Ep. 79: The Real Reason Why Some Clients Never Come Back
The REAL reasons why clients GHOST you. Why do some of them disappear and never come back? Not even for a touch-up?
It can be really discouraging when clients ghost you. Has that ever happened to you before? You thought you had a great experience with a client, you thought you gave her a great service, you hugged at the end of your appointment, she tipped you, but when it came time to get her back in your studio for her follow up or her touch up...silence. Either she never returned your calls or she came up with some excuse for not returning and then you never heard from her again!
Yeah. You were ghosted. I'm sorry. It can be hard when clients won't give us straight-up reasons for not returning and not referring us. Referrals drive business. In this episode, I share two stories from a former client and from a friend that will give you some insight into why some clients never come back. If you've ever been ghosted or you want to prevent that from happening, listen up. This one's for you.
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [05:04] If you want to get referrals from your clients you have to be on top of your response time. Here I start sharing "Becky's" story.
‣‣ [08:29] Let's talk about how clients really find us when they're in desperate need of our services.
‣‣ [11:52] If you want to be continuously referred to new clients, you have to make sure your whole business is up to snuff. You want your clients to feel safe in your hands. Here I share a part of the story where Becky experienced some seriously shady business.
‣‣ [18:18] Here I share my friend Daniella's PMU horror story. Salon is therapy but sometimes we as artists can go too far. Please learn from this.
‣‣ [26:15] How to ensure that you're giving your clients a good experience so that they want to refer you and come back for repeat appointments.
I DON'T WANT TO BE GHOSTED EVER AGAIN! (Listen Here)
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
Grow Your Gram
Online Course Workshop
FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES
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FOR MY READER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
Hey, what's going on. It's Sheila Bella and today we're going to talk about the real reason why clients ghost you. Why do they disappear and never come back? Some of them don't even come back for their touch-up. Has this ever happened to you where everything seemed to go well, everything seemed to go well, but that client that you did so well on and you had such a great connection with, you thought, doesn't even come back for her touch up, and then when you call her, she goes missing and she never returned your call. She doesn't return your emails or like, what is going on?
She tipped you and everything. You guys hugged. You had a great connection. She has great before and after photos. What the heck happened? She can't even tell you that she can't make ... What is going on? Today, You are going to find out from the stories of real people exactly what happened, the real reason why clients ghost artists and never refer them, what you may not know, but after today you will right here on Pretty Rich Podcast. Let's go.
You're listening to the Pretty Rich Podcast where you are totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila, Bella. I built a seven figure PMU biz without a degree, without a fancy website or a sugar daddy. If you and I hang out here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it too, because you really can. I know you think, I don't know you, but I do. I really, really do because I am you. I believe we're all on the same journey together. My perfect job didn't exist. So, I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring 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 that power is never given to you, you just have to take it. Are you ready to be the boss? Let's jump in.
Hey, you guys, it's almost time for a Pretty Rich Podcast. Three, two, one go. Yep. It's Pretty Rich Podcast time. Okay. So, are you ready for today's super tough but it's going to be a good episode for your wallet. Yep. I'm going to take you through two stories. Two real stories of two real people that I'm friends with and their experiences with their permanent makeup artist. So, we're going to start with client one. Client one is let's call her Becky. So, Becky had a great conversation with this over the phone. She gave her deposit and everything, but she canceled her appointment before it even started. This is what happened.
So, you guys know that the majority of my time, I do business coaching. Monday through Friday, I do business coaching, podcasting, speaking, creating online courses for you guys, coming up with ways to help my fellow permanent makeup artists, because I was able to build a very successful permanent makeup business that I figure, "Oh, hey, I should teach other people how to do the same thing, because I saw my microblading students were struggling to work full time." So, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. But on Saturdays, I still do permanent makeup. Are you kidding me? Just because I have nine artists working at Sheila Bella Microblading doesn't mean that I'm just going to let them have all the fun. So, yeah, I still do permanent makeup.
What's really great is I've been able to keep my celebrity clients. Once you get to this point, you can pick and choose, which is really awesome. What's really cool about it too is I get to charge more, because I know I'm worth more. You're not just paying for three hours of my time. No, you're paying for 10 years of my time, the 10 years I've invested into this industry so that I can perfect my craft. Okay. So, people know this. I've been around now for several years, a decade, right? I have clients from all over the place. The people know me, the people, the people in my life that I've come across know me as the PMU girl. I am the PMU go to girl. So guess what? They tell me their stories. They tell me what their experiences are like when working with other permanent makeup artists.
So, whether it's a positive experience or a negative experience, you betcha, they're going to tell me about it, because that's what we women do. Right? Especially our friends. We have a good experience at the salon, we call our friends and tell them, "Oh my God, do you like this?" We send them photos. Or we had a bad experience at a salon or studio and we also tell our friends about it. This is how referrals happen. This is how referrals happen.
Okay. So, this is a real conversation with somebody I'm just going to call her Becky, because if I told you her real name, you'd know who she was, especially if you're all over the Instagram fitness community. I'm not going to reveal that. So, Becky is actually a long time client of mine. I have been doing her brows for several years, but recently she just had a baby and she moved to Texas. She texted me and she was like, "Hey, Sheila, I don't know if I can get to LA anytime soon, but my brows need a touch up like super bad. I don't know who to trust. I'm scared to go to anybody else. You tell me if there's somebody here in Texas where I can go and get my brows done and have the work be just as good as yours." I was like, "Ah, duh, I know everybody. I could totally refer you to somebody amazing. Let me check my Rolodex."
So, obviously I went on my Instagram friends and then I was like, "Okay, yeah, go to this girl." So, I texted Becky back and I was like, "Okay, call this girl. She's amazing. She'll take care of you. It's going to be awesome." So, Becky was like, "Great. Of course, you know everybody. Perfect. Okay." So, what Becky did was she went ahead and texted the artist that I referred to her. She texted her and she also called her and left a voicemail. There was no answer. I guess it was after hours and she didn't get a call back that evening, but she did expect to get a call back the next day, but nothing. Nothing at all. So, Becky text me and was like, "Hey, you know the artist that you referred me to, I still haven't heard from her."
As a matter of fact, Becky didn't hear from her for three whole days. Three days, that's crazy. You know what? By that time, Becky had moved on. Do you know who Becky ... Actually, you don't know who Becky is because I can't use her real name, but I mean, hello? It's Becky for crying out loud. She's like Insta fricking famous and she's really nice and she has money. Okay? Not only does she have money, but she has friends, probably lots of friends that she could refer you to, but since this anonymous artist took three whole days, three whole days to get back to her, guess what? Becky had moved on. Now, before I tell you how Becky moved on exactly, I just want to circle back over to the fact that it took this artist three days to get back to her.
Guys, I don't care what you need to do, but three days is absolutely unacceptable. You must not be aching for business if it takes you three long days to get back to a client. If you're hella serious about building a thriving PMU biz, then you got to get it together. This is your reputation. By the way, it made me look terrible. Made me look terrible. So, I will not be referring that artist ever again. Right? Okay. So Becky, during the three days that she was waiting around, guess what? She wasn't waiting around. She moved on.
As a matter of fact, she moved on the next day. What did she do? She went on a Google search. Guys, you know us women. When we have it in our heads that we want to make a change or we want to get some sort of new beauty treatment, laser or whatnot, I don't know bikini waxing, vajazzling, we want it today. We want it today. We wanted at 5:00 p.m. today, no questions asked or at least we want to make the appointment today. I mean, I don't know about you, but it is 2020 and people have options.
So, what Becky did was she went immediately to Google the next day. This story is really important because it gives us a peek into how people find us. So, Becky said that the first thing she did was she looked at Google reviews and she said she found some that were decent, but ultimately what made up her mind was get this, their website. She looked carefully at how the websites looked and she chose the one with the prettiest pictures that looked the most modern. So, for those of you who only have a free social media account, yeah, your website matters. Don't just take it from me, take it from Becky. Becky with the abs and the boobs and the baby. Now, she's going to have awesome brows because she found a microblading artist in her area.
