One of the most nerve-wracking experiences parents face is
having their child’s hair cut. Will the child sit still, will the cut be ok,
will my child like it, will I like it? In the city of
Two of the local players in my area are Melon Heads and
Little Tots Hair Salon. After two botched cuts at Melon Heads and almost 8
months without a cut my daughter’s hair was falling into her eyes and she was
sporting split-ends galore. It was time to brave another hair cutting
experience with my three year old daughter, Kiera.
What does any web-savvy parent do when looking for a place
to cut their child’s hair – check for reviews on the internet. Enter Little
Tots Hair Salon in the Beaches area of
Kiera and I arrive at Little Tots at 5:40pm on Thursday,
September 14th along with another parent and her children whom we
hold the door for letting them enter ahead of us. There is only one way to
teach manners to a young child and that is by demonstration. However, what
ensues next is a lesson in how to be “mannerless,” and two fatal business
errors that will cost any small business customers.
Laura, the lady cutting hair does not greet us; instead she
says rather gruffly “How many hair cuts?” The lady we let enter in front us
says “Two.” I say just my daughter “One”. What follows next is word-for-word
our conversation:
Laura: Well, I can’t cut your daughters hair.
Me: Why?
Laura: Well, we close at 6:00pm
Me: I checked your web site before coming it indicated you
close at 8:00pm on a Thursday.
Laura: The web site has been out-of-date for months.
Me: Are you sure you can’t squeeze her in, I drove 25
minutes in traffic and just paid money at the metre for parking?
Laura: No, I can’t. We close at 6:00pm, and frankly ANY
RESPONSIBLE PARENT WOULD HAVE CALLED THE STORE TO VERIFY THE HOURS ON THE WEB
SITE ARE ACCURATE. IT IS NOT MY PROBLEM.
Me: I am sorry but it’s not my responsibility to verify the
accuracy of the content of the information on your web site. It’s the
responsibility of the owner’s to keep their web presence up-to-date. Further,
if you have known the information is out-of-date for months, why wasn’t it
corrected by now?
Laura: I don’t have time for this, we are short-staffed
today and I have to leave right at 6:00pm.
I just walked right out the door and will never patronize Little Tots Hair Salon in the Beaches.
There are two lessons to be learned from this experience for small business owners. First, your web site is your virtual business presence. It’s no different than the sign you hang on your door with the hours. In this day and age, parents with busy schedules often conduct their research online. If your web site is not up-to-date, it has the potential to cost you customers.
I say “potential” to cost customers because had Laura responded “I am so sorry but the information on our web site is incorrect. I am going to bring it to the immediate attention of the owners to have it updated and prevent this problem from occurring again. Please take a lollipop for your daughter and I hope that you will return to have her hair cut at our salon. Please accept my sincere apology.” I probably would have returned, apology accepted.
Which brings me to the second lesson; customers are never wrong, never at fault and certainly should never be blamed. It was certainly not my responsibility to verify the accuracy of their web site.
This story does have a happy-ending. We walked further down the street to Hair Dynamics and Kiera got her best hair cut to-date. Further, they treated her like a princess giving her lollipops, a blue slushie drink, practiced patience with her wiggling around and even offered me complimentary water, espresso, etc. If you visit them for a child’s cut ask for Nilo, wonderful cut.
Little Tots, I hope you are listening “Customers maybe “hair” today but gone tomorrow.”
Photos of the new cut follow:
