Archive for April, 2009
The Higher You Climb, the More Your ‘Ass’ Hangs Out
Posted by: | CommentsI often get kind of wayward, weird, sometimes obnoxious and occasionally down right rude emails from people in response to my emails about how to grow their salon or spa.
To this day it astonishes me how a few bytes of electronic data strung into a series of words and delivered to someone via email can cause the a ‘road rage’ like response.
Here’s one response I got on Tuesday:
“Henry,
By gum lad you’ve got more sh1t than a battery of ens
Regards,”
I won’t name and shame this chap for obvious reasons.
But just look at the length he’s gone to.
For starters he bothered to put a number ’1′ in the word shit (sorry) and then to make matters worse, his mail didn’t even make sense.
Then I got a second mail.
“Hi Henry,
Thanks for the offer of a free gift but as YOU are well aware NOTHING but NOTHING is free in this life so sorry friend I do not need your bullsh1t book
Regards”
Amazing!
A few things I have to take up here:
- “Hi Henry” – nice, friendly salutation before the ‘onslaught’.
- Nothing is free in this life – not true. A warm smile, integrity, friendship, love, kindness, respect, air… Are all free…
- He calls me his friend and then says my stuff is ‘bullsh1t’ (there’s the number 1 again… weird).
- I haven’t ever offered him a book so I guess he never even read my emails anyway.
- My FREE GIFTS are free but I do ask for postage costs. I am in business too, for profit and am NOT a charity… If he begrudges spending a few quid for hundreds of pounds of information which could make him multiple times that then he’s not the success hungry type I accept as clients… (Click Here to Get Your FREE GIFT)
Suffice to say I’ve unsubscribe this ‘angry’ little chap from all my salon/spa communication.
And, the subject of email and how often to send it, what to include etc is a ‘minefield’.
BUT, this chap DID ask to receive my stuff. He actually asked for it, then told me off about it… Absolute genius.
I’m very careful to be sure that the salon/spa business growth information I ‘pump’ out is of good quality and useful.
However, if it isn’t relevant for a particular person I take NO offence if they wish to unsubscribe and stop receiving it. There are too many people BITING my arm off for it.
Anyway, what point am I trying to make here?
Well there are really TWO:
NUMBER 1: “The higher you climb, the more you ‘ass’ hangs out” – can’t remember where I first heard that but it is TRUE. Whatever profession you are in, the more success you find, the more people will want to (and enjoy) taking a ‘pop’ at you.
Do NOT let it bother you. In fact, embrace and enjoy it.
NUMBER 2: You need a THICK skin to be ultra-successful. The path to your goals will be paved with challenges, setbacks, failures, people screaming at you and worse. My response is always the same…
“Ummm… Interesting…”
Re-focus and ‘BLAM’… I’m off again…
So, next time someone tells you ‘You’re clogging up my email’ (I just don’t get that – it takes less than 1/2 a calorie to press the delete button) or they make a ‘slight’, ‘offensive’ or ‘hurtful’ remark about what you do, deliver, offer, your products, services or treatments or whatever… REMEMBER… It really doesn’t matter….
“The Higher You Climb, the More Your Ass Hangs Out!” – And that’s GOOD news…
Have a great day,
Henry….
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How to at Least Double the Response from ALL Your Salon Or Spa Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsMy first ever job in sales was with IBM.
Fresh out of university number two (where I studied sound engineering – I love music) I dived straight into sales.
At the time I really wasn’t too sure why.
So wrapped in just getting a good job, making money and getting independent I kinda followed the path that felt right.
My first day with IBM was one hell of an experience.
I was ‘dumped’ in a sales centre with about a hundred highly trained salesmen and women busy speaking to clients, cold calling, doing deals and earning themselves a lot of commission.
I was one shy ‘little boy’.
The thought of picking up the phone simply filled me with dread. I spent more time in the toilet ‘sweating’ than I did at my desk.
I’d never failed at anything important to me in the past but my first few weeks were one catastrophic failure.
Endless pointless calls to people with seemingly no interest at all in what I had to sell.
Frustrating was not the word.
I was faced with two clear choices.
- 1. Give up
- 2. Work out what I was doing wrong
Not prepared to give up I plumped for number two.
And I went on a mission to suck up every possible ounce of sales and marketing wisdom I could get my hot little hands on.
And within 2 years I was training other employees and had single handedly generated over £7 million in revenue in one year.
And the BIGGEST thing I changed was this.
I started using ‘Headlines’, ‘Hooks’, reasons for people to stop what they were doing right then and there and sit up a listen to me.
You see, we are each bombarded with thousands of advertising methods every single day. Your job is to cut through all the cr*p and get your salon/spa prospects and clients to pay undivided attention to YOU.
