by Greg Milner | May 22, 2008 | Ask the Experts, Getting Salon Clients Quickly, The Right Mindset
Salon Marketing Plan Strategy: Has the Gorilla Got You in its Grip?
Is it little wonder that so many in the hair and beauty business find themselves in more trouble than a blind, one-legged dog?
Every week, our fax machine pours forth with a stream of ‘HELP’ letters, from hair stylists and estheticians who’ve suddenly found themselves owning a salon, with not a clue about a marketing plan for their salon or how to generate business.
Like this one:
“Dear Greg, My name is (name withheld), I’ve just purchased a cute little hair salon in (location witheld) on the Gold Coast – it settles in two weeks. “The lady I purchased it from has let the salon run down, she has only been taking about $2,500 a week. I’m so worried that there will be no clients in chairs when I open my doors on June 2nd. I have very little money to play with so I was just going to do a discounted mail drop and hope for the best.
“I have just watched your DVD and I don’t know what the hell to do – I feel sick now, knowing that my mail drop won’t work. I think I have bitten off more than I can chew. I’m keeping the apprentice on but I don’t know how I will pay her if I don’t get bums on seats.
“Please, please, please can you help me so I don’t fail before I start.” |
Without wishing to sound like a broken record (I do) I’ll keep nagging until I’m blue in the face. Fancy fit-outs, expensive equipment, swish furniture, state-of-the-art software systems, up-market products, pretty pictures on the walls, flat screen TVs…. NONE of that stuff matters a damn unless you know how to get customers.
Has your salon turned into a gorilla?
In an average, garden variety day, we interview at least half a dozen applicants for Inner Circle membership. And I kid you not, nearly half of those fall into the category above – having bought or in the process of buying themselves a job because ‘I always wanted to own my own business’, and only too late discovering that the business owns them, clasping them ever-tighter to its breast like a hairy, grumpy gorilla intent on squeezing the life out of its prey.
Far too many stylists and aestheticians fall victim to the romantic notion of ‘being my own boss’, without for a moment employing what I call ‘accurate thinking’ – e.g., “I need X clients per week/month, each spending an average of $Y, to pay the bills. Then I need another Z of those clients in order to give me a profit. How do I get the extra clients I need?”
There is ONLY one way of getting extra clients. And that’s simply a marketing plan. (And before you diss me for failing to mention ‘referrals’ – what are referrals if they’re not word-of-mouth marketing???)
Treat your business like a 10,000 pound gorilla. Your very FIRST priority is to feed it a never-ending smorgasbord of juicy, ripe customers. Every single day. Then shut the door while it eats, and go get some more.
And you can’t be out hunting for customers while you’re inside the beast, working on the tools, digesting the food your gorilla is swallowing.
by Greg Milner | May 8, 2008 | Ask the Experts, The Right Mindset
*Sigh*… another day, another stream of applications for a free 90-day Test Drive membership of the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program, and… scattered here and there, the inevitable plea for help from a salon or spa owner who’s left it till they’re on the brink of bankruptcy before taking action.
Many begin their application along these lines:
“I’ve been getting your newsletters/watching you on the web/receiving your emails for two or three years now, and I thought I’d better do something otherwise I’ll have to close my doors in 6 weeks.”
Er…you mean it took three years to work out that you don’t get different results by doing the same thing over and over again??
In the first three days this week we accepted ten new Inner Circle members, three of them on the 30-day Test Drive. But many more didn’t make it. Some went ‘above and beyond’ in their efforts to join the elite group.
Like this one: typical, common, but no less heart-rending for all its ‘me too-ness’. It landed on my desk with the subject line that did not bode well from the start:
“I’m not going to be your favourite customer because…….”
In a two-page fax, this salon owner admits “I have been sitting on your DVD for months, moving it from one pile of paperwork to another, always ‘going to get to that later.” (Yes, I’d like to procrastinate, but I’ll get to it tomorrow….)
“I have no money to give you at the moment.” (No surprise there, given the subject line)
“I haven’t even seen the whole DVD!”
And then, the story: “I have taken my turnover from $37K to $180K in two and a half years, but owe more now than I ever have. Without sounding conceited my salon has the best reputation in town and is quite high end for this market – my growth will back this up – when other salons are closing down I am putting on more staff. The trouble is they cost more than I am making! I need to save my salon’s life and indeed my marraige because believe me, my husbane is over the whole ‘we need to put more money’ in scenario…. I am averaging 2 hours sleep a night with worry, and have nowhere to turn for the money I need to salvage this situation…”
It’s time for some of what I call ‘Accurate Thinking’. If you’re in the same situation as this salon owner, lean closer, dear reader.
There are only THREE ways to increase revenue.
That’s it, three. no more, no less. No matter whether you’re a huge multi-national, or a corner deli. Here they are:
1. Get more customers. 2. Increase what each customer spends with you. 3. Increase your prices.
Folks, it ain’t rocket science. Business is actually very simple. People make it complicated. Profit is nothing more than the difference between your revenue, and your costs. If your costs are high, either reduce them, increase your prices, or better, a combination of the two.
(However, do NOT reduce your marketing spend. Increase what you spend on marketing – it is the ONLY thing that brings customers in…. and that includes referrals, which is just word of mouth marketing.)
FREE DVD: we’re happy to send anyone who wants one, a free DVD on salon & spa marketing. But we’d prefer you actually watch it when you get it, not months later, like the salon owner above. Click here to get the FREE DVD.
