Nail Business - Clients and the nail technician

| December 9, 2011 |

As I said, if you do make the leap and move to a new salon you are absolutely entitled to contact all of your clients. I recommend calling all your clients personally first. Be prepared that they may not all be pleasant or want to go with you.

You will have clients that side with the salon. Be nice and wish them well, you never know what will happen if they stay at your old salon. They may come looking for you in the future. Follow up with a letter that you mail, and later an e-mail, to any client that doesn’t make an appointment with you when you speak to them. Specials and coupons are a smart marketing tool as well. Always keep things pleasant and NEVER badmouth or gossip about the salon you have left. Clients don’t like trash talk and you should never burn your bridges. Somewhere down the road you may end up working there again.

Personally I have left salons for only 2 reasons. One was when I was in college and I found a salon I could work at that was very flexible. They would book me clients when I was home for holidays or weekends and in the summer. The second was to work in busier salons and make more money. I was contacted on 2 different occasions, by former co-workers that had opened their own salons. Each time it was a much better offer then I already had. I always went to my boss and let them know what I was offered in case they wanted to match it.

On almost all occasions (when I left to open my own shop my boss was less then happy for me) it was a pleasant parting of the ways. The salon owner isn’t usually happy, but as long as you don’t sneak out in the middle of the night (which I have witnessed) they usually come to terms with it quickly. That’s not to say they won’t ask you to clear out your station immediately, any smart salon owner will. If you can, give your notice on a Saturday when you are done for the day. This way if you need to leave immediately you can empty your station and have a day or two to contact your clients and set up at your new salon.