15th April 2025
The Cambridge dictionary describes the meaning of the word CONSISTENCY (noun) as: the quality of always behaving or performing in a similar way, or of always happening in a similar way:
CONSISTENCY is key!
I describe CONSISTENCY as the toughest challenge faced on a daily basis, in all walks of life; and especially when your daily life involves interaction with others. It’s tough because we are humans, full of emotional responses that are triggered by lots of different factors.
Take hairdressers as the classic example, it would be difficult to find a career that beats the need for CONSISTENCY consistently. Yes of course there are roles in life that demand CONSISTENCY, surgeons, dentists, doctors, nurses etc, people who have to be 💯 each and every day. But hairdressing and barbering is different because every 30 / 45 minutes a new client sits in the chair and expects their chosen stylist to be on top form. The reality is, aside from the way we feel when we wake up in the morning, something that can set the tone of the day, each client brings with them their own emotional baggage that they want to share with their trusted confidant! The clients also respond to the hairdressers conversation, and if their stylist has discussed retail or add on services and been faced with a NO, the emotional response is to not recommend anything to the next individual who sits in their chair. Why does that happen? It’s all to do with the emotional response to that tiny little word, it’s a negative that causes lots of hairdressers and barbers to stop the conversation that could lead to a successful recommendation, just in case it doesn’t happen. And in that scenario, CONSISTENCY is non existent.
And yet CONSISTENCY is expected by each and every client, and so it should be, that’s why I advocate Don’t Sell – Do Tell as this gives hairdressers and barbers, and their clients a greater sense of combined, invested involvement with products and equipment used on their hair that are (also) available for home use.
It is a challenge, but it’s not insurmountable, it takes a focussed approach and a realisation that each and every person who visits the salon is a new opportunity to share information with, and the more natural the conversation is, the more engaged the client becomes. That word NO is said for lots of reasons, the main one being, the client is allowed to say it! But it’s not a total shut down for ever and a day, it’s just a small word said at that moment in time.
CONSISTENCY is a daily challenge, but it’s such a worthwhile one as it reaps rewards, and that doesn’t matter if you are a hairdresser, a barber, a sales person, a manager, any role that involves interaction with other people, it’s the key to developing successful relationships, which in turn leads to more success in the ‘business dealings’ that happen.
I try to be 💯 every day when interacting with potential clients, and even when, for whatever reason, the message I get back is NO, it doesn’t stop me from maintaining a level of CONSISTENCY because, perhaps the next time the answer will be YES.
#BeConsistent #BePositive #BeFocussed #DontBeAfraidOfNo #ConsistencyIskey
