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.
Using the pre-done ads and flyers in the Toolkit, and guidance from her Worldwide Salon Marketing coach, Annastasia Bindevis quadrupled her salon sales from $800 a week to over $4000 a week in 6 months…
Salon Gift Certificate Template For Marketing Superstars – how IC Member of the Week Annastasia Bindevis quadrupled her sales…
Back in February 2009 Annastasia Bindevis was a one-woman waxing salon barely able to bring in $800 a week. But when she joined the Inner Circle program and received her copy of the Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit® she soon discovered the power of effective direct response marketing.
Six months later her Waxing Queen salon in Melbourne has two staff, she’s just hired a receptionist, and business is booming – her sales have more than quadrupled to $4,000 a week and she’s doing what so many salon owners never manage – to pay herself a salary!
Ann Marie Ryan of Hair Fx in Tipperary, Ireland – 20% increase in sales within weeks of signing up as an Inner Circle member
Hair Salon Template Superstar of the Week – Ann Marie Ryan of Hair Fx, Tipperary, Ireland
Superstar of the Week – Ann Marie Ryan of Hair Fx, Tipperary, Ireland
It’s amusing when we get questions from salon owners like ‘will this work in Boisie, Idaho/Dorset, UK/Invercargill, NZ?’
Huh? Well, I guess if people in those places don’t buy things/eat/wash their hair/live in houses/drive cars….maybe marketing a salon business ‘my’ way’ wouldn’t work. I know nothing about Tipperary, Ireland, but presumably it is populated by people who respond to my kind of salon & spa marketing. At least, that’s what Ann Marie Ryan has discovered:
“Hi Greg,
This is Ann Marie Ryan in Tipperary Town,I joined the Inner Circle program and got the kit from you in July, prior to getting the kit I had been sending a new client letter, but only one, I never followed it up with any more.
And, like hundreds of other IC members around the world, Ann Marie’s response from her direct mail has improved dramatically. Here’s what’s instructive: never, ever waste your money on one-shot mail. It doesn’t even nick ’em on the way by. If you want impact and response, you must have repetition. And if you ‘can’t be bothered’ with multi-step mailing, you deserve your lack of success.
Sporadically I had sent letters to clients that had not been in the salon for some months, but I was never very confident about doing this. Since September I have got a bit braver in my marketing through your constant contact via email & the website.
I started a newsletter, November was my 3rd issue. I am getting a great response to this.
(Note for Members: there are several templates for simple single-sheet, double-sided newsletters in the Members Only ‘sealed section’ – just navigate to “Marketing to Existing Clients” and you’ll find them in there.)
For Christmas I am running with (a campaign I found in the Members Only ‘sealed section’) I did in May for Mothers Day, but didn’t know then how to promote it properly at that time.
My sales for September & October have seen an increase of 20% on the same months last year. November so far is 11% up on last year but we have also had different people on holidays totaling 3 weeks plus 2 members of staff out sick over the course of the last 4 weeks. One girl is on crutches & the other hurt her back, ‘I used to think hairdressing was a safe profession’.
I now have the guts to go ahead with the ideas and templates you guys are constantly sending my way. Here’s to a great Christmas for all:-)
‘Go n’eiri an bothar leat’ (may the road rise with you)
Ann Marie
Hearty congratulations to Ann Marie. Until the Global Financial Crisis, Ireland was one of the ‘tiger’ economies of Europe, and then sank into one of the worst recessions anywhere in the world. But, like other Members, Ann Marie discovered that with the right marketing tools, salons and spas can create their own economies, virtually independent of the wider economy. Best wishes to all our Members in the UK and Ireland.
IC member Joanne Hamley – booked out till March 2010 with many clients booked through to June.
Hair Salon Template Inner Circle Member of the Week: Joanne Hamley of Hair and Beauty 4U, NSW
Inner Circle member of 12 months Joanne Hamley of Hair & Beauty 4U in Loftus (southern Sydney) is jumping out of her skin.
(And it’s only partly because of the brand new car sitting in her driveway)
Joanne is one of those rare people who asks ‘how can this work for me’ rather than the majority who look for reasons why something won’t work. Her attitude is ‘it’s easier to seek forgiveness that it is to get permission in the first place.’ And it’s brought immense rewards for her salon business, as she details in this email just received:
“Hi there thanks for all the info. I’ve been really flat out, about to put on another senior stylist. I’m booked out to March next year and have clients booked up to June next year.
I’ve been with you now for 1 year, I know I wouldn’t have done so well if it was not for your on-going help.
Joanne’s new car – thanks to a stunning turnaround in her salon in just 12 months.
Retail sales are unreal – some months we’ve doubled, some months we’ve tripled compared with 12 months ago and average client spend has more than tripled.
I now have my salon as hair and beauty not just hairdressing and I just received my brand new Holden Captiva LX model Car (WHAT RECESSION!!)
I just had another 10% price increase, Also 2 months ago implemented the cancellation fee – NO MORE NO SHOWS!
In the last year of the recession I have had a 35% price increase.
FREE audio recording – Listen in as USA Members describe how their businesses have thrived in the recession
If your salon business is suffering, on the brink of closing the doors, barely able to find the rent – you’re not alone. More than a hundred US salons are closing every day.
While the Australian economy has weathered the economic storm better than any other country in the western world, the US has been among the hardest hit.
And yet…and yet, all over the USA, there ARE salons and spas that are thriving, despite the economy. How can that be? Simple – they have the right tools to bring customers in the door.
These salon owners don’t reveal their success secrets to everybody
Listen in on this tele-seminar, recorded LIVE on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, as salon owners Mario Raia from Ethos in Vancouver, Washington, Susan Vincent from Body & Soul Day Spa in Staunton, Virginia, and Dr Tim & Kanna Reilly from Body Solutions in Scottsdale, Arizona detail the strategies they’ve used to grow their businesses by as much as ONE THOUSAND PERCENT – right in the middle of the worst economic downturn in 70 years….
If YOU want the kind of tools that Mario, Susan and Tim are using to generate serious CASH despite ‘the economy’, you should immediately apply to become a Member of the Worldwide Salon marketing Inner Circle program, including the world-famous Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit®