And it matters not what media you are working in.
Newspapers, sales letters, websites, the telephone, face to face.
Now once I’d realise the power of HEADLINES I then went about using them in all my marketing.
And here’s what’s so interesting.
The difference in how much money a salon or spa, sales letter or whatever makes changed by as much as 2000%+ just by altering the headline!!!
That means there is a possibility you can generate 2000% more profit starting TODAY by simply ADDING or CHANGING the headlines on your salon or spa ads etc.
And if you don’t even use headlines — ‘get outta here’!!! START!!!!
BIG BONUS!!!
Now, to help you, the next 10 people that grab a FREE TRIAL to my Salon and Spa Millionaire INNER CIRCLE will receive an additional bonus from me.
That bonus will be “The 200 Greatest Headlines Ever Written”.
And here’s why that is so important.
These headlines are formulaic.
You can simply take them, change a few words and WHAM, they’ll be ready for YOUR salon or spa.
But KEEP IN MIND.
Selecting the right headline requires testing. You MUST test one headline AGAINST another and see which works best…
This is an IMPORTANT topic.
Grab your FREE GIFTS, FREE Salon and Spa Millionaire Inner Circle Trial and Free list of the “200 Best Headline Ever Written” by clicking here:
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
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How to Overcome Fear and Trigger Your Automatic Salon/Spa Success System
Posted by: | CommentsDear Friend,
It’s 5:55am (or at least it was when I started writing this) and I’m outside my beach hut in Swanage, overlooking the bay, having a little daydream.
I’ve come to think about the single biggest roadblock every salon/spa owner needs to face.
FEAR.
Why?
Well, you simply cannot be successful if every time you come to the point of taking important actions you are frozen, rock solid with fear.
There are no two ways about it.
You will never succeed if most of the time you are scared witless.
That’s why I’m offering to give you actions you can take once a month to remove fear (the biggest obstacle to success) – forever.
Happily, if you can overcome fear, your success is almost automatic. It seems like the easiest thing in the world.
The two big bad fears you need to keep your eye on are:
1. Fear of success
2. Fear of failure
Good news!
You can overcome both these roadblocks to your success.
Most people don’t realise just how powerful fear of success actually is. For many it’s even more powerful than fear of failure.
Fear of success stems from negative self-image.
“Henry – stop daydreaming – don’t set your sights too high.”
“There’s no way you’ll make it.”
“Henry – you are the worst salesman we’ve ever had – you’re fired.”
In my life my parents were very supportive yet they wanted me to follow a pre-defined path. School, college, university, steady job. Without realising it, they were actually hurting me.
While at the age of 10 I would sit for hours calculating how much it would cost me to buy and own a Ferrari Testarossa right down to the cost of tyres and wiper blades – they were increasing my fears by simply trying to protect me from risk and uncertainty.
My dream was that I would never have to get up every day at 6am, travel for hours to a job I hated and then return at 8pm and be so knackered I wouldn’t be able to interact with my family. Instead, I’d be spend all day doing the things I loved while my finances remained rock solid.
But, they offered me a strong message that almost sabotaged my dreams and plans of success.
My parents responded to my stated goals by saying, “Don’t set your sights too high.”
“Instead you should get a good job, settle down, buy a house and have a family,” they said.
Of course, the last thing I wanted was to follow the ‘normal’ path. Nothing wrong with the ‘normal’ path for someone else. But it could never be for me.
However, my parents often repeated message had a major effect on me nevertheless.
Whenever I stumbled and had inevitable setbacks, the negative self-talk kicked in.
It was as though I played the same CD in my head over and over.
I’d say to myself, “Maybe everybody else is right and your parents are right. What is a little, shy, reclusive guy like me, with no special talents, with no money or contacts, doing trying to buck the ‘norm’ and achieve my dreams?”
But then I’d switch my train of thought and play a new CD that said, “Suppose everybody else and my parents are wrong – look, I’m no less worthy of achieving my goals than Richard Branson, Bill Gates or anyone for that matter!”
And thank the Lord they were!
I found a new self-talk which helped me. To enforce a positive self image I’d sit back 3 or 4 times a day (and still do), close my eyes and visualize myself in the exact successful positions I wanted.
And not just ‘business type’ things.
In my teens and early twenties I was a huge motorcycle fan (not anymore, dangerous things… It doesn’t hurt as much falling off a jetski…). At the time the world’s fastest production road bike was a Yamaha R1. I used to visualise hurtling down country lanes in Hampshire overtaking Ferraris, Porsches and leaving everything in the dust. At the age of 24 I picked up a brand new R1.
Bored with the R1 I began visualising owning a brand new Porsche cabriolet in jet black with red leather interior. I’d visualise hot sunny days and trips down to Swanage to the beach, wind in my hair the sound of the straight six echoing as I passed under bridges. At the age of 27 I picked up my first brand new Porsche.
About 18 months ago I decided to start coaching my younger brother (he’s in a wheelchair) on how he could reach the £400,000 he needs a year to live the independent life he wants. He wanted to write a book and he wanted a continuing income (he was only 16 then and had absolutely no knowledge of how to write or sell a book). I began to run ‘movies in my mind’ of him with his completed book, critical accliam and him sat at BBC promoting his book. About six weeks ago there he was sat talking live on the BBC for 30 minutes about his book (his book is entitled “How to Get the Perfect Care Package” and is the UKs first guide to navigating the social care system for people with disabilities and/or illness.)
If you or loved one is in need of social care for example you know someone young or old with Alzheimer’s, MS, a disability, erious illness or even just ‘old age’ then George’s book will help you get support you need and avoid the ‘pain’ he and our family endured spending years battling for the right care. It took George nearly 10 years to get what he needs… Visit: http://www.howtogetcare.com for more details).
I’ll stop there because some of my examples are truly unbelievable.
The lesson?
The best way I found to overcome fear of success is through visualizing what I wanted to happen in my life. This made it real for me.
And then taking the action necessary to bring the result into reality.
Through my imagination alone, I could see myself achieving what my critics said I could not.
To make your dreams real, imagine what achieving them would make you feel. Add to your imagination as many details of your success as possible. You’ll be thrilled to start seeing it all actually happen in your life.
Fear of success becomes impotent once you can actively visualize the outcome you want that others say can’t be done. And, of course, taking the required actions.
While fear of success can stop you cold, fear of failure is to most aspiring people even more powerful.
To begin to overcome fear of failure let’s look at it realistically.
First off… Statistics tell us most things I attempt in business will not succeed. Nor will they for you either.
Every successful person I’ve studied has experienced far more failures than successes (in took Thomas Edison 10,000 odd tries to make the lightbulb…).
Therefore a high failure rate for any achiever is as normal and predictable as any principle about nature or the universe. To succeed in a big way you simply must accept failures as part of your journey to success. Don’t worry about them, be PLEASED about them.
Would you be willing to try again and again if you knew that as long as you didn’t stop you WOULD ‘hit the big time’? If so, I can assure you of this.
You are unstoppable!
You will absolutely become a huge winner in life!
I have a number of favourite failure/success mentors. But my biggest insights have some from exposure to the biographies of famous entrepreneurs that I found in books.
The most brilliant entrepreneurs of the 20th century each had several failures before they finally succeeded.
While I’ve yet to experience and savour bankruptcy (and it wouldn’t worry me if I did because I know I can ‘do it all again’ and better), I’ve had huge chunks of regular business disappear ‘overnight’ wiping me back to zero on 3 occasions. And I learned far more from those than all my successes combined!
The most liberating thing to me about actually experiencing failure is this.
Nothing bad actually happens!
The sun rises and sets each day. Creditors who supplied you before often want to do business with you again. Many will want to extend credit.
Customers who buy from you don’t care about your previous setback as long as you satisfy their wants in your new business.
If you ver your head in debt now, keep this in mind.
You are not alone. Millions find themselves in this position.
But there is a solution!
Even if you have to start again at your beginnings.
** What about having a mentor? **
You can undoubtedly become a big success with the help of a mentor. Someone who can answer your questions. Critique your marketing. And help you avoid so many mistakes.
And that is what my VIP members receive.
You can join for a limited time and receive a FREE TRIAL and get lots of valuable gifts besides (IF you haven’t yet done so).
Here’s where to enrol FREE and grab your FREE gifts:
Yes, Give Me a FREE Trial to Henry’s VIP Mentoring Program
Dedicated to helping you slay fear and reach for the stars,
Henry.
P.S. Remember, you have nothing to lose. If you do not test drive my VIP Inner Circle mentoring program now, without risk of any kind, I’m going to report you to the “thought police.”
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The Free Salon/Spa Marketing Campaign that Cannot Fail
Posted by: | CommentsAre we finally approaching the bottom of the recession?
Are things going to pick up?
Well, according to the BBC this morning and a Bank of England report, banks are ‘getting ready’ to ‘free up credit’.
What does that mean??
Are there a whole bunch of pin strip suit wearing portly gentlemen with green visor hat wotsits sat at the ‘cages’ to an angry mob of credit which is bursting to escape and unleash another round of ‘Boom and Bust’ on us?
