that. And-

Shay Danielle:

Sorry to interrupt, Sheila.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah.

Shay Danielle:

Do you know how you know that?

Sheila Bella:

How do you know that?

Shay Danielle:

You know that because you click on their reviews that they've left for other places and you can see, you can see that it's not just Sheila. It's like they've left multiple negative reviews on other businesses. So, that's an internal issue for some people. So, I just wanted to chime in on that because I've dug a little bit deeper on a negative review and I found, okay, this person has also written 12 other negative reviews and no positive ones.

Sheila Bella:

I got to say, too, that 80 to 90% of the time, you can kind of feel it when they're in your chair. You already know at the consultation something in your gut gave you a signal that this was not a good idea. This client was not ready for a permanent change. Hello. Yeah. Permanent makeup, it's emotional because it's fricking permanent and it's on your face. 

 

So, yeah. I think the risk for negative reviews is high, especially with the healings process. So, yeah. People tend to panic, especially in the beginning, when they're healing and they don't know what to expect. So, yeah. When I get a negative review, I definitely respond to it professionally, but now I know that not to just rely on reviews. I think the beauty of social media and having your own website is that you control the narrative ultimately. 

 

So, let's say, I'm shopping around for a brow artist. Let's say I'm not a microblade. I'm shopping around for a brow artist and I see that this person has a negative review on Yelp or Google, but then I cross-reference as most of our thinking clients will and I'll probably stalk them on social. And if I see consistent work, a ton of testimonials, some stories that they might do so I know that the work was done recently and I follow them and I see that the work is consistent. That negative review probably won't mean a whole lot to me. 

 

I think social media is more powerful than old Yelp reviews and if you're in a position right now where you're stressing out about a negative review, know that you can take control. You control the narrative ultimately and that's why I'm such a believer in the power of social media. I think it's such an amazing thing we've all been gifted. To be able to tell your story your way and not have to rely on the news or the radio or a movie producer to tell your story accurately. You can just tell it the way you want and be yourself in real time. Not to rely on other people to tell it for you. No, you tell it. Show that you have happy clients on a daily basis. Show that you have consistent work. Let's say they say that your Salon is dirty or your studio's dirty. Give them a behind the scenes of your studio and how neat it looks.

 

So, yeah, that would be my advice. Don't just rely on reviews. Definitely respond to them. Don't think that it's nothing at all, but I think social media is a magical, beautiful thing.

Shay Danielle:

I'd like to share one tip with you guys. If you guys find that there's a negative review, for me, personally, the first thing that I do is I search that client's name and I search their number and I get them on the phone. And I talk to them personally and I try to resolve the situation. And nine times out of 10, they will remove that review if you can solve the issue. 

 

So, try to get them on a phone call if you have their contact information and it is a legit review, a negative review. Try to solve it and turn that negative situation to a positive one however you can. I try to kill them with kindness. I try to level with them, manage their expectations, get them back in your chair if that's what it means, but try and get rid of that review. If we can turn their experience around, if it's manageable and we don't hate them that much that they really just made this up out of the blue, it's really key to try and just talk to them and level with them on a more personal level versus texting. You know texting or email or words when you're reading them, it can be painful how you absorb those words, so getting someone on a phone call, it's key.

Sheila Bella:

FaceTime. FaceTime.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah, FaceTime, even better. 

Sheila Bella:

Oh, that's such good advice. I totally forgot about that. I used to do that all the time. 

 

Hi! How are you doing? Yeah, such good advice, Shay. 

Shay Danielle:

So, let's go ahead and open it up. Let's see if there's any questions, if you guys have any stories that you want to share, how you handle the situation. We'd love to bring you up to the stage and chat with you guys a little bit more. So, don't be shy. Go ahead and raise your hand. You can hit that little hand emoji on the bottom and let's chat a little bit more about this. 

Sheila Bella:

Anybody? There we go. Mary.

Shay Danielle:

Hi, Mary.

Sheila Bella:

Hi, Mary. 

Mary:

How you all doing?

Shay Danielle:

What a good topic tonight.

Amanda Breuer:

We're doing good!

Mary:

So, oh, yeah. I had a client from hell and I'm going to share my story with you. A Yelper. A frivolous Yelper.

Sheila Bella:

A Yelper!

Mary:

A frivolous Yelper. So, this is back in my Tampa office. It's probably about a year before I moved to Colorado. So, I am waiting for my client to get back out there. I always get to work about an hour early. So, my 9:00 client showed up at 8:00 and while I was on the phone writing down messages or whatever before Sofia got there and I didn't lock my door. And she came in, so I kind of just waved at her through the window like, "I'm on the phone. I'll be with you in just a second." Really nice. Smiled at me. Sat down. 

