As a salon owner, you appreciate that our country is going through a really tough time economically. People are being forced to trim their spending wherever possible, and many are choosing to cut down on luxuries' like pampering and looking after their hair.
Every day salons across the country are closing, blaming lack of new customers, decreased customer-spend and fewer repeat visits for their financial difficulties.
Have you experienced a decline in business as the recession has taken hold?
Are you worried about losing your best stylists to your busier rivals and the downward spiral that this inevitably causes?
Maybe you have already lost good stylists and want to stop the bleeding before it gets worse?
I'm going to share with you 4 simple but unbelievably effective strategies that you can implement in your salon RIGHT NOW to increase business, client retention, morale and ultimately, profit.
These strategies have been used by the world's most successful salons salons who have turned their business round once their owners made a few small changes. It's not uncommon for salons to boost their income dramatically once the owner makes the decision to no longer settle for mediocre results, take some action and invest some time and energy into marketing.
As a salon owner, your passion is understandably in the salon. Most salon owners I talk to got into the business because of a love of style, hair and giving their clients a great look and a new self-confidence, while giving you a chance to express your creativity. The reality is that the day-to-day stresses and strains of running a business can often take you away from the reason you started it in the first place.
Many salon owners even experience a breaking point, where they finally decide that they've had enough of the stresses and strains and they are going to put in place some strategies that take care of the business side of things in order to let them get on with what they enjoy, and what they're best at, which is running a Salon.
With that in mind, these simple strategies are honed to give your salon maximum results with minimum effort. We're not talking hiring a marketing person to implement complex strategies, we're not talking becoming an expert in graphic and web design. No one running a real business has time for that stuff. What this report is about is simple, small changes that produce big results.
Without any further ado, let's get stuck in.
The secret to any successful business, particularly businesses like salons, that depend so heavily on regular clients, is to increase the value of each and every client that walks through the door.
When each of your clients is worth more to you, this allows you to:
- Spend more time and money attracting new clients, and still make more money from them than your competitors can. The ability to spend more money attracting new clients gives you an unbeatable competitive advantage.
- Put more effort into serving your clients well. This can be anything from treating them once they come in, redecorating the salon and holding client appreciation events to putting more resources into training and hiring.
- Build up financial reserves that give you the security of knowing you will be able to get through lean times, or put into big renovation projects
- Ultimately expand your salon business, should you wish, taking on more stylists and opening new salons
The key to all of these is increasing client value.
So how exactly do you go about increasing your client value?
There are only 4 ways to increase your client value. You'll discover them below as well as some specific ideas to immediately start implementing into your business to increase profits, new customers, and repeat visits.
1) Increase how much each client spends with you.
This means that every client who walks through your door gives you more money.
You might be thinking "But my customers budgets are stretched more than ever!" and if you are, I hear you. We all know that people are more carefully watching their budgets. But I'm here to tell you that your customers will actually spend more, much more, in your salon if you can tap into exactly what motivates them to buy.
Without getting into all the sales psychology, which we don't have time to go through here, I'm going to show you a really quick and easy way to IMMEDIATELY increase your customer spend, starting now:
- With every hair appointment, your stylists need to explicitly offer the client the opportunity to buy the products that they are using. It's not enough to simply mention them, your stylists have to ask "would you like a bottle of x to take with you today?" You will be surprised by just how many clients will choose to buy the products if they are simply OFFERED. This can drastically increase the profit of each client that comes to you, at the same time as increasing client satisfaction.
2) The second way to increase your client value is to get them into the salon more often.
This is probably one of the easiest ways to instantly boost your business. It's no coincidence that the big salons do this religiously, while many struggling salons neglect this untapped source of profit.
The beauty (excuse the pun) of your salon is that your clients' hair keeps growing. Don't take this for granted! This is an advantage estate agents DREAM of! Ideally your clients would be back for a trim every 4-6 weeks, but in reality we all know that it'll likely be a lot longer than that. If you implement the following strategy this week, you will increase your advance bookings significantly. It takes less than 10 minutes to do, and I'm going to explain exactly what you have to do, and then show you how to do it:
Ready?
When your client is ready to leave and they go over to the front desk to settle up the bill, have your receptionist ask when they would like to book their next visit. Have them gently remind the client that you normally recommend a trim every 4-6 weeks to keep their new style looking its best, and that if your client books their next visit now, they will be given a voucher worth 10% off their appointment.
