- TREAT EVERY TIME LIKE THE FIRST

A lot of barbers look at their first time customers as people they need to invest their time with, and it is true, you should invest your time in making sure that the new customers into your barbershop are well taken care of, but on each subsequent visit you should focus on that guest even more than the first time. I call my regular customers by “bread and butter”, they put the food on my table and pay my rent every week. I know a lot of barbers that will put in the work to get that first customer to come back and once they have them in their chair 3-5 times they just stop cutting their hair with the same amount of precision and care. Beware the feeling of comfort, it’ll come back to cut you. Treat your “bread and butter” clients even better than the first timers, they are the reason you are where you are.

- FOCUS

When I say focus, always give your regulars a full on consultation, make them feel special each and every time they sit in your chair. Compliment them, and make sure you mention their name and something that you remember from the last go round.

- CONSISTENCY IS KEY

If you can’t cut a consistent haircut then make sure to put in some practice. Consistency is key to client retention. If you killed the haircut the last time, make sure you kill it the next time. Sure, everyone has bad days, but if you build a system around how you cut that works, you’ll never have a bad day. Don’t put out bad haircuts, always make sure that your consultations are thorough, always make sure that you and your guest understand each other before you start cutting. And if you can’t do the cut...don’t do it. Learning techniques on new customers is something you should not tackle unless you have direct supervision. Trying something new on someone who isn’t a friend or family will not make your reputation.

- WORD OF MOUTH

Word of mouth and reputation is everything. Remember you are only as good as your last haircut, if you damage your reputation by rushing through some ‘boring’ haircuts to get to something more interesting, than you don’t deserve to be busy. One bad haircut is one person bad-mouthing you and your barbershop to at least ten people who in turn will tell five who in turn will tell two and so on.

- A&A

Appearance and attitude are everything. IF you look good, talk a good game and speak a good game, and have some amazing stories to tell...you’ll be busy. Just make sure to back it all up with a good to great haircut. If you can’t deliver that, than none of this makes sense.

- BARBERSHOPCONNECT

Connect with your customers. This is key. If the two of you are having a good time and you are creating great cuts while having a great conversation...customer for life.

- DON’T GET CRUSTY

Don’t get stale. If you and your customer hit a rut, where you are no longer cutting the sickest cut for them...then prepare to get dumped for the barber two chairs away that has the crispest line-ups, or the biggest pompadours. This is why you have the consultation every time...to make sure your regulars are happy. Go so far as to ask, “Is there anything different that you’ve been wanting to try?”

- GET PROPER.

Groom yourself. Be the person that you’d like to get your haircut from. Breath mints, deodorant, great hair, trimmed nails and great clothes will bring people back.

- GET ORGANIZED.

Pig-backing on this, try to be one of the most organized and sanitary barbers in the shop. You may not think that people notice what you are doing with your station and cleanliness, but they do, and they will come back if you are an organized and clean person.

- SMILE AND CHAT UP EVERYONE.

Be friendly with everyone that walks through the door. You never know when that someone might want to switch it up and come sit in your chair. Odds are if a customer does this it won’t be forever (they’re likely seat switchers), but enjoy the extra income and customers if they do come.

-  EDUCATE YOURSELF

Know the latest trends and keep your skills on the cutting edge. If you can predict what is going to happen next and deliver it to you customers, they will see you as a valuable asset in their personal style.

• Education

I can’t begin to stress how much education means to a barber. It is quite literally the difference between a clean, precise haircut, and a haircut that leave your customers fleeing your barbershop looking for another one. Maybe you live in a small town and your barbering licensing program was haphazard. Perhaps your original teacher or mentor wasn’t as great as they made themselves out to be. There is a good chance that you weren’t paying that much attention during your schooling and were smoking blunts outside the door before you went in, because you thought you were better than that. Whatever it may be, I’m going to tell you right now, be humble, you are never too far into this game to learn more.