 

And so, I finished up with my phone calls and I walk around the corner and I look at her. She's got this massive cyst on the corner of her eyebrow, like pustule. I could not work without touching it or squeezing it or whatever. So, I looked at her and said, "Oh, my gosh. I'm assuming you read my website. I can't work through a raised cyst and it's clearly in the tail of your brow." She threw a fit. "I hired a baby sitter." Blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, "Well, I'm really sorry. I can't stick my needle in bacteria. I think it's best if we reschedule. I am booked out about nine months right now but I'll squeeze you in in two weeks. I'll stay later, come in early for you, but I think you need to get that area under control."

 

So, she's fine. "Okay. Whatever." Huffed and puffed and I'm, at this point, going, "Oh, my god. What am I doing?" So, she left and I booked her a couple of weeks later. And the night before her appointment, literally at 10:00 at night, don't even check my emails that late at night half the time, she sends me a video the night before. This is now we're going on 13 days from when I saw her last. 

 

So, she's like, "There still might be a problem." And I go, "Oh, I'm so glad you sent the video. You're right. It's still, something's going on and maybe it's an ingrown hair. Maybe it's a little sebaceous cyst. You should go see a dermatologist." And I go, "I'll be more than happy to refund your deposit until you get your skin issue under control. I don't want to have you drive from Clearwater to Tampa and I'm not able to do it." 

 

So, she got all hot. "That's the least you can do is refund my deposit." I'm like, "Gladly. Not a problem." I was always professional on my conversations and emails with her. 

 

So, spring ahead two weeks. I get a blurp to my phone, then I get a Yelp review. By the way, I hate Yelp. Anyways, this is really a book. She wrote a book stating that I would not microblade her, that I was criticizing her skin, that my business phone didn't work. I mean, it was literally four or five paragraphs long, just a bunch of bullshit and lies. And she's using a fake name. I mean, the ones that kind of hide behind the little pseudo-name. She doesn't use her real name. I knew exactly who it was. 

 

So, I rebuttaled in an as-kind-as-I-could fashion. I'm Italian and Irish, so I have a little bit of a temper when it comes to someone being mad at me for not doing something. So, I said, "Well, first of all," I started the paragraph out as, "Well, this is not her real name. If you'd like to know her real name, please private message me." I wasn't going to give her name away. I was going to do a little jab jab at her and I told them the whole entire story. I contacted Yelp. Yelp actually took it down because they called my office.

Sheila Bella:

Oh, wow! 

Mary:

They actually took it down because it was just a mean, malicious ... I'm talking terrible review. I should have screen shot it. And it really upset me like you guys say. It does make you sick and you don't want anybody unhappy but I didn't do anything. I did not touch this woman. 

 

So, Yelp takes it down. She posts another one. So, now they're clearly seeing that she's being malicious at this point. So, they took that one down as well. Then, she goes to Google and leaves me one on Google. The gift that keeps on giving, this crazy-ass woman. 

 

So, I go to her. I went and researched her page and she's a frivolous Yelper. "I couldn't eat at the restaurant because the wall was yellow," and, "I went to a car wash and there was still a crumb on my car seat." I mean, this is how frivolous this woman was. 

 

So, at this point, I knew who she was. She was married to a prominent attorney in Clearwater, Florida. 

Sheila Bella:

Oh, man!

Mary:

Oh, yeah. So, the Italian in me, I was fired up. I emailed him and I said, "I'm really sorry to bother you. Please see attached all these reviews. I want you to see the emails and here's my responses. I don't know what's going on with your wife. I don't know why she's coming at me the way she's coming at me. I could take her money and just do her brows, but I'm not that kind of person. She has something going on. Here's the video she sent me." Blah, blah, blah, blah. 

 

And so, the Google review came down at that point. And so she reached out to me again in an email stating that or no ... Not she. He did. He messaged me back in another email and said that she had flown to New York to get her eyebrows done and hated them. And so, she took it out on me because I refused to do her. She wanted my style of eyebrow. 

 

So, she was making my life a living hell because she got a shit, shit, shit pair of eyebrows. So, by me saying, standing up for myself and rebuttaling and doing it as professional as I possibly could, I was able to get all that stuff taken down and I was back to a five-star rating. But people like that, just oh! And every now and then, I want to be professional but you just have to kind of grow some cojones and to stand up for yourself and I had to.

Shay Danielle:

It's hard sometimes, right? 

Mary:

I was so mad.

Shay Danielle:

It's hard to be professional. Sometimes, it's difficult to take that, the high road. 

Mary:

Yeah. But I was looking out for her best interest and she turned it on me.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. Completely.

Sheila Bella:

You could have taken her money. [crosstalk 00:50:44].

