Working with problem clients: what to do and how to behave as a makeup artist?

How to communicate with problem clients and is it worth fulfilling their every whim? What to do if a person does not want to pay for the service? How to behave if they provoke you and try to cause a scandal? And how, in the end, to win over a client and make him permanent - our permanent expert Olesya Koryakina answers all these questions.

Olesya Koryakina , makeup artist, make-up artist for the morning show “Rank with Ukraine” on the TV channel “Ukraine”

How to deal with problem clients?

Work in the service sector is a “person-to-person” type of profession, which requires the makeup artist’s ability to interact with different people. One of the most important is the ability to recognize types of clients and, depending on this, competently build a model of your behavior. This helps improve the quality of customer service, build long-term effective relationships with them and turn even a potential customer into a permanent one!

Without a doubt, the hardest thing to work with is problem clients. Based on my experience, I know that it can be awkward and at times even embarrassing for some clients! People with characteristic behavioral characteristics include capricious, greedy, hot-tempered, nervous, or simply spoiled by life. How to please this category of clients?

My method of working with problem clients is very simple, but it had to be developed with time and experience. Previously, I fulfilled every girl’s request, every whim and tried to please her as much as possible, but the result, naturally, left much to be desired. Therefore, now I first try to fulfill all the client’s wishes, but if this cannot be done, the person is annoying and interferes with my every movement of the brush, I simply say: “Sorry, I’m not your master.” Oddly enough, after this phrase, clients calm down and begin to behave calmer and more civilized.

How to behave in different problematic situations?

The client is not satisfied with the result. Most often, this situation develops if the girl was initially in the mood for something else. She saw a picture on Instagram of a beautiful model with perfect makeup after careful editing in Photoshop and wants the same thing! It is important for the makeup artist to explain before performing the work that it is unrealistic to get an identical result, but you can take the shape and combination of shades as an example. Talk through all the points, talk about every difference between the appearance of the client and the model (shape of eyes, lips, skin type, etc.) so that the woman is initially tuned to a different result.

The client expected to pay less. Discuss the price initially so that the client is ready to pay for the service and the price does not come as a surprise to him. If you are going to perform an additional service, also state the cost.

The client does not want to pay for the service and is looking for an excuse not to pay. An example from personal experience. During the process of creating makeup, the client was satisfied, she was satisfied with everything and had no complaints about the work. But as soon as the phrase “Ready!” was heard, the person became completely different! The woman suddenly stopped liking makeup, and she categorically did not want to pay for it. Then I offered to wash off all the makeup, since I couldn’t let go of a dissatisfied client with what he thought was ugly makeup. The woman immediately calmed down and silently paid for the work.

The client is late and demands to be served. Makeup artists are often limited in time, and if the client is late, he must understand that the next person will wait for the artist exactly as long as the first one was late. This is unethical, so in such cases I always tell latecomers that makeup can be done, but it will be simplified. If the client insists on technically complex makeup, I suggest another time, if available. Otherwise, I say that I cannot serve you, explaining all the nuances.

The client is in a bad mood. If a client comes angry, nervous and is simply looking for a reason to incite a conflict, do not be fooled by the provocation, but simply do your job in silence. Often this behavior calms the person and does not give rise to a continuation of the scandal.