Hi, Marnie here, as a salon owner myself, I know that running a successful salon requires a lot of things. One of them is organisation, and strict procedures. Not every salon has a booking system on a computer, and if you don’t, look into one now.
Before you download your free salon appointment book template, remember: this template is in 15-minute time slots from 7am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.
It’s designed to be an easy, temporary replacement to your booking system on your computer or iPad. One spill of a coffee, and your appointments are lost!
How to Stop No-Shows
One thing, before you download your free salon appointment book template, is to stop your no-shows. Studies have shown that people value and cherish products they spend money on, versus products they get for free. In other words, when you put your credit card towards an appointment, you’re going to show up. So the next time you’re booking in a client, respectfully ask for either a deposit to secure the appointment (which you take over the phone), or ask for their credit card information in-case they don’t show.
Use this script:
“Now, Jolie, for me to secure this appointment on Friday at 11am, I do need a deposit of $50. This secures your time and appointment, and guarantees you’ll be getting the best service we can offer you.”
If they’re uncomfortable, or against a deposit, you can try one of two things:
Insist you can’t book the appointment, as it’s salon procedure:
“I’m sorry, Jolie, but it is salon policy. I do need this deposit for me to secure your appointment. How would you like to pay for the deposit today?”
2. Ask for their credit card information, but insist you’ll only charge if they don’t arrive
“I’m sorry, Jolie, but it is salon policy. I do need this deposit for me to secure your appointment. What I can do, instead, is take your credit card information on file, and only charge you if you don’t show up for the appointment. How does this sound?”
Get instant access to your copy of the salon appointment book template here.
In the Melbourne suburb of Berwick, Leiza Cester’s Allura Hair Boutique gets more than 120 calls every month from prospective clients finding her in a Google search. In Hobart, Tasmania, Effie Tsopoulos’ Escape Beauty Lounge gets more than 150 calls every month from prospective new clients.
If YOU aren’t getting that kind of response from your website, watch this video…
Most salon websites have a series of crucial errors that make it hard for your prospective clients to interact with you. Take a look at your own website, both in a computer browser, and on your phone.
Imagine you’re looking at it from a customer’s point of view. (In other words, forget about the pretty stuff at the moment, and concentrate on function, not form.)
Let’s imagine your prospective new client is sitting on a bus, or on the couch, and they’re browsing the web, looking for a hair salon nearby. Typically, they’ll Google ‘Hair salon’ and the name of the suburb or locality they’re in.
If you’re Search Engine Optimization is working properly, they’ll find your website on the first page of search results.
If your Google My Business Listing is prominent – in the ‘Big Three’ at the top of the search results – she might do one of two things; click on the ‘click to call’ button if she’s on her phone, or click on the website link if she’s on a tablet or laptop.
Let’s say she goes through to your website on her phone or tablet. Is your phone number prominent at the top of the website? Is it ‘hot’ so she can simply touch it and it calls your salon?
If not, that’s a problem. Rule #1 – don’t make it hard for people to find your phone number!
Is your site ‘mobile responsive’?
In other words, when you look at it on your phone, do you get the mobile version of the site, or the full desktop version? If it’s the full desktop version, that’s a problem. Remember, 60% or more people do their initial searching on their phones.
If your salon’s website is almost impossible to read on a tiny phone screen, that’s a FAIL!
Google will eventually punish you for that, dropping your site down in the search rankings. So, Rule #2 – your site MUST be mobile responsive.
What about all the visitors to your site who almost call you…but don’t quite? Somehow, you need to capture their contact details so you can market to them later. One of the best ways to do this is to offer some kind of free gift – say, a $20 Gift Voucher – that they can download in exchange for their name and contact details.
This salon get up to 15 new clients a week filling in that form.
See, they then phone their leads, and book them in. Easy, almost guaranteed way to get new clients.
So, if your website isn’t mobile responsive, and if you don’t have an easy way for people to find you – how on Earth are you meant to book in the new clients?
We discovered most websites have the same 7 – 13 crucial errors. After building hundreds – probably thousands – of websites, we found the consistent them as to why websites for salons aren’t work.
