The Guest Who Doesn't Know What She Wants (And What That's Really Costing You)

We break down why “I don’t know what I want” usually means decision overload, not hair confusion, and how that moment can either build trust or quietly cost you retention. We share a simple consultation shift that moves clients from endless options to clarity, confidence, and long-term loyalty. 
• decision fatigue in the chair and why more choices increase anxiety 
• the consultation as uncertainty reduction rather than information gathering 
• the lead question that changes outcomes: how the guest wants to feel 
• why clients buy feelings like confidence and comfort, not just services 
• how color analysis creates certainty and faster trust 
• the doctor analogy and why professionals prescribe solutions 
• leadership behind the chair and with your salon team 
• a “perfect day” question to guide identity-based transformations 
So if this episode made you think differently about consultations, share it with another salon owner or beauty professional today. And if you're ready to build a salon where trust, not guesswork, is your greatest competitive advantage, that's exactly what we teach inside Salon Business School. 

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Transcript

When Guests Cannot Decide

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever had a guest sit down in your chair and say, I don't know what I want today? Or maybe she pulls up six different Pinterest photos or Instagram or whatever, and they all look completely different from each other. You know, or she just says, I want something different, and offers you absolutely nothing else to go on. You know, if you've been behind the chair for any length of time, you've probably smiled on the outside and thought on the inside, okay, we're gonna be here for a while. And, you know, I want to suggest something today that might completely change the way you see that moment. Because I don't actually think your guest is confused about her hair. I think she's overwhelmed by making decisions. And if we don't understand what's really happening in her mind, it costs us far more than a longer consultation. It costs us trust, it costs us retail, it costs us retention. And sometimes it costs us the relationship all together. You know, here's what I think most salon owners get backwards. We assume the consultation is about gathering information. It's not, it's about reducing uncertainty. Think about your own life for a second. Have you ever walked into a restaurant with a giant menu, like hundreds of options? You know, makes me think of like um the Cheesecake Factory. You know, there's pictures everywhere, and suddenly you can't decide anything. So you

Consultations Reduce Uncertainty

SPEAKER_00 1:41

start asking the server, what's good here? And you're not actually asking what's good here. You're asking, can someone help me make this decision so I don't regret it later? You know, that is exactly what our guests are doing every single time they sit down. You know, we've been taught for years that great customer service means giving people unlimited choices. You know, would you like this or this or maybe this, or what about this instead? But psychologically, more options don't create confidence, they actually create anxiety. And people don't come to us because they want more choices laid out in front of them. They come because they want clarity. And those are two completely different things to be selling.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

You know, Lindsay, I remember the exact moment this clicked for me because I used to think about, I used to think being a great um consultant meant asking a lot of questions. Like, what do you like? What do you not like? What are you thinking today? How sure, how blonde, how warm, how cool. You know, I had a whole checklist and I remember I was so proud of that checklist, right? And while those questions do matter, you know, I started testing something on my own on the guests that I served because I wanted to know if the checklist was actually the

The Question That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_01 3:06

reason that people kept coming back to me. So for a stretch of time, I tracked it. You know, I paid attention to which consultations ended in a guest who booked her next appointment before she even left the chair and which ones didn't. And what I found surprised me, it had almost nothing to do with how many questions I asked. It had everything to do with which question I led with. So instead of saying, What do you want? I started asking, How do you want to feel when you leave here today? Everything changed after that one question. You know, the whole conversation moved from hair to identity. And once I saw the difference in my own numbers, I knew I'd never go back to the old checklist again. And here's why that question works so well. You know, think about the things that you've personally purchased recently. Maybe it's a vacation, maybe it's a new car or a purse, uh a home, or just even a nice dinner out. Like you weren't actually buying the object in front of you. You were buying the feeling you believe that object would create for you. Confidence, comfort, freedom, joy. You know, the exact same thing happens in our chairs every single day. Your guest isn't buying highlights, she's buying confidence. You know, she isn't buying extensions, she's buying possibility, she isn't buying skincare, she's buying hope. You know, the service itself is just the vehicle that delivers the feeling. And once you see it that way, you cannot unsee it.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