So, she called the place and she made an appointment. As soon as she made the appointment, she got really excited. She said she got really excited. So, what she did was she checked out their Instagram. She checked out the Instagram of the studio so she could get more excited because she wanted to continue to see their work and look at all the transformations and get excited leading up to the appointment. But, guess what? Once she looked at their Instagram page, she said the last post on that page was, get this, two weeks ago. What? She paid attention. She paid attention to the most recent post and it was a long time ago. She looked at how frequently this PMU studio was posting. What she found based on the timestamps she said was that they were very inconsistent she said. She said she looked at the dates of the posts and they were weeks apart. I was like, "Whoa, you care about that?"
Listen, I care about that. I tell you guys to care about that. What I found fascinating was that this was an actual person that I knew that was going through this, just telling me her honest story, completely unbiased. Telling me that, yeah, it mattered to her. So, what did she do? She called to cancel her appointment and she told the receptionist some lie, some BS about how she's not going to be able to make it or she changed her mind. She's not sure if she wants it. Anyway, bottom line is she didn't tell them I'm canceling with you because I looked on your Instagram and your feed is inconsistent. It doesn't look like you're that active. Yeah. It's okay. She's not going to tell you the truth because she's a really nice person. I'm not as nice as Becky. So, I'm going to tell you guys why.
Okay. This part, see, remember how I referred her to that artist in Texas that didn't get back to her for three days. Well, she asked me for another referral. Wow, she trusted me again. So, I gave her another one and this is an artist who's also a trainer actually. I was like, "Okay, no way you're going to have a bad experience with this girl because she's really well known in the industry. I'm sure you're going to have a great experience. Okay. Here's her number. Call. Tell her I referred you. Awesome. Great."
So, Becky calls, makes the appointments, the artist calls me and says "Thank you so much for this amazing referral. Oh my God. I'm going to get so many social media props for this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Okay. So Becky gets there, gets her microblading done, loves it, but then upon checkout, guess what? The receptionist said cash only. What?
Hello friend. Guess what? I want you on this show. I bet you weren't expecting that. Yes. I want you on this show. Introducing Beauty Boss Spotlight, because you are the hero of the Pretty Rich Podcast. You are the hero of the Pretty Ambitious Summit and I want to know where are you from, what's the most challenging thing you've overcome, what's your advice for how to live a pretty rich life. If you're up for the challenge and you really should be, go to sheilabella.com/beautybossspotlight. Just follow the instructions. It's very simple. Don't overthink it.
Remember, you can't beat fear so do it scared. I want to feature you. I want to shout out your Instagram handle and get you some social media props, but more importantly, I want to get to know you for real. What are you all about? Again, that's sheilabella.com/beautybossspotlight. Okay. Okay. Back to the show.
Okay. So, cash only. What? Nuts. Oh man! Oh man! My batting average is not good. That's a sports term. Right? Okay, whatever. Well, I do not look good at this point. Okay. But, here's the thing. She loved her brows. She said it was great. I saw her brows. They look amazing actually, but she called me on her ride home to tell me how strange it was that this supposedly reputable establishment and this reputable artist only accepted cash. I was like, "You weren't informed of that?" She was like, "Maybe they told me, but I totally forgot." So, I was like, "Okay, well, if you didn't have cash, what did you do?" I guess they let her pay Venmo. Venmo. Okay. This is like palm trees and you know what that means, right? Shade, complete shade, like Ray-Bans. Okay? Don't just take it from me. Becky thought it was shady. She told me she was like, "Sheila, I don't know what's going on, but that's really weird."
I mean, can you imagine a reputable establishment only accepting cash? What if you want to Target and they're like, "Cash only." We know what that means. Okay? We know what that ... That's not good. Sometimes these trainers too, these trainers when you take up permanent makeup class, they say cash only and then the worst part is when they flaunt it all over their social media pages, there wads of cash after you know on their marketing campaigns, they tell you, if you take my class, I only accept cash. Then after the training happens, they show off their bags of cash.
