The menu is not the only thing she reads

What the client sees

Welcome to Salon Ivy! 💕 We are a boutique salon offering a full range of hair services. To book, please DM us on Instagram or give us a call — we can’t wait to meet you! Prices on request. Deposit required for colour.

Where it loses clarity or money

• “Full range of hair services” tells her nothing she can book. She cannot choose, so she does not choose.
• DM or call means she can only book during the hours you are already busy. Assume most of your bookings would have happened between nine at night and midnight, because that is when she is on her phone.
• “Prices on request” does not read as discreet. It reads as expensive and unpredictable — the two things she is checking for.
• “Deposit required for colour” names a charge with no amount, no rule and nothing she has agreed to. That is the sentence that becomes an argument at the desk.
• Nothing here says where the salon is, which is what she searched for in the first place.

A stronger version

Salon Ivy — colour and cutting in [neighbourhood]. Book online, any time: [link] New here? Start with The Colour Consultation — 30 minutes, [price], credited against your first colour appointment. Prices: [menu link]. Every colour service is quoted at the consultation, before we begin. Colour bookings hold a [amount] deposit, applied to your bill. Cancellation terms: [link]. Open [days]. Parking on [street]; our door is beside [landmark].

What changed: choice (a named first appointment for someone who does not know what to book), price rule (a deposit with an amount and a destination), next action (a link that works at eleven at night), boundary (quoted before we begin), and place.

What the client sees

Please give as much notice as possible if you need to cancel. Repeated no-shows may result in a booking fee. We reserve the right to refuse service.

Where it loses clarity or money

• “As much notice as possible” is not a window. It cannot be applied, so it never is.
• “Repeated” is undefined and “may result” is not a rule. Both of them put the decision back on you, in the moment, in front of her.
• “We reserve the right to refuse service” is a threat with no mechanism attached. It frightens the careful clients and does nothing at all to the others.
• She has not agreed to any of it. It is on a page, not in the booking.

A stronger version

Your appointment time is held for you. We ask for [hours] hours’ notice to change or cancel. • Less than [hours] hours’ notice: [amount or percentage] of the booked service. • A missed appointment: [amount or percentage] of the booked service. • Running late: we will do what can be done safely in the time remaining, at the price of the booked service. Notice is counted from the time shown on your confirmation, in [timezone]. You agree to these terms when you confirm a booking. Exceptions are at the salon’s discretion and are recorded. Full terms: [link]

What changed: a number instead of a feeling, one rule per situation, the moment of agreement moved to booking, and exceptions acknowledged as a thing that exists rather than a thing you must pretend never happens.

What the client sees

Name Phone Email What service would you like? Any allergies? Y / N How did you hear about us?

Where it loses clarity or money

• The allergy question is the important one and it is a tick box. A yes with nothing after it is not a record — and this is the line that matters most if anything ever goes wrong.
• “What service would you like?” assumes she knows your menu. The clients most likely to be disappointed are exactly the ones who cannot answer it.
• Nothing captures what she did or did not like last time, which is the question that prevents most complaints.
• Nothing records what was agreed — the result, the price, the maintenance. So when the total surprises her, there are two memories and no note.

A stronger version

Use the nine questions from the script pack, in order, with room to write the answer in her words — then close with the agreement line and record it.

Agreed today: [service], [expected result or boundary], [time], [price], [maintenance]. Anything that changes what can be used or performed safely: [written in her words] Recorded by: [name] Date: [date]

What changed: the safety question became a record instead of a tick, the service question became a conversation, and the agreement exists on paper before anything is mixed.