Or is it that those pin stripe wearing portly gents are sat in the smoking lounge of the Polo Club having a last G &T and a Cuban Cigar while they ‘Get Ready’ to free up credit?
Ridiculous…
And of course yesterday it was announced house prices rose in March.
Oh… Well… Woopeee s**t…
Whatever you do, do not start hoping, wishing dreaming for better times in your salon/spa – or start thinking they are just around the corner.
Having spent a long time learning the ins and out of economics and the London School of Economics it’s my assertion that ‘NO ONE’ has got any earthly idea what the heck is going to happen.
AND IT DOESN’T MATTER.
All you need to focus on in your salon/spa is what YOU can affect (and it ‘aint that bunch of hairy assed credit which has been caged up for the last 18 months).
Anyway, sorry… Little too much tea this morning.
Now back to the important stuff… Stuff which YOU control…
I’m always being asked:
“Henry – what FREE salom/spa marketing strategies really work?”
Well, first off, FREE isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Why? Well, anyone can do FREE! if you want real POWER in your market you should be acquiring the MOST expensive clients — the ones NOBOBDY else will dare…
Anyway…
When it comes to FREE, the best salon/spa marketing strategy, hands down, by far is of course REFERALLS!
Referred cclients tend to be easier to sell to, less price resistant, more loyal and more likely to refer others. That makes them well worth going for.
Here’s a 4 step system to help you BOOST your salon/spa referrals:
1. ASK – As we all know, ‘if you don’t ask, you won’t get’ and that is certainly true for referrals. Most clients are happy to provide referrals if the service has been good. And if it hasn’t, that needs to be fixed anyway. The best time to ask is immediately after a ‘happy’ treatment/purchase.
2. Set the Right Expectations – From the moment you acquire a new cclient you should make it clear that you rely on referrals to keep your costs and prices down. To facilitate that you will be asking for referral contacts if they are happy with your service.
3. Reward – When you receive a referral make sure you go back the person who made it and give them a gift to thank them e.g. a box of chocolates, something you sell etc. This will both increase that person loyalty to you and make future referrals much more likely.
4. Follow Up – Once you have a new referral make sure you follow up with them quickly. Be sure to mention where you got there name (having asked if that’s OK), and give them something physical to pass on to other people. That may be vouchers, offer cards, sample etc. THIS IS WHERE MOST PEOPLE FAIL.
Pretty simple huh…
The key is to turn your salon.spa referral program into a SYSTEM and make sure every one of your employees knows how to use the SYSTEM and is using the SYSTEM.
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
PS: If you’re fed up hoping, wishing and praying for better times…STOP… Instead, just wish for BETTER SKILLS… Here’s a FREE GIFT to BOOST those SKILLS => Click Here
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G20, Obama, Your Salon/Spa – Forget it!
Posted by: | CommentsObama is in town!
I’m an avid Obama fan.
I’ve yet to conclude whether or not he’s any good at real politics, real economics… BUT, simply for what he can do with the power of a speech – I applaud him. I’ve been privy to many of the world’s greatest speakers and young Obama IS one of them.
And he’s here for G20 – a gathering of World Leaders for a cup of coffee, a slice of gingerbread and good old fashioned ‘chin-wag’.
Or at least that’s about as much use as it’ll be to you and your salon/spa…
They may be meeting to agree how to confront the worst Global financial crisis since the 1930′s but for business owners looking for a ‘ray of light’ – forget it!
All weather is local — what happens to you in your salon/spa, your life, your finances has much more to do with you, what you think about and what you do than it does with what’s happening in the economy.
It’s time to stop sitting, waiting and hoping that Government ‘intervention’ will be the ‘saviour’.
Instead, it’s time for new strategies, new focus, new vigour and some good old fashioned British, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, American, Australian (sorry if I haven’t mentioned your country) determination to ‘yank’ us out of recession like a leek from a vegetable patch.
Any salon or spa owner with the determination to succeed can learn new skills, make the necessary changes, adapt and in turn both survive, even prosper and make a positive contribution to putting our and the World’s economy back on track.
It’s not that there is a lack of opportunity or even a lack of money.
There are plenty of ways salons and spas can dramatically increase their effectiveness in acquiring new clients, nurturing clients and developing new, exciting products, services, programs and treatments.
Now is the time to being doing more, much more to build world-class customer focused salon/spa that adds real value to our and the World’s economies.
WE cannot sit waiting, hoping for a rescue from the government or a turn of events.
That may never happen.
It’s down to each and every one of us – to make our ‘own luck’.
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
PS: Talking f making your own luck! If you haven’t yet accepted my FREE GIFT then do so. I’m offering to give you some fast and simple ways to immediately boost your profits. No risk, no strings attached… Hop to it… Grab it here => Click Here
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