by Greg Milner | Feb 1, 2010 | Marketing Superstars
IC member Tracey Maryska’s small salon turned into a multi-salon chain
Beauty Salon Price List Template:Tracey Maryska’s Remarkable Story – from Struggling Start Up to Owner of Multiple Salons
Inner Circle Member of the Week Tracey Maryska was skeptical when she joined the Inner Circle Premium program and got her Essential Salon owner’s Marketing Toolkit® in August 2008.
“…but we have never looked back,” she writes this week as she tells the story of how she bought her first small salon business after having her first baby – and turned it into a multi-salon chain.
“I purchased my first small salon in 2003 just after having my first child. This was a very run down little salon at Umina that I managed to grow into a busy little salon.
In 2004 I purchased another little salon at Chittaway Bay which I also grew, after having another baby in 2005.
In June 2006 I took the biggest gamble by opening a salon in a large regional shopping centre at Woy Woy with a really upmarket look that included beauty and spray tanning rooms along with 16 work stations and 5 basins. In April 2006 I sold my Chittaway salon to finance my Woy Woy salon and in 2007 I then had an opportunity to open a salon in another regional shopping centre at Kincumber – this opened in Dec 2007 and in March 2008 I sold my strip shop salon at Umina to focus on the 2 bigger hair and beauty salons.
In April 2009 I went on to open a large 150 sqm hair and beauty salon in a brand new shopping centre at Belmont Central – just out of Newcastle and in October 2009 another opportunity to open in another shopping centre at West Gosford became available…
I joined the Inner Circle program and got my Toolkit in August 2008 and to be honest was not sure about your marketing techniques – but we have taken them on board and never looked back, what makes it even greater is I have shared the knowledge with my Teams and they understand the concept behind all the marketing and are thinking about ideas all the time. I believe my salons have thrived and survived through the harder times with your marketing and my constant Passion to be the Best.
In October 2009 I was nominated for sole trader business women of the year – by Business Women Connect on the NSW Central Coast/Hunter Region. I am very proud of Winning my award and it has given me an even bigger boost to continue to grow my businesses with lots of marketing and promotions to ensure we have constant Cash flow and New clients.
Thank you
Tracey Maryska
Passion hair & beauty
Congratulations Tracey – another shining example for Inner Circle members – and salons around the world.
by Greg Milner | Jan 14, 2010 | The Smell of Success
Hair Salon Flyers Template And The Salon Business – it’s not ALL about making money
I absolutely LOVE doing deals and creating value. Value = making money. After all, there’s zero point to being in business and making no profit. And I’ll happily admit that financially, this business has been very lucrative.
I often wake early, and lie there for a few minutes, thinking about business and all the wonderful benefits it’s brought me. A substantial income, for sure. Equity in an increasingly-valuable business asset, no doubt. And within the constraints of the law, almost complete freedom to do as I please, when I please. And – as far as I can ascertain – a reputation for decent human values, honesty in business, and being a straight-shooter.
Sure, there’s been grief along the way. Snot-‘n-tears here and there. Frustration, yes. (I’ve never been known for unlimited patience.) By and large though, getting into business after 25 years of mostly working for other people has been the best decision I’ve ever made. Even if I was well past 40 when I finally made it.
But I often lie there in the small hours, convinced that the very BIGGEST benefit I enjoy as a result of success is… the frequent, unsolicited, heartfelt ‘THANKS’ from salon & spa business owners all over the world.
They come from surprising places. We have salon & spa members of the Inner Circle program in all sorts of places…. the backblocks of the USA, outback Australia, little towns in Ireland, windswept southern New Zealand, and BIG cities like Tokyo, Sydney, London and New York.
But…Samoa? From this tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean, a delightful email this week from Inner Circle member Hellen Lavale, owner of Nezian Hair Design:
Samoan salon owner Hellen Levale reveals how ‘my’ style of marketing works just the same on a tiny Pacific Island as it does in London, Sydney or New York.
“Hi Greg,
Hellen here in Samoa.
Well, I have started on the Toolkit (Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit®) and it is exciting…I had to go away during the first week of Xmas to Sydney and had 2 new staff members start who had been away in other countries on training. The salon HAD TO MAKE MONEY while I was away and it did.. So I took massive action and ran a TV ad, a radio ad and sent flyers to 50 random selected PO BOX numbers (in Samoa there are no physical letter boxes…this little exercise cost 2463. tala ( approx $AUD1200).