Once your client has booked their next appointment, have your receptionist hand them the reminder card with the date and time of their next appointment, and the voucher for 10% off.
You will be AMAZED at how many clients are delighted to book their next appointment there and then. It's when they are most happy with their new hair, and will be eager to make sure they can get the same stylist to do their next trim.
This strategy is just so simple, and such a sure-fire way to get your clients coming back to you again and again that it will have your stylists booked up months in advance.
Even if you did only this, your time spent today researching salon marketing will have been worth hundreds if not thousands of pounds to your salon business in the coming months.
If you like the look of these strategies and would like to boost your salon's profits even further, you can get hold of the full e-book: 23 Proven and Devastatingly Effective Free or Low Cost Salon Marketing Strategies by visiting www.yoursalonsuccess.co.uk
3) Increase the lifetime of each of your clients. In an ideal world, your clients would remain your clients for life. They'd loyally come back and would never visit another salon. The reality is, however, that it doesn't take much for many clients to cheat' on you and if they have a good experience while they're visiting your competitor's salon, they might never come back.
So why do clients cheat'? It might be a taste for the unknown, which you can satisfy in all manner of ways. It might even be something as minor as your stylist being busy on the day the client wants their hair cut, which can be avoided by encouraging them to book their next appointment straight after their previous one.
We want to lock your clients in' to your salon, by never giving them a reason to try out any other salon. You'll do this by treating them better than any other salon has ever treated them, and keeping your salon in the forefront of their minds in the time between appointments.
A simple strategy that many successful salons use to lock in' their customers is to run a simple email newsletter. This is nowhere near as complicated or time consuming as you might imagine. In fact it's something your staff will enjoy doing for you as it gives them a chance to demonstrate their expertise by talking about new styles, fashions or trends in the industry. By sending this newsletter out to your clients, you have a chance to remain at the forefront of their minds. Seeing the new styles and fashions might arouse their desire to try a new look or think about updating their style, which can itself lead to more visits.
Sending a newsletter out will also position your salon and your stylists as experts in your industry, and let your clients know that you and your team are out there in the field keeping ahead of the curve and making sure that when your clients visit your salon, you're going to be offering them the latest designs.
If you like the look of these strategies and would like to boost your salon's profits even further, you can get hold of the full e-book: 23 Proven and Devastatingly Effective Free or Low Cost Salon Marketing Strategies by visiting www.yoursalonsuccess.co.uk
4) The final way to boost your customer value is a big one. It is a massively underused strategy that almost every salon in the country is guilty of not taking advantage of.
This strategy gives you the opportunity to literally multiply your customers. It can lead to exponential growth with barely any effort on your part with this strategy your customers do your promotion for you!
I am talking about implementing an effective referral strategy. A well-implemented and effective referral strategy can literally build your business for you, without you having to spend a penny on advertising, promotions or any of that. Once your referral strategy is up and running, your happy clients will be out there in the world spreading the message about your salon, while you get on with business.
Many salon owners and stylists are slightly apprehensive about asking for referrals from their clients, but once they see the results this apprehension immediately falls way, trust me!
I'll share the most effective salon referral strategy with you now. If you implement this strategy well, I'll leave it to your imagination what this could do for your business.
Once your client's appointment is over, have the stylist thank them for their custom and offer them 5 Referral Vouchers. These are folded cards which a space inside for your client's name, which your receptionist has filled in during the appointment. Have your stylist explain to your client that for every person they hand a card out to who visits the salon, they will both be entitled to 20% off their cut.
If each of your clients hands out 3 cards to their friends, and 1 of those friends come in for an appointment, you have just doubled your client base. For the price of a few pieces of card! Studies show that clients who come in as a result of a referral are also more likely to refer others. You can see how this can easily get out of hand and lead to you having to add more chairs!
As you can see, we've just touched on 4 simple strategies to boost your salon business. They are simple and easy to implement, and you can get going right away.
If you like the look of these strategies and would like to boost your salon's profits even further, you can get hold of the full e-book: 23 Proven and Devastatingly Effective Free or Low Cost Salon Marketing Strategies by visiting www.yoursalonsuccess.co.uk
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