54
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[00:00:00] This is episode 54 of the Artist to Artist Podcast. This is the podcast for self-taught and undertrained makeup artists who are ready to stop second guessing themselves and start showing up like pros.
My name is Angie, and if you're tired of feeling like you're faking it until you make it, you are in the right place. Today we're talking about the client communication mistakes that are costing you bookings, re bookings, and probably more money than you realize.
Let's start this episode with a bit of a mindset shift. When you are communicating with clients, whoever they are about a job that they wanna hire you for, I need you to remember that you are not the only professional that your clients are dealing with. Whether it's a bride planning her wedding, a photographer putting together a shoot, or a company that's hiring you for an event or for an e-commerce shoot, they are communicating with other people, caterers, other photographers, venues, florists.
There's a lot of moving pieces. When people are putting together jobs, , your clients have a baseline expectation for professional [00:01:00] communication because they're working with multiple service providers. This means that you're not just competing against other makeup artists. You're actually being measured against the professional standard that these clients experience with every other business they work with.
And if your communication doesn't meet that standard, then you are going to look amateur by comparison. As MUAs, we work independently. We are often solo operators, and I think it's easy to get into this bubble where we think we are the only people having conversations with our clients. But the reality is, even if it's subconscious, your client is gonna compare your level of professionalism to everyone else they're hiring.
The goal here isn't just to book the job, it's to communicate at a level that is gonna build trust, that shows you're competent and makes these clients wanna work with you again. And that's what turns one-time clients into repeat clients and clients who are going to refer you to other people.
So let's talk about some of the mistakes that I see that I think [00:02:00] immediately signal amateur instead of professional. The first big category is the actual quality of your communication. This is a particular pet peeve of mine. I am talking about those messages that you send that look like text to your friends instead of professional correspondence.
For example, short casual responses with no punctuation, spelling errors, way too many emojis or just emojis messages that start with, Hey girl, Hey babe. Hey, beautiful. Instead of a proper greeting. That's the one that really gets me. This might feel friendly to you,
but to clients and especially those a little older than you or corporate clients, it just signals immaturity and lack of experience. And this is not just for clients who are hiring you, this is also when you are communicating with makeup artists that you wanna assist. So remember that as well. I see this a lot with younger MUAs, and I see this with assistance that I've.
And I just really need to be direct about this. When your tone is too casual, it signals that you don't have [00:03:00] the maturity to handle professional relationships, and it can even come across as disrespectful. Like you can't be bothered to communicate appropriately for the situation. Now, I know that. Trying too hard to sound overly formal, I think is a little awkward, but it's not nearly as damaging as being too casual.
I think being too casual makes clients question whether you'll take their job seriously and other makeup artists as well. The second mistake is just not having clear booking policies and procedures, and I've talked about this on this podcast before, or if you have them, but you don't communicate them properly, this immediately tells clients you haven't done this very much and you really don't know how things work.
, Professional service providers have systems., They have a clear process for booking, for payment, for cancellation, for changes. When you are making it up as you go, it definitely shows and it makes clients nervous about working with you.
The third major category, I think is just timing issues, and this is huge for clients rebooking you because it affects the client's entire [00:04:00] experience when they work with you for the first time. Asking Way too late for information. You need to do your job well. Like asking about in bridal venue details for onset stuff, the look that your clients might want, or any special requirements asking this last minute, a couple hours before the job, the day before the job.
This just makes you look disorganized and unprepared on the other side of that, communicating really important information to your clients, too close to the job time. I've seen this before. Changes to your rates, scheduling, , what's included with the service that they're booking you for. This is more for personal services.
This stuff needs to be handled way in advance. You can't spring this stuff on your clients at the last minute. And then there's the lack of follow through on the entire booking process itself. So you start with the initial inquiry. You do some back and forth with your clients, maybe you provide a quote, and then there's nothing.
So there's no confirmation process, no clear next steps, and there's no professional booking sequence. This, I think is [00:05:00] where a lot of potential bookings fall apart because the client doesn't feel confident that you're actually gonna show up and do the job, and a client will signal this to you when they email you saying things like, Hey, just checking in to make sure we're good for Friday.
Or, Hey, anything else you need from me for tomorrow? These types of messages. Show you that the client is not feeling confident about something, and sometimes that's something you've done, and sometimes it's just their personality, but we wanna rule out that it's something that we've done. The fourth mistake is not setting clear expectations upfront.
This is so important when you don't communicate what is included with your service. And this is more for personal services, your booking policies, how things are gonna work. Clients can sometimes feel surprised or even a little bit disappointed by the whole experience, even if you've done technically good work.