• You’ll Never Know Everything

You can’t know everything there is to know about something. You can’t start your career as a master, you have to learn how to become one. I know I’m not a master yet. I believe I am a very good overall barber that isn’t afraid of any hair type, any hair length, knows urban and classic styles, knows chemical work (colours, perms, straighteners). But there are holes in my education. I can become a better barber in many ways, and when I look at my improvement in my craft in the past years it comes down a few key ideas.

• Be fearless

You are going to make mistakes through your entire life. Make your mistakes early and leave them in the past. Fearing new ideas or techniques you can’t do is never going to help you improve. Find a guinea pig, or a couple of them, and give them some horrible haircuts. The sooner you get the bad out of the way, the better.

• Be a student

Find mentors. Seek out the best people in your area and work with them in some capacity. You can never do this too soon. Sweep the floors, maintain good communication and over everything else, learn what you can. If you have to switch barbershops to learn what you can from different people, do this early in your career, as you want to do what you can to maintain consistency with your customer base early. If you can’t find them in person, search online. There are so many different ways to find education online. YouTube is a huge contributor to barbering education and there are so many different barbers that you can learn from and so many different styles that you can learn. You can always reach out to any of these online contributors and ask them questions about something you are having a hard time with. Travel as much as you can afford to learn more. Hit up barber shows, competitions, look as far and wide as you can. Look into hairdressing even.

• Be curious

Be a searcher of knowledge and technique and don’t let anything stop you while you do it. Learn from everything around you, the people, books, the internet, through trial and error, by competing in competitions, or going to barber conventions and taking in whatever education you can. Don’t ever consider yourself to be better than any other barber, they may know a little technique that will change the way you cut hair. It may seem stupid and simple to ask questions, but I believe the curious are the ones that are successful. Don’t let yourself become and stale. Curiosity is the key to keeping it fresh.

• Be an educator

There is nothing quite like trying to explain something to others to clarify the ideas in your head. When you teach someone your technique and how you do something, you are allowing for the information that you have learned to return to the collective. To me there is nothing more satisfying than passing along your information to others and allowing them to become better at what they do.

If you want to see an uptick in your customer base, if you want to create loyal customers that trust you, follow these tips:

Be positive

You don’t have to be a friend to every single person that rotates through your chair, but it helps to be welcoming. You don’t have to bomb every single client with a giant goofy grin (but if that is your personality though, go right ahead). Don’t throw your smiles away for free, but if your guest happens to say something amusing, or funny, take the time to look them in the eye and give them a smile. This makes everything seem so much more genuine, they will feel as though they earned your respect and admiration.

On top of this, approaching your service with positivity is contagious. Laughter, eye contact and a good story will go a long way in helping people like you.

Make Them Feel Like A Baller

We all want Drake to come and sit down in our chair and get a haircut. Reputations are built on cutting celebrity’s hair. Try to imagine every person that sits in your chair is the cut that will make your career. If there is something that you can do that will make every single person sit in your chair feel special, do it.

Treat people like they are the most interesting person that you’ve ever met, and they will love you for it. Listen to what they say, repeat it back to them, and ask them questions based on what they have told you. They’ll love you forever.

Note The Details

It is so damn easy to think about your laundry list of to-dos while you are barbering, but I’ll let you in on an easy way to make someone feel amazing...listen to what they are saying and remember it.

If you can remember details about every single customer that comes through your shop, the name of their dog, a business venture that they’re involved in, where they are vacationing, and then ask them about it the next time they come through the door, you’ll have customers for life.

Don’t think you can manage this? Write it down. I have a small notebook where I attempt to write down the names and details of each customer in an annotated form.

Don’t have the time to do this? Make time. Get a note app for your phone and spend a minute quickly dictating it to the app. If you have a really bad memory like I do, take a picture of the haircut and person to go along with this detail and finish off your day by going through the pictures and adding more details.

Compliments

Don’t be afraid to say how much you like someone, or something that they’ve done. You can show admiration for their watch, their jacket, or the amazing car that they drove to the shop.

A couple of well-placed words will do wonders for your customer relationships. Try it out today and let me know what you think in the comments section. This is easily one of the best tips I have ever gotten for customer service, because everyone loves having something nice said about them.