by Greg Milner | Aug 6, 2013 | Blog, Featured
Young beauty therapists are getting a bad rap all over the country for a perceived lack of competence, bad attitude and under-developed social skills.
But is it all their fault? There’s a widespread belief that beauty colleges are taking just about any student with a pulse, rushing them through a short course, and shoving them out the door as fast as they can. In this LIVE online “Q & A”, get YOUR burning questions answered by our Panel of Experts – senior industry stakeholders who all know there’s a problem, and want to find ways to solve it.
Click here to go to the Worldwide Salon Marketing TV page – and POST YOUR QUESTIONS!
by Greg Milner | Jul 8, 2013 | Blog, Featured, Latest News, The Smell of Success
The Sales Prevention Department is one of my favourite departments in any business.
All businesses have one, some more finely tuned than others. A stand-out in my neck of the woods is a local premium car dealer. Not once, but twice has this dealer missed out on a lucrative sale because their SPD did such an extraordinary job.
Most recently, Michelle and I decided to trade her Audi TT two-seater roadster for something a little more practical, if not quite so much fun. Her elderly parents have been finding it increasingly difficult to lower themselves into the convertible (and she can only carry one of them at a time) and besides, there’s nowhere for her very hairy dog, except the passenger seat.
So we trundled down to the local Audi dealer the other day to see what was on offer. After the obligatory tour of the showroom’s bright-shiny new models, the sales manager instructed his rookie young salesman to call me during the week and arrange a trade-in valuation on the roadster. He duly wrote down my number and promised to call me on Wednesday.
With thanks to the Audi dealer’s Sales Prevention Department, Michelle ends up with a VW Polo isntead
And then…and then…nothing happened. This did not really surprise me. Three years ago I’d visited this same dealer, ticked a bunch of option boxes on a new Audi Q5 SUV, asked the salesman to add it all up and give me a call, and went home. I never heard from him again. Four days later, I bought a new Range Rover Sport instead.
This time, I waited more than a week. I refused to call him and do his job for him. I’m a stubborn guy, but eventually his disdain for my money wore me down. I gave up waiting, drove down to a neighbouring yard where they sell Audi’s sister cars, VW, and bought a new Polo GTI there and then.
Now, you don’t sell expensive cars. You sell hair & beauty services, of one kind or another. But I bet you have a well-tuned SPD too. Answer the following questions with a Yes or a No.
- When a first-time walk-in or phone caller inquires about an appointment, prices, services or anything else, do you
a) have a process in place to obtain her name and contact details on the spot, in exchange for a small gift voucher to use on her first booking? Or…
b) do you simply let them walk out of your shop with a wave and a smile, never to be seen again?
- Assuming you don’t have a full-time receptionist, and have to let some calls go through to your answering machine, do you
a) Check the answering machine at frequent intervals during the day, and return sales inquiries instantly, or
b) check the machine at the end of the day, and make a mental to note to get back to them tomorrow…or maybe the day after…or next week…?
- When you place an ad, distribute a mailbox flyer, email an offer or post a special promotion on your Facebook page/website, do you
a) divert your salon phone to a mobile to make sure that prospects reading your offer after business hours can actually call and buy your offer right away, or
b) not bother, assuming they’ll leave a message on the answering machine that you or your staff check sometimes…if you/they remember?
If you answered ‘b’ to any of these questions, congratulations – your Sales Prevention Department is in good shape. But it can always be fine-tuned further. For example,
- When a client is at reception paying their bill, do you
a) ask her an open question such as “Now Mary, just looking ahead four weeks, we have a spot available on Tuesday the 14th at 10am or Thursday the 16th at 3pm, which of those two would suit your best?” Or do you
b) Simply ask a lazy “Would you like to re-book?” – to which there is only a yes or no answer, and of course 90% of people will say ‘no, but thanks.’
- You’ve spent hours, days, weeks preparing your special offer, you’ve spent more time and money printing, buying newspaper space, do you
a) spend an equal amount of time training the staff on exactly how to respond to the phone calls generated from the marketing campaign, right down to the exact words to say to upsell to a higher-value package. Or do you
b) run the ad or distribute the flyer, having neglected to actually tell the staff you’re doing it.
Again, if you answered ‘b’ to those as well, your Sales Prevention Department is working a treat. After all, business is so much easier when you don’t have all those pesky customers, nagging you to take their money.
Get the Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit – and KILL your Sales Prevention Department! The original and still the best marketing & sales system in the hair & beauty industry, the Toolkit is the foundation of the world’s only complete ONLINE & OFFLINE system designed ONLY for salons & spas.
Click here to watch the video – and get $100 worth of FREE ADVERTISING on Google!
by Greg Milner | Jul 5, 2013 | Blog, Featured
Disgruntled customers can trash your reputation online…just as easily, happy ones can make all the difference
The world has changed. Just a few years ago, your clients might tell a handful of people about their experience – good or bad – in your salon. Now, they can tell millions with the click of a mouse, thanks to the proliferation of review sites online.
Review sites have become a major cog in any salon’s marketing systems. Millions of people make their travel decisions based on the reviews they read on Tripadvisor (www.tripadvisor.com). Millions more choose a restaurant based on the reviews on Urban Spoon (www.urbanspoon.com) and others like it. For many small businesses, particularly in the hair & beauty industry, they can be the difference between attracting a new customer, or repelling her.
That reviews have become so important makes sense; studies show that more than 70% of people now make their buying decisions after doing an online search.
Getting a review score like this (for one of our Worldwide Salon Marketing member salons, Lady at Bay in Sydney) can do wonders for your ‘Reputation Management’ online.
The trouble is, many salon owners are often unaware of their online reviews, a situation that’s spawned a brand new industry called ‘Reputation Management’, with some companies paying thousands of dollars a month to consultants just to manage, monitor and enhance what their customers are saying online.
In this interview, listen in as founder of Worth of Mouth Online, Fiona Adler explains why businesses need not fear their reputation will be trashed online…
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For the full interview, Members can log in to the Worldwide Salon Marketing Members Only ‘sealed section’ website here. ‘
Want help with your online reputation? Call Worldwide Salon Marketing on 08 9443 9327 (North America 250 590 0449, New Zealand 09 476 1592)
by Greg Milner | Jun 19, 2013 | Blog
THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT – HURRY & BOOK!!!
Click here to register now
World leading Biologist in ‘Life Extension’ visiting New Zealand for one off seminar says “Prepare to be 24 again!”
Find out how – straight from the man who discovered its possible!
Dr Bill Andrews is visiting New Zealand in a few weeks – first stop: NZ Beauty Expo Business Summit.
He is sponsored by Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ and the new Rewind Supplement
For WSM members we have 20 FREE tickets to this amazing seminar to give away. Call us now on 0800 029 668 or email chris@worldwidesalonmarketing.com to claim your ticket.
And for non-members of WSM we have a limited number of Special Offer Seats for you to purchase.
Here’s the deal:
Book in to see Dr Bill Andrews talk at 9.30am on Saturday, 6th July and you’ll receive $20 off your General Admission Pass.
Simply go to the NZ Beauty Expo website and make your booking to see Dr Andrews Click here now to register And make sure you’re registered to attend the expo as well. Then pop me an email chris@worldwidesalonmarketing.com so I can put you (and your friends) on my VIP list.
The tickets are $55, but at anytime throughout the weekend come and visit the WSM team on stand 232 and we’ll give you your $20 cash back! So they are only costing you $35!
Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Dr Bill Andrews for the first time ever in New Zealand.
This topic is of great interest to the Beauty & Hair industry because its the way of future anti-aging developments!
Is the Fountain of Youth literally around the corner? Could we really live to 125 years and beyond?
Dr. Bill Andrews, is one of the most highly respected scientists in the USA, described as ‘The Man Who Would Stop Time’ by Popular Science Magazine and has been featured on the Today Show, BBC and HBO documentaries.
Scientists have actually been able to turn old mice, into young mice not only in appearance, but internally as well. And Dr Andrew’s research has made human cells immortal.
In his 32 year biotech career, he has focused the last 20 years on finding ways to extend the human lifespan and healthspan through telomere maintenance. As one of the principal discoverers of both the RNA and protein components of human telomerase, Dr. Andrews was awarded 2nd place as “National Inventor of the Year” in 1997 He is also a named inventor on 45 US issued patents on telomerase and author of numerous scientific research studies published in peer reviewed scientific journals.
Our $20 Cash Back offer is only available to the first 50 keen people to respond. So hurry and book – and tell all your friends and business colleagues too! Go here to register and book your ticket.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Chris D’Aguiar-Sanders
Director, Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ
09 476 1592
by Greg Milner | Jun 16, 2013 | Australia, Blog, Email marketing, Featured, Mag 05, Website Marketing
Salon owner and WSM member Cherie Underwood is a passionate convert to the power of her salon’s online presence to attract customers
There are many ways to dominate any given market in the salon & spa industry. You can have product dominance, when your product or service is the only such product or service in your area. You can have demographic dominance, where more people in any given demographic come to your salon as against all the competition.
