Sometimes it seems that no matter how hard you work, your sales figures have flatlined, right?

Yep, I know the feeling!

But I discovered that by just ‘tweaking’ a handful of processes, my sales literally jumped overnight…and kept going up.

So here are my FIVE tested, proven strategies I used, and still use today, to wring every last potential dollar from my business. I call them my Sales Power Strategies.

(And they don’t cost a cent either!)

Power Strategy #1.) Your Phone Message

Not many salons have a dedicated, full-time receptionist. (Although the value of somebody like that can’t be denied…take a look at this video:-)

And when you’re busy, you often just can’t get to the phone, so calls will often go through to voicemail. In my salon, I realised that was costing me a LOT of business. My voicemail message was something bland and boring, like “…sorry we can’t get to the phone, but please leave a message and we’ll call you right back…”

And of course, I’d get a lot of hangups. So I simply changed the message:

“Hi there, it’s Marnie here at (Name) salon, we can’t get to the phone right now, but don’t hang up because I’ve got something for you – a free $10 gift voucher as my way of saying we’re sorry we missed your call (smile!) Please leave your name and number and I’ll call you back as soon as we get a break!”

…and you know what happened? My rate of hangups dropped like a stone…and my intake of new clients went through the roof, just with that one simple trick!

2) Re-booking script.

If your rate of re-bookings is low, try this. I’ve found that using this script, religiously every time, increased my rate of re-booking enormously.

So, your client is about to pay for their service at the reception desk. Do you usually say something like “Would you like to re-book?”

The trouble with that is, you’re making the client think…most people have a lot going on in their heads, so the default answer to this question is “Um, no, I’ll call you…”

So I changed my approach. Instead of giving the client a “Yes” or “No” question (and they almost always say no) I changed the question to make it easier for them.

“Now, looking ahead a few weeks, I can fit you in on Tuesday the (date) at 10am, or Thursday the (date) at 3pm, which of those two times would suit you best?”

See the difference? It saves the client from having to think ahead, you’re already giving them a choice of only two answers, instead of a Yes or a No.

Just implementing this simple but powerful change dramatically increases my re-booking figures.

Power Strategy #3: The Product Offer

When my retail product sales dropped off, here’s what I would do…

Most salons stock a range of associated or complementary products – a shampoo, a conditioner and a treatment, for example. Or a range of skin care products.

I would look at my product range, do my sums, and set up a “buy two, get one free” offer. Individually, the three products might sell for say $30 each, with a 100% gross margin.
So, selling three of them for only $60, you’re giving away $15 of gross profit on the third bottle.

But I’ve never looked at it in terms of ‘losing’ $15. I look at it like this: I’m giving away $15 in profit I don’t currently have, to get a profit (on the other two bottles) I never would otherwise have got!

That one strategy alone would instantly increase my weekly product sales.

Power Strategy #4: Packaging Services.

There’s an entire day-long seminar in how to do this, but essentially it’s the practice of packaging up a suite of services, by adding value with services or treatments (or products) that cost you little or nothing to provide.

I learned how to do this in quite a sophisticated way by studying the detail in my marketing ‘bible’, the Simple Salon Marketing toolkit.

It works like this: let’s say you want to sell more of your ‘core’ services, like facials, or color ‘n cut services, or laser hair removal.

So instead of just selling “45 minute Facial – $100”, you add-on ‘extras’ that might cost you little or nothing to provide. Then, instead of merely calling it a facial, you “re-invent” the service with a new name, eg “The Scarlet Johansson Glamor Makeover” or similar.

Facial = boring.

Scarlet Johansson? Now that’s sexy!

There’s an entire detailed chapter on how to do this in Simple Salon Marketing, I thoroughly recommend you get this toolkit…by far the best selling salon marketing how-to available anywhere.

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Power Strategy #5: The Queen of Referrals.
Yep, word of mouth is the best form of marketing you can do. But most salons take referrals passively – they don’t put much or any effort into generating referrals actively. (No system.)
In my salon, I took this straight out of Simple Salon Marketing. It’s called the Queen of Referrals program (fine detail in the Toolkit) but it works like this…
You pick say 20 of your very best (most valuable) clients. Each of them gets a book of 10 Gift Vouchers to give away to friends and family. The gift vouchers can be any value you like, but my advice is to make them as generous as possible.
Each time one of these vouchers is redeemed by one of their friends, they – your client – gets a credit to the same value.
I promote this by saying to my client, “Mary, I want to give you $500 worth of beauty treatments for free!” I find that certainly gets their attention:-)
Now, I know it takes confidence to implement some of these.

And sometimes, to gain that confidence, you need a little help.

So, here’s what you can do (If you’re quick!)

For a limited time, we’re offering a full thirty-minute one-on-one Fast Start Salon Marketing Stratety Session with either me, Worldwide founder Greg Milner or our Social Media specialist Samantha Buckley.

It’s only ONE DOLLAR, and you get to book your time and day live on our calendar.

Click the button below to book your session in….and be prepared to take a) Notes, and b) ACTION!

As soon as you book, you’ll get to choose a day and time with either me or one of my specialist advisers, Rich Salon Owner author Greg Milner or Social Media strategist Samantha Buckley. 

Talk soon:-)