Just when you feel confident in an employee

[EliteMike]

Over the past 5 or 6 months one employee stood out to me as far as management ability goes. She has a key, A lot of access on Salon Touch and I trust her to make decisions.

I still trust her to make decisions, I do NOT trust her to pass on the decision to others.

This started 2 weeks ago when I was home and talked a good client into buying a I-Bronze. sold for 89.99 and she was happy. Well an hour later she calls stating she has a major break out. I said okay,no biggie, I've heard of it happening before with that lotion, my g/f is semi alergic to it. Bring it back we'll get her into something else. We were to do an exchange, and not a refund, the verdict was to swap for with love and pay the difference. I said put a memo on the account explaining what is going to happen. I told the client that we will be placing an order soon as I was out of a lot of product. The 90 bucks gave me the money I was waiting on to do the order.

So anyways, employee obviously didn't write a good memo and did not explain things to the client properly. Client comes in a few days later looking for a refund and apparently thats what the memo stated to do with my name on it. So now I'm out 90 bucks in revenue, i have a used bottle of I-Bronze, and a customer we can't reach because she keeps getting new phone numbers. Sent a message on myspace but she doesn't reply.

And with my issue with Colors of Unity yesterday, I told her to put a memo on the account. The memo said, "she gets half off lotion" it said nothing about the why or anything!

AHHHH, I told my parents to start looking for new employees that aren't pre-occupied with other stuff.

[Mojave Tan]

I am the only person who can process exchanges or returns in this store.

[EliteMike]

^^^We dont' do refunds, that's the rule. I have to give them the ability to do so for screw up reasons

[Kathe]

My staff knows that I am the only one who processes refunds. No exceptions.

[sunsally]

Couple of thoughts -

If she is a "very good client", she'll be back, don't worry about it. I certainly wouldn't hound her by phone and her myspace to get back the $90!!

As a one-time promotion, tell your parents to go to GFS, buy a sleeve of little 3/4 oz cups and sell samples of it for $5. You'll MORE than make up the wholesale cost you have into the thing!

Next time, if you sell the product, you make the decision to do an exception to the rule, YOU write the memo and tell your parents the situation. Let them deal with the client when she comes in so there is no confusion.

BTW hate to say it, but if she was really a good client, you and she spoke by phone and agreed she was going to buy With Love and she came in and instead got a refund, is now "keeps changing phone numbers" (in 2 weeks), hasn't been back to the salon and won't answer on Myspace -- she probably never had an allergic reaction, just buyer's remorse and bought something on-line instead and if you keep trying to get her to pay up she may just change salons altogether so she doesn't have to face up to it!!

I wouldn't be mad at the employee, and certainly no reason to look for a new employee if she has otherwise been so good for so long!

[EliteMike]

She told us she got a new cell phone number that day, but we didn't capture, didn't cross anyones minds.

She's a client that considered me a friend so I highly doubt she'd screw me, esepcially after buying lots from us without blinking an eye.

I don't blame the client one bit, I blame the employee, I blame myself for not checking the memo myself. This is a matter of her not explaining things in details for others to udnerstand.

I trust very few clients, this one I trust especially considering our history with I-Bronze. At least 5 clients have had negative comments about it. I was in and out of the salon that day, so this SEEMED like something an employee could handle on their own.

[EliteMike]

New employees are in need. Finding good help when the area consists of boys and girls with parents that have too much money, it's hard to find. Finding experienced help is no easy task either in that area. I'm considering the internship idea.

Salesman ship has been hard to come across, some days they are good, others they aren't.

[sunsally]

Well, maybe I'm missing something, but I guess it comes down to:

-if you're confident she's a good client and isn't pulling a wise one, she'll come back in with that $90 refund next time and buy the With Love anyway - so right back to where you were and there is no issue.

You still would have had the returned bottle of lotion. So still cup it out to recoup your costs. PLUS if you have had that many issues with clients and this lotion (I can't think of a lotion yet that has caused a client to break out for us in 4.5 years), then sampling this one before purchase seems critical anyway!

I just don't see this being a big deal, or certainly not big enough to say "look for another employee" for someone you thought was among your best. As you said - probably the blame falls more on you for not checking up or handling it yourself. But as soon as she comes back in and buys the bottle of With Love you are back where you were, and normally you don't allow refunds/exchanges anyway so this sort of situation isn't likely to come up again anyway.

Staff are only as good as we train them to be. Moments like this are teachable opportunities, to explain our judgement and why we made it so they can help to "think like us" going forward. Rare to FIND a "mini me" - usually have to create them!

[EliteMike]

Ann, the issue is I couldn't afford to be short 90 bucks. a 90 dollar lotion sell was a nice sale for a Saturday.

I didn't say the blame falls more on me, I said I blame myself for not checking. I still blame the employee more for not being specific. The employee who did the refund claimed that the memo stated refund. Of course the POS Salontouch doesn't record a history of memo's so I will never know. I was letting it slide until the issue yesterday with Colors of Unity, since it happend again with another memo by her which could be taken many ways. I am there maybe once every 3 weeks, my parents are there 3-4 days. We MUST trust employees to take care of a simple matter.

[sunsally]

haha - you can tell I'm bored, I rarely keep going on a thread like this!

Again -

1. If it is a lotion that you have already had 4 different customers and your girlfriend experience allergic reactions with already, I probably wouldn't be selling it, but if I did, and that happened, I would offer a refund anyway.

2. You said she is a good client and actually even a friend. So you didn't "lose" a $90 sale. It happened on a Saturday, was given back a few days later and now she has already committed to come in and spend that - and more - on a different lotion. So nothing was "lost" really.

3. If you don't have a history of what the memo actually said, it is the word of your employee who gave the refund and your long-time trusted employee who wrote it. It could very well be that the employee who gave the refund is trying to cover HER butt by saying it was the other gal's fault! Also - I still think that if you and this client/friend talked and agreed she was going to come in and buy With Love for more money, then she shouldn't have come in and walked out with a refund. Even if the employee tried to give it to her, why wouldn't she have said "oh no - Mike and I talked about this and I am just going to return this one and get With Love instead".

4. Bottom line is that falls back on the owners. Your employees should KNOW your policies on returns/exchanges and what and when you will allow deviations. They should know if there are any questions - call me (or Mom or Dad). But they don't just "know" - you have to reinforce and remind. I would take this occasion for your folks to write a simple note to all staff just "reminding" them of the salon return/exchange policies. I'm sure the staff is still a little confused about who is "in charge" with you having moved to DC, so this would be a good opportunity for them to explain that they are now the full owners, and their policies are.....(fill in the blank).


I wouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill on this one. Sounds like this is a gal who has been solid for months in a lot of situations. You said yourself that the other memo could have been interpreted several ways - including what it was supposed to say. So maybe she isn't a good memo writer! I still think it is an opportunity for her to be shown WHY more detail is needed in memos, just in case the person who writes it isn't the person in the salon when the situation is dealt with and has to go only by what is on the computer screen.

My experience is that if you have one that is mostly good, you sometimes have to overlook a few "little things", especially if it is something like this with a situation that is rarely going to come up anyway (refunds/exchanges).

There are so many BAD employees stories, that ones that are "mostly good" are gold!

[sparky]

can you make a variable sales code that can force notes into the client history with SalonTouch ???

I remedied this problem long ago in Helios by making just such a code.

we can 'sell' NOTE and up to 25 characters can be placed as a line note in permanent history, date stamped along with employee initials for future reference.

if more space is required, just 'sell' it again and finish the thought.

As another issue, no employee is authorized to return cash, only exchange with mgr approval, no exceptions. house rule.

[theislandtan]

Originally Posted by sunsally

I wouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill on this one.

I agree.

Also, our employees have both of our cell phone numbers and call if there is any question on what to do. This appears to be a communication issue and shouldn't be very hard to fix for future issues.

I would have refunded the money anyway. It's not the buyers fault they had an allergic reaction to a product. This is a customer service industry after all.

[EliteMike]

"This is a customer service industry after all."

so you agree on that now don't ya?

Customer always uses lotion, we know it was just for that lotion so no refunds in that situation.

[theislandtan]

Originally Posted by EliteMike

so you agree on that now don't ya?

If you did you wouldn't have hounded this lady over $90...

[EliteMike]

omg, when did hounding EVER come about? Ann pulled hounding out of her ass

[sunsally]

Originally Posted by EliteMike

This started 2 weeks ago when I was home.....

Client comes in a few days later looking for a refund and apparently thats what the memo stated to do with my name on it. So now I'm out 90 bucks in revenue, i have a used bottle of I-Bronze, and a customer we can't reach because she keeps getting new phone numbers. Sent a message on myspace but she doesn't reply.

Hey, hey, hey -- no talking about my butt here!!

Yes - hounding was my word. Sounded like it had only been about 1.5 weeks since she got the refund, she's a good customer so she should be back soon, but you were trying to call her (and the "keeps getting new phone numbers" made me think she changed them a few times just in the last few weeks) AND sent a message on Myspace.

I'm old school, where not everyone is plugged into technology 24/7. If I had something like this, I would never call the client and certainly wouldn't send them a message on myspace! I'd just wait until the next time they come in and sell them their new lotion. If this customer "always uses lotion" and is a good friend -- I just still can't see the big issue here. She just didn't like THIS lotion - no harm, no foul (even though, re-reading, you said she came in 'looking for a refund').

But I was probably more keyed into "hounding" after what happened to me this morning! I got a phone call on my cell phone at 8:25 a.m. (Sunday) from what turned out to be the guy that came out to my house to give me an estimate for a new deck for my house on Friday evening. I didn't recognize the number, answered, and was shocked it was him calling at that time/day. Then he went on to tell me that he was calling because he left his camera bag and tape measure here. Sure enough - still in the backyard by the grill where he left it (my backyard is isolated and nobody had been out there since he left Friday - not an area where you would expect someone to steal it). He asked if I would be there for him to pick up. I said "probably, but if not, I'll leave it on the front porch".

At 1:30 in the afternoon - FIVE HOURS LATER - he shows up to pick it up.

His quote for the deck was 25-35K depending on materials (it is a BIG deck). To be honest - I think he just lost the job. I just cannot IMAGINE calling me, that early, on a Sunday, on my cell phone, over something like that!!! If he is that out-of-line on "customer/company" boundaries, I don't think I would want to do a whole project with them.

Anyway - your customer will probably be in this week, get her new lotion and all will be water over the dam! MY guy just lost a lot more than a $90 sale!

[EliteMike]

Maybe I should add that we were supposed to call her when the lotion came in, except the phone number is no good anymore.

[tam_marie]

What happened with your other clients that had a reaction to the lotion? Did they exchange the lotion?


I would like to know if other (salon owners) have experienced the same thing with with this lotion.

[aimeekat]

Wow!
It's rare I get a client with a reaction to anything. Is everyone having clients with problems from Ibronze?

[EliteMike]

The others used packets, so they did not buy the bottle. I am out of packets right now and a few people were there that said they liked it.

My g/f only breaks out in certain areas with it. Which is odd