So let's take a moment to consider what is the best response we can offer those customers who will not be placated. If you're of the mindset that the customer is always right then there's really no debate… you simply acquiesce to the customer's demands and try to ‘close the loop' from a procedural standpoint to prevent the offending action from ever being allowed to occur again. Of course this is a little like the tail wagging the dog in that the influence of the least desirable customers become the driving force which determines the course of the entire organization. There is no success to be found following that course.

The other end of the spectrum is stubborn refusal to take any action in response to even a legitimate customer grievance but this approach backfires by driving away customers en masse. The only thing worse than bad business reputation is a spiteful reputation. Even if the customer is entirely in the wrong and unreasonable, the art of customer service is the art of diplomacy – finding common ground in which each party is willing to give up a little in order to meet in the middle. Come to think of it, there's probably a good lesson for our leaders in Washington D.C. in that statement!

So if we're agreed that common ground is where our best customer service opportunities reside, how do we put guidelines into place which can act as backstops against over-compensating the dissatisfied customer? That's why we have client relationship management software! Your salon management software should be more than simply a way to turn on beds and track visits – it should provide a framework for employees to document their customer interactions as well as offer enough latitude for employees to exercise some discretion in addressing concerns. There's a good amount of employee training that accompanies this requirement but all of the customer service skills in the world are useless if the software solution currently in place prohibits any action outside of what's been pre-approved.

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