So true, you know, and and that's exactly why we became so passionate about color analysis inside our businesses, because it's the clearest example of everything Jin just described. You know, most guests don't speak the language of color, they don't know why one blonde looks incredible on them and another one washes them out completely. They just know sometimes I like my hair and sometimes I don't. And they've never once been able to explain

Color Analysis Builds Certainty

SPEAKER_00 5:15

why. You know, when we become the expert in that room, we remove the uncertainty for them. We're not selling them a service at that point, we're giving them certainty. And certainty is what builds trust faster than anything else we do. And that leads to the bigger truth underneath all of this. Salon owners often believe they're selling hair. You're not. Trust is actually what keeps someone coming back to your salon for the next 10 years of her life. And so when a guest finally says to you, whatever you think, that's not laziness on her part. That is one of the greatest compliments she will ever give you. It means I trust your judgment more than I trust my own opinion on this, you know? That single sentence, whatever you think, is where lifelong guests are born.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So let's talk about what this is actually costing salons because it's not what most owners assume. You know, it's not guests who don't know what they want. That's not the expensive part. The expensive part is professionals who never became confident enough to lead the conversation. You know, if you're always waiting for the guest to tell you exactly what to do, you've accidentally made her responsible for the outcome. But she's not the expert in that chair. Like you are. And the moment you forget that, the whole relationship shifts onto

Prescribe Solutions Like A Pro

SPEAKER_01 7:03

shaky ground. You know, here's a picture that always makes people laugh because it's so obviously true once you hear it. You know, imagine going to the doctor and saying, Oh, doctor, my knee hurts. And the doctor responds, Well, Jen, what what surgery would you like? You think, what? Isn't that literally your job to tell me? We laugh at that, but that is exactly what happens in salons every single day. You know, we ask guests if they want warm or cool tones. Would you like to be warm or cool tone? And 99% of guests don't know the difference between warm and cool. Guests describe symptoms. Professionals are supposed to prescribe solutions. That's what professionals actually do for a living. And this doesn't just apply behind the chair, it applies to you as an owner, too. Like your team often doesn't know exactly what they need either. They know they're frustrated, they know they're overwhelmed, they know something isn't working, but they cannot always name it. Your job isn't simply to ask them, what do you want? Your job is to diagnose the real problem underneath what they're saying. You know, that's leadership. And it's the same skill, just pointed at a different chair.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Yeah, so here's one of my favorite questions to hand you. You know, I want you to actually try this one this week. You know, instead of asking, what would you like today? Try asking if today turns out absolutely perfect. What would make you look in the mirror and say, yes, that's exactly how I wanted to feel? You know, notice what changes the second you ask it that way. You're no longer talking about inches or tone or foil placement. You're talking

A Better Script To Try

SPEAKER_00 8:51

about identity. You're helping her describe the transformation, not just the transaction. Those are two very different consultations that lead to two very different outcomes. You know, I believe the salons that create lifelong guests don't become successful because they do better hair than everyone else in town. They become successful because they reduce the uncertainty better than anyone else in town. They become guides, not order takers, trusted advisors, not technicians waiting for instructions. You know, that's why guests keep returning for years and year after year, you know, not because they remember every formula you ever wrote down for them, which is cool too, but because they remember how safe they felt trusting you with the decision.

unknown 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

So here's our challenge for you this week. The next time someone sits in your chair and says, I don't know what I want, don't panic, don't rush, and don't hand the decision straight back to her. Like lean in, get curious, help her discover the feeling she's actually searching for. Because most guests don't need more options laid out in front of them. They need someone they can trust enough to lead them somewhere good.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah. So if this episode made you think differently about consultations, share it with another salon owner or beauty

Weekly Challenge And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 10:17

professional today.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

And if you're ready to build a salon where trust, not guesswork, is your greatest competitive advantage, that's exactly what we teach inside Salon Business School. Because the salons that grow the fastest aren't the ones with the most services on their menu. They're the ones that become the most trusted name in their market. And trust over time becomes everything.