Last year I spoke at the Serious Business conference — a big annual event for the salon industry. Three back-to-back sessions. Standing room only in every room.
What surprised me wasn't the turnout. It was the question that kept coming up after each session: “How do we get more 5-star reviews?”
Every owner I talked to assumed the answer was some kind of front-desk training or a sign at checkout. Most of them had tried it. Most of them had gotten inconsistent results.
Then I shared what Chris Murphy had figured out.
The Stylist Is the One Who Should Be Asking
Chris coaches service businesses. He spent a long time trying to figure out why some salons were racking up reviews while others, doing similar work, were barely getting any.
The answer wasn't the product, the service, or even the timing of the ask.
It was the person asking.
The front desk staff is busy. When a client walks out, they're already processing the next booking, handling the phone, or saying goodbye to someone else. If they remember to ask about reviews, it's usually rushed. And rushed asks don't get results.
The stylist is completely different. They just spent 60 to 90 minutes with that client. They know the client's name, their history, what they wanted that day, and whether they're happy. And they can see it — that moment when someone looks in the mirror and genuinely lights up.
That's the window.
A quick word from the stylist, in that moment, carries ten times the weight of a checkout prompt.
Why This Is Actually a Systems Problem
Once you understand that the stylist is the key person, everything changes.
It's not just a training insight. It's a systems insight. You can build around it.
Some salons do this manually. They brief stylists on how to mention reviews naturally at the end of a service. It works, but it's inconsistent — some stylists remember, some don't, some feel awkward about it.
The ones getting the most consistent results are the ones who've added a light automation layer.
Here's what that looks like:
- The booking system logs when a service closes
- A few minutes after checkout, the client gets a short personalized text
- The text sounds like it's coming from the stylist, not the salon
- It thanks them for coming in and includes a direct link to leave a review
Nothing spammy. Nothing generic. Just a nudge from the right person at the right time, automatically.
I've seen this structure work across industries — not just salons. Any service business where one specific person does the actual work and builds the relationship. Massage therapists, personal trainers, consultants. The principle is the same.
The Photo Problem That Nobody Talks About
While I was at the Serious Business conference, I ran an exercise that stopped the room.
I asked: “How many of you have photos from client transformations that you can't post — because there's junk in the background, hair on the floor, power cords everywhere?”
Every hand in the room went up.
Hundreds of photos. Thousands, some said. Amazing transformations. Totally unpublishable.
I showed them something. Take one of those photos. Upload it to Gemini. Ask it to clean up the background. Remove the cord. Remove the hair on the floor.
Twenty seconds later: a clean, postable before-and-after.
The room got very quiet. Then a lot of typing started.
That's what I mean when I say the gap between knowing about AI and using AI is the real problem right now. The tools exist. They work. Most people just haven't connected the tool to the problem yet.
The reviews insight and the photo insight are related, actually. Both come from a simple question: where is value being lost right now because of friction?
For reviews, the friction is between the moment of peak happiness and the act of leaving a review. For photos, the friction is between having the shot and having a publishable asset.
AI can remove both.
Where To Start
If you run a service business and you want more reviews, here's the simplest version of this:
- Identify the person on your team who has the most relationship-rich contact with customers
- Brief them on asking at the right moment (not at checkout — during the service's natural closing)
- Set up a simple follow-up text or email triggered by booking completion, written to sound like it comes from that person
You don't need a fancy CRM to start. A basic booking system and a text automation tool is enough.
The bigger idea here — and this is what I come back to in almost every workshop I run — is that most business problems are systems problems in disguise. You don't have a reviews problem. You have a timing and attribution problem. Fix those, and the reviews follow.
Same with photos. You don't have a content shortage. You have a backlog problem. Fix the friction, and suddenly you have assets.
If you want to go deeper on this, check out the Productivity Academy — we cover this kind of systems thinking in the context of AI workflows regularly.
One small fix at a time.
