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A two-chair Asheville salon was losing 2-3 high-value appointments a week to no-shows. We diagnose the real problem (confirmation and tracking, not no-shows) and walk through the fix: one booking link, card authorization instead of upfront deposits, and automated SMS reminders.
Rowan and Rye is a two-chair color and cut salon in Asheville, North Carolina losing two to three slots a week to no-shows — and they're always the three-hour balayage, never the bang trim. We diagnose why it's really a confirmation and tracking problem, and lay out the all-in-one ops platform fix.
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Eric: ...so you're texting them from your actual personal phone? Like, your number number?
Marcy Delacroix: My number number. The same one my mom texts me on. The same one my ex texts me on, honestly.
Eric: Okay.
Marcy Delacroix: And I'm sitting there at nine at night, after a nine-hour day on my feet, thumb-typing "hey girl, confirming tomorrow at ten," and then half of them don't even reply, and I'm just supposed to guess if they're showing up.
Eric: And how often do they not show up?
Marcy Delacroix: Two a week. Roughly. Sometimes three.
Eric: Two slots a week.
Marcy Delacroix: Two slots a week. Which, for a two-chair salon, is... it's not nothing.
Eric: It's a LOT. Okay, back up for a second for people just tuning in. Tell me about the shop.
Marcy Delacroix: Yeah, so, Rowan and Rye. Two chairs, Asheville, North Carolina. I've been cutting hair for about eleven years, I've owned the place for the last four. It's me and one other stylist. We do mostly color, some cuts, a little bit of extension work.
Eric: And you're booked solid?
Marcy Delacroix: On paper, booked solid. In practice...
Eric: In practice there are holes.
Marcy Delacroix: There are holes. And the holes are always the expensive ones, right? It's not the twenty-minute bang trim that cancels. It's the three-hour balayage.
Eric: Oh, of course.
Marcy Delacroix: Of course.
Eric: Okay. So walk me through what you tried before you threw up your hands.
Marcy Delacroix: Honestly? Nothing systematic. I'd think about setting up deposits and then I'd get busy and forget. I'd read some thing online about charging a no-show fee and I'd think, I don't want to be THAT salon, you know? The one that charges you fifty bucks because your kid got sick.
Eric: Mhm.
Marcy Delacroix: So I just... absorbed it. Which is a nice way of saying I bled money for four years.
Eric: Can I diagnose something for you?
Marcy Delacroix: Please.
Eric: You don't have a no-show problem.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay.
Eric: You have a confirmation problem. And underneath the confirmation problem, you have a tracking problem. The no-shows are a symptom.
Marcy Delacroix: Say more.
Eric: So, the clients who flake on you, you said you can't tell which ones are repeat offenders.
Marcy Delacroix: Right. I THINK I know. There's a woman, I will not say her name on this podcast, who I'm pretty sure has stiffed me four times. But is it four? Is it three? Is it five? I have no idea.
Eric: Right. Because it's all in your head.
Marcy Delacroix: It's all in my head. And in my text messages. Which are a graveyard.
Eric: So here's what I'd argue is actually going wrong. You're doing the work of a front desk, a CRM, and a booking system, all with your thumbs, at nine at night, with no memory of what happened last time.
Marcy Delacroix: Yeah. When you say it like that.
Eric: And the clients can feel it, by the way. A text from a personal number at nine PM, no link to confirm, no deposit on the line, no gentle reminder the day of... that doesn't feel like an appointment. That feels like a suggestion.
Marcy Delacroix: Oof.
Eric: Sorry.
Marcy Delacroix: No, you're right. It feels like a suggestion. And people treat suggestions like suggestions.
Eric: Exactly. Okay. So let me tell you what we did at the agency, because we had a version of this. Not haircuts, obviously, but we had clients ghosting discovery calls, which, same problem, different industry.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay.
Eric: We moved everything onto the all-in-one ops platform we run our agency on. Booking, reminders, deposits, follow-up, everything.
Marcy Delacroix: What is it?
Eric: I'm going to just call it "the platform" for the whole episode because I don't want this to turn into an ad, but it's an all-in-one ops platform. It handles the calendar, it handles the SMS, it handles the payment, it handles the tagging. One tool.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay.
Eric: And then we use Notion for the stuff behind the scenes. SOPs, client notes, the actual docs. But the client-facing automation, the "did you confirm, did you pay the deposit, did you get the reminder" piece, all one platform.
Marcy Delacroix: So what would that even look like for a hair salon?
Eric: Walk me through a booking. How does it happen today?
Marcy Delacroix: Instagram DM, usually. Or a text. Occasionally someone finds the little booking page I set up two years ago and never updated.
Eric: Perfect. Three different front doors.
Marcy Delacroix: Three different front doors.
Eric: And none of them talk to each other.
Marcy Delacroix: None of them talk to each other.
Eric: Okay. So the first thing I'd do, before deposits, before fees, before any of the scary stuff... I'd give every one of those front doors the same back door.
Marcy Delacroix: Meaning?
Eric: Meaning: whether somebody DMs you, texts you, or clicks the link in your bio, they end up on the same booking page. One link. One flow. And THAT page is where the real system lives.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay.
Eric: On that page, when they pick their time, they put a card down.
Marcy Delacroix: Here we go.
Eric: Here we go. But hear me out, because this is where people get it wrong. You are not charging them to book. You're authorizing a card.
Marcy Delacroix: What's the difference?
Eric: You're saying, if you no-show, this card gets charged a fee. If you show up, no charge, nothing happens, you pay like normal in the chair.
Marcy Delacroix: Hm.
Eric: It changes the psychology. You're not asking for money up front. You're asking them to be accountable.
Marcy Delacroix: And people actually agree to that?
Eric: In our experience, yeah. The ones who refuse are usually the ones who were going to flake anyway. You're kind of filtering yourself.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay, that's actually... yeah.
Eric: Then, the platform sends the reminders. Not you, at nine PM, from your real phone. The system. Three days out, "we're excited to see you Thursday, here's your confirmation link." One day out, "quick confirm, tap yes or no." Morning of, "see you at ten, here's the address."
Marcy Delacroix: And if they tap no?
Eric: Then the slot opens up with enough lead time for you to maybe fill it. Not always. But sometimes.
Marcy Delacroix: Right, versus finding out at 10:05.
Eric: Versus finding out at 10:05 when you've already made the coffee.
Marcy Delacroix: When I've ALREADY made the coffee.
Eric: And here's the tracking piece, which I think is actually the one that matters most for you.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay.
Eric: Every client in the platform has a profile. Every time they book, every time they confirm, every time they no-show, it gets logged. Automatically. You don't have to remember.
Marcy Delacroix: So the woman I'm pretty sure stiffed me four times...
Eric: You'd know. You'd open her profile and see: three no-shows, two late cancels, one on-time. And then YOU get to decide. Do I still want this client? Do I want her on a stricter deposit? Do I want to just... not rebook her?
Marcy Delacroix: Oh my god.
Eric: Right?
Marcy Delacroix: I've been carrying that information in my head for four years.
Eric: And bleeding it. Because every time she rebooks, you forget, because you're tired, because you had nine other clients that day.
Marcy Delacroix: Yeah.
Eric: So the tag system. We tag clients. "VIP," "chronic late," "deposit required," whatever labels make sense for you. And then automations run off those tags. A VIP gets a different reminder than a chronic late.
Marcy Delacroix: What does the chronic late one say?
Eric: Firmer. Earlier. "We require a deposit for this appointment, here's the link, if we don't receive it by Tuesday, your slot opens back up."
Marcy Delacroix: Oh.
Eric: Not mean. Not personal. Just the system doing its job.
Marcy Delacroix: And I'm not the bad guy.
Eric: You're not the bad guy. The system is the bad guy. Which is the whole trick, honestly.
Marcy Delacroix: The system is the bad guy.
Eric: Put it on a mug.
Marcy Delacroix: I'm going to.
Eric: Here's the other thing. Rebooking.
Marcy Delacroix: What about it?
Eric: After the appointment, the platform can send a thank-you a couple days later. "Hope you're loving the color, here's the link to grab your next slot, most clients book six weeks out." Automated. You don't lift a finger.
Marcy Delacroix: I always MEAN to do that.
Eric: Everybody always means to do that.
Marcy Delacroix: And I never do it.
Eric: Nobody ever does it. Because you're cutting hair. You're not a marketer. You're not supposed to be sitting there at eleven PM writing follow-up texts.
Marcy Delacroix: Yeah.
Eric: Okay. So I know this sounds like a lot. Let me be honest for a second.
Marcy Delacroix: Please.
Eric: Setting this up is maybe a weekend. Maybe two. It's not nothing. You're going to have to sit down and actually map out your services, your prices, your deposit rules. That's work.
Marcy Delacroix: Mhm.
Eric: But it's work you do once. Versus the work of texting from your couch, which you do every single night, forever.
Marcy Delacroix: Forever and ever amen.
Eric: Forever and ever amen.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay. So let's say I'm a listener and I run a one or two chair shop, or I run a nail studio, or I'm a massage therapist, whatever. Where do I actually start?
Eric: Great question. I don't want anybody blowing up their business this weekend. So. One thing.
Marcy Delacroix: One thing.
Eric: The ONE thing to try this week... pick your single highest-value service. For you, Marcy, probably a full color.
Marcy Delacroix: Full color. Yeah. Or a balayage.
Eric: Full color or balayage. Just that one service. Require a deposit on just that one. For new clients only, if you want to be gentle about it.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay.
Eric: You don't have to switch your whole business over this week. You just need ONE service, ONE rule, that proves to you the sky doesn't fall when you ask for a deposit.
Marcy Delacroix: And when the sky doesn't fall...
Eric: When the sky doesn't fall, you expand. Next month it's full color plus extensions. Month after that, every new client, every service. In six months you're not texting anybody at nine PM.
Marcy Delacroix: Okay. Okay, that's doable. That's actually doable.
Eric: It's doable. It's one service and one rule.
Marcy Delacroix: And I don't have to buy a new tool this week to do it.
Eric: You don't have to buy a new tool this week to do it. You could literally use whatever booking system you're on now, add a deposit requirement to one service, and see what happens. The tool comes later, when you want all the other pieces talking to each other.
Marcy Delacroix: Right.
Eric: Deposits first. Automation later. Don't try to do both at once or you'll quit.
Marcy Delacroix: Yeah, I'd quit. I'd absolutely quit.
Eric: You'd quit. Everybody quits.
Marcy Delacroix: Alright. I feel... I feel like I have homework.
Eric: You have homework.
Marcy Delacroix: I have homework and I feel strangely good about it.
Eric: That's the goal.
Marcy Delacroix: Thank you. Honestly.
Eric: Yeah, of course. Thanks for being honest about the nine PM texting thing, by the way. I think a lot of people out there are doing exactly that and feeling exactly as crispy as you do.
Marcy Delacroix: Crispy is the word.
Eric: Crispy is the word. Alright, listeners, if that landed, if any of that sounded like your Tuesday night, do us a favor and hit subscribe. We do one of these every week with somebody actually in the trenches.
Marcy Delacroix: And come find me if the full color deposit works. Or if it doesn't. Either way.
Eric: Either way. We'll have you back on in six months.
Marcy Delacroix: Deal.
Eric: Deal. Alright. That's the show.
A daily 10-minute show for service business owners. AI tools, automated workflows, and the boring-on-purpose tactics that save you 5 hours a week. Each episode picks one niche, one workflow, and one tool — and walks you through it like a friend at a coffee shop.