Improving Customer Service: A Case Study of Cut Short Hairdressing

This case study analyzes Cut Short, a budget hairdressing chain, and its strategies to improve customer service and profitability by addressing long wait times. The company implements several innovation strategies, including pre-booking appointments through their website, offering various payment methods after pre-booking, providing discounts to encourage online bookings, charging fees for late arrivals, and offering online product purchasing. Each strategy incorporates specific technologies and recommendations to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction. The report also suggests additional improvements, such as customer service training and employing more qualified staff. These measures aim to reduce congestion, improve service quality, and foster better customer relations, ultimately contributing to the business's economic development and growth. Desklib provides this document as a resource for students.

Running Head: CUT SHORT HAIRDRESSING
Cut Short Hair Dressing
Student’s Name
Course
University
Date

CUT SHORT HAIRDRESSING 2
Introduction
Cut Short is a business that offers hairdressing services. The company has been experiencing challenges with
slow services to their customers which have led to poor customer care services which may cause the business to
lose their customers to other similar competitor businesses. To avoid such risks from happening the company
has come up with innovative strategies that will help the business improve in their customer services. The report
will cover the innovation strategies which will include several innovations, the technologies and their
recommendations (Hines, 2015).
PART 1
Innovation strategies
The following strategies are implemented in the Cut Short hairdressing business to help the company reduced
the long queues and wasting too much time for the customers as they wait to be attended to, they include;
a. Pre-booking appointments through the website
Pre-booking appointments through website this is when the customers book an appointment at the salon before
and informing them which kind of services they would like for example if its hair trim, blow wave or restyling.
The pre-book appointment should include the day the customer would like to be attended to, and the time of the
day they will avail themselves (Lagrosen & Lagrosen 2016).
Technologies
Technologies are the methods, techniques, processes, and skills used to achieve the strategies. The technologies
used in pre-booking appointment includes the person in charge of marketing ,should be able to market the
business services to the public through their website give brief detail of each services ,including why the viable
customers should choose their salon and not any other this will help attract a lot of customers since they will be
able to reach a lot of people through the social media and also will be convenient for clients since they can

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know about the services the salon offers from wherever they are without going to the salon( Goaman, Banks,
Thumim & Lamley 2018).
The IT expert person of the Cut Short salon has the obligation of ensuring that the client can access their
website from their location and all data of the business is updated for example ensuring that the booking slot for
the day is updated along with the available slots, the stylists and the services being offered.
Recommendation
Pre-booking appointments are highly recommended for the salon since the client can see when the services they
would like are available this will help reduce the long queues in the salon and also will be convenient for the
clients since they won’t wait for long to be attended to when they go to the salon. It is also suitable for the salon
because it will help reduce workload in the front desks because the reception will have less interaction with the
client which will help create time for them to be doing other tasks.
b. Payment methods after pre-booking
After the client books, an appointment which entails the day they would like to come, and the time they will
avail themselves and also the services they would want is included too. The client is requested to pay after the
appointment is confirmed, they can pay via PayPal, credit cards and many other ways which are also included in
the website (Qasim & Abu-Shanab 2016). In case a client doesn't pay for the services 24 hours before the
appointment, is canceled.
Technologies
The customer care attendant who is always available in case a client needs clarification or requests for
information goes through the booking slot to check the current and next appointments. They also check the paid
appointments and non-paid appointments, this information is given by the person in charge of the business
finance issues, and they contact the client to remind them and in case a particular client is not available and their
appointment is in the next 24 hours the appointment is canceled( Radlow & Hollander 2018).

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The finance person goes through the business account and checks the received money then from their clients
then takes the list of available clients of a particular day and time to the manager who informs the stylists’ in
charge of the services booked by the available clients for a particular day and time.
Recommendation
The salon is able to have a correct record of client that is available for a specific day, time day they will be
available and the services they would like this also helps the expert stylist for the service required to prepare
themselves and know the number of clients they are going to attend to in a day(Grigg,2018). The salon is also
able to acknowledge their total income in a day, the finance expert in the business can know the total income of
the day since they receive all payments made by the clients and they can keep a clear record of all day to day
financial business records. It helps in the economic development of the business and also the growth of the
business in general since they can budget their available.
c. Giving a discount as a way to encourage online booking
The business has a come up with an idea of providing a discount to clients who book their appointments online.
The business gives clients who pre-book their appointments online a 10 percent discount on their service
payments (Benjamin, 2018). It is displayed on the website, so many clients opt to use online booking rather than
going to the salon and book personally or make a phone call.
Technologies
The marketing department uses this when they are advertising their services to their customers. The 10 percent
discount is applied to attract customers to use the online booking and of which it’s also a way of rewarding their
customers which encourages them to use the online booking (De Roure, Moench, Pelizzon & Schneider 2018).
The manager use this method after evaluating the number of clients they can attract through the online booking,
compared to the other process where the clients came to the salon personally to book or make phone calls, they

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also evaluate the advantages it has over the person or call bookings which will be beneficial both to the business
and the clients.
Recommendation
This innovation strategy will help attract a lot of clients to the business since the clients pay less than the normal
price which will encourage them to go to the salon every time they need hairdressing services. It will also be of
benefit to the business since a lot of customers will be using the online method through their website to pre-
booking appointments.It will help the business improve their customers' service since there will be no long
queue which is also beneficial to the clients because they will be able to book appointments when they are
available and also receive good quality services.
d. Customers who arrive late for their appointments will be charged
The business also states that customers who come later than the time they had said they would be available, the
client will be charged an extra fee on arrival.
Technologies
The receptionist always have the name, and the time a particular client is supposed to arrive, when the client
comes, the receptionist marks that the specific appointment has been attended to which include the time of
arrival, so this helps in identifying those clients that arrive later than the scheduled time. The receptionist also
informs them the amount to pay for come late for their appointment, and the client then pays the surcharge to
the cashier before they are even receive the services.
Recommendation
It will help encourage punctuality of clients which will help avoid inconveniences for the next client. The
clients will always be on time for their appointment to avoid additional fee and in case of any inconveniences in
their schedule they will always find a need to inform the salon probably through a phone call for rescheduling
which is more convenient rather than just not appearing (Aldurayhim, Zhao, Maris, & Alharbi 2015). It is also

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recommended for the business since they will avoid inconveniences for other clients and will also help in their
customer services because they will attend to all their clients’ appointments in that particular day as scheduled
(Teh, 2017).
e. They also offer online product purchasing
Cut Short hairdressing salon also offer an online service to their client which is also included in their business
website. The clients can order for hair products like conditioners, shampoos or styling products online, pay for
them and then they can pick the products when they go for their appointment.
Technologies
Cut Short also markets its business by offering their clients services like online product purchasing, and they
recommend products for their clients which they will use when they come for their appointment (Vincent &
Pardiak 2015). The customer care services who are in charge of responding to their clients ask the clients the
products they would like the salon to purchase for them and the clients to make payments for the purchasing of
the products then they would pick products during their next appointment.
Recommendation
The salon can sell their products to their clients without opening another business website. They recommend
products for their customers with the same website used to book appointments. It’s also convenient for the
clients since their work is made easier because when they attend their appointment, everything will be fully
purchased this will help save time both for the clients and the stylist.

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PART 2
Additional ways of improving business services
Other innovation strategies that could be used to improve the business service include;
Customer service training
The business should train their employees' customer care services this includes the employees and client
interaction, the client retentions. The employees need to be trained on how to handle their clients and also how
to offer quick and helpful services for the growth and development of the business (Lovelock & Patterson
2015).
Technologies
The employees should be trained on how to use business equipment's, for example, computers. They should
also be trained in the services they offer this helps attract clients (Banytė, Gadeikienė, Rutelionė &
Kaknevičienė 2016).
Recommendation
It will help attract clients to the salon they services offered are of good quality, and when they are in the salon,
the customer services offered by the staff are friendly and helpful (Oh,2015).
Employee more qualified and Professionally skilled employees
The business should employee employees who are qualified and acquire professional skills by doing this, it will
help reduce the congestion of clients, for example, the stylists should be qualified in their services, this helps

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because they will be fast since there are experts in their work which means they can attend to many customers
for a short period and the services offered are still of good quality (Kulturel-Konak, Konak, Kremer &
Esparagozza 2015). The management should also acquire good managerial skills like they should have
leadership skills the cashiers and accountants should be honest in their work and they she be able to keep a clear
record of all financial statements in the business, the customer care attendants should be patient and should
have knowledge of the business since they should be able to answer all questions the clients might ask and
lastly the receptionists must be friendly and patient people since all types of people come to the business some
are rude and arrogant.
Technologies
During employing new employees, they should hold interviews to be able to choose employees who are
qualified and skilled in offering excellent quality services and also employees who can offer quick and helpful
customer services. They can also advertise the vacant position and the qualifications needed for some who can
fill the vacant positions.
Recommendation
It will help the business in acquiring employees who acquire professional skills like; communication skills,
employees are capable of solving problems on their own, employees who acquire technical skills and employees
who can be able to market the business by offering quality services to the clients (Chaudron, Kadogami, Maille
& Roumy 2018).

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Conclusion
Cut short hairdressing salon experiences a problem of clients congestion which leads to delivering poor
customers services, they have decided to came up with innovation strategies which will help them solve the
problem, the strategies include; pre-booking appointment, paying 24 hours prior the appointment, offering
discount to customers who pre-book appointments online, extra fee payment for clients who arrive late, online
product purchasing, customer service training and employing qualified and professional skilled employees.

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References
Aldurayhim, Y., Zhao, B., Maris, A., & Alharbi, M. (2015). Appointment Cancellation Re-Scheduling
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Banytė, J., Gadeikienė, A., Rutelionė, A., & Kaknevičienė, I. (2016). Expression of personalization while
developing long-term relationships with service customers. Inžinerinė ekonomika, 462-471.
Benjamin, M. (2018). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/820,783.
Chaudron, L., Kadogami, H., Maille, N., & Roumy, G. (2018). Meta-Cognitive Skills Modeling:
Communication and Reasoning among Agents. In Neuroergonomics (p. 311). Academic Press.
De Roure, C., Moench, E., Pelizzon, L., & Schneider, M. (2018). OTC Discount. Available at SSRN 3190503.
Goaman, D., Banks, N., Thumim, J., & Lamley, A. (2018). Supporting vulnerable consumers to benefit from
their smart meters.
Grigg, D. M. (2018). U.S. Patent Application No. 10/096,017.
Hines, K. (2015). Benchmarks versus targets. Professional Beauty, (Jan/Feb 2015), 124.
Kulturel-Konak, S., Konak, A., Kremer, G. O., & Esparagozza, I. E. (2015). Professional skills assessment: Is a
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Lovelock, C., & Patterson, P. (2015). Services marketing. Pearson Australia.

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