by Greg Milner | Nov 9, 2010 | Marketing Superstars, The Right Mindset, The Smell of Success
IC member Clare Cockell of The Reef in Kent, UK. Excitement breeds excitement…
Yet more evidence – if any were needed – that losers whine about the economy, while winners create their own economy.
Almost every UK salon owner who applies for Membership of the Inner Circle Premium program complains bitterly about how they ‘can’t afford it because the UK economy is so bad…’
Well, don’t tell Inner Circle Premium member (4 years) Clare Cockell that. Clare, who owns The Reef in Maidstone, Kent, is living proof that there really is truth in the old saying about ‘shaking the tree and seeing what falls out…’
Read Clare’s email from last week, and watch the video below…
Hi Greg,
I hope you’re well?
Just thought I’d let you know about my recent marketing responses. We’ve just had the ‘Winter Warmer’ and a BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) early bird Christmas gift voucher day…
The Winter Warmer was sent out in an email to our database of 2500 clients (approximately 500 people opened the email), sent by post to our top 200 clients and put on our website – so far we have had 56 bookings and I’m sure there will be more as it’s available until the end of November. So far that is £2,184 that we wouldn’t have taken!
Quite a few of the bookings were also from new people, or current clients bringing friends who hadn’t visited before, and a couple even rebooked to have it again a week later! All in all very good and we will definitely repeat it next year! the team is also buzzing as it’s keeping them busy and giving them something new to do and focus on.
We advertised our buy one get one free Xmas voucher day in the local paper, again sent it to out top 200 clients, put a poster and balloons in the window, gave out approx 500 leaflets in town and sent out 2 emails to our database of clients (with approximately 500 people opening the first email, 394 opening the second with 170 people clicking through to our website to see what vouchers would be available).
On the day there was a great atmosphere! We sold approximately £9,000 worth of BOGOF vouchers online and in salon (I don’t know exact numbers as it only ended 17 hours ago and I haven’t added it all up to the exact amount yet).
We had some new customers bought vouchers, lots bought for people who have never been to us, a couple of people popped in for treatments from us being out leafleting, the salon was busy so more people stopped to look while passing or came in, and word of mouth was great (one guy came in and said I hear you’ve got buy on get one free vouchers today, I want to get some for my mums birthday in December, when he found out they weren’t valid until after Christmas he paid for 2 at full price!). Again the team loved helping organize and it kept everyone motivated and excited!
We’ve also noticed because of these two promotions that our general normal priced bookings have increased, obviously because we got people talking and our name out there again. If you want to look at the emails sent, let me know.
Thank you for the regular emails, for keeping me motivated and my mind ticking!
Have a great weekend (I know I will!)
Clare
Clare Cockell
Spa Manager
The Reef
22 Gabriels Hill
Maidstone
Kent ME15 6JG
www.thereefsalonandspa.com
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by Greg Milner | Nov 8, 2010 | Marketing Superstars
Lesley Morgan-Wesson’s salon has become an award-winning, substantial business in the 5 years she’s been a Member of the Inner Circle program
“Hi Greg,
I don’t think I have ever worked as hard in any business I have either owned or worked for, as I have done in this one… so I’m certainly pleased to share with you some of our recent successes, which are the result of tireless endeavour…
Having succeeded in being the salon that everyone in the area copies, over the last year-and-a-half I have been approached by 4 local spa and salon owners who wanted me to buy their businesses, which if they had been any good I would have… But I’m sure you’re over the stereotypical salon, so I won’t bore you with details.
At the beginning of the year, quite unexpectedly, I received notification that our Lady At Bay therapists had been judged Sydney’s best for 2010 and last week we won the Mosman Daily Small Business Awards again as North Shore’s BEST Anti-Ageing & Beauty Centre… I must say, it’s very gratifying, when you’ve worked hard to achieve excellence in everything you do, to get recognition from customers, shadow shoppers and independent business analysts from the NSW Department of Industry & Investment.
Lesley’s four-page monthly newsletter – Members can download a full copy in the Members Only ‘sealed section’
Attached you’ll find a copy of our November newsletter – one of these is mailed to every client each month at the beginning of the month and they are loved by staff and clients alike, one of whom told me she files them because of the interesting articles. These take hours of research and, because I’m pedantic, hours of proof-reading and jiggling with layout. This is in addition to the systemized direct and email marketing, SMS campaigns, new client letters, referral letters, newspaper advertising, window marketing, in-salon posters, leaflets… and on and on it goes.
