ep. 024 • Are You Overwhelming Your Clients?

Chelsea: You know, sometimes, in an effort to reach perfection, we can make things difficult for ourselves. The challenge with this is that because our intentions are in the right place, we often don't even realize the error in our ways. Today I'm highlighting a common mistake that artists make and explaining how, if you're guilty of this, you may be losing more money than you'd ever considered.

Welcome to the Hennapreneur podcast — the exclusive podcast of its kind dedicated to giving you an honest look at the realities of making a living as a henna professional.

I'm your host Chelsea Stevenson, a tea-loving, shoe-collecting mother of three in constant search for the most poppin' pair of earrings and the perfect shade of red lipstick.

I'm also a professional henna artist and business strategist who went from barely being able to piece together a fluid design to being the owner of the most celebrated henna boutique in my city.

I'm on a mission to help henna professionals to harness their skills and grow vibrant, profitable businesses that they absolutely love.

If you want to make more money with your art, you are definitely in the right place. Let's get to it!

Hey hey hennapreneurs! So, question: what does it take for potential clients to book you? Really think about it. If you've got a piece of paper nearby, you might even take a moment just to write it out. After they found you and fallen love with your art and they're ready to book that appointment, then what happens next?

Be specific.

Do they have to text or email back and forth with you to explore their options and like, match up availabilities?

Do they have a long exhaustive list of like, all the different services that you can provide? You know exactly what I mean so don't even play. Let's... You know: small appointment, large appointment, top of the hand only, hand and wrist with one finger, hand with all fingers with moderately intricate designs, hands with all fingers, both sides with intricate designs, finger capping optional. It's just too much!

Look, as professionals, we all know the different ways that clients might wish to experience our services. We understand that there are infinite opportunities for them to engage us, and we really do want so badly to give our clients what they want when they visit.

The thing is, you are the professional. They, my friend, are not.

You've seen all of these different variations in your experience with henna and you understand all of the nuance that goes behind designing a piece, and you are aware of the fifty-'leven different ways that henna can be done — from placement to composition, from regional style to intricacy and well beyond.

And because you are the professional, you're tempted to dump all of those options right on your client's lap in order for them to choose. And I know, I know, you want to serve them well. And trust me, I do, too. I get it. But do you know what most people do when they're faced with having too many options? They choose none.

By dumping all of these options on your client's lap, what you're doing is placing them in a position to have to make one decision after the next and "decision fatigue" is a real thing.

When you overwhelm your clients with too many choices, and especially if those choices are such that they start to feel shame around not understanding the difference between option A and option B, or worse, option A and option Q, they will—and take my word for this, friends—they will opt to save themselves the hassle and frustration, and they will make the choice to simply disengage, okay?

Let me repeat that again, because I feel like I might've lost a few. If you cause your clients—or potential clients, because they haven't engaged you just yet—if you cause your potential clients to feel overwhelmed, and especially if it comes to a point where they feel like by asking too many questions they feel dumb or they feel shame for not knowing or understanding why this option or this package is a better fit than this option or that package — yeah, you're going to have a pretty big problem, because what's going to happen is, instead of them choosing to book you, they're just going to walk away. And just like that, despite every good intention you may have: buh-bye! You lost the sale.

So, how can you avoid this? Because, ultimately, that's what we all want to know, right? Well, no worries. I've got a few tips to help you out.

The first tip that I've got for you today is: I want to encourage you to streamline your booking process as much as possible.

The fewer actions that your potential clients have to take between wanting to book the appointment and actually booking the appointment, the higher your chances are of securing their business. It doesn't matter how they came across your business, whether that's by word of mouth, or they found your website on Google, or they came across your Instagram feed, none of that matters.

Regardless of how they come to you, you need to have a streamlined process for how they can actually book. That way, if they text you, you can say: these are the steps to take. If they come across you on an online platform, it's all mapped out and made easy for them to simply start the process.

The fewer actions they have to take, the easier it's going to be for them to book. The fewer decisions they have to make in the process, the easier it's going to be for you to get that dollar, okay?

So my second tip for you is to minimize your service offerings.

And I know this might sound counterintuitive. You're likely like, "Well, Chelsea, if I have fewer services, then aren't I leaving money on the table?"

The answer, my friend, is "No."

By minimizing your service offerings, you're actually going to create an environment that allows for your clients to feel super empowered to select what's right for them.

I encourage my students and mentees to charge based on time, rather than doing so by piece. And part of this is exactly why.

This enables you to create any of those million variations that are possible, but within the parameter of the time that your client has selected. Instead of going back and forth over the tiniest of details in order to give them a quote, it's as simple as: "Do you want 15 minutes of henna service for X-dollar amount or would you prefer an hour of henna service for Y-dollar amount?"

It's a much easier conversation to navigate, and it makes it simple for your clients to pick what they want.

The third piece of advice that I have for you is to have a system for addressing those more involved services. Listen, I understand that there are services that require higher touch.

For example, if you're a bridal artist, it's likely that you are going to have a lot of things that you're going to want to review with your clients. You want to get a feel for their style. You want to understand how much coverage they want. You want to know how intricate those pieces are going to be. You want to know if they're going to be booking you just for their pieces or also for pieces for their mother, for their sisters, for their bridal party, for perhaps their Sangeet, et cetera.

Like, there is a lot that goes into that. I know. But instead of having your client have to select all of those pieces on their own, and navigate all of the 50 million options that you have, just imagine how exhausting that would be.

Instead, what I would suggest is requiring a compulsory bridal consultation with all of your potential bridal clients. And charge for it! During that time, you can ask them all of the questions that you need answers to so that you can give them a proper quote for their booking, and you can do it in such a way that's less exhausting for them while also respecting your time and your value.

Make it easy, friends. Make it easy for your clients to access you. They'll appreciate you for it. And you'll see the revenue in your business begin to rise as well.

So, with that said, I'd love to leave you with this to think on: how can you make the booking process easier for your guests? If you're working with those smaller services, in what ways can you streamline your booking process? In what ways can you minimize those offerings and make them a simple, "Pick A" or "Pick B", right? Rather than, "Here's this huge list of options for you to select from."

And if you're dealing with a more, you know, a more involved sort of designing, like with bridal henna, or even perhaps with a prenatal session, or other sorts of specialty offerings, how can you create an environment where your clients are able to book something with you and where you will be compensated for that time, but giving yourselves also a space and a time during which you're going to be able to assess their needs and give them a quote for that larger package down the line?

I invite you to think on this, and really be honest with yourself. Come up with a tangible solution. One that allows for you to actually take an action inside of your business to refine your process and allow for your systems and strategies to be more user-friendly for your potential clients.

If you need some help brainstorming, or if you know exactly what you're going to do, let me know inside of the Hennapreneur Community! You can join in on the conversation there by visiting Hennapreneur.com/community. I'd love to hear your insights.

Until next time. Bye for now!

I've got a serious question for you:  are you ready to stop playing small with your art and to take your business to the next level?

 Are you tired of feeling like you're doing it all to grow your business, but you just aren't seeing the results and the success that you're looking for?

Perhaps you've got clients here and there, but you know inside that your potential expands far beyond what your business is generating today. You may know that you're a solid artist, but you can't seem to crack the code on the business side of things, and you may find  yourself wondering, "What gives?!"

If any of this sounds like you: Listen up! Because I've got some really great news for you.

I've got a free, on-demand masterclass called 5-Figure Foundations where I'll teach you my framework for how to build a profitable henna business. During the masterclass you'll learn how to position your henna business for success -- even if you don't have any background in practical business management. You're going to learn the critical steps you need to take in order to get your budding business started off right or to correct the broken one that's burning you out.  You're going to learn why you need systems, not feelings, to make more money and to expand your business. We're going to get real clear, real fast about how you're likely getting in your own way right now, and how you can remove the frustrations that are holding you back.

I'm also going to share my tried and true framework for establishing a profitable, sustainable business, and I'm going to tell you all about how my students are continuing to grow their businesses and celebrating some pretty big wins in the process, even through those everyday challenges that you might expect, like juggling work and home life, and even those massive challenges that you might've never seen coming, like navigating a pandemic while being a business owner.

At the end of the masterclass, you'll no longer be in the dark. You'll know exactly what to do and what to avoid to build a solid foundation for your own profitable henna business. To register for the masterclass and to watch it instantly on demand, visit Hennapreneur.com/foundations.