by Greg Milner | Nov 4, 2010 | Canada, The Smell of Success
I’ve often written that losers blame the economy for their salon’s poor performance. But winners create their own economy.
Robert Amado (Canada) is finding inspiration and instant results as a Member of the Inner Circle Premium marketing & mentoring program
Canadian salon owner and new Inner Circle member Robert Amado is clearly a winner. Writing from his Amado Salon & Spa in Kleinberg, Ontario, Robert can barely hide his enthusiasm and excitement for the impetus, motivation and results he’s achieved since joining the program and receiving his Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit® just a few months ago…
“GREG, there’s nothing like good icing on the cake!
I joined WSM in July of this year. It is a lot to absorb, especially just starting out as a business owner. (But then again you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time). The Toolkit has helped me tremendously and having the coach is great!
I have implemented the 99 dollar added value promo in a local magazine which was supposed to come out at the beginning of October but didn’t get distributed until mid October.
Since I put it out I’ve received 10 new clients. That’s a client per day since it went out and people are still inquiring, asking if there are any packages left! :).
The kicker is that I am going to put out a winter package soon and one of my staff said ‘don’t you think you should slow down?’
HA! So I made her a deal and said ‘sure, you can pay the bills and I will slow down!’ Also I have in the salon for clients to pre book their next 3 appointments and they can enter to win 100 dollars worth of hair services. And lastly the Queen of Referrals program works beautifully. I believe in no time I will be putting down the tools and the only tool I will need is the Toolkit! Greg, thank you for your knowledge. I’ve taken action and I’m working my way up to the massive!
Robert Amado
Amado Salon
Kleinburg ontario
www.amado.ca”
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by Greg Milner | Oct 19, 2010 | New Zealand
Imagine being invited to someone’s house, having a really great time and then never being invited back again…you’d feel pretty hurt, right?
Well, two months ago I was asked to be a mystery shopper for one of Auckland’s top Day Spas and that’s exactly how I felt when I left the Spa….totally hurt that I hadn’t been invited back.
Now for obvious confidentially reasons, this Spa (who is not an Inner Circle member) shall remain nameless, but I wanted to share my experience with you and show how a failure to ask simple questions or do any follow up marketing could be costing YOUR salon a bucket load of money every year.
Before you read on, this story is not to bad mouth this Day Spa. In fact, I have to say that the service I received prior to and during the treatment was up there with some of the best I have ever experienced when visiting a Salon or Spa. But that’s what makes it so bad. They have spent so much time putting systems and procedures in place to ensure the customers have this amazing experience, but it’s then let down by complete neglect at the back end.
From the moment I made the booking on the phone the receptionist sounded delightful, asked all the right questions and took my credit card, explaining their 24 hour cancellation policy – a sure way to prevent those frustrating no shows!
When arriving at the Day Spa I was greeted and shown to a lounge where I was given a consultation and then shown the facilities available to me while I was at the Spa which included a sauna, steam room and gym. Everything was done down to the finest detail, even matching the tea I drank to the type of treatment I requested through my consