Archive for hair salon marketing
7 Secrets to Recession Proofing Your Salon or Spa – Part 5
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Recession Busting Secret Number 4
Tap Into Your Acres of Diamonds
Your salon or spa clients spend much more money on your type of products and services and related products and services than you ‘extract’ from them. Way more…And, their capacity to buy ‘stuff’ is much, much, much higher than you think.
Depending on whose marketing research you read, it costs up to 20 times more to get a new client than it does to get repeat business from an existing client. So where should you be focusing? Pretty obvious right? On existing clients.
Yet, 95% of salon/spa owners insist on focusing on looking for new clients rather than nurturing and maximising the ones they have. They scramble around throwing money in all directions hoping to get new clients into their business. Not realising spending a fraction of that money on their existing clients could generate huge returns.
Some businesses don’t even know who their clients are (and if that’s you, fix it!!!)
A few months back my mother had a problem with her boiler not working. In traditional ‘good son’ fashion I offered to help her get it fixed (and not get ripped off).
So, I grabbed the Yellow Pages, flicked through to the boiler repair section and had a look at the ads.
First of all, it was nigh on impossible to make a choice between them as they all looked pretty much the same.
- Name and logo at the top of the ad.
- List of services
- Some industry seals of approval.
- Telephone number.
How the heck was I supposed to make a choice (important – is your marketing the same as everyone else’s)? In fact I couldn’t so I sort of just waived my finger around and plumped for one that ‘the force’ attracted me too.
Picked up the phone, dialled the number.
“Yep” came the response.
“Hi, I need someone to look at my boiler.” I replied.
“Can’t do it today mate.” Was the reply.
“Ok, thanks, bye.” Was my response.
Flippin’ useless. It’s great he’s too busy but I doubt he will be for too long…
Waived my finger around the page again – picked another company, dialled the number.
“XZY Heating” came the response.
“Hi, I need someone to look at my boiler.” I replied.
“Ok, sure we can help. The first appointment we have is Friday.”
“I was looking for something sooner.” I responded.
“Sorry, that’s the quickest we can get to you.”
“Ok, not to worry, thanks anyway.” I responded.
Second attempt down the drain. This was getting painful, blood pressure was rising. Anyway, on the third attempt I got a polite lady and indeed someone to come see me that day.
They arrived on time and fixed the boiler. Great!
Now, when we were in my Mother’s cellar with the boiler and the technician had a torch (because there aren’t any lights in there); on the side of the boiler I spotted a sticker from the person who had fixed it last time.
Aha, I thought that’s who it was. They did a great job too, and at a good price.
But they made a ‘school boy’ error.
Had they simply kept in contact with me at regular intervals using something as simple as a monthly 2 page newsletter I would have called them in a shot and they would have got the work.
Even better, had they put me on a monthly continuity plan where I pay a little a month for peace of mind that if things went wrong they’d fix them I’d be happy and they’d have a stable, reliable cash-flow boost that could sail them through even the deepest recession…
Building and maintaining relationships is fundamental to prospering in un-prosperous times. Whenever your clients think of what you offer you need to be at the top of their consciousness.
To make that happen you need to be more than just another provider of what you do. You need to build a strong and continuing personality bond with your clients.
Think of it like when you visit the hairdressers.
When they’re in the salon it’s easy. You talk about yourself, your family, hobbies and ask them questions about the same.
BUT, as soon as you leave, that relationship, that bond starts to fade…
And, if another salon ‘pops’ up with something that grabs your attention (or indeed another business eager to get a slice of their disposable income) then you’ll be off to them in a second and the hair salon will be scrabbling for a new client.
However, if the salon had built a strong personality bond with you built through continuous, repetitive contact even when you are not in there – then chances of you switching salon and being ‘unfaithful’ are slim.
So how do you create an ‘unshakeable’ personality bond
with your customers and clients?
Sending a monthly newsletter continues to be the best way to establish this bond for my clients and members. How many businesses like yours in your area contact their clients with a monthly newsletter containing stories about them, their lives, interesting news, gossip and offers? I suspect that may be none…
For close to £10 a year per client in printing and postage costs, you can generate hundreds, if not thousands of pounds in repeat business. You can switch from struggling and willing to accept any client at any price to having only the best, highest paying, and most loyal clients.
And writing then sending a monthly newsletter is neither difficult nor particularly time consuming.
Start providing one now!
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7 Secrets to Recession Proofing Your Salon or Spa – Part 4
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Recession Busting Secret Number 3
Attract Premium Price Buyers
I’m lucky enough to spend a lot of time talking to business owners about the challenges they face and also the successes they are seeing.
I was chatting to a beauty salon owner recently about how she was doing and some of the challenges she was facing.
Her salon is located in a predominantly Asian community and she is virtually flanked on either side by competing salons.
She employs 15 staff and runs a good quality salon providing good service to her clients.
Her single biggest challenge is competing with the salons almost next door that are able to charge much lower prices than her.
How?
Well, by having poorly trained staff, cash only businesses, a suspected lack of adherence to tax rules, little if any adherence to health and safety and little if any focus on providing quality client care…
She spends a lot of money training her staff, paying good wages to get good staff, paying her taxes, providing employee benefits such as holiday and bonuses. All stuff that she should be doing and is right to do in a quality salon.
Her perspective is that it’s just not ‘fair’ that another salon should be able to run a dodgy ‘ship’ and be able to take business away from her.
Of course whether or not it is fair is unfortunately completely irrelevant and the argument that ‘they’ll get what’s coming to them’ may impart a little satisfaction, and is likely a valid one but in the meantime she’s got to struggle, scrape and barely pay herself to survive. Not quite what she had in mind when she opened her salon.
And it is seemingly an impossible task to compete with
a business next door which charges lower prices for
the same products/services as you.
Stories of clients popping their heads in the door saying ‘why would I come to you when I can get the same treatment next door for less?’ were of course rife.
This is a very common and very real challenge.
How do you as a quality business, help your clients understand why they should pay more to come to you?
Clients, consumers, me, you, are more aware, more informed than ever and we are rarely interested in doing anyone a favour by paying more for something we can get cheaper somewhere else.
If I’ve got two items lined up side by side that are exactly the same and one shop is selling the item for £50 and the other £65, you can be damn sure I’ll be keeping the additional £15 for something else.
Why wouldn’t I?
However, if I’m looking for somewhere to take Tracey (my fiancée – and by the time you read this, who knows, we may be married) for a romantic meal and I line two restaurants side by side, one selling a 3 course set meal for £15 a head and one offering a gourmet a la carte menu with a professional lounge piano player, romantically decorated restaurant, a top quality wine selection and a beautiful countryside setting for £75 a head, I wouldn’t hesitate for an instant to opt for the chap tinkering the ivories…
You see, this challenge of competing with low price competition is fortunately something which can be easily solved and by solving it you can actually lay the foundations to become the most profitable and stable business in your market.
If it were true that people ONLY bought based on price then no one would buy a Mercedes, no one would go to expensive hotels, no one would buy holidays with Kuoni, no one would stay at the Savoy, no one would buy Chanel bags, no one would choose to buy Tesco’s finest food over ‘smart price’, no one would send their dog to a ‘dog spa’ (and they do exist) and I wouldn’t pick the higher priced restaurant…
Only about 10% of our population choose the lowest
price option for anything.
That means a whole 90% of the population are happy to pay above the lowest price and a whole chunk of those want to pay premium prices!
On top of that, lower price buyers are much more likely to complain, much more likely to switch to competitors at the ‘drop of a hat’ and much less likely to spend a lot of money with you…
High price luxury buyers tend by their very nature to be the complete opposite.
They complain less, they are more grateful, they spend more, are less likely to switch to competitors and are not only more likely to refer people but are more likely to refer people like them (bonus).
And even better, they are the least likely to be affected by the credit crunch, rising fuel prices, falling houses and economic uncertainty…
So…
For a second, ask yourself this question…
WHO you would rather serve?
Affluent clients with money to spare who are least affected by recession or low price buyers who can barely afford their rent when the price of petrol rises by 2p a litre?
The answer of course is obvious.
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7 Secrets to Recession Proofing Your Salon or Spa – Part 3
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Recession Busting Secret Number 2
Focus on a New Customer/Client
Generating System
Simple supply and demand illustrates that high demand for something in low supply will lead to higher prices and a position of power. Such a position gives you the ability to raise prices and the ability to create wealth.
So, we need to create MORE demand for what you have than there is supply (or at least perceived supply).
What we can’t afford to happen is you spend every waking moment physically making your demand generation machine work.
We need to create something which consistently pumps out new customers/clients come rain or shine whether you’re around or not.
Here’s how we’re going to do it.
1. Get Prospects to raise their hands as interested in what you have.
2. Capture their details.
3. Educate as to why YOU are the perfect choce for them.
4. Remain in contact with them with timely, pertinent offers until they become a customer and beyond.
Nothing magical about that. BUT, do you do that now?
Let’s look at an example based on a local nail salon looking for new clients to see how it works.
My name is Jane Bloggs, I’m sat at home, fed up to the ‘quick’ (excuse the pun) with my poorly maintained, ‘ugly’ looking nails.
I’m 47 years old, a professional (in this case a doctor), own my own home, am married, have 2 children at university and earn over £80k per year.
A letter arrives at my door. Hand addressed, real live stamp in the top right hand corner.
Ummm, I wonder who this is from.
It’s not my Birthday, Aunty Gerturde is back from OZ and she emailed me yesterday so it can’t be her. My Mum is downstairs drinking a cup of tea so it can’t be her.
Dunno…I’ll open it and see.
I open up the envelope and am greeted by a personal, well written letter with the headline “Who Else Wants nails So Perfect You’ll Constantly Be Asked ‘How Do They Look So good?’”
What an interesting headline. Let’s read on.
I then read the rest of the letter. A well written personal invite from a nail salon a few miles away offering me a free nail consultation worth £35 and a free guide called ‘The Consumers Inside Guide to Selecting the Perfect Nail Treatments For You”.
Funny enough, I’d been thinking about my nails recently and am a bit fed up with the way they look.
Now, the letter says I can call the salon to book my free nail consultation; I call an 0800 number to get my consumer guide or head to a website to do the same.
I’m not sure about calling for an appointment yet – this is an interesting letter but who knows, it could be a con!
So… I head to the office and tap in the web address.
I’m immediately presented with a single page website giving me a number of options.
I can request my ‘Consumer guide’ by leaving my details and in fact there are a couple of other free reports on their too. One about ‘the 7 secrets to a nails so eye catching you’re friends will think you’ve been to Hollywood’ and one called ‘How to Stop Biting Your Nails Forever’.
Plus, there are a whole bunch of videos on the site from happy, smiling clients professing what an amazing job the nail techs had done for them.
There’s even a 100% money back guarantee on all treatments.
Blimey, these people look really good.
I think I’ll request my ‘Consumers Inside Guide’, have a read and then maybe go see them for the free consultation – what the ‘heck’ have I got to lose?
I type my details into the website and click submit.
Wallop, I’m taken to another page with more videos from happy smiling clients from my area and a voucher I can print for a FREE ‘bracelet’ with any first paid treatment if used within 2 weeks.
Geez, this gets even better.
What a professional, interesting, different and exciting way to present nail care.
I then open up my email and surprise, surprise there’s an email from the salon.
A really well written personal welcome from the owner telling me all about where she’s from, her family, what she likes doing at weekends, and a little story about her claim to fame giving that famous actor a perfect nails.
Plus, a whole bunch more comments from really happy clients, my free report attached to the email and even my voucher for a free bracelet!
You know what; I think I’ve just stumbled across something special here. I really feel like these people know what they’re doing and could actually help me.
Anyway, let’s print off the report and have a read.
“The Consumers Inside Guide to Choosing the Perfect Nail Treatments for You”. Ok, what have we got.
The 3 fatal salon selection mistakes and 5 steps to the perfect salon selection for you.
You know what, this makes sense.
I should expect amazing service from my nail salon. I should expect a 100% money back guarantee, and why would I want to go to a salon who can fit me in today… Surely if they’re any good they’ll be busy!
Two days pass.
Beep, beep, beep.
Oh…There’s a voicemail on my mobile. Let’s have a listen.
“Hi, this is the owner (she’d say her name) from XYZ nail salon. I just wanted to say hello and thank you for requesting our ‘Consumers Insider guide’ a couple of days ago. Just to remind you, we do have a £35 free consultation available for you. We’d love to see if we can make you look and feel your best. But please be aware, we are very busy and I can only hold the free consultation open for another 2 weeks. Hope to hear from you soon.”
Wow, what a pleasant message. And you know what; I had seen the expiry on the consultation voucher. Perhaps I’ll call tonight.
Another day passes.
5am on Thursday and I’m checking my emails. Aha…An email from the nail salon. A case study of a lady who’d been embarrassed by her nails for years. Wow, she looks great.
Ok, and some answers to common questions about the salon. How the consultation procedure works, how long treatment takes etc.
Ah yes and my free consultation expires in a little less than two weeks.
Ok, I’ll call today…
Another day passes…
Ooo…Post is here…
What’s this postcard?
Ah…Another case study from the nail salon. Geez, this lady has gone from a nail biting fanatic to having amazing looking nails. If they can fix her, they can sure fix me!
Right, I must call today and book in that FREE consultation.
Another 4 days pass.
Post arrives. A red envelope. Umm, what’s in here…?
Aha, another letter from the nail salon. Blimey, I’m glad these guys don’t give up.
A nice letter saying they’re concerned I’ll miss my free consultation. How it is 100% free with no obligation. And two more case studies from clients who’ve had their lives changed by having their nails fixed…
Wow, this is one professional outfit. I must call now and book my appointment.
“Hello, this is XYZ nail salon. If you haven’t been to see us before please press 1. If you have, please press 2.”
I press 1.
“Good morning, Claire here and welcome to XYZ nail salon. My I ask you name.”
Claire then asks me a few questions and lets me know that the earliest consultation available is in 14 days time. And while that’s outside the date allowed for my free voucher they’ll be happy to give the consultation free as they’re just so busy they can’t do it sooner.
Great I say. That’ll be fine. I then come off the phone and jump on the laptop for work.
Ooo, an email. Ok, it’s a confirmation from Claire confirming my appointment in 14 days time and inviting me to take part in a brief survey.
Why not?
The survey asks me a few questions about my feeling towards the salon so far, what has been great and also what my main reason for booking a consultation was.
There’s also an opportunity for me to refer a friend or family member and if they book in for a free consultation I’ll receive a £10 M and S voucher and if they proceed with treatment I’ll receive Theatre Tickets for 2. It’s clearly explained that the salon relies heavily on word of mouth to help them keep their costs down and thus keep their fees as low as possible and maintain the highest level of service possible.
Quite frankly I’m ultra impressed so far and they’d have to do something monumentally stupid during the consultation to get things wrong so why not! I know my sister hates her nails and my Mum is constantly complaining about hers and how her current salon is way to heavy handed and treats her like a ‘prisoner of war’.
I bet those people would look after them!
In the run up to my free consultation the communication doesn’t stop. I still get interesting, educational emails and a couple of postcards and the day before I even get a little reminder message left on my voicemail.
If these guys are half as good at nails as they are at clientt communication then this is gonna be great!
STOP!
Ok, let’s take a quick pause here. I’ve just described the bare bones of a high value and very effective client attraction system.
Did you notice all the different things that happened?
All the different ways we were immediately presenting value and immediately positioning ourselves as something completely different than the norm…
Now, what’s really important in this example is not so much how we instigated the initial interest – direct mail is one way but it could equally be via a magazine ad, newspaper ad, Yellow Pages, TV, Radio and article, press release, telephone etc, etc. but rather the comprehensive value and benefit driven follow up.
In the example we followed up with the ‘prospect’ many times.
In reality this person may have responded a lot sooner or may have taken even longer to respond. What’s key is that we keep following up until they do.
Now, there is a point where that becomes counterproductive but we’ll leave that until another time.
You see one of the BIGGEST mistakes businesses make is not following up with the interest they generate from their marketing.
MOST people will NOT respond on the first touch – the first time they are exposed to us.
It’s therefore essential we capture the details of the interested people early and then focus on maximising new clients from those people with their hands raised.
Using the ‘lead generation’ approach I’ve just shown you then overtime you will build up an enormous ‘pile’ of ‘hot prospects’ i.e. people who have shown an interest in what you have. AND, you can at any point send those prospects an exciting offer and you will instantly generate new clients.
The larger the ‘pile’ of ‘hot prospects’ the more customers/clients you will generate.
Imagine the feeling of security and ‘power’ that will give you. Pretty cool eh?
And don’t think it all needs to be manual labour. Nearly everything that happens can be automated!
Ok, I went into that in a lot more detail than I expected but it is of VITAL importance. There are a LOT of secrets to success in there. Be sure to re-read it, circle what you don’t do and apply to your business quick-sharp…
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7 Secrets to Recession Proofing Your Salon or Spa – Part 2
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Get VERY CLEAR About Who You Want as a Customer/Client
I suspect one of the main reasons you’re here is to learn how to attract more new clients.
But as you’ll soon see, doing so is rarely the fastest way to stability.
So, what are we going to do?
Well, we want to attract new clients. BUT, not just any old clients. We want to attract the type of clients you want. We want the highest value, easiest to sell to, least price resistant, most loyal customers we can find.
It pays to be discerning.
The last thing we need is to be overrun by ‘bottom of the barrel’, low price customers who buy once every 2 years and ‘moan like hell’. Why?
Well, let’s look at a simple example. This is not a beauty example. That is NOT important. The principle is the same and the goal is to get you thinking.
Say you’re a dentist wanting to add a £1million to your practice in the next 12 months, which of these two scenarios would you prefer.
1. £1million in case revenue from single fillings. At an average cost of say £50 that’s 20,000 fillings. In a typical working year of 235 days (360 minus weekends and a few weeks holiday) you’ll need to see about 85 of these ‘bad boys’ a day… If it takes an average of an hour per filling from patient greeting to leaving you’ll need about 14 dentists working full time in your practice.
A completely ridiculous scenario but you get the idea. Pretty tough eh?
2. Now, contrast that to this. You deliberately go looking for high value, affluent clients looking for big smile changes. A smile makeover could cost between £500 and £40,000 plus. Even at just £1,000 you’ll only need 1000 of these patients to hit the £1mill and over a year that’s about 4 a day. Sounds a bit easier right.
So here’s my point.
NOT all clients are made equal and YOU have a choice as to which you attract.
YOU decide. YOU go get them.
And YOU need to decide who you want, why you want them, how you can help them and then go get them.
So what do we need to do?
We need to ascertain WHO your ideal client is. And often the best place to start is WHO you do NOT want as a client…
A myth to dispel.
In 99% of cases it is not ten times as hard to sell a service for £1000 as it is to sell one for £100. In fact it’s not twice as hard.
Rather than being more difficult it usually just requires a different approach – we’ll have a look at that in a bit.
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7 Secrets to Recession Proofing Your Salon or Spa – Part 1
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Is Your Salon/Spa Built on Solid Ground or Crumbling Like a Biscuit?
Before we move onto my recession busting secrets it is important for us to have a look at your business and take a quick score card as to your current standing.
How are you doing, how solid is your business, how resistant are you to economic downturn and how ready are you for new opportunities?
Please take time to answer these questions:
- Do you have systems in place for attracting new clients (or are things a little ‘haphazard’)?
- Do have systems in place for getting existing clients to return to your business (or is it more ‘let’s wait and see’?)
- Do you have systems in place to get your clients spending more each time they come to your business (or do you just give them what they ask for)?
- Do you have systems in place for generating referrals (or are they just ‘nice to have’s')?
- Do you have systems in place to measure and reward your staff’s performance (or is it a case of a smile when things are good)?
- If YOU left your business tomorrow, would your clients want to follow you to your new destination (or would they be pleased to see you go?)?
- Do you know your average cost of client acquisition (or haven’t you got a flippin’ clue)?
- Do you know your average lifetime client value (or are you just happy to be making a profit)?
- What is your unique selling proposition (or perhaps you just know you’re good at what you do)?
- If you could not attract one more new client for the next 12 months, would you survive (or would your business come crumbling down)?
If you answered NO to one or more of those questions then you have some seriously gaping holes in your salon or spa.
Holes that need to be plugged FAST if you want to survive, let alone prosper over the months and years to come.
The good news is I want to help you plug up them ‘old holes’ and shed a whole new light on why the things I just mentioned are so important!
But, the truth is that these few pages I have here are really only going to scratch the surface. To get ahead fast you’ll need a tad more. So keep an eye out for the additional report I send in the post. THAT can double your profits FAST!
This is a Theory Free, ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Free Zone
Ok, nearly there, sorry, in a moment we ARE going to move onto the ‘good stuff’.
Before we do so, I just want to make something very clear.
There are a lot of reports which base their recommendations on theory and un-tested, un-proven ideas. Ideas born out of universities, business and management schools.
Ideas from people with little or no experience of their own in the cold, hard world of real business and little or no experience actually in the trenches helping real salon/spa owners fight and find success.
This is NOT one of those.
The strategies I’m about to reveal are not ‘fluffed up’ ‘hocus-pocus’, they are not theory and they are all proven.
As you’re about to discover they are also NOT difficult. They do not require you be a master salesman, master marketer, business genius, management wizard or require you have a bottomless pit of funds to invest in them.
They are simple, to the point, easy to implement, fast and very effective.
BUT, they ‘aint gonna’ jump up off these pages, haul themselves over
to your business and put themselves to work…
You do have to do something. Unfortunately here are NO shortcuts to success.
You do have to implement the ideas and strategies. And you do have to be persistent in their application.
So…grab a pen, a piece of paper, a cup of coffee, tea, orange, a biscuit, lock the door and let’s get to work. This will be fun…
Well…At least when the next part of this series arrives…
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