Explained: the power of truly listening to your clients as a beauty pro
By Marie-Louise Coster | 16 July 2024 | Expert Advice, Feature
Session nail stylist, salon owner & educator, Marie-Louise Coster, shares the value of listening and retaining information shared by clients…
Listening and hearing are the same thing aren’t they? Incorrect. I’m sure I’m not the only person whose partner hears what they say but doesn’t listen to it, therefore not absorbing the information. That, my friends, is the reason I should have married George Clooney – and the difference between listening and hearing.
Listening is a valuable skill: it is understanding the meaning in words spoken to you, interpreting their tone, deducing any hidden connotations, reading the accompanying body language and responding to all of this. When you don’t listen to what someone is saying to you, not only is it irritating to the other person, but it shows a lack of respect and makes the person feel like what they have to say isn’t important or interesting.
Listening is a huge and significant part of our jobs. To you, a client may be the sixth customer you have seen that day, and you may be exhausted and thinking about your long to-do list. But for the client, that is likely the first time they have seen you in weeks, they may live alone and have no one to talk to, and your conversation may be the first time they feel comfortable enough to share something.
Many years ago, a client was reflecting on her life during an appointment. As an only child whose parents had died, she admitted that she felt on the periphery, because she had no relatives to share memories of her childhood with. She told me a story about how, as a child, her father would take her to the local shop every Saturday, and would buy a newspaper and a Cadbury’s Tiffin bar. They would walk home and snuggle on the sofa together, as he read the paper and she ate the Tiffin bar. Cadbury’s had stopped making these in the UK, but I knew they were available in Ireland and I visit annually.
A year later, while in Dublin, I bought the client a Tiffin bar. During her next appointment, I presented her with the chocolate and she burst out crying and threw her arms around me. She couldn’t believe I had remembered her story. I replied: ‘it is an important part of who you are, and important enough for you to tell me, so the least I can do is remember it’.
Our roles are so much more than the services we provide. By actively listening to each client, you make a huge difference to how they feel going forward. You allow them to feel special and like someone cares, and the world needs more of that.
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