In this recorded webinar, I dive into the the specifics on how you can use Instagram to find new clients, the difference between Facebook Ads and Facebook Boosted Posts, and how it all can tie together.
Last year Microsoft shelled out $26 billion – yes, that’s twenty six billion dollars – to take over LinkedIn. Just think about that for a minute – $26 billion is greater the entire Gross Domestic Product of more than half the countries in the whole world.
And why would Microsoft do that? LinkedIn’s total revenue in 2015 was a paltry $670-odd million. So Microsoft is hardly interested in LinkedIn for its profits.
Nope. Microsoft is prepared to make the biggest purchase in its 40 year history to get hold of LinkedIn’s 350 million members. And most of that 350 million are high-value professionals of some kind.
Microsoft recognises that the real money is in the list of customers.
So how does this relate to your small salon or spa in Downtown Anywhere? For exactly the same reason – the real money is in your list of customers, clients and prospects.
Last week, veteran WSM member Nicole Panayiotou, owner of a successful salon in the Victorian country town of Sale decided she wanted to boost sales for June, and at the same time clean up her large database of several thousand clients and former clients.
Here’s what she did:
1) At my suggestion, she shot a short video on her mobile phone, sent it to one of my team at Worldwide Salon Marketing, and we loaded it up onto her salon’s website. You can see that video here.
3) At the same time, she used her database – her list – to find another 400 such ‘missing in action’ clients with mobile phone numbers, and sent them a text message that read as follows:
“Want a FREE $50 voucher? Click the link to redeem it! We miss you at Blush x. http://www.beauty-salon-sale.com/we-miss-you – Reply stop to opt out.”
The link in the SMS took recipients to the new video on her website here, and under the video, a simple form to fill in and get the gift voucher.
Results?
“I sent 150 letters, got 3 clients back off the first letter. Sent 400 texts, got 11 opt outs and 7 clients back in! Still got more to send so extending it (the offer) thru till end July. Great chance to clean up data base so I’m happy.”
Now, before you dismiss that as a poor result, think about it; with a simple, easily-implemented promotion using just a tiny section of her existing list of clients, she resurrected ten ‘missing in action’ clients, with the chance to turn them once again into regular buyers. At say, $1,000 a year per client, it’s a cheap way to regenerate $10,000 a year revenue.
That’s the value, and the money, in a well maintained list. And that’s why Microsoft is spending $26 billion to get hold of one.
With more than 400 million users – Instagram is today, one of the leading platforms successfully helping business owners establish a name for themselves in the world of social media. Imagine having an audience of 400 million who can see the services and products you are offering? Sounds unbelievable, right? Well the truth is … it’s possible!
With so much of today’s business done online, it’s critical to remain active across all social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) – and especially, Instagram, as a business owner.
While it’s comparable to Facebook, Instagram is a mobile-photo sharing app which allows users to edit and post photos and videos – now even allowing its users to stream themselves live, similar to Facebook Live.
Signing Up
Creating an Instagram Account is easy and doesn’t take long. While Instagram can be accessed via desktop, Instagram is primarily a mobile app, so you have to download the application on your mobile before signing up. You can download the application from either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
By signing up to Instagram, you’ll let yourself be found by thousands of potential clients.
As a business owner, you will want to create a ‘business profile‘ instead of a personal account. The business account gives business owners, an insight to key information and analytics, which we will later discuss in this article. Before signing up to Instagram you will be asked to link your Facebook business page to your Instagram account. This way both of your accounts will be linked, making it easier to navigate from one platform to the other.
Once your accounts have been linked and your Instagram Account is created, you can now go the Profile Tab, located at the bottom right hand side, to Edit Profile. In this space you can do anything from change your name and username, change your profile photo, add a website users can visit and write a short 150 character biography other users will be able to view once they visit your business account.
TIP: To switch your account from a private or public account go to – Options Settings, located in the Profile Tab; top right-hand corner. To switch and activate a private account tap on the blue button to activate a private account. To make your account public, again – tap on the blue button to switch off the private setting and activate public account.
With Instagram for Business, you’ll be able to see who’s engaged with your profile.
Finding Your Way
Navigating on Instagram is relatively simple. The Home Button allows you to see posts from pages you may be interested in or accounts that you are currently following. The Home Button also allows you to see anything you may have previously posted. To the right of the Home Button is where you will find the Search Bar. The Search Bar allows you to find pages or people you are interested in.
Below the Search Bar you will find a display of photos and videos you can explore to see what other users are posting on Instagram. The Plus Button allows you to add any images or videos, directly from your camera roll or phone camera, you wish to post on your business page.
TIP: Instagram videos have now been extended from 15 seconds to 1 minute in duration. This is a great business tool to share with your followers and potential new customers. Think about how you can utilise video posts for your business? For example: As a salon owner you could upload a short video showing users and potential customers how to get the perfect blow dry, with a simple call to action!
Think about the trust people would have in you when you give them free lessons!
Creating Content
When creating content for any online platform, it is important to think about how you’ll be seen, and how people will remember what you post. Gone were the days where you’d post something and clients will come flocking to you. See it takes an average of 7 – 17 interactions with someone before they’ll buy from you.
And the good thing? If a user likes what you are posting, they will probably follow your page. This is positive news in the world of Instagram! Most people have less than 1,000 followers on Instagram, so they’ll take note of people who like their photos. If you like, and comment on people’s photos, this is a sure-fire way to grow your following.
Always remember the hashtags: adding hashtags to any of your photos or videos – for maximum exposure, before publicly posting them. For example: Images of makeup will usually have the hashtag #Instagrammakeup associated with them. Hashtags allow users to search and filter through different topics of interest via the online platform, making content and business easier to find
Interacting With People
A simple way of interact with other users on Instagram is by liking their photos and commenting on them. To like a photo, either double-tap on the image or tap on the heart-shaped button to like a post.
Commenting on a post is done by clicking on the Comment Button, located on the right hand side of the Like Button. To make your interaction more personal with other users, use the tagging @ symbol available. Start by typing the @ symbol, then type the user’s name you wish to tag in the comment box. After writing your comment simply tap the Post Button and the comment will be posted. By tagging a user, the person will automatically be notified they have been tagged in a comment, making your interaction with them more personal and intimate for future relations.
Insights and Analytics
As a business page on Instagram you are exposed to specific analytical insights and information. These statistics allow you to view the demographics and behavior of your followers, enabling you to create more relevant and timely content for your business page.
For example: Instagram Insights allow you to see what time most users are visiting your page. This information allows you to successfully allocate an appropriate time to post new content to your business page – which will attract more attention and traffic to your page.
All In All – Post Daily
If you’re not posting daily on Instagram, you’re losing potential business. The mass of people using Instagram daily is greater than Facebook, and almost as high as Snapchat. Instagram will surpass Facebook as the #1 go-to platform – in a matter of years.
The question is, what’re you doing about your Instagram?
Word of mouth is great. Old-fashioned ‘offline’ salon marketing works too. But there is ONE major way people are now looking for salon or spa services in your local area. And if you can’t be found when they search on their smart-phone and look at the salon search results, you’re missing out on 90% of your potential new customers.
In this recording of a webinar on Monday, July 4, Spectrum Science’s Leah Coughlan asked WSM CEO Greg Milner to explain the ‘How’ of making sure your salon or spa is found – fast.
Last year Microsoft shelled out $26 billion – yes, that’s twenty six billion dollars – to take over LinkedIn. Just think about that for a minute – $26 billion is greater the entire Gross Domestic Product of more than half the countries in the whole world.
Last week, veteran WSM member Nicole Panayiotou, owner of a successful salon in the Victorian country town of Sale decided she wanted to boost sales for June, and at the same time clean up her large database of several thousand clients and former clients.
3) At the same time, she used her database – her list – to find another 400 such ‘missing in action’ clients with mobile phone numbers, and sent them a text message that read as follows:
