By business type
Why a salon quote needs a consultation, and what still answers well
A salon price list is a set of starting points, not prices. What a colour costs depends on length, thickness, what is already on the hair and what the client wants, which is why every experienced stylist answers a price question with a question. An assistant that quotes a from price and offers a consultation is behaving correctly. One that quotes a total is setting up an argument at the till.
What people actually type
Not the questions on your FAQ page. These are the phrasings that arrive in a chat window, lowercase and unpunctuated, and the material has to answer them in those words rather than in yours.
- how much for a full head of highlights
- how much is a cut and blow dry
- do i need a patch test
- how long before my appointment is the patch test
- how long does balayage take
- can i have a facial while pregnant
- do you take a deposit
- what happens if i cancel on the day
- how long is a gift voucher valid
- can i bring a friend to my treatment
- do you do hair extensions
- can you fix colour done somewhere else
What to feed it
In rough order of how much work each one takes off the front desk. Every one of these is a document you almost certainly already have.
| The price list written as from prices with the reasons | Each service with its starting price and a plain sentence on what moves it: length, thickness, how many bowls of colour, whether a toner is included, whether a cut is extra. Writing the reasons down is what lets the assistant explain the range instead of just refusing to answer. |
|---|---|
| Stylist or therapist levels and how they price | If you charge differently by level, say what the levels are and what the difference is. Clients see two prices for the same service and assume a mistake, and the explanation is short and easy to publish. |
| Patch test policy in full | Which services require one, how far in advance it must be done, how long it stays valid, what happens if a client has had colour with you before but not recently, and that an appointment will be refused without one. This is safety information and a source of same day disappointment, so it needs to be the clearest document you have. |
| Timings for each service | How long each appointment takes, honestly, including the long ones. A client who books a colour correction expecting ninety minutes and is there for five hours has had a bad day regardless of the result. |
| Deposit, cancellation and lateness terms | The deposit taken, the notice period, the charge for a late cancellation or a no show, how late is too late to still be seen, and what happens to the deposit either way. Salons lose real money to empty chairs and the terms only work if people knew about them. |
| Gift voucher terms | How long a voucher lasts, whether it is for a value or a named treatment, whether it can be part used, whether it transfers to somebody else, and what happens if prices rise before it is redeemed. |
What has to reach a person
Any actual price for a specific person's hair
A colour price depends on length, density, condition, existing colour and the target, and no combination of those is visible in a chat message. The from price and the factors that move it are safe to state. A total is not.
The correct handling is to quote the starting price, explain in one line what moves it, and offer a consultation. That is exactly what the salon would say on the phone, and it is the answer that protects both sides.
Anything medical or a contraindication
Pregnancy, a skin condition, a recent procedure, medication that affects the skin, a sensitive scalp, an allergy history. Many treatments have genuine contraindications and the answer is not a policy lookup, it is a conversation with the therapist and sometimes with a doctor.
The assistant should say plainly that it cannot advise on this and route it to the salon, and the refusal should say that a consultation happens before the treatment regardless.
A colour correction or a repair of somebody else's work
This arrives as a price question and it is not one. Correction depends entirely on what is on the hair, how it got there and how much of it there is, and it often takes several appointments. It needs photographs at minimum and a consultation properly.
A complaint about a result
Unhappy with a colour, a cut or a treatment. The assistant should never adjudicate this or quote a refund position from a page. Take the details, say the manager or the stylist will call, and get it to them the same day if you can.
The wording when it cannot help
This is the message the assistant returns when nothing in the material covers the question. It is written by you rather than generated, which matters here more than anywhere: it is the sentence a stranger reads at the worst moment.
I cannot give you a firm price without seeing your hair, and I cannot advise on treatments where pregnancy, medication or a skin condition is involved. I can give you our starting prices and what changes them, patch test timings, how long each service takes, and our deposit and cancellation terms. Leave your details and we will arrange a consultation.
It names what it cannot do, gives the route that can, and offers to take a message. A refusal that only apologises leaves the person exactly where they started.
Rules and duties that shape the answer
Patch tests are a safety requirement, not a formality
Manufacturers of hair colour and of several other products require a skin test before use, and insurers and product liability terms in most markets follow that requirement. A salon that colours without one is usually outside both the manufacturer instructions and its own cover.
That is why the assistant must state the requirement firmly and never suggest a way around it for somebody booking at short notice. Index the timing and the validity period precisely, and let it repeat them verbatim.
Gift voucher expiry rules are regulated in many places
Several markets set a minimum validity period for gift vouchers, restrict short expiry dates, or require that an unused balance stays usable, and the rules have tightened in a number of them recently.
Do not let an assistant infer voucher terms from a general page. Index the exact terms you apply where you trade, and review them, because this is one of the rules most likely to have changed since the voucher wording was written.
