by Greg Milner | Aug 22, 2014 | Blog, Featured, The Smell of Success
Nicole Panayiotou, of Blush Professional Beauty Touch in the country town of Sale, Victoria, is about to have her first baby. So she simply had to get her salon running efficiently, profitably, without her. As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. So Nicole, a Member of WSM’s My Social Salon marketing and coaching program, decided to take massive action.
In this video interview I recorded with her today, Nicole describes how simple direct response marketing she’s learned as a WSM member, combined with her decision to employ a dedicated receptionist, has increased her revenue by $3,000 a week – and made it possible for her to have her baby without worrying about the business!
In July 2014 alone, her WSM-style marketing brought in a whopping 101 new clients….here’s how.
[cf]NicoleP[/cf]
We now have ONE place in the My Social Salon program available – for those salon & spa owners wanting the kind of sales boost Nicole has enjoyed, go here to find out how you could get a 30 Money Back Guaranteed ‘Test Drive’ of the entire system.
by Greg Milner | Jul 21, 2014 | Blog, Staff Recruitment
If you were to buy some expensive equipment for your business worth say $10,000 would you solely rely on what the salesperson has to say?
For a $10,000 purchase, you would do a bit of homework before you bought it? Wouldn’t you?
Let’s say it was a $20,000 purchase, would you ask for testimonials from people who have used the equipment before you bought it, and find out how well it worked?
Why is it then, that when it comes to an even bigger ‘purchase’ getting testimonials is often overlooked?
What I am talking about is hiring a new staff member and checking their references. Despite what some people may tell you, no system for hiring staff will ever be 100% effective. ‘Gut instinct’ only goes so far, and face to face interviews are not foolproof.
So why is it that an interview is so commonly used? Interviews are a great way to sit down face to face with the candidate and get to know them. It’s a great opportunity to hear what they have to say about the great things they have done, how great they are and how good they will be if you hire them.
A great old saying springs to mind
‘They can talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?’
Let’s face it, can you really get all the information you need to invest tens of thousands of hard earned dollars from a 40 minute interview!
Have I convinced you about the importance of including reference checking in your recruitment process yet? If not, get ready for some cold hard facts…
Unfortunately, people lie; it is a fact of life. Candidates, to make themselves sound more impressive, fabricate previous work experience on their resumes frequently. This is one of the reasons why human resources professionals verify references to make sure that the potential employee really has worked where they said they worked. Likewise, no one wants to hire someone who does not possess the proper qualifications. Think of the reputational damage of telling a customer about your new top notch therapists’ qualifications, only to find out these qualifications did not really exist. Likewise, the embarrassment you’d face if the Immigration Service turned up at your salon to question you about hiring an illegal worker.
Checking references saves a company time and money and a candidates past performance can be an indicator of their future performance.
So, next time you are making that big ‘purchase’ remember to check that the person can ‘walk the walk as well as talk the talk’ by making sure you check out their references and credentials before you let them loose on your clients. Otherwise that big ‘star purchase’ might turn out to be a dud, or worse yet you could be hiring someone with a worse track record than Sweeney Todd!
by Greg Milner | Jul 14, 2014 | Blog
“Why Most Salon Marketing Fails”…
Why Most Salon Marketing Fails
- An Exceptional Guest Experience….
- How do we Keep ‘em Coming Back?
- Renegade Millionaire
- Price… Is it Always an Issue?
- The Salon Owner’s Worst Enemy
- How to boost salon sales by 25% – in 5 weeks or LESS.
- Problems finding good staff? Then stop being so ‘nice’
- about it!
- How Natalie Boosted Her Salon Takings by 13%
- Is your marketing message getting ATTENTION?
- Great ideas you can STEAL
- From $6,000 a month to $30,000 a month
- – in THREE years.
- Scissor Boy TV
- Scissor Boy TV
by Greg Milner | Jun 30, 2014 | Blog
On a warm sunny June day along the appalling roads of the far north Kimberley region of Western Australia, a lot of bad things can happen. And usually do.
Our camping holiday was suddenly cut short, thanks to an overheated shock absorber in some of the most remote country in outback Australia. But as always, it’s never the problem that’s the problem, it’s how you fix it. And thanks to some amazing customer service, an equipment failure that could have been disastrously expensive (for me!) turned into a triumph of public relations for the company that made my car.
As a business owner, you’ll likely never be asked to ‘make-good’ to this extent. But the way Land Rover went about salvaging what could have been PR disaster and turning it into a great success story is worth studying. I’ll explain.
[cf]Rangie[/cf]
My wife Michelle and I had set out from Broome to explore some of the most spectacular, rugged and remote landscapes in Australia. The Kimberley region is vast – big enough to fit the entire United Kingdom 7 times and still have leftover room. We’d travelled parts of it three years ago, and this time we wanted to visit the majestic Mitchell Falls, on the west coast. But to get there, you have to drive hundreds of kilometres over some of the worst roads anywhere in the country. All had been going well, until we hit the track into Mitchell Falls itself. It was then I discovered that the violent shaking had disabled the rear suspension of my near new Range Rover.
(We weren’t alone in this. The roads up that way are littered with four-wheel-drives of all makes, disabled with blown shock absorbers, broken springs, snapped axles and shredded tyres.)
Fortunately, my Rangie was still under new-car warranty. And therefore subject to Land Rover’s ‘recover you from anywhere’ policy in case of vehicle break-down.
Over the next few days, using borrowed satellite phones (no mobile coverage here) and an ancient pay-phone when we eventually reached a cattle station 100 kilometres away, Land Rover Australia came to the rescue, in one of the most logistically difficult, expensive and remote recovery operations they’ve ever had to mount.
The start of a 4,000km recovery mission
Land Rover organized and paid for:
1) a truck to drive from the nearest town – over 400 kilometres away – down the Gibb River Rd to Drysdale River Station, retrieve our car and take it to Broome – another 700km away – then return to pick up our camper trailer and deliver that to Broome as well. It took four days to complete the job.
2) the charter of a Cessna to fly Michelle and me to Broome.
3) Our hotel accommodation in Broome.
4) A replacement part to be trucked from Melbourne to Perth (3,500km), while our car was trucked down from Broome (another 2,500km) for repairs.
5) Our flights back home to Perth.
Just a rough guess, but I’m putting the total bill for Land Rover at north of $25,000. Now there’s no way the average salon or spa owner will ever need to match that, but the structure of the process is illuminating. By bending over backwards, Land Rover
1) turned an ordinary customer (me) into a raving advocate for the brand.
2) ensured I’d be buying another one when mine was due for a trade-in.
And thanks to the ‘bush-telegraph’, our story spread like wildfire around campfires throughout the region. “Ya mean the company did all that?”
Here’s the lesson: It’s never the problem, it’s how you solve the problem that matters.
by Greg Milner | Apr 29, 2014 | Blog, Featured
Kellie Rout – from little things, big things grew
What would YOU do if you were in your early to mid-twenties and starting out in the salon business right now – would you do things differently?
Ten years ago, young salon owner Kellie Rout was a typical small business person – working full time ‘on the tools’, trying her best to manage, train and encourage her small staff, and struggling to figure out how to turn her little two-basin salon into a thriving business. She found many of the answers with Worldwide Salon Marketing’s membership program. Kellie joined the same year WSM was founded, and has been a Member ever since.
Fast-forward a decade, and how things have changed – a success story only a tiny percentage of hair or beauty professionals can mirror. Kellie’s Emphasis on Hair is now a two-salon business employing 22 staff. Kellie hasn’t worked on the floor for years, and spends almost all her time working from home with husband Keenan and enjoy their two young children. Need inspiration for your own salon business? Watch this 7 minute video!
[cf]kellie[/cf]
Want the same kind of power behind your business? Check out the My Social Salon marketing & mentoring program and apply for a 30-day Money Back Guaranteed Test Drive!
by Greg Milner | Apr 28, 2014 | Blog
You have everything you need inside of you. You just need to tap into your inner wisdom.
According to ancient legend, there was a time when ordinary people had access to all the knowledge of the gods. Yet time and time again, they ignored this wisdom. One day, the gods grew tired of so freely giving a gift the people didn’t use, so they decided to hide this precious wisdom where only the most committed of seekers would discover it. They believed that if people had to work to find this wisdom, they would use it more carefully.
One of the gods suggested that they bury it deep in the earth.
No, the others said – too many people could easily dig down and find it. “Let’s put it in the deepest ocean,” suggested one of the gods, but that idea was also rejected. They knew that people would one day learn to dive and thus would find it too easily.
One of the gods suggested hiding it on the highest mountaintop, but it was quickly agreed that people could climb mountains.
Finally, one of the wisest gods suggested, “let’s hide it deep inside the people themselves. They’ll never think to look in there.”
Anni Diamond, International Best Selling Author, Speaker, Trainer
www.beautysaloncoach.biz
