Walk-in clients can add a healthy boost to any salon or shop’s revenue — but they can be hard to incorporate into an appointment schedule. We talked to four top barbers about how they manage walk-in clients.
Q: Are walk-ins really that valuable to a barber business?
A: “You need walk-ins to help grow your clientele. People move, change jobs, relocate, go to school — walk-ins breathe new life into the business. You also need walk-in clients to build business for new barbers that don’t already have a regular clientele.”
—Garland “G-Whiz” Fox, Wahl Education and Artistic Team Member
Q: How do you attract walk-ins?
A: "Word of mouth is your best advertisement." — Fox
Q: What are a walk-in client’s top concerns? How do you make them feel at home?
A: “Men want instant gratification, so making the walk-in process quick and easy makes a big difference. Men also want a professional they can trust, but they don’t want to wait forever for the process to begin.
"At my shop, all walk-in clients are given a new client consultation form and a quick ‘man tour,’ including a tour of the salon, an explanation of additional services exclusively for him and a stop at the fridge for a frosty beer or beverage.”
—Kelly Bileddo, former Sexy Hair Master Artist, Barber
Q: How do you juggle walk-ins without offending appointment clients?
A: “We book an appointment for all walk-in clients. The person who usually gets offended is the one who walks in and can’t been seen for another 2 hours. We’re busy, and sometimes we can’t see everyone.”
—Garrison Neill, owner of The Parker Barber
Q: Do you treat a walk-in differently from an appointment client?
A: “For me, appointment clients always take priority as long as they are on time. If a walk-in arrives, but I won’t have enough time to complete the service before my scheduled appointment, I explain the scheduling conflict and ask them to wait.
"I have a strict 10-minute late policy. If it’s 10 minutes past a scheduled appointment time and my client still hasn’t arrived, I take the walk-in customer and have my appointment wait.”
—Jessica Zeinstra, former Andis Global Education Manager
Q: How do you manage who services a walk-in client?
A: "While your first instinct might be to give a walk-in client to the next available barber, I recommend giving them to the individual with the week’s best numbers as a reward. This encourages all the other barbers to hit their goals." — Zeinstra
"See if you can squeeze in a walk-in client in between your appointments. You can work a walk-in client into your schedule between a shorter service, such as a shave." —Fox
"It’s all about who has the time to give them the service they want. That’s who gets the walk-in client in our barbershop." —Neill
We use a retention report to determine who gets the walk-in client. Our software pulls a report stating who is more likely to keep a client, and that person is first to get the guest." —Bileddo
This article has been updated since its original publication date of June 26, 2017.