You likely have clients who come to your salon with their little munchkins. While some are perfect angels, there are definitely always others who are not. You want to maintain a certain type of relaxing and calming atmosphere, but you want busy moms to be able to stop by for services – so how do you find balance?
Some salons let children in anytime, anywhere. If you’re not 100% comfortable with that idea just yet, there are a few other options:
- Some salons have certain hours where mothers can bring their children (say, nights or parts of the day on weekends). If you go this route, make sure to make these hours easy to find on your front door, website, and brochures. Also, be sure to have your receptionist ask those making appointments whether they will be bringing in children or not. If they respond that they are, have your receptionist book the client during a “kid-friendly” time.
- Other salons allow children in – but only if the kids are also receiving paid services. You can even offer mom and daughter spa packages, which might encourage mom to opt for a more involved (and expensive) service for the sake of novelty.
- And if you still don’t want children in your salon, you can clearly mark that on signs in your salon.
If and when you do allow kids into your inner sanctum, here are a few quick tips for keeping them under control:
- Place a small side table in your salon with kiddie chairs and some coloring books. While their mothers are receiving salon services, they can stay busy!
- It is perfectly okay to tell your clients that their kids need to be by their side the whole time and they need to be behaved. First of all, you don’t want kids wandering around when you have all sorts of chemicals around and second off all, you don’t want them irritating your other clients.
- Offer kids juice or milk while waiting for their mommies. Maybe even offer some healthy snacks for them to munch on.
Have any specific tips you use? Share them in the comments!
-April Schallau, Sarah Emick
[Images: M. Appelman via Flickr Creative Commons]
