Dealing with clients who "lose" nails
And remaining professional in the process.
Before I discuss anything else, I want to start this blog post by saying this information is not product related (although if you are interested in this please leave me a comment and I can arrange another post for this specifically). In this post I want to help you deal with clients who lose nails and manage those situations. For those of you who saw my Insta Live on this subject and want a reference for the information, or if you missed it and want to hear my advice, then I have included everything below.
So, what do you do when a client contacts you because a nail has broken or “it just popped off”?
How you deal with these situations really starts when the client is sat in your chair at their initial appointment. The maintenance and longevity of the nails is a two way thing. Your client needs to work with you and understand the importance of their part in keeping their nails in good condition and prolonging the wear of the enhancements they are having applied. Would you spend money having your hair coloured professionally and then wash your hair with washing up liquid at home? I’m pretty sure you wouldn't! And if you didm you wouldn’t blame the hairdresser for the poor condition of you hair. It’s all about communicating to the client what they should and should not do to get the most of their service. It’s our responsibility as their nail professional to give them this information.
Giving aftercare advice is often rushed at the end of a service when a client has already switched off and is thinking about where they have to be or what have to do when they leave your salon. I find the best way to give aftercare advice is to drip feed it throughout the service. Chances are your client will ask questions or mention things that relate to the advice you are going to give them, so when these things crop up, mention that part of the aftercare. They will be far more receptive and will take the information in at this stage. At the end of the service I remind them of the aftercare we have already discussed and give them an aftercare leaflet to take away with them. This means they are getting the information three times; throughout the service, at the end of the service and also in written form to take home with them. You also want to be careful how you word things. For example, “it’s a good idea to use cuticle oil daily” is not as effective as “you will need to use cuticle oil at least twice a day to maintain the condition and flexibility of the nails and prolong the wear of your service”. Ask you client at the end, “do you need any cuticle oil to take home with you today?”. If you’ve put all of that work in to giving them aftercare, make sure you follow through with this question as well and retail any items they need. I’m not going to go into exact aftercare points as I’m assuming most of you know this already, but if you’d like a post specifically on this subject please let me know.
What do you do when a client contacts you to let you know they’ve lost or broken a nail? The first thing to ask is how did it happen, and if they are communicating to you via phone or email, ask them to send you a photo of the nail. Seeing the nail first will help you to establish two things; how long do you need to allow in your diary for a repair and is there any damage to the natural nail. The damage to the natural nail is an important part, as it will show you whether there has been any force which has caused the incident. I wouldn’t highlight it at this stage unless the client asks, but bare it in mind for when they come in for their repair to remind them not to use the nails as tools.
You’ll want to offer to repair the nail as quickly as you can, in line with your repair policy. Make sure you have guidelines in place, such as you’ll repair free of charge for anything within the first 5 days and anything over 5 days is charged at full repair price. Ensure that your repairs are priced properly. If your repair price is too low clients will not see the value in looking after their nails.
When the client returns to you for their repair, have a discussion about how the damage happened and run through any aftercare that is relevant. Always make sure you reiterate the importance of cuticle oil as this is the one I find clients are the quickest to forget. I always remind about the use of cuticle oil if clients encounter issues of any kind as dry nails can cause major issues with adhesion. Explain as much as you can to your client, the more knowledge you give them the more they trust your judgment and advice as a professional.
Hopefully, repairs will be few and far between, but occasionally we all get a client who constantly breaks nails. If you have followed everything I’ve already covered and are still having issues then you need to have slightly different conversation with them. When constantly reapplying product to nails which are being poorly looked after and damaged by constant breakages then this is not going to be any good for the natural nail, and the more damaged the natural nail the less likely the nails are going to stay on. It’s a vicious cycle! You’ll need to have a very honest conversation but try to keep it as friendly and light hearted as possible. You want the client to understand and start looking after their nails properly, not decide they are going elsewhere because they’ve had a harsh telling off! Explain that you are doing all you can to try to get the product to last but that it is a two way thing. Tell them you want to work with them to keep their nails healthy. You need them to make sure they are following all of the aftercare on a daily basis, and if they keep having issues it may come to a point where you have to stop providing services for them. I find these kind of open conversations usually result in one of 2 options; 1. the client suddenly stops losing nails and looks after them as they want to keep coming to you for their services, 2. the client stops coming to you. Now I know the second option if something we all try and avoid. We all want to please everyone. But, do you know what? You can’t please everyone. If you’ve remained professional and been friendly in your approach to the subject, then having a client that doesn’t respect your work can actually be more damaging. Reputation can take a long time to build up, but can be damaged very quickly so you want to make sure your days are filled with clients who look after their nails.
What happens if the client keeps coming back but is still having issues? It’s time to discuss other options with them. Explain that the constant reapplication of nails is not good for their nails and suggest trying another product or service. Even if the client insists they don’t mind the nails breaking it’s time to really think about the health of their natural nails. As nail professionals, that nail health should always be at the forefront of what we do and you have to stick to your guns.