It has taken 7 years of dogged determination and relentless focus to implement everything that you have preached and to systemize everything in the Toolkit and an infinite amount of patience to cut through the crap that I’ve had to deal with in terms of staff… same things you and all your members experience… no different.
BUT…. it’s the commitment to learn from mentors, to learn from experience and to learn from failure that determines success! One day you pull your head up, settle your bum down and realise… crikey… I’ve built a really substantial and successful business… one that’s absolutely bursting at the seams to multiply and grow.
So that’s the beginning…
I’m now looking forward to the next part of the journey… with you and the Team at Worldwide Salon Marketing there by my side.
Kindest regards and deepest respect,
Lesley Morgan-Wesson
LADY AT BAY
PS: In this industry, you’d be better off working hard to be the best employee you can be, rather than being a lousy worker who has subsequent problems with the boss and then with stars in your eyes you go and get into a business that you don’t have the ability, focus, endurance or cash for.
by Greg Milner | Oct 28, 2010 | Australia, Canada, New Zealand, The Right Mindset, UK, US
If you’ve ever felt down about your salon business, if you’ve reached the end of your tether, on the brink of failure, the bailiff knocking at the door, the bills piling up so high you can’t see over them….
You need to read this.
If you’re in up to your ears, like this WSM member, you’ll probably find it uncomfortable. I make no apology for that. Sometimes, I’m regarded as a bit of an ogre. I make no apology for that either.
“Woe is me…”
Last week, the following pathetic email arrived in my in-box, from a long-term Inner Circle member. I won’t identify her (I’m not that cruel) but she’ll recognize this story. In fact, she gave me permission to publish it. I’ve edited the letter for clarity.
“Hi Greg,
I am in dire straits. I owe the taxman money, suppliers, super, rent and many more.
I have even picked up a 2nd job to start helping me pay back debt.
I now work all day in the salon, get home at around 6pm or later make dinner for my little girl and then leave the house to get to my second job at 8.30pm to start at 9pm and finish at 2am, then get home sleep for about 2hours and then up again to start all over again, just going through the motion as a zombie.
I no longer see my 4 year old, have no zest for life due to being so exhausted day in day out. So I guess this email is a cry for help.
I want to have a successful business. I want to be a successful woman so I can have my daughter look up to me and say, ‘wow my mummy is such a successful person.’ Not to say ‘my mother lives day by day or even worse, has become ill from exhaustion.
I am even considering selling the business to try and cut the debt, but I have two young girls who work for me and depend on me, and I love my salon (even though its in need of a face-lift). I love being a member of the community. I love my work; it’s the only thing I can do well.
I even bought tickets to come to the (Salon Profit Secrets) seminar in Sydney, but my mother got ill and I was then unable to attend.
So I guess I am asking, what steps I should take in my marketing to become the business/role model woman I want to be.
Please, I am so dedicated to change my life. I just need you to be my light.
I have been a member of your (Inner Circle) program for around 2 years. The tool kit has sat on the shelf collecting dust, and I have forgotten about it.
Kind regards, Mary…”
After I regained my breath, and retrieved my dropped jaw from the floor, I wrote back to her. I could have written some molly-coddling crap, soothed her troubled brow and told her everything would be okay. But frankly, I was too bloody annoyed.
“Good grief.
You admit ‘the tool kit has sat on the shelf collecting dust, and I have forgotten about it‘….
What??? If all you did was get off your backside, take the thing off the shelf and USE IT, you wouldn’t be in the situation you are now in.
If you won’t take action to help yourself, with the tools you ALREADY HAVE, then what on earth do you expect us to do? Drag you kicking and screaming to the success trough? Show me you are prepared to do something, then do it, and then I’ll help.
Take the Toolkit down, start using it. Get onto the members site, start using what’s in there. But don’t just expect somebody to wave a magic wand and ‘fix everything’ for you, without you lifting a finger!”
Now, I fully expected this member to immediately collapse in a flood of tears, instantly resign her membership of the Inner Circle program and flounce off into a self-righteous cloud of failure, forever more blaming everyone and everything but herself.
But no. She thought about it for a couple of days, and wrote back thus:
“Hi Greg,
I want to thank you for your quick response back to my email, I know you are a very busy man.
All I can say is that you hit the nail on the head with your comments about me.
I have spent the last couple of days reading the emails WSM has sent and using the members site and taking marketing ideas from the site and other salon owners.
