Category: Just me being me

I was going to start this post by asking what happened to good customer service. However, after thinking about it, that is a bit too harsh. The truth is that I actually do receive great customer service every now and then. However, something odd has been happening in the hair salon world.*

I go to a fancy salon to get my highlights done a few times a year. I actually go out of my way to this salon to see a specific colorist, because I’m really picky about my highlights and I think she does a great job. After my last visit though, I’ve decided to break up with her.

Tell me if you think I’m overreacting.

When I arrive at the salon, a concierge-type person greats me, signs me in and shows me where to sit to wait. While waiting for my appointment, I hang out by a soothing fountain and help myself from a selection of complimentary drinks.

Once my colorist is available, which is typically on time, she takes me over to get into my robe thingie and then we settle into a chair in her area. I have had some issues with her in the past about not getting the exact right color, so she listens to exactly what I want and applies the highlights. I wait until they are fully baked and then I’m walked over to the rinsing station where an assistant reclines the chair for me, washes out the dye and gives me a super great head massage.

Sound pretty great, right?

Once my hair is washed out, a glaze is applied to tone down the brightness of the color. My colorist comes over to check on the timing of the glaze, tells the assistant how much longer until they can rinse it out, and then leaves. When the time is up, the assistant washes out my hair, dries it with a towel and sits me under a hairdryer.

And I never see either of them again.

Neither the assistant nor the colorist comes back to actually check and see if the highlight color is correct. More importantly, nobody seems to care whether I’m happy with their work. They’re involved with me as a customer right up until it’s time to ‘unveil the finished product’… then they’re gone. This is weird, right?

What if I’m unhappy with the results? Is it so wrong of me to expect the salon experience to last until I actually leave the salon? Oh, and this isn’t just a one-time thing, this is their policy!

Now, I’d understand if I were going to a beauty school where they’re just learning, or a cut-rate salon that keeps their prices down by shortening their services. However, the salon I go to is really expensive. I deal with it though because I’m afraid to start breaking in someone new.

I’ve asked my friends and this has started happening to them too. I don’t understand why this is becoming the norm! Do people actually like this kind of treatment? Wouldn’t the proper customer service experience begin the moment you enter the salon and end upon your exit?

As it is, instead of walking out of the salon feeling like a gorgeous Pantene girl, I leave feeling somewhat unfulfilled and a bit ripped off. I call for the return of great salon customer service. If anyone has had a great salon experience, let me know…I’m looking for a new highlights gal!

* Wow – that sounds like I need a well coifed McGyver to go undercover with his fancy straighter and handful of ‘product’ to solve this case!

I went to the gym the other day. Yeah, I’m going to just stop the sentence there so you can congratulate me for actually going to the gym to work out, rather than just hanging out at the pool.

Ok, moving on. Now, I go to one of those really nice lifestyle-type of gyms that has a hair salon, indoor & outdoor pools, café with healthy food choices, rock climbing wall, blah blah blah, in addition to the normal gym stuff. There’s tons of flat screened TV’s all over the place (so many that I’ve fantasized about taking one of the wall for “maintenance” and bringing it home for our living room) running TV shows, music videos, and special gym commercials and advertisements.

Well, as I mentioned I actually worked out at the gym when I went. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself for crushing some cardio (yeah, that’s how us gym-rats talk) and was thinking how awesome I was and that I should totally start working out on a regular basis. I mean, I had already done one day of working out, how hard is it to just keep this up and get into super saucy shape. It might take like a couple weeks* or something, but as I mentioned I was feeling pretty awesome.

Anyways, as I was leaving the gym I saw it: an advertisement on one of the jumbo televisions in the hallway that everyone has to walk past on their way out. So, what was the ad? Maybe a new health shake offered in the café or a special price for a mani/pedi appointment?

It was an advertisement to get a free consultation for plastic surgery.

Really?! Are you effing kidding me? So, basically you’re telling me that although you advertise your company as a gym (a fancy-schmancy gym, but a gym nonetheless), you figure you’ll give people an easy out to get the fat sucked out of them instead? Or it is that you want people to be perfect in every way, so you offer the perfect hairstyle, the perfect meal, the machines so you can make the perfect body and now, a plastic surgeon to “fix” whatever else is wrong with you.

Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?