And you can have media dominance, where your marketing message gets the lion’s share of any given media in that particular market.
My Social Salon – gives your salon the power of Media Dominance
Here’s an example of Media Dominance that most salon owners would give their right arm for. In Jannali, in the southern suburbs of Sydney, long-time Worldwide Salon Marketing member Cherie Underwood has owned Femme Fatale Beauty & Skin Care for a number of years. Several years ago WSM constructed a website for Cherie, which quickly became the top-ranked website for relevant search terms in her area. Last year, we built her another website – because it’s better to have two, three, ten websites than just one. A quick Google search for ‘beauty salon Jannali’ now brings up the following results on Page One of Google: 
When you analyze it, there are a number of things worth pointing out here: 1) Cherie’s original website, www.femmefatalebeauty.com.au, is the very first result on Page One. 2) One of the pages from that website is listed at No. 2 3) The YouTube video we set up for Cheri on her own YouTube channel is listed at No. 3 – important because about 30% of all online searches are for videos. Note that the link to the video contains her salon’s phone number; important because getting a phone call to book an appointment is certainly her Most Wanted Response 4) Cherie’s salon is listed at the very top of Google’s map listings for salons in Jannali. Here’s another example of Media Domination online. In Manly (Sydney) the competition among cosmetic clinics is fierce. But WSM member Alice Cassidy of Manly Cosmetic & Laser Clinic is enjoying marketplace dominance on the world’s biggest search engine thanks in large part to the ‘secret sauce’ SEO strategies our Director of Online, George Slater and his team inject into the websites we build for members. High up on the first page of Google search – for the search phrase ‘botox manly’ – Alice’s business occupies no fewer than four of the top five positions. 
The point is this: a combination of time, careful construction, frequent website updating, and an understanding of what it takes has given Cherie media dominance of her market. By achieving the top four spots on search listings, Cherie’s business has automatically reduced the amount of her competition her prospective customers can find. You simply can’t do it any better than that.
Want that kind of media dominance?
by Greg Milner | Jun 4, 2013 | Blog, Featured, The Right Mindset
Sharp-eyed Worldwide Salon Marketing member David Wood of Elan Men’s Hair in Brisbane is another who can thank his immersion in ‘our’ way of salon marketing for honing his B.S. Antenna to a state of high alert.
David sent me an article written by a purported ‘expert’ on customer retention that makes my eyes water.
Under the heading “Don’t ask customers why they left you!”, the article argues, correctly, that customers leave for three main reasons:
* Drawn: They are drawn away to a supplier that offers them substantially more of what they value (e.g. service, benefits, savings, etc.).
* Drift: They drift away to a similar supplier who offers them marginally more. Most often this occurs at points of change in their own life (e.g. moving job/house/site, having children, etc.).
* Driven: In the absence of a strong engagement, they become disenchanted over time and then a particular incident (trigger) pushes them to change suppliers.
But then the author falls in a hole, with the scholarly opinion that “…instead of asking them why they left you, try the following strategies to reduce customer defections:
1. Conduct value research
* Use analysis of relevant online discussion forums, traditional focus groups and other tools to identify what customers actually value from their relationship with you. Then use these insights to drive value into your customer relationships.
2. Leverage your customer data
* Use customer complaints data to prioritise and address those things that annoy customers (and start collecting it immediately if you don’t already!)
* Statistically analyse customer transactional behaviour to identify other change triggers (positive and negative).
Online discussion forums? Focus groups???
Oh, yawn. In other words, tip-toe around, do anything except send ‘em a letter, in an envelope, with a stamp on it, asking them to come back and giving them a bloody good reason (offer) to do so.
It’s classic avoidance strategy, padded with big words and fancy phrases, to give business owners comfort for not doing what it takes to get the damn customers back.
If you want to do ‘research’, here’s my contention: get the customers back first, then find out why they left in the first place. If they’re standing right in front of you, having eagerly responded to your ‘come back’ offer, that’s a pretty good place to start your ‘focus group’. Particularly after they’ve just been blown away by a ‘wow’ experience.
“C’mon Shirley, we haven’t seen you for three months. What happened?”
Sometimes, ‘experts’ just love to over-think things. Thankfully, our Members know the value of a well-crafted ‘Raise the Dead’ series of letters they can simply download from the Membership area. Many are getting a 30% response rate, or better, sending these letters to their ‘missing in action’ clients.
Like, for example, Hannah McEnteggart of Oasis Health & Beauty Spa in Great Missendon, UK:
