Blog 24: Exit Interview Questions

(1) What is your essential question?  What is the best answer to your question and why?

          My essential question is "How can a stylist best satisfy their clientele?" Through the year, I have been able to come up with three answers that answer this question. They are; know what the client likes to do to their hair, know the client's hair type, and communicate with the client before and during the styling process. My best answer, however, would have to be communication, because without communication the stylist will not be able to receive clear direction or form a clear picture of what the client wants. Communication is also very important because without it, the stylist will not be able to know what the client likes to do to their hair and their hair type, my first two answers. Gaining this specific information depends on how well the stylist and client communicate with each other.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

At the beginning of the year I wanted to do my EQ on something that had to do with how much time a client spent at the salon. At my mentorship, I would always see clients spending many hours in a chair, but they seemed like they didn't mind. When doing the EQ meetings Mrs. Pittman made a good point of saying that wouldn't the client prefer the quality of the work and it wouldn't really matter if the time took long. After taking this into consideration and really reflecting back on my mentorship, I realized that this was true. After this I decided to focus on satisfying the client. After asking "What would make a client happy?", I came up with the answers: know what the client likes to do to their hair, know the type of hair, and communicate with them before and during the styling process. however, what lead me to my best answer was my fourth interview with Adriana Solis, my mentor. Most of the answers she was giving me had to do with communication. Thinking back on my research, most of the authors had also claimed that communication was an important aspect of satisfying a client. After my mentor had told me this, I knew I had confirmed my third answer. Now that I also remember my science fair project, my results of the survey I created said that the people who interacted with the stylist and took the time to talk about the hair walked out more satisfied than the people who did not talk with their stylist.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

          Some of the most significant problems I was faced with this year were mostly associated with mentorship and interviews. From mid-October to mid-December I was having trouble with going to

my mentorship because this was the time my mentor, Adriana Solis, was switching salons. Before we had to turn in the first ten hours of  mentorship I called my mentor to see if there was some way I could complete those hours. She told me I could mentor at her house because even though she wasn't working at her salon, she had taken up shop at home. I was then able to obtain my hours this way. Another problem I had was for my first and third interview. I was planning on interviewing my mentor but she had to cancel on me at the last minute. The same thing happened again with my third interview. However, the way I was able to resolve this is that my mother has friends that work as hairdressers , so I was able to call them up and obtain the interviews I needed through them. I was able to interview my mentor for my second and fourth interview, though.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

          The two most significant sources I had this year were two books called "Pro Hair Care: Salon Secrets of the Professionals" Alexandra Friend and Sheridan Ward and "Haircutting for Dummies" by J, Elaine Spear. The reason these two were my most important sources was because the first book had a little bit of everything pertaining my three answers. There would be one chapter dedicated to types of hair, and other about how to gain information about the client, and another one on how to communicate with the client. The second book, however, had more information on communication. It really helped me get a better perspective on why communication was an essential key to satisfying a client. The examples they gave were clear and easy to relate/ comprehend. 

(5) What is your product and why?
          I know that my communication skills and social skills have improved greatly. Now, I feel more comfortable speaking to people of different ages with out feeling nervous. I know that now when I communicate with others I can much more clear on what I want to say and this helps the conversation flow much more smoothly.