Mary:

Absolutely and cause an infection and the tail wouldn't have stayed. Do you realize what a bullet I dodged, though?

Shay Danielle:

Yeah, totally. 

Sheila Bella:

[crosstalk 00:50:52]. 

Shay Danielle:

Imagine you touched her. Imagine you put ink in her skin. If that's the type of person that she is, you did dodge a bullet.

Mary:

Yes. That's my one and only story and I always say, "Don't ever get Yelp." I just think Yelp's good for restaurants, not for professional services. I really don't. Thanks for letting me share.

Sheila Bella:

Thanks, Mary. Thanks, Mary. Gosh.

Shay Danielle:

[crosstalk 00:51:15]. Yeah.

Sheila Bella:

I mean, I'm sure a lot of people can relate. All right. Next sharer, Meghan.

Shay Danielle:

Hi, Meghan.

Meghan:

Hi ladies. Good evening or morning or wherever you are. Hi. So, I've been on both ends of this. I had one client that I didn't feel good about from the beginning and I'm sure we've all had those. And I was like, "Why am I like this? Why do I not feel good about this client? Just quit being stupid and just take her."

 

So, I took her and she ended up leaving me a bad review. She no-showed her touch-up. I mean, I thought her brows were beautiful. I booked several clients off of her before and afters, and before I could even respond, my clients have went savage and they were just like, "This was not my experience. I booked my appointment based off your brows." 

 

And it turned out she just wanted them for free, which I'm sure all of us have had those. And so in turn, I went to get emsculpting from this other place and I had saw they didn't have many reviews and they had a bad review. And I was like, "Oh, my gosh. It's my turn to go full circle." 

 

And I had asked them. I was like, "I saw you had a bad review on here. I've had great results." And it turned out that that person didn't follow the proper care and there was all these issues. 

 

So, I went and left a really good review and a picture and all this stuff and ended up being able to get that review completely removed for them. So, I guess my point in all of this is that, at the end of the day, your integrity and your work will speak for itself and as long as you approach it with a positive energy, at least for me, it's always worked out to the try and do that for other people and yeah.

Sheila Bella:

Wow! Man! Yeah, you can only control yourself. You cannot control what other people do. And guys, like my mom always says, you cannot fix crazy. Stop trying to fix crazy. So, she always says that but we always put pressure on ourselves to be like, "No. If I can just reach her. If I can just say the right thing and reach her." You can only control yourself. 

Shay Danielle:

I'm guilty of, when we go to a restaurant, this was just a couple months ago, before the restrictions got really bad here, we were eating at Earl's and our server was just so incredible. She was just on point the whole night and we didn't let on but when she would go away, Blair and I would look at each other because we do eat out way more than we should, but we were like, "Wow! She's really, really great."

 

So, when she came back and I think she was serving, I don't know, our main course, I said, "Could you please send over your manager?" She was like, "Of course. Of course." So, she sent over her manager and I kept my eye on her and she went and she looked so nervous, like off to the side. And the manager came over and they're all young. They're these kids that are running these restaurants now and he must have been 24 years old or something. He came over and he's like, "Hello. Is there anything ... What can I help you with?" And I just wanted to let him know how great she was. I don't think enough people do that anymore.

Sheila Bella:

That is so cool, Shay.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. So, I said, "I just wanted to let you know, our server tonight," I think her name was Rachel. I said, "She is so sweet and kind and she has been amazing." And he was so happy and he went over. He was like, "Thank you so much for letting us know. People love her." And he went over and he told her and when she came back, she was like, "I'm not going to lie to you guys. I felt like I was going to pee my pants I was so scared that I offended you or I did something wrong." And I said, "No. We just wanted to share how great you've been." 

 

So, anyways, long story short, they brought us over a complimentary dessert and it was a positive situation for no reason, aside from the fact that she was just doing a good job and sometimes people just need to be recognized and I'm sure it gave her that extra pep in her step for the rest of the night to just keep doing good, you know?

Sheila Bella:

Yeah.

Shay Danielle:

So, take those opportunities because we are in the service industry. So, anytime that you guys have an opportunity to give praise to someone that's doing a good job, even if it's not in permanent makeup. Any situation, it goes so far because we know how much it means to us when we get those really meaningful positive reviews and something as simple as that is asking to speak to the manager for a good reason on occasion. 

Sheila Bella:

Man! I love tipping well. I love being able to tip well. Just like the look on people's faces is, "Wait. What? What? What is this? Why are you giving me a hundred dollars?" I'm like, "You're amazing." So, I love being able to tip well. I think when people villainize success a lot of times or the people who want to acquire money, but I always say, "Like Chris Harder says, 'When good people make good money, they do great things.'" And yeah, I think that's one of the best things you can do is to share, is to share the blessing and pass it on. 

 

Oh, my gosh! That reminds me, Shay, that it was our anniversary dinner a couple of years ago, I think two years ago, and the server on Catalina Island actually even got me a blanket because I was cold and Will asked him to be on his podcast. He was like, "Listen, man." Because my husband's a high school teacher, so he has an educational podcast. He just wants to promote that. And the guy was great. He gave his phone number and everything, but yeah, I think when people feel known, seen, and heard, they feel really good. People like to be acknowledged and to feel like they're doing something good for the world.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. It's so important. Any time we can give back in any way. I'm a massive tipper as well. Sometimes Blair's like, "Really?" I'm like, "Yes, really."

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. I think it's awesome. Okay. [Lili 00:57:52], I believe you're up. Welcome to Clubhouse. It's your first week, I see. Lili, are you there?

Shay Danielle:

If you're there, just tap the little mute button, the little microphone button at the bottom of your screen so we can hear you talk.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Bottom right. 

Shay Danielle:

There she is.

Lisa:

Hi, guys. I'm so sorry. I just got a new iPhone and I don't know what's happening so I do apologize. 

Sheila Bella:

Good job.

Shay Danielle:

It's okay. Welcome.

Lisa:

Thank you so much. First of all, I just want to send a shout out to Sheila because you have been the first person to reach out to me. I'm from [Coya Butae 00:58:31] in Toronto. My name is actually Lisa, so I apologize. I'm going to update my profile. My nickname is Lili. Everybody knows me by that, so feel free to call me-

Sheila Bella:

Oh, it's so cute!

Lisa:

Lisa or Lili, that's been ... My girlfriend gave that to me. I started a job with her 21 years ago and she just called me Lili and it stuck. But I just want to thank you guys so much. I think this platform is amazing. I literally been on here for 24 hours and I couldn't be more happier.

 

And Shay, when you spoke about Earl's, being a Canadian, I don't know what that's like anymore. I haven't been in a restaurant ... Toronto's in really full lockdown, I'm sure, as you guys are aware, I'm currently living in something called the Grey Zone, so we don't have any beauty of any sort open. There's only one area, which is the York Region of Ontario, which is our Red Zone that has some opportunity, but we really don't know what's happening.

 

And so, we're always kind of struggling and I really love this platform and it's really helpful to all of us. So, I really thank you, especially being so new to this. I really, really appreciate it. So, with the whole positive reviews, I have to say Mary's story really touched close to my heart. Not personally, because I haven't had that yet. I cross my fingers, but I have seen this with my friends or other businesses where someone just goes on a rampage and starts sending bad reviews everywhere and anywhere and I think that's really hard on people, whether you're new or been a veteran to a business, it hits hard. If you really love what you do, no matter what you do and somebody's really pressing at you and trying to make you look away, I can relate. That would be difficult.

 

And, I mean, I hope that doesn't happen but what I would say or I would actually ask, as you being experts and veterans in this, is I've been noticing this in Toronto and I can't speak for every province in Canada or every state in the US or wherever you are around the world, but I've actually been seeing some artists and not just in our industry and other industries, asking clients, and I don't know if this, this is going to be touchy, to actually sign wavers that they your thoughts are, because I feel like if we do that, your-

Sheila Bella:

Wait. Lisa, you cut out. Can you go back? It sounded important. You've seen people ask clients to sign waivers and then you cut out.

Shay Danielle:

Yeah.

Lisa:

Sorry. Sign waivers so that they're not actually positioning any form of slander on any social media and that if there's any issues pertaining to their service that they go to them directly and to rectify it, whether they're getting their money back or they're correcting it, and I just feel like it's sort of touchy because, by doing that, I mean, you're protecting yourself but then, on the same token, you're almost, could you be setting yourself up for somebody questioning why would you make me sign this, right?

Sheila Bella:

Yeah.

Lisa:

I don't agree with it, but then I see where maybe somebody would have if they've had such bad experiences.

Sheila Bella:

True.

Lisa:

And you don't want to come off telling your client, "You're not allowed to have a voice," but then what kind of voice is someone having, because as Mary had explained, when someone is posting everywhere and anywhere, all over the place, I mean, I think we all get a sense of understanding that if someone's posting everywhere all the time, there's something going wrong with that person or on, but it just worried me as far as seeing some of these waivers and seeing what some people are doing. I don't look down on it because I know where it's coming from. I just wanted your opinions on it because you're speaking about positive reviews and how you sort of avoid it.

Sheila Bella:

I am curious, too. I'm curious. Natalie, Amanda, what's your opinion on that? I don't think I've heard of that before. The [crosstalk 01:02:29]-

Natalie Delaverde:

Okay. Yeah. I was nodding my head when you was talking, Lili. Yeah. There's somebody in the UK, one of the really big, big, big artists. I'm not saying any names, but yeah, she does that so she basically makes people sign a disclaimer that, no, they're not going to do a bit of review on any platform. So, that's social media and Google or anything like that.

 

And what, yeah, so people do do it. I personally would not do it, because I feel like people should be able to have the freedom to leave an honest review and I just feel like that would make people, because people talk. People will talk and two people had actually left and actually put a clip of the actual not trust that business or that person and not feel like they were genuine and also, it just makes you feel like, I don't know. It's just too much for me. I just feel like everybody should be able to have the right to leave a review, whether it's good, bad. And we appreciate feedback, especially at the beginning of your journey. You're not going to be perfect and even now, when you're rushed off your feet and you got lots of clients, you might forget to do some things. Even, somebody might not be 100% satisfied and it's good for us to be able to get honest feedback. So, for me, I think it's a no. 

Amanda Breuer:

Same here. I don't know that I would do that because you're kind of silencing people and I went to, I think I was having a microneedling treatment done in a plastic surgery clinic and they had me sign something like that in order to get microneedling. And I was so turned off by it. 

 

I remember how it made me feel. It made me feel really icky, like, "Oh, they've probably had some amazing stuff go down." I was trying to imagine those things. So, why do you put that in your clients' brain? So, the way that-

Shay Danielle:

Yeah. It sets a vibe, right?

Amanda Breuer:

It totally does. 

Sheila Bella:

It's a vibe. It's a vibe. 

Amanda Breuer:

How do we approach that from a resonance leadership standpoint? And the way that I try and navigate through those really challenging clients or maybe to avoid that from happening is you want to focus during the appointment on being a master connector. So, no matter who they are, how awesome or horrible they are, you can connect on a really deep, deep level with them, so that they feel really comfortable reaching out to you first like you're a friend before writing a negative review, because even if they do have a negative experience, if you've connected deep enough with them, then they're going to reach out to you first.

 

And there's different books that you can read on people skills. I highly recommend, if you haven't read How to Win Friends and Influence People or other level skills-

 

You have to learn how to connect with your clients. They should leave that appointment. Sure, maybe you did a great brow or a horrible brow, but they should think that you're just the best person on the planet and you should just be best friends with them no matter what and write down notes on their intake form about their [inaudible 01:05:48], so when they come back in six weeks you know everything, that you remember things about them. Connect with your clients and they will reach out to you first. Prevent that from happening in the first place, right?

Shay Danielle:

Oh, my god. That's such a great advice, Amanda. That is such great advice.

Sheila Bella:

You know what? Can I just say? One of the personality traits of Amanda Breuer that I really love is that, when she wants to get better at something, she'll go get it. She's not going to wait for someone to teach her. She's like, "Oh, I want to get better at people. All right. Well, there's got to be a book on that. I want to learn how to respond to negative reviews. Well, let me Google it." It's so cool.

Amanda Breuer:

The last thing that I say to my clients when they're leaving because that's what's going to stick with them is right when they're leaving the door, what you say to them is like, "Please don't forget that today was your base coat." I pretend it's painting. I'm like, "Today is the base coat. The base coat and then at our touch-up appointment is when we get to go in and do the fun stuff, the details, the perfecting." I say, "When you come back, if you want your tails a little longer, if you want your arch a little higher, if you want them a little thicker or darker, that is the time that we get to do those really detailed points of the brow."

 

So, that should be the last thing you say to them so that they know this is a process. This is not the end point. This is just the base coat. Say it in a way that they can understand it, like, "Base coat." That makes sense.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Delaverde:

Okay. I just need to chime in here, guys because I have an experience I'd like to share with you. So, piggybacking off what you said, Amanda, about really connecting with your clients and I have this thing that I do. I stimulate the client's five senses at all times and that's what I do in the salon. I teach the staff to do that. The client's senses must be stimulated at all times. So, what they see, the place has to be spotless. What they smell, we have the essential oils in the diffuser, the client touch, everything is stimulated. And one of the things, I never, ever, ever do this. 

 

So, I do henna brows and a girl came in, a lady came in, a doctor, and she was getting henna brows done and I forgot to get her to do a form. It was in the run-up to Christmas, so I forgot to do a consultation form with her. I waxed her and her whole skin came off. So, bear in mind, I didn't do a consultant form with her. I've never done this in my life, but it was chockablock. We just come out of lockdown. It was before Christmas. The consultation forms were up there on the table. I didn't know how it got missed but she didn't do it. She'd had some acid peel or something and I would have known that if I would have done the consultation form but because we'd had connected with the client and I was so apologetic and we'd had that really deep connection. 