A cancellation charge only holds if the client agreed to it
Cancellation and no show fees on services are enforceable in most markets only where the term was made clear before booking and is proportionate to the loss. A charge that appears for the first time after a missed appointment is the weakest position a salon can be in.
The upside is straightforward: an assistant that states the deposit and the notice period to everybody who asks about booking is quietly doing the work that makes the term stick.
Never, whatever the documents say
Out of bounds
- A final price for a colour, correction or extension service.
- Whether a treatment is safe during pregnancy or with a medical condition.
- That a patch test can be skipped, shortened or done on the day.
- How long a colour correction will take, or what result it will reach.
- Whether a complaint about a result will be refunded or redone.
Playbooks for this trade
One page per recurring question, written for a salon or spa rather than in general. Each carries the phrasings, the material that answers them, a reply worth copying, and the line where it has to stop.
- The patch test that has to happen before the appointmentA colour booking has a patch test deadline attached. Raising it during the enquiry saves the appointment that would be turned away.
- Moving an appointment, and what happens to the depositAn empty chair costs the stylist the slot. The notice term only holds if the client was told first, so tell everyone who asks.
- Why nobody can price a correction without seeing the hairWhat is already on the hair decides the work, and nobody can see it in a message. Offer a consultation and photographs instead of a number.
- From prices, stylist levels and the honest rangeLength, thickness and stylist level move every figure on the list. Publish the reasons and the range can be explained honestly.
- The suitability question a salon must never answer from a pageA suitability question is not a policy lookup. Stop, say why, and put the client in front of a therapist before anything is booked.
- The deposit is holding hours, not a serviceWhy a deposit tracks the length of the booking rather than the price, and what a prepaid course does when a session is missed.
- Cancelling the arrangement, not the appointmentSome cancellations end an arrangement rather than an appointment: sessions left on a course, a repeating slot, a day booked for six.
- The last colour goes in long before the door is lockedThe last slot for a service is set backwards from closing, the salon is open longer than any one stylist works, and Monday is often shut.
- The meter runs out before the colour doesA two hour bay does not cover a full head. Which car park to use, where the entrance actually is, and the stairs to the first floor.
- Unhappy with the result, and the reply that does not adjudicateThe offer in this trade is a redo inside a window with the same stylist, not an argument about a result nobody in a chat can see.
- The questions nobody rings a salon to askWash your hair or not, what a first colour consultation covers, and what a robe and a locker actually mean at a spa.
- The morning that starts at six and has to finish by elevenA group takes the floor and the morning runs backwards from a ceremony time, so it is staffing and a trial before it is a booking.
- The stairs, the basin and the height of the couchStairs to a first floor, whether the basin can be used without lying back, and a quieter hour for a client who needs one.
- There is nothing to return, so what is the money positionA cut cannot be handed back. Where the money stands on an opened retail bottle, a part used course and a voucher bought by somebody else.
- Most salon billing questions are voucher questionsThe voucher is the commonest billing question a salon gets, and balances and expiry sit in a record only the salon can open.
- Waiting for one person's column to openClients wait for a person, not a service. What a short notice list really asks when the gap that opens is a three hour colour.
- The ingredient question that has to end in a refusalAn ingredient question is a safety question. The manufacturer holds the list, the patch test stands, and the assistant refuses.
- Shut Sunday and Monday, so nothing is read until TuesdayMany salons close two days running, so an honest wait is Tuesday. A scalp reacting tonight needs a number, not a message form.
Questions
- If it cannot quote, is the price question worth automating?
- It is the most valuable one here. Most people asking are trying to find out whether you are in their range, and a starting price with one line about what moves it answers that completely. The consultation offer at the end turns the question into a booking rather than into a lost enquiry.
- Can it enforce the patch test rule?
- It can state it clearly and repeatedly, which is most of the problem. The failures happen when somebody books a colour for tomorrow without knowing the requirement, and an assistant that raises it during the enquiry rather than at the door prevents that appointment being wasted.
- How do we handle out of hours enquiries about irritation or a burn?
- Write the refusal so anything describing irritation, a burn or a bad response to a product ends immediately with a phone number and advice to seek medical help if it is serious. That reply should not contain aftercare tips, because this is not an aftercare question.
Keep reading
- For a restaurantHours, last orders, deposits and dietary options are safe ground. Confirming a dish is free of an allergen never is.
- For a hotelRate inclusions, check in times, parking and room accessibility answer well. Live availability and a named reservation do not.
- For a holiday rentalWhat is provided, deposits and cancellation terms answer well. The exact address and the door code stay back until a booking exists.
- Every business typeWhat an assistant has to know before it can answer for a trade.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.