8 ESSENTIAL POLICIES EVERY LASH BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE
Setting boundaries is important, and the same thing goes for you and your beauty business.
By having these policies clearly outlined, it will save you so much pain and heart ache dealing with cancellations, rescheduling, no-shows and requests for refunds etc.
As a business owner you need to cover your own butt.
For 97% of your clients, you never have to worry about anything. But for those few Karens in the mix that just love to make a problem, it is best to be completely legal and transparent.
So we've broken it all down for you, babe!
DEPOSIT POLICY/BOOKING FEE:
Having an online booking system through your website takes all the heart ache out of taking deposits. Because of the legal system and Consumer Rights in New Zealand and Australia, it is recommended that you don’t take a non-refundable deposit, but instead take a ‘holding fee’ or ‘booking fee’ that is then deducted off the service once complete. For full details on what you can and can’t do on this subject please have a look at this blog below ⬇️
'NO SHOW' POLICY:
It is always essential to be polite and understanding with people. However you should have ‘stiff’ policy on the terms of no-shows. One great idea is to have as part of your policy that no-shows will be charged the ‘booking fee’ as taken above and then when they want to re-book again they will be required to pay a 50% of that new appointment up-front.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
24 hours notice is required to cancel or change an appointment or they will be charged a cancellation fee (which is the ‘deposit’ you’ve taken when booking in). This prevents last min cancelations and no-shows. It is also good to note that if you are expecting 24 hours from your clients, then you should also give them the same courtesy.
FULL SET OR REFILL POLICY:
This is an important one to implement. It will save you time and effort clearly out-lining in writing exactly what qualifies as a ‘Full Set’ and what qualifies as a ‘Refill’.
YOUR GUARANTEE POLICY:
It is lovely to put into your policies what you will do for your clients too, not just what you expect from them. So add into your policies what you / your salon will guarantee to them as a client. Some ideas would be that you can guarantee your work for blah number of days if a client is unhappy with anything you’ll refill / fix it for free within those days. Outside of this window you can not guarantee your work.
COMPLAINTS & FEEDBACK POLICY:
To avoid horrible posts on social media and review websites, you can implement as a company policy that all complaints and feedback be directed to you immediately. Give some way (like email address etc) whereby they can communicate directly to you if something goes wrong. It is better this way, because it gives you a chance to handle the situation, before anything escalates.
AFTERCARE EXPECTATION POLICY:
Clearly explain what is expected from each client as their aftercare routine. You should have instruction cards or something similar to give to each client at the end of their appointment. Also add in this policy that you can not guarantee your work if Aftercare is not followed.
REFILLING OTHER'S SALONS' WORK POLICY:
Personally, I can see both sides of the argument on to fill or not fill other tech’s work. I will leave that up to your own decision to do or not to do. Whichever you do, you should implement what your ‘rules’ and procedures are on filling other tech’s work and that are clearly defined before the client arrives for their appointment.
