What would a colour consultation client want – Being draped to within an inch of her life just to make the image consultant happy? Or being asked what results she wants, and for the consultant to make the client happy by fulfilling her needs? How would you like to be treated?
Stuff the system. Put the client first.
In the Fabulous Colour Analysis we filmed 2 days of live training with 6 gorgeous image consultants from England, Scotland, Cyprus and Mexico. All of them had already had their personal colour analysis done elsewhere and on the course Sahlburga told us her colour consultation story:
“My hair was pulled back, because it was dyed. The image consultant put a cape on me and I had a whole range of drapes put over me. The consultant was swishing and swashing with lots of drapes until she was happy. She showed me a few examples, “Can you see how this makes you look, compared to this one?” the consultant would say.
The image consultant narrowed it down until she’d got to the season and then broke it down again as to which were my best colours from that palette. I was given a Spring wallet and I was not happy. I was with a group and none of us were happy with the wallets we were given. We wanted to wear black and she said that none of us were Winters so we couldn’t wear black! When the consultant went out of the room, we all cackled like old women because we weren’t at all happy. But now I’ve spent time working professionally with colours and wallets, I can see the difference that they can make.”
Lorenburga told us her story too (this is also in part two of Fabulous Colour Analysis):
“The image consultant told us the percentage of black we could wear – 100%, 50% or 25%. 25% would be a blouse, perhaps, under a suit. 100% was if we could wear it right next to our face. She told me that all Winters can wear full black, like in a ballgown!”
This is all nonsense of course.
Not all Winters can wear black
How dare we?
These image consultants are just churning out the stuff you can find in any out-of-date book. They’re following a system that originated in the early 80s and they’re still peddling it like mad. I suppose they work on the premise of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
But when it comes to dealing with unique human beings, how dare we attempt to put people into 4 or 12 neat little boxes, just to make our lives simpler. We should be able to show our clients how to look good in any colour. We should ask the question “What do you like to wear? What do you feel good in?” and if the answer is black, or some other colour that we personally think our client may not look her best in, we don’t just say, “You can’t wear black”.
Helleburga told us,
“When I had my colours done, 95% of my wardrobe was black and I had to get rid of it all.”
That is a tragedy that could easily have been avoided. We need to create an atmosphere of, “This isn’t about a set of rules. This is all about you. I’m here to help you to look and feel fabulous all the time.”
There’s a great exercise in Fabulous Colour Analysis called ‘How to wear hard-to-wear colours’ that shows you how easy it is to help every single client look good in any colour. You could run this as a workshop for a small group of ladies. Try it for yourself and start working out how to put everyone in black.
What would any client prefer?
- Being draped to within an inch of her life, like Sahlburga was, just to make the consultant happy?
- Or being asked what results she wants, and for the consultant to make the client happy?
How would you like to be treated?
Stuff the system.
Put the client first
Make it fun.
Rules are made to be broken.
Some kind soul pointed out to me the other day that this is colour analysis training for rebels, and they’re spot on. If the system is more important to you than the client, then training with me is definitely not for you! However, if you’re happy to stuff the system and put the client first, then join us and become part of the Fabulous Colour Analysis movement, changing lives, one client at a time.