We had awesome response with staff working 10-12 hours per day, and sold 50 packages at 99.00 tala for services worth 250.00. The best part of this was it created confidence on my part that my salon could generate cash while I was away. I have stopped them but the whole exercise has given the salon name a great exposure. Clients have been given the Happy Form (from the kit) also and our membership form which is free right now…..Staff members have been given excellent with every tick …..great for me knowing clients are happy…..
This week I have had a floor manager start our email listing so that we can send out our newsletter and our monthly offers and our birthday gift vouchers. We also start the New Clients re booking letter system as well this week.
We did a $16,400 month in December 2008 and December 2009 was almost $20,000!”
From time to time, doubters question me on whether ‘my kind of salon marketing’ would ‘work in my town/city/country’…. well, I can’t tell you. But it works in…Samoa!
by Greg Milner | Dec 8, 2009 | Increasing Retail Sales, Packaging Salon Services, Selling Salon Products
Salon Gift Certificate Template: Does this happen in YOUR salon???
Yesterday, I did some free research for you, ‘mystery shopping’ a local salon business touted as one of my town’s most up-market, stylish salons.
And the news is:
It failed my report card.
I won’t name the salon, but if its owner is reading this, she’ll recognize herself. This salon is one of three owned by a young entrepreneur who’s done a lot of things right, but still lets money fall through the cracks through lack of attention to detail. And there is magic in the detail.
I wandered in late yesterday afternoon, a Monday, to get a haircut. The layout is impressive – 20 chairs line the walls, with a massive raised catwalk down the middle for the fashion shows the salon has become known for.
That’s a tick for laterally thinking about how to create a ‘buzz’ that spills over into attracting new clients, an ‘involvement device’ to acknowledge that as the majority of customers are women, they’re interested in all things fashion and style, not just getting their hair done.
I was greeted at reception by a pleasant young lady (one of five staff on duty, only one of whom was actually cutting hair, being a Monday) who informed me that my haircut would cost an eye-watering $71. This for the privilege of having the services of the company’s ‘art director’, an innovative way of describing their most talented stylist.
When I visibly gulped at this – in a town where an average male haircut might stretch to $35 – she offered me instead, one of their ‘artists’ – another inventive term for what ordinary salons would call a ‘senior’ – for only $62. And if this was too much, I could have one of their ‘designers’ – their version of a mere apprentice, for a few dollars less.
Another massive tick from me for innovation. This salon owner is doing what I’m constantly nagging our Members to do – to re-think what it is they’re selling, to re-invent the business in such a way that it differentiates itself from the competition, simply by re-branding the common and thus making it un-common. Out of thin air, creating more perceived value. “Ordinary salons have seniors and apprentices. We have ‘artists’ and ‘designers’.”
Here’s what’s instructive: using differential pricing, you can elevate the perceived value of your own services. Example – clients insisting they only want the owner pay more for that privilege.
Next, I was asked to complete a client details form – name, all my phone numbers, email address – and crucially, tick-boxes for how I found out about the salon. A database-building system most salons are too lazy to implement, too ignorant to recognize its value.
I was introduced to my ‘artist’ who led me to her chair.
Unfortunately, that’s about when the shine started to come off an impressive start.
I was handed a selection of magazines. They were dog-eared, months old. As she washed my hair, my ‘artist’ cheerfully asked me the standard questions – ‘had a busy day so far?’ Yes, thanks. … ‘Got a big weekend planned?’ Mmmm…couple of social functions, that’s all. ‘What line of work are you in?’
I knew she was going to ask this, so I threw in a truthful answer, specifically to check her pulse.
‘Er, I show salons how to market themselves more effectively, more efficiently, how to increase the per-visit ticket price, and get customers coming back more often…’
“Really….and do you live locally?”
She might have been thinking, but it wasn’t about what I was saying. Nice enough girl, no pulse.
But the wheels really fell off back at the reception desk. Here I was, a brand new customer just walked in off the street, happily paying my $62 buzz-cut bill. I stood there idly chatting with the receptionist, my ‘artist’ attentively nearby.
Sigh. No attempt to sell me product, despite earlier telling my ‘artist’ I always use gel in my hair.
No request for feedback (i.e. testimonial) about my experience in their business.
Not even the slightest effort to re-book me next month.
I walked out the door, the sound of staff chattering to each other about their Christmas plans fading in my ears.
What a crying shame that it’s like this in almost ALL businesses. Attention to detail is its own economic stimulus package.
