3 Problems with NOT Taking New Clients
Over the years I have tried many things for myself and with the team I work with. One thing that I found to be a bad idea was not taking new clients because myself or my team was “too booked”. At first this seemed like a perfect solution and it sounded kind of badass, perhaps a point of arrival to be SO busy that no one can “new” book with you. However this decision (if not made for the correct reason) actually harms you and your business.
Here are the 3 reasons why I have found this decision to be problematic…
Its a denial of the need to raise prices.
If you or one of your salon professionals is too busy to ever schedule new clients or existing clients cannot reschedule without huge issues, raising prices is the best business practice. This is the way to truly grow in your business.
It is so common for salon professionals to feel personal and emotional about pricing because clients may feel like “family” or “friends”. While it may be true that clients ARE family or friends, this is your LIVELIHOOD. The salon industry as a whole needs professionals that run their salons as the real businesses they are in order to maintain the respect the industry deserves and desperately needs. Check out my blog, 2 Reasons You Should Raise Your Prices. Putting a system of measuring productivity/utilization and retention is the best practice to have in place to monitor whether pricing is appropriate for your situation and business.
Stagnation behind the chair.
Generally speaking, salon professionals are creative beings. Creative beings require a certain amount of stimulation and creativity. Have you ever heard that eventually hairdressers sink into the pattern of doing the same 4 haircuts and 7 color formulas on everyone? I believe this is one of the results of not having enough new people in the chair to work with. Salon professionals need to stretch their creativity to keep from being bored. Being taken out of your comfort zone is one of the best ways to ensure growth, personal development and improvement of skills. Burnout is REAL and working with new people helps to keep burnout at bay.
A shrinking clientele.
If you refuse new clients, while it seems like it is out of “abundance”, it is actually an act of “scarcity”. I am a firm believer in what you put out into the world is what you get in return. Over time, if you do not accept new clients, your existing clientele won’t share about you with their circles and eventually your clientele will naturally become smaller. If you suddenly decide to take new people again because you have space, it isn’t guaranteed that you will see immediate results.
All clienteles naturally shrink over time for multiple reasons including general economic shifts, consumer decisions such as letting their grey grow out, clients moving, clients simply finding a new service provider because they couldn’t get in with you etc etc etc.
Refusing new people will make your business smaller overall.
Is there a time that refusing new clients is actually a good thing? Sure! There are reasons that refusing new clients may actually make sense for you…
You know you are moving.
You are about to go on a leave (like maternity or health leave for example) and will return to work with a reduced schedule.
You plan to stop working behind the chair.
I really believe you can help your team be more abundant by urging them to raise prices rather than refusing new clients. I have seen this first hand and I am happy that I experienced it when I was personally working behind the chair. If I could do it over again, I would elevate prices and not refuse new guests!
So much love + abundance to you for 2025!
Melanie
xxo