How to handle difficult and picky clients

I’ve noticed a lot more amazing lash artists asking for help and advice in regards to lash clients who are difficult or picky.

And I’m so glad! To often we don’t speak up soon enough and then things become even more complicated. And girl, we ain’t got no time for that!

So, I thought I would address the issue with some fool proof ways to help you navigate those clients who are difficult and picky (it’s always the regular ones that you don’t want to lose, isn’t it?! LOL).

The most effective way to handle these situations is to address it before you even start! 

This is especially important if you already know they are going to be difficult or picky! But, it’s also worthwhile just doing it with every client. It sets a standard (and some boundaries).

How do I do this MariePierre?

Good question!

Every artist has a process and way of lashing. Explain your process.

You’re going to clean the lashes, prep the lashes, examine the lashes, assess the lashes, map out the lashes etc.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART that will save you stress and time AFTER the appointment.

If you tell your client in advance why you do or don’t put lashes on or why you miss certain lashes... etc then when they go to pick on your work after you’re done you can say, ‘remember before we started I was saying (insert what you said), well, that’s why I’ve done your lashes that way.’

If they’ve already been told what to expect, their usual response is, ‘Oh yeah, ok.’

Now I’m not saying they will all accept this as your final answer, but most will. The more informed a client is BEFORE an appointment, the less inclined they will be to argue with you after.

The other thing you could do to prevent difficult or picky clients is to let them know what’s happening DURING the appointment. If you’ve already explained how it works BEFORE the appointment, and now you are letting them know DURING the appointment - they can’t really argue with you at all!

In saying that, LOL, there will always be that ONE client who pushes all your buttons and still demands you fix your work.

For these clients, and we all know who they are, book an additional 15 minutes to their appointments, because no matter what you say, they will ask you to fix something. 

And then, go through all of the above - explaining why you did or didn’t add lashes - and when they say can you just fix this ONE thing, you can say, ‘because it’s you and I want to make you happy, I can do this ONE thing for you.’

So, even though you didn’t win in getting them out of your room first go, you at least were able to cut their list of 3 to 6 things down to ONE by explaining everything BEFORE and DURING their appointment.

Now, I know this may seem like a lot of extra work or talking, but it really only takes you seconds maybe a couple of minutes to explain all this!

The main purpose of this is to get their confirmation. When you explain something to them and you ask them if that’s OK, or if they understand what you’re saying - and then they say yes - they have no leg to stand on when it comes to arguing with you over their lashes. 

They already confirmed they understood. And you can nicely remind them that they confirmed they understood.

So next time you have a difficult or picky client come in, try this and then let me know how it went!

Good luck and happy lashing Queens!

Love, MariePierre xo.