Customer Service is one of those things that might sound easy on paper, but can sometimes be a lot more difficult to remember or implement effectively when you're interacting with your customer in person (or over the phone). Following are five recommendations that Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids (an award winning kids hair salon franchise system) has learned over the many years that we've served thousands of customers with a smile and the help they not only deserve - but have come to expect!

1. It's important to have the right information at hand! When interacting with a customer, the right information can make a big difference in the kind of interaction you might have with them. Wrong or unclear information might cause someone to leave with a feeling of annoyance, exasperation or that they just didn't get the solution they were wanting - which could cause them to look elsewhere. So make sure that your business has a great system in place that keeps track of relevant customer data. For example, let's say a customer contacts your business wanting to know about a service they received from a couple of weeks ago. If you're unable to quickly look up this information, or the employee who assisted them, the lack of details could lead to potential confusion over what they're asking for. 

2. Treat your customers like people! We've often seen very sterile communications with customers, which is laden with in-house terminology, number or letter sequences (for products) and sentences that seem like they're spoken by a robot. Or, I'm sure we've all had that employee who acts about as bored as can be when you call them up to ask a question, or take absolutely forever to give you the answer you're looking for. This all leads to a feeling that the customer is either just another number in some machine, or isn't really that important. So make sure that you're relating to your customers in ways that help them to feel valued and intelligent, and use language that is friendly and not too technical. One trick that might help is to actually smile when speaking to someone, whether in a face-to-face discussion or on the phone. It's a lot harder to convey an attitude of boredom or annoyance when you're smiling. 

3. Acknowledge customer concerns. This can be a tough one, as no-one likes to feel like they're in the hot seat. However, make sure that when you're assisting an upset customer that you listen carefully to their concern, and promise to make it right (as much as is feasibly possible). It's also important to utilize positive language over negative language when interacting with your customers. For example, negative language might be the use of "I can't or won't do that right now", or "This is not our fault". Positive language would be, "Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention. I would be happy to help fix this issue for you!"

4. Help customers with the ability to help themselves. Sometimes it can be frustrating for customers if they're looking for an answer that they know should be easily available online, but instead have to spend the time to contact someone at your business. It's a good idea to have a website where customers can find this information, and publicize it on social media or in your advertising so that they know this is where many of their questions could be answered. For example, a business website should include store hours, locations, services provided (with helpful descriptions) and perhaps even a frequently asked questions. Another great thing about a website is that it can communicate through photographs or videos, which can be very helpful for your customer in understanding more about what your business offers!

5. Be thankful to you customers. As noted earlier, customers love to feel appreciated and valued.  One way to do this is write thank you notes after a customer makes a purchase, or have customer appreciation days with fun give aways and snacks. You might also consider utilizing the blog on your website or social media to highlight positive customer feedback, good customer questions or photographs of customers in your store (with their permission of course). A lot of people complain about faceless mega-corporations that seem to regard them as just a number. So be sure to bring a personal touch to help your business stand out!

After having recently written about what it is that Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids is about (which can be read right here), we thought it would be fun to follow it up with an actual account of a parents review of a first-time visit to one of our stores! Following is what a father and his son had to say about what it's like to visit a Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids!

Matt describes that after learning about Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids from a friend, he made an appointment for his son to visit on a Sunday afternoon. "The receptionist was very friendly, and really sounded interested in what was going on," Matt noted. "This was a great first impression, as sometimes I've called stores and gotten ahold of people who weren't overly enthused to talk to me. It made a difference."

Matt then discussed that on the day of their appointment, he tried to arrive with his son a few minutes early. "When we walked in, I could tell this was the kind of place I would have loved coming to as a kid. And I could tell my son was really liking it too. He was drawn to the diecast vehicles and action figures in a cool retail area in the front of the store, and spent a few minutes checking these out while we waited just a minute or two for our haircut. There were a lot of toys and games for boys, but there was also toys and stuffed animals for girls -and there was jewelry, hairbows and hair products too, which was great. I also really liked the look of the store, as it has a lot of bright colors and fun artwork hanging on the walls. And there was a birthday party going on in the back, with karaoke, which added to the fun atmosphere of the place."

"My son pretty much knew what to expect for his haircut, but this was the first time he was able to play a game while he was getting it cut. He also could have watched a movie too, but he couldn't resist one of the building games that was available on the game console that he also plays at home. Meanwhile, I was able to stand nearby and watch, and we both gave our input on what we were looking for regarding his hairstyle," Matt explained. "The stylist was very friendly, and talked to my son about how his day was. She also talked with me too, and seemed like she really enjoyed her job. I saw that there were a variety of vehicle type chairs for kids to sit in while they were getting a haircut, but as my son is older, he sat in a normal sized chair. I later learned that I could have gotten a haircut there as well if I had wanted, and that sometimes adults will come in and get a haircut with their child for the sake of convenience. There's also various haircutting packages, where a mother and son can get a haircut together for a special price, or a daddy and daughter can get one too. I'll definitely plan on coming back again the next time my son needs his haircut!"

When Matt's son was asked about his visit to Shear Madness, he smiled and said, "My Shear Madness trip was so fantastic, it felt wonderful to get manly-scented hair gel put into my hair. I enjoyed playing the games while getting my haircut. I also liked how vibrant everything was, and had fun looking at the toys. I would definitely recommend this place, because it's good!"

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Are you interested in learning how YOU can join the Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids family and run your own successful small business? We are one of the fastest growing kids hair salon franchise systems in the industry today! If you would like to learn more about small business marketing, kids salons reviews, kids hair salon reviews, great marketing strategies, resources for small businesses, how to grow your small business, or how to become a successful owner of your own kids hair salon franchise business, please click below or call 1-888-98 GONE MAD.

Collecting customer feedback is an important way to gauge whether the efforts you are putting into growing your small business are really meeting the needs and expectations of your customers. Following are some different ways that customer feedback might be gained, as well as some helpful tips and useful questions you might want to ask.

Direct Communication with a Customer: One way to collect great feedback from a customer is to speak with them directly either through a phone call, or face-to-face dialogue. However, be sensitive as to when might be the best time to talk with a customer about their experience. For example, at Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids, we will often call parents after hosting one of our birthday party experiences in order to hear their thoughts and suggestions in regards to the event. We'll also seek to communicate with customers directly who might have a complaint, as we want to assure them that their concern is not only heard - but extremely important in helping us become better!  

EMail: Do you email your customers?  If you have a newsletter or other email campaign you will get people who unsubscribe.  Use this as an opportunity to get feedback.  Your email system may allow you to customize your unsubscribe email response - use that to ask questions, or if you have phone information on that customer give them a call.  Never mention the unsubscribe in the phone call, you don't want to make them feel singled out.  But, if you are always calling customers for feedback anyway just include these people in the list of those to reach out to.  You may find that those who unsubscribe still love your business, they are just moving, or clearing out email as they get too much!  Or you may find that something has happened that you need to deal with as an owner.

Surveys: Utilizing a survey to collect customer feedback is a great way to reach out to a much larger base of customers than you might be able to do through direct communication. Some of the ways surveys might be done is through a short questionaire that a customer can fill out at your business and drop into a box, or through an online survey sent to your customer mailing list. Some of the advantages of utilizing surveys is that some of your customers might prefer giving feedback in this manner. However, it can also be a challenge to actually convince customers that filling out a survey is worth their time. As such, offering a small incentive for their help can be a great way to encourage this customer feedback.

Survey Questions: Following are some sample questions that a business owner might want to ask their customers. As with any customer interaction, make sure that you do everything you can to help them feel great about their experience with your business. Thank them for their time in talking with you or filling out the survey, and possibly offer them a coupon for their helpful assistance.

• What was your primary goal in visiting my business today?
• Did my business meet your objectives?
• What could my business have done differently in regards to your experience?
• Compared to similar services you may have received elsewhere, how does my business compare?

Responding to Feedback: Of course we all love when we receive positive feedback. But what about when we get negative feedback? As a business owner, it's inevitable that you'll receive negative feedback and criticisms leveraged against your business. And while it might be easy to become offended and disheartened by such feedback, consider looking at criticisms as a way to help make your business even better. Most customers just want to be heard!  So when you reach out to someone with negative feedback make sure and really LISTEN to what they have to say!  Thank them for sharing with you!  If they didn't share, you wouldn't know - many times your system may need some tweaking and this can be jump started by this negative feedback.  There will be some negative feedback that may be totally unjustified, but if you evaluate the entire situation there WILL be something there that you can learn from to make improvements in your system.  Whatever the case, be sure to treat customers who provide negative feedback with as much care as you would a positive customer. Assure those customers who are critical that their thoughts matter and that you want to do what you can (within your power) to help make it right. 

The Best Feedback is a Referral:  If you can track your referrals this is a very nice thing to do!  Kindly reward those who refer you.  Most refer you with no expectation of any kind of reward.  But if they get one - a thank you note, a phone call, or an email - they will love you even more!

Are you looking for a franchising opportunity with someone who has your back and works hard to encourage your success? If so, why not check out Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids Franchising? Not only do we love to have FUN, but we also love sharing our many great business tips, free business tools and resources for small businesses so that our franchisees will have the tools to succeed! If you're interested in learning how to become a successful owner of your own franchise business, please click below!