And I think sometimes you will find this more with personal services or personal clients where they don't know what to expect and they maybe haven't worked with a [00:06:00] makeup artist before. So it's important that you let them know how this whole thing is gonna go. I see this all the time. Those MUAs who feel like they're being difficult or rude with their clients, if they communicate their boundaries, their policies, what's included, what's not.
But the reality is professional service providers set clear expectations. It's not about being difficult. It's called being professional when you don't communicate your cancellation policies, your payment terms, your arrival time, even. Or something as simple as what the client needs to do to prep for your booking.
You're essentially setting yourself up for misunderstandings and clients who are gonna be disappointed. And what I think is really happening in these situations is that a lot of you just flat out do not see yourselves as business owners and as business professionals just yet. You are thinking of this as a side hustle or something that's more casual.
You're not taking it seriously. So as a result of that, you communicate about the job, like it's casual, but your clients are hiring you as a [00:07:00] professional service provider. They don't know how many times a week you work or don't work, and they are gonna expect that professional level of communication.
The fifth mistake happens during and after the job, and this mistake comes from poor communication that makes you look like you are not doing your job properly, that you don't care, you're not responsible, or you're not taking the job seriously. And this will happen a lot if you're not communicating with makeup artists that you are assisting.
So not only with clients. This could be not communicating if you're maybe running late on a makeup application, not talking about what you're gonna be doing for the application or the look that you were hired to do. Not going through mood boards, not checking in to make sure there are not any last minute changes.
And then of course, not giving your clients realistic expectations about timing. This is a big one. Or after the job. So there's no thank you, no follow up, no invoice sent on time, no asking how everything went. You just kind of disappear until the next time you need work. If you compare this to other professionals that your clients might be working [00:08:00] with for a wedding, a photographer will follow up with delivery timelines when your clients can expect a first look at the photos, retouched images, all that stuff. A caterer is gonna send a thank you and probably ask for feedback. A venue coordinator is gonna check in to make sure everything went smoothly, and when you don't follow through with that same level of professional courtesy, you look like you just don't care about the relationship beyond that one job.
What all of these mistakes have in common is that they make you look inexperienced and unreliable and inexperienced and unreliable doesn't get rebooked, and it's not gonna make people excited about referring you. So how do you fix this? The simplest thing, you just start communicating like the professional that you wanna be seen as.
This is just a mindset shift that you can make instantly. As soon as you're done listening to this episode. Please use proper grammar and punctuation. Take time to proofread your communication. Start with appropriate greetings. No more. Hey girl. Hey, beautiful. Hey babe. End with just your name. [00:09:00] Please
Develop actual booking procedures and communicate them clearly. This is really important because people barely read things when they need to, so you wanna make sure it is there loud and clear.
Have a process for inquiries, consultations, bookings, confirmations, follow up stuff. Make it clear what happens to your clients at every single stage. And this is specifically very important for those of you working with personal clients.
Handle your timing appropriately. Ask for the information that you need to do your job well in advance. Sometimes you'll get it, sometimes you won't, but you wanna ask. Communicate important details as soon as you know them. Don't do this at the last minute and confirm your jobs ahead of time.
Set those expectations upfront with your clients and do not ever apologize for having professional policies. You wanna explain with your personal clients specifically what's included in the services that you offer with all of your clients. You wanna let them know what a timeline is gonna look like, what you need from them, and then of course, what your policies are.
You do wanna follow [00:10:00] through after your jobs, send thank you messages, invoice on time. That drives people crazy when you don't invoice on time and ask how everything went so you can maintain that relationship and it shows that you care just beyond getting the paycheck. Okay. Remember, you are not just trying to get through one job.
'cause I know we can think like this sometimes you are trying to build a reputation as someone who is professional, reliable, and very easy to work with. That reputation is what gets you rebooked and sometimes more importantly, referred to other clients.
The mentorship piece that I think is most helpful here is understanding that professional communication is actually a skill that you have to work on and that you can develop, you can learn the standards, you can implement the systems, and you can start communicating at a level that builds trust with your clients, and that's gonna help you build the career that you want.
If you have done some of the things that I've talked about or are doing some of the things that I have talked about in this episode, and you're ready to improve things in your business and change things up [00:11:00] this month, in the Artist to artist membership, we're covering exactly this.
The client management systems that actually work. I'm sharing everything I do when I communicate with my clients. We are diving into professional communication templates,
booking procedures that are gonna help you approach your clients more confidently and how to handle every stage of the client relationship like the professional you are. There is a seven day free trial so you can check it out and this month's content is gonna help you communicate at the level that gets you rebooked and referred.
And the link for that is going to be in the show notes. And that's it for this episode. I will talk to you on the next one. And remember, communicate like the professional you want to be seen as. Thank you so much for listening. Bye.