You guys know who I'm talking about or what I'm talking about. Right? I mean, it is just nuts. That's so unsafe and unethical. I didn't know that this was an artist thing too. The artist do this to clients too. So anyway, yeah, Becky told me was like, "Sheila, as much as I love the work, I love the work there, I love my brows, I had a good experience with the procedure itself." She said, "I can't go back." or "I can't refer them." That really sucks, really sucks for that artist. Right?
This is why I'm also a huge fan of the anonymous comment box. Do you have one of these at your salon? Wouldn't you want to know what your clients are really thinking? That way you're not left in the dark. Props to the business owner who is open to feedback. You're going to be rich. Okay. You guys ready for another one? Okay. So this girl, her name is Daniella and I actually got really friendly with her inside a private Facebook group.
As you guys know, if you've listened to my episodes before, that last year I decided to remove my breast implants and that surgery is called explant surgery. Breast explant surgery was really scary, but I got through it and I'm so glad. Honestly, I got a lot of information and support through a private Facebook group called Breast Implant Illness and Healing by Nicole Daruda. The girls in there were so helpful, so sweet. I got tons of information and also emotional support. Anyway, I digress. There is a particular lady in there that I got really close to or I felt a connection with, because we had the same doctor. Her name is Daniella and knowing that I'm in the permanent makeup industry, she decided to share with me her frustrations with her artist. This is exactly what happened. This is a true story. Okay?
So Daniella, she has been going to the same permanent makeup artist now for about 15 years. She goes every year she says she gets the old school permanent makeup look, and she is happy. She's happy. You know what? That girl does a great job, because I can't even tell she had microblading or permanent makeup done that looked super natural. Now, what had happened was she went back for her annual touch-up and this is what Daniella told me. Upon arriving at the usual studio where she had been going to for years, she told me that her artist came out and it looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She said her hair was unkept, her makeup wasn't done and it gave her the impression that her artist just doesn't care anymore, but she said that she really liked her work and she had been going to her for years. So, she knew exactly what she was going to get. That was good enough for her. Someone reliable, she knew what the outcome was going to be, period.
But then, something happened during her appointment that had never happened before. Apparently, Daniella told me that there was some D-list comedian who came into the studio and her artist left her in her chair for 30 minutes while she was chatting away with this local celebrity. How do you think Daniella felt? Daniella felt super unimportant. She's felt super unappreciated. I mean, Daniella has money and she is a loyal client. She's been there for several years supporting this local business, and it gets worse. It gets worse. So, I think that the artist that Daniella had been going to did take her for granted. She probably figured, "Oh, that's a long time client. I've been servicing her for year. She's cool. No worries." But, this is the stuff that our clients won't tell us, but it gets worse. It gets worse.
So, when I first built Sheila Bella Permanent Makeup, I remember feeling super alone, not knowing what to do, how to get clients and nobody was sharing any information. It was so hard. It was so frustrating. So, what did I do? I created what I needed 10 years ago. I created the Pretty Ambitious Summit. I needed friends. I needed strategy. I needed positivity. This isn't a librarian conference. Okay? This is the ultimate PMU girl power work party. Bring your brow besties, 300 super positive epic beauty boss babes in one room and you need to be there. It will be held in beautiful, like super gorgeous, actually Santa Monica, California, where I live. So anyway, where I live is gorgeous and you should see it. It's the perfect setting for networking and learning all of the things that you need to learn as a beauty boss, because they didn't teach you this at school.
If you need friends, you need to be there. If you want more clients, you need to be there. If you need more students, you need to be there. If you need help with sales, you need to be there. If you want to develop a physical product one day, if you go there, you'll develop it today. Don't have FOMO. You got to go. Prettyambitioussummit.com. Link is in the show notes. I got to see you there and I want to hug you and squeeze you. Nothing creepy. Okay. See you there. Bye.
Daniella said that the whole time that her artist was doing her brows, her artist unloaded her personal problems on her. She got really comfortable. So, she said her artist told her this whole sob story about her boyfriend and her roommate and all of the drama going on in her life. Right? This is why I think that that artist felt comfortable because there was probably a relationship there, a really good relationship because they've known each other for several years. A lot of times we have the tendency to do that, to get really comfortable with our clients.
They feel like our friends almost, but Daniella being turned off by this incident, by this appointment should be a reminder to all of us that our clients are still our clients. They are there to get pampered. They're there for a luxurious experience where it's all about them. So please, a reminder, do not under any circumstances unload your personal problems to your precious clients. Okay? You are on the clock. It is about them. Ask them about their lives. It is not your turn for therapy. It's their turn.
The word salon is synonymous with therapy. I know you guys have heard me say this before, but what do you think goes on at salons? We talk about stuff. We catch up on girl stuff. How many times have you heard clients say that their stylists are like pretty therapists? Sure. Be comfortable, joke around, but don't get too comfortable.
I want you guys to know this. I want you guys to know this. Daniella told me that her last experience with her artist was so exhausting. She said was so exhausting that she can never go back there again and she will never refer that artist ever again. Danielle is a nice person too. Too nice. She didn't have the heart to tell her artist the real reason why. No, that artist is just going to be ghosted. That client is just going to disappear and that poor artist will never know why unless she listens to this podcast.
By the way, as somebody who manages several artists in her salon, in my salon, I'm talking about mine. Whenever I see this happen, because girls do get carried away. I have to address it. I had to stop my artists and remind them several times not to talk about their personal problems too much to their clients. This is exactly the reason why. I'm so glad Daniella allowed me to tell this story, so I could prove to you and to some of my artists that I'm right. This really does happen. The sad part is you will never know. You will never know why that client ghosted you. So, I want you to be the type of artist that is referable, that clients just cannot wait to spend time with once again. You have to put effort into your appearance too, because you are supposed to be the go to beauty expert. You are the go to beauty expert. Therefore, you need to look like it. You need to look like it. I'm not saying you got to look like Gisele Bündchen or anything like that, but gosh, look like you care. Look like you care.
Whenever you go into work, it is more than just the artistry. It is an experience and you are a huge part of that experience. Do not get complacent, no matter how long this client has been seeing you because there's somebody better. Somebody will always treat them better. Somebody who's hungrier, somebody who needs the money, frankly, and who wants the clients who's hungry for the clients.
So today, I want you guys to take note of all of these very important things. Take note of the stories that I just told you. I want you guys to be the opposite of all of these nightmare artists. Spoil your client. Listen to them. Be their therapist, make it all about them. Put on a show, give them an extra hand massage or neck massage. Look them in the eyes and tell them, "You know what? I really, really appreciate that you chose me out of everybody to be your artist. I love spending time with you. I love that I get to see you annually and I want you to know that I am forever grateful not only for your business, but for your friendship." Imagine, imagine. Now, that is an artist that I would refer to everybody. Oh my goodness.
I hope you guys found this a good one. If you did, if you did, please leave us a five star review on iTunes. You guys, iTunes reviews. I really appreciate. They are the best way you can say thank you. If this show or anything I've said has helped you or brought you a new client that you would never had, had you not implemented the tips that you've learned from this show, I would really, really appreciate it. Until next week, God bless you guys. Bye.
That's it for today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If there was anything in this episode that has impacted you in any small or big way, I want to know. You can reach me at realsheilabella on Instagram. By the way, if we are not text buddies yet, that needs to change. You can text my name Sheila, S-H-E-I-L-A 231996 and we'll be connected. I really love hanging with you guys on here. One last thing before we wrap it up, I got to include my kids, right? Hashtag mom first. So, here are Beau and Grey to close things out.
Beau:
Hi, my name is Beau and I'm five years old.
Sheila Bella:
Can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Now, fill in the blanks. Hard is-
Beau:
Fun.
Sheila Bella:
Easy is-
Beau:
Boring.
Sheila Bella:
Good job, buddy. I love you so much.
Beau:
I love you the best, to infinity.
Sheila Bella:
Grey, say share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
[inaudible 00:28:59] mama iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
[inaudible 00:29:03] listening.