Your email back has made me think of my past actions and also I took a step back and thought ‘what can I lose if I work the program, seeing you have made many people successful (they have also wanted it too).
So I have turned a new leaf so to speak. I have designed up a newsletter to send out to my guests with my ideas, and also ideas I got from the Members Only site.
Your response was truthful, which made the tears flow. I am now taking control of my life, business and family, and so want very hard to succeed to be a role model in the industry and for my daughter.
And I have not only taken the Toolkit off the shelf and dusted it down, I’ve opened it and used templates for future marketing.
Fingers crossed for me, and hopefully I will be one of your guest speakers one day, that came out of financial despair to running a chain of salons. I thank you again….”
It could have gone either way. Mary could have just as easily rolled over and curled up in a corner, hoping the world would go away. It took bravery to do what she did.
Too many business owners go under because they fail to take control, and therefore responsibility. The two are inextricably linked.
To quote Dan Kennedy, ‘being broke is just a temporary circumstance. Being poor is a state of mind’.
Are you a poor salon owner, or merely broke? If you’re poor, there’s not much I or anybody else can do for you. If you’re merely broke – like Mary – then you know what to do. Get off your butt, and take action.
And one day, soon, I expect we’ll hear more from Mary. She’ll be on this website, proudly telling the story of how she dragged herself from the depths of depression, resignation, despair….to success. I’ll be the first to applaud.
by Greg Milner | Oct 5, 2010 | New Zealand, The Smell of Success
I’m a firm believer in attitude playing a big part in the success or downfall of your business, whatever industry you are in. Winston Churchill once said “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference” and when it comes to Inner Circle member Heidi Morton of Bodyscape in Wellington, NZ, her positive, massive action taking attitude has made a world of difference to her business.
Heidi joined the Inner Circle program in the midst of a global recession (July 2009), but this didn’t stop her from growing her salon by over 40% and being so busy that she had to move to a new premises that was double the size of her previous spa!
Here’s an email I got from Heidi just yesterday….
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“After a full year of being involved in Worldwide Salon Marketing the results for our business speak for themselves. Whilst I had a good grasp of business and marketing options prior to becoming involved, Chris, Rachael and the team certainly made sure that I didn’t forget how important it is to ensure MASSIVE ACTION means MASSIVE RESULTS. I am now a firm believer in all wheels of the spoke.
Just over a year ago I had a profitable business that was making ends meet but certainly not a retirement plan. Being a busy Mum and a non beautician partner in the business I often neglected the marketing aspect of our business, focusing too much on the numbers at the other end. We had no trouble attracting and keeping clients but I knew we could do better, a lot better.
12 months later we have a brand new spa on Lambton Quay in Wellington, double the size of our previous spa, all paid for out of the increased turnover in our business. I would not have the courage to do this if I didn’t know of all the tools we could use that could generate us money.
We try everything and anything that WSM throws our way or we think can think of. Our Queen of Referrals competition run during 2010 (a version of the Queen of Referral program, but our Queens are competing for $1,000 of prizes by referring the most new clients and the most spend) has so far bought in over 200 new clients in 8 months whose first visits have spent over $10,000 let alone what they have spent after that. This doesn’t count referrals outside the Queens competition we run.
We have a monthly package deal that normally sells over 30 packages a month with add ons not discounts! We regularly do the Wellington Women’s package (our version of Hollywood women’s ? yes I like to put my own touch on everything!) and bring in 20 or so new clients when we do it. We sold over 100 of the packages on a voucher site when we ran it. 100 new clients in a day, $10,000 in a day – fantastic.
We put our karma cards on car window wipers outside the shop a free 30 minute service. The recipients of this love it and rave about how we have made their day. They refer their friends and we get more new clients. We use the yellow pages to advertise a package, not how pretty we look. Over the last 12 months we have had over 500 phone calls from our yellow pages ad (last year about 100). We display our packages everywhere , have a montly newsletter, weekly e-specials (always with add ons now not discounts). The only time I discount now is with our txt-a-deal days, whereby we may have a quiet day once in a while and then it is a discount to get them in the door today. Of course we don’t forget the basics, new client letters, raise the dead postcards, birthday vouchers, referral thank yous. These basics keep your current clients happy. Funny enough we recently moved from a $10 to a $20 birthday voucher and doubled the number we are getting back in the month, and a larger percentage of these back were clients we have not seen for a long time. At Christmas we wanted to up our retail sales so packaged together the retail products with free gift vouchers for treatments, this went down a treat. From December to February we always offer a deal for rebooking a free ad on service or product. We find if we can get the client 3 times monthly in a row then they won’t shop around elsewhere for a while.