 

Instead of leaving me a negative review, which I would have done, she still wanted to come back and get her brows done with me and she still left me a positive review. She even text me on Christmas Day and New Year's Day wishing me happy Christmas and happy New Year. And that's all because the customer service that she received when she came to our place, so it is about how you build that relationship with your client and even if they are not happy or even if something does go wrong because we're only human. We're not robots. Sometimes we do make mistakes like that one there. They will feel like they can come to you first rather than write a negative review and then know and trust that you will fix it.

Shay Danielle:

Okay. Oh, my god. Okay. This app needs to have emojis that we can be pushing while we're listening because, you guys, this stuff is so relatable and I would be doing all the hand praises that I could while I'm listening to you guys.

Natalie Delaverde:

Guys, I waxed her whole skin off of the top of her eyebrow. Seriously, it was really bad. I gave her the MPU do after care what I created and it healed literally in three days. I was so lucky I had that in.

Sheila Bella:

Wow! Wow! Holy moly, you guys. Yeah. I definitely think that that follow-up is really important, especially at the most vulnerable time, which is in PMU is the healing process, the day after where it's really dark. Day four isn't great either. That's when it's cancel my life. Things are really scabby and really just like mm-mm (negative). I think just really holding your client's hand through that and then maybe calling them before they call you, so that if they feel any type of way, they know to come to you instead of going off on a rampage on Yelp, right?

Shay Danielle:

Yes. And when you get those red flag clients where you know they're asking a lot of questions, they're very nervous, I've tried to follow up with those clients as much as I can. Even though they're not asking questions, I like to check in with them, even though it takes a little bit more effort. It's preventing those bad reviews and those uneasy feelings from them.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah, absolutely. All right. Next question, Sidney.

Sidney:

Hi, guys. Can you hear me okay?

Sheila Bella:

Hi, Sidney.

Sidney:

Okay. 

Sheila Bella:

Yes, we can.

Sidney:

This is my first time ever speaking on here, so [crosstalk 01:11:32]-

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. You sound good.

Sidney:

I just want to say I'm a huge fan of all you guys. Thank you for inviting me up here to talk. I knew I had to come onto this one, though. I'll try to keep it short and sweet, because it's a very long story, but I knew I had to come on here because I have an incident last week with a client from August leaving me a one-star review a couple days ago on Google which, at the time, I had only had five reviews on Google. So, that brought my rating down from a five to a four, and I haven't heard anything from this client since August, so I was just absolutely shocked that that even happened and it was even more upsetting because everything that she said in her review completely contradicted everything that I actually told her. 

 

So, and it sucked because she was someone, we had mutual friends and we were kind of like the same age and I felt like we really connected at our appointment. So, it was just, I was blindsided by it. 

 

So, I was kind of panicking for a minute but I kind of tried to make the best out of the situation and I don't know if you guys already talked about this. I kind of joined a little bit late. But even if you guys did talk about it, then I can vouch for this strategy even more. I got on my Instagram stories and I didn't in any way talk negatively or bash the client who left me the review, but I just said, "Hey, guys. If any of you have gotten your brows done by me recently and you are really happy with your brows, I would really, really love if you would leave me a positive review on Google and help me out a little bit." And in less than 12 hours, I had 24 people that have come to me recently, leave me five-star reviews on Google.

 

So, it brought me from five reviews to 29 reviews and I went from four stars to 4.9 stars in 12 hours, all from clients that have come to me in the past few months. So, just being kind to your clients and really trying to build a connection with every single one of them really does go a long way because every client that left me a review is someone that I felt a really good connection with and really awesome energy with at their appointment and if you show them appreciation, they will show it to you right back. So, just wanted to share that and hopefully that helps somebody.

Amanda Breuer:

That's awesome, Sidney. Yeah. If you have a negative review, there's nothing wrong with asking for some more positive ones to uplift that number a little bit. If you ask, you will receive. So, it's fine to ask for it. 

Sidney:

Yes, absolutely. I'm so glad I did because I could have easily just sat there and wallowed in it and been like, "This sucks. My reviews look worse than everyone else's in town," but I tried to spin it and now I have more reviews than anyone else in my area so it worked out in the long run. 

Shay Danielle:

So good, Sidney. So good. Thank you. 

Sheila Bella:

Thank you for sharing that. 

Sidney:

Of course. Thank you, guys. 

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. You're welcome. Our pleasure. Okay. Carolyn. Hi, Carolyn. Go ahead and unmute yourself. Go to the bottom right-hand corner with the little microphone. 

Carolyn:

Yep. I got it. Thank you.

Sheila Bella:

Sweet. How are you?

Carolyn:

I have, it's not about a Google review, which probably could have turned into one, but I was just curious on your take on this kind of a situation where you have the client come in for the consult and they fill out all the paperwork and I have an entire sheet that is all medical history of anything they have and it's in that to be contradictive and then anything that I should know that is not on the paperwork. And they all checked it no, no, no and they signed it. I don't think they hardly read it. And I go over it and I look at it and everything. And I had this lady on the table and she was very, very cool and very, very reddish. So, I kind of had a feeling she had rosacea and maybe another problem. And she said, not that she knew of. She was just very cool. And I advised her not to get microblading because I felt that she was not a candidate for it. I felt that she was a candidate for powder brow, which she said, "Fine. That's fine." 

 

And as soon as I started doing the mapping and outline the mapping, I noticed that she was getting these little bumps and she was getting a little swollen. Now, I hardly even touched this woman and I said to her, "Are you on any medication or do you have anything that you did not tell me?" And she blurted out, "Well, I have Lyme disease." And I couldn't believe she didn't put it down on her medical form. And I asked her, "Why didn't you tell me that?" "Well, I didn't think it was anything at all." And I said, "Well, first of all, I probably would have turned you away or at least asked your doctor to give you a form stating it's okay for you to get your brows." 

 

So, she kind of left in a huff and a puff because I wouldn't do it. How would you have handled that situation? Hello?

Sheila Bella:

Okay. Go ahead. Amanda, Shay, Natalie, I'll let you guys take this one. 

Amanda Breuer:

I'm trying to think because I've had that happen a couple times and the way my brains think, I'm like, "Well [crosstalk 01:17:16]-"

Carolyn:

I'm glad you say that, Amanda. 

Amanda Breuer:

Yeah. And it's not an easy situation. I think it really does depend on the medical condition, too and just educating. I think the first thing I would do is I would write a handwritten note on my consent form. I'm really big on handwritten notes that they sign, so I'd probably say, "Hey, she did not let me know before starting the treatment she had XYZ going on." And I have them sign it. So, that way, I-

Sheila Bella:

Oh, that's so good.

Amanda Breuer:

The way I think is I want to avoid liability and she did not disclose it and when she signed that intake form, it should say on your form that they're disclosing everything, so if she didn't, I still handwrite it and I still have them sign it, even if it's something stupid and little, because that way, if they ever come back and want to approach the situation later, I'm like, "Hey, I've got your signed-off being here."

 

So, that's probably how I'd approach it and it would depend on how far I was into the treatment, too, but that's the first thing that would pop into my brain is getting a signature.

Carolyn:

Yeah. I tried to do that with her, but she would not do it. She said that she saw no reason that I could not do her eyebrows. I was being unreasonable, and I'm going, "Look, I'm not only protecting myself. I am protecting you against something that is permanent on your face." And she just was ... This is the first time I've ever had an experience like this with a person and I've been in the medical field for over 30 years. I've run my own medical supply shop. I'm a certified fitter. I've done a lot of things and I know kind of how to handle people, but she was just unreasonable. And I guess you probably end up get one of those, one [crosstalk 01:18:56]-

Amanda Breuer:

Yeah. I'd probably say, "Hey, you know what? Since we're already half way through your brows, I have to finish it but let me just switch my gloves out and I'm just going to have you sign off on this real quick just saying that you didn't disclose it until during the treatment. But, of course, I've got your back. We'll finish it but just sign this off for me real quick." That's how I [crosstalk 01:19:13] that.

Sheila Bella:

I love that.

Carolyn:

Thank you. I will do that. If I ever come across that again, which I hope I never do, I will. 

Sheila Bella:

I mean, I have signs all over my studio that says, "Video recording and audio recording in progress." And I have Nest cams in every room above every single station and there's, yeah, eight stations at Sheila Bella.

 

And there was one time, there was this woman who did not disclose she was pregnant. She did not disclose she was pregnant. And so, anyway, this is a while ago. It was her touch-up already. So, yeah, when we found she lied about it. And so there's video recording in progress and so what I did was I just saved that clip and they also signed off in all of our consent forms that they're allowing us to record their procedure at all times because there's monitoring going on all over the building, but that's the first thing I would have done. That's why I think it's worth it to invest in those Nest subscriptions, especially at the volume of procedures that we do. You just never know. You open up your door basically to the world. You've no idea who's going to be in your chair.

Carolyn:

No, or you don't know what kind of a personality you're getting in from one to the next. And for most part, they're great people. I've made some wonderful contacts with great people that are funny and witty and just have a good time with and they're great and they left me beautiful reviews and I just love doing this. 

 

I worked with a lot of people that had chemotherapy and alopecia and that's why I started it when I sold my business, my medical supply. I saw the need for this and I do those people for free and it's just something I wanted to give back because I just knew this was something these poor ladies didn't know anything about and I had a whole list of people that needed it, so it's like I was handed this whole line of people that wanted these kind of procedure and never even knew it existed until I told them.

Shay Danielle:

Carolyn, thank you so much for coming up and sharing that story because this is what Clubhouse is all about. It's about maybe me, like myself personally, I haven't experienced a situation like that and maybe a lot of these people in here listening haven't either, but if that were to be placed on our laps, now we're better equipped to handle that situation. And had you not come up here and shared that story with us, now we're prepared for something along those lines. So, thank you so much. I'm so grateful to hear that story.

Sheila Bella:

Absolutely. 

Carolyn:

Wonderful talking to you all.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Well said, Shay. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Guys, if you enjoyed this talk, go ahead. Take a screen shot of it and post it on your stories and tag us. Okay. Everybody, smile.

Shay Danielle:

Everybody smile. 

Amanda Breuer:

Cheese! 

Sheila Bella:

I make sure that my kids audibly smile, I can hear it. Like that. 

Shay Danielle:

That's a lot better.

Sheila Bella:

"You better make the sound so that I know." 

Shay Danielle:

This is good, you guys. I think this is a really successful chat tonight.

Sheila Bella:

Absolutely. 

Shay Danielle:

Amanda, Natalie, thank you guys so much for joining us.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah.

Shay Danielle:

And giving us your input on this. You guys were both so helpful and these stories were wonderful, honestly. 

Amanda Breuer:

Thanks for having us. What a great room tonight.

Sheila Bella:

Yeah. Thank you so much, everyone. 

Natalie Delaverde:

Thank you.

Sheila Bella:

Natalie, go to bed. 

Shay Danielle:

Yes, Natalie. Get some sleep. 

Natalie Delaverde:

I'm wide awake now, guys.

Shay Danielle:

She's going to start her morning workout.

Natalie Delaverde:

I've had so much fun. 

Sheila Bella:

Oh, man! Guys, make sure you follow all of these speakers both on Instagram and on Clubhouse. I know that Shay and I are back here in this room every Monday, same time. 

Shay Danielle:

Yes. Stay tuned to our Instagram to see what next week's topic is all about and who our special guests will be. Please come back, same time, same place on Monday. I'm going to go watch The Bachelor, you guys, and then [crosstalk 01:23:41]-

Sheila Bella:

Oh, my gosh! Is it right now? All that [crosstalk 01:23:43].

Shay Danielle:

I think so. 

Sheila Bella:

What day is it?

Shay Danielle:

It's coming up soon. It's Monday [crosstalk 01:23:47].

Sheila Bella:

Oh, it's Monday. Oh, my gosh. Okay. I have to wait until tonight-

Shay Danielle:

It's happening. 

Sheila Bella:

... because I don't have cable.

Shay Danielle:

Anyway, guys, thank you so much everyone for being here tonight. We love you guys so much and we will be back next week. Thanks again, Amanda, Natalie. Love you, Sheila and-

Sheila Bella:

Love you.

Shay Danielle:

... everybody have a great night. 

Sheila Bella:

Good night. 

Amanda Breuer:

You, good night.

Sheila Bella:

Happy Bachelor finale night. Oh, my gosh. I forgot. 

Shay Danielle:

Good night everyone. Bye. 

Sheila Bella:

Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If you want to continue the conversation longer, check me out on Instagram. It's my favorite place to connect with you guys, @realsheilabella. I'm happy to answer any of your questions or simply to chat and get to know you better. And if you end up doing something super awesome, like screenshotting this episode and reposting it on your stories, that would put the biggest smile on my face. Don't forget to tag me. I appreciate every share and love feedback from my listeners. 

 

Also, do you have my number? Do you have my number? Because, if we're going to keep hanging out, you should probably have my number so you can actually text me. That's right, you can text me at 310-388-4588.

 

And if you're sick and tired of doing business alone, and you're interested in accelerating your success by hiring a business coach or joining our mentorship program called Pretty Rich Bosses, go ahead and just apply. Why not? Check it out. Go to sheilabella.com/apply and we'll schedule a free strategy session with either myself or one of my advisors. And of course, I've got to include my kids. So, here to send us off are Beau and Grey.

Grey:

Hello.

Sheila Bella:

Grey, say, "Share with your friends."

Grey:

Share with friends.

Sheila Bella:

Please review my mommy on iTunes.

Grey:

[inaudible 01:25:53] mama iTunes.

Sheila Bella:

Thanks for listening.

Grey:

Thank you for listening.

Sheila Bella:

Hey, Beau. Can you tell everybody what our family motto is?

Beau:

Yeah. I can do hard things.

Sheila Bella:

I can do hard things. Good job, buddy.