Look, I know going into that gym that I’m not necessarily going to look like the petite 20 year old with a 6 pack who runs 7 days a week (hi Katie) no matter how hard I work out.  I’ve also finally gotten to that point in my life where I’m okay with the way I look. Now, there is definitely some room for improvement, but that’s on my own scale of beauty not anyone else’s.  So, the last thing I need to see when I finally work up the energy to GO to the gym and work out is that whatever I’m doing isn’t going to be good enough.

I get the idea of cross-selling, but this is just going too far! If you want to sell the healthy lifestyle, go for it with all those other offerings. However, hooking up with a plastic surgeon and offering a free consultation for anyone who has low self-esteem after sweating next to a Barbie doll for an hour is not the way to make your members feel mentally healthy, is it?

* Yes, this is a joke. I understand that it takes a long, long time to get in shape. I just don’t care.

I don’t go to a ton of tradeshows, but when I do I am amazed at the things that I see going on. You would think that if a company paid the money to participate in a tradeshow that they would put some time and effort into the way their company is represented once they get there. Well, you would be wrong.

Here are a few tips that I scribbled down so that you can learn from other people’s mistakes:

Put some time and money into your booth display

You could totally spend $10,000 and get the “mack daddy” of all trade show booth’s, but most people just don’t have that kind of money to sink into something that they only pull out a few times each year. Unfortunately, some people think that the only other option is to purchase a cardboard tri-fold from Staples and glue on some papers and brochures. Oh. My. God. Really? I made better displays when I was in middle school! I’m not even exaggerating; I saw multiple booths with homemade displays that looked like they let their kids put them together. Did I mention that the audience for this trade show was lawyers and judges? That doesn’t exactly sound like the kind of visual branding that is going to appeal to them, does it?

There are certainly a lot of really great booth options in the $1,000 – $2,000 range, but if you want to do something cheaper you can purchase an ‘economy grade’ banner stand and have it professionally designed and printed for a few hundred dollars. Another option is to pay a graphic designer for a couple hours of their time and have a poster designed and printed on foam backing at your local copy center. Once you purchase an easel to sit it on, you’re good to go with a professional looking design that is so much better then something you can make with glitter and a glue stick (true example!).

Brochures and handouts should be easy to grab

So, what goes on the 6 foot table that typically comes with every booth? Well, for one you should have your brochures readily available. Depending on the type of trade show you’re attending, it could just be your overview brochure or if you want to get really fancy about it, have your industry-specific brochures and newsletters. If you haven’t read it, you might want to check out Does my Company Really Need a Brochure.

Giveaway Items

Face it, many people at trade shows don’t really want to sit down and have an in depth conversation about your business and how you can meet their needs. However, if you have something really cool that you’re giving away, you have a better chance at having them approach your booth. When deciding what to give away, make sure that the item is appropriate to your audience. Ideally, it should be something imprinted with your company name and website (or phone number) so that when they see it again, they think of you. Added tip: raffle items and games to play are great conversation starters too.

Pick your people wisely

When deciding who is going to work at your trade show booth, be sure to choose the right person for the job. If the trade show is for a specific industry, make sure that the person representing your company is knowledgeable in the services that they would need. Also, make sure your booth workers are dressed appropriate to the event. If everyone attending the event is in a suit, you should be too. If the event is more casual, like at a beach hotel, company logoed polos work great.

As an added bonus, here are the most inappropriate things I saw that made me snicker:

• I saw not one, but TWO men with their zippers down. I would typically tell someone that their zipper is down by quietly approaching them and saying it so that nobody else could hear. However, one of the guys sprinted away too quickly after grabbing our giveaway for me to say anything to him. The other stared at my chest for so long that I decided he deserved to walk around with his hoo-ha out.

 

• One man was walking around with his event booklet shoved down the front of his pants, “Al Bundy” style. And not just placed in there, he had shoved his Buddha-belly aside so that it was really IN there, fully touching his man bits. Ewwww is an understatement.

 

• Please for the love of all that is holy, do not come into a tradeshow directly from the beach wearing nothing but your bikini and flip flops. It’s just as inappropriate for someone in their early 20’s with perky bits as it is for someone older when stuff is… well, not so perky. I don’t care how comfortable you are with your body. Unless you’re a stripper, if everyone else in the room is wearing clothes you should be too!