Numbers wise, our turnover is up over 40% year on year, month on month. I have employed more staff and we are still growing. We have not gone backwards in over 15 months. I want to double over two years and we are on track for this to happen. Our staff love that they are more busy and have more $’s in their pay packets.
WSM is not an easy fix, it takes time and effort. I love the way it prompts me to think outside the square, I have some great ideas to implement in 2011 (2010’s move took up too much of my time!) and can’t wait to see what happens with my business.
By the way, this year I have had two overseas holidays, won another trip overseas (karma coming back to get me!), spent more quality time with my kids and have felt a lot happier about where I and the business is heading. However I never lose sight of the customer, our most important asset and whilst I know I can get new clients easily I still look after our current clients with quality, friendly service with value added services for them as well. They love it and complain to us if they are not getting enough deals or promotions like last month, which was our best ever and contained no promotions other than our monthly special as we were too busy all our rooms busy all the time. Now if only I could find some quality staff to expand!!”
Cheers, Heidi
by Greg Milner | Sep 28, 2010 | Email marketing, Packaging Salon Services, US
“…We are stoked and plan to run this sale the entire month of June in 2011!”
Inner Circle member (3 years) Molly Verbrugge of Indulgences in Little Rock, Arkansas, is justifiably glowing after a Worldwide Salon Marketing promotion she used for just two weeks in June this year boosted sales to $81,235 – a staggering DOUBLE her takings of $41,956 for the same two week period in 2009.
Now if that doesn’t get your attention, you’d have to be comatose from the neck up.
It came about after a coaching call with Tim & Kanna Reilly in our Arizona office, after they’d modified and implemented a WSM marketing campaign in their own clinic in Scottsdale.
“After speaking with Tim and giving my review of our discussion to Leslie (my spa manager), she and I decided we might benefit from running the promotion ourselves! Well, we started running the sale on June 17th.
We sent email blasts along with approximately 5 newspaper ads totalling a cost of around $750. We began the sale on June 17th and it ran until July 3, 2010. Last year during the time-frame of June 17th thru July 3rd, we had total revenues of $41,956, this year our total revenues were$81, 235!!!
We are stoked and plan to run this sale the entire month of June in 2011.
Thank You Tim and Kanna and Worldwide Salon Marketing for your invaluable marketing ideas!
Husband-and-wife team Tim & Kanna Reilly’s Body Solutions Laser & Skin in Scottsdale, Arizona, grew 63% in 2009 – after a massive 500% increase in 2008 – thanks to the marketing and ‘sales thinking’ tools in the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program…
Successful marketing is NOT about re-inventing the wheel, unless you’re particularly a) rich, and b) prefer to risk your money on experimentation. Tim and Kanna had proven this particular strategy works, having rolled it out with massive results every year for three years.
Here’s how Kanna describes the promotion:
“We started it in 2008 when we came to our One Year Anniversary, and now do what we call the “Penny Sale” every year. It happens to be June. We ran the Penny sale for the entire month.
We printed the copy on paper with US pennies around the borders. We also e-mailed out to our database of customers 4 times that month. No other advertising at all, just e-mail and in store flyers! You can also mail out to your client database in an envelope with pennies printed on it. This year our total gross sales for June was up 62% over our average monthly sales.
We originally did this for a few reasons:
1. To let clients know that we are celebrating our anniversary and to let them know that we appreciate their patronage and loyalty and to reward them we offer the penny sale.
2. July and August are brutal in Arizona as our temperatures reach 110 degrees F and over. Many people leave town for weeks on end to avoid the heat. So in order to boost sales and keep people coming in we offer the Penny Sale. Originally, this helped us pay the rent for the two months in advance while our books were slower in the beginning for those hotter months. You can also use this strategy to pre-pay for equipment investments or Salon renovations etc.
What we found:
1. We found that many of our higher margin, more costly services was what people bought the most of (which was fine with me).
2. We also found that clients purchased services they didn’t regularly come in for or had never tried before.
3. We received and still receive more referrals in the month of June than any other month of the year.
There are many ways to use this program. You can run it for only a few days, or a few weeks, or for the entire month as we do.
Remember to remind your client base about the Penny Sale and when it will end. We had a majority of our sales come in the final week as people rushed in or called their orders in by phone. And when we ran our final e-mail that in 24 hours the sale would be over we could hardly keep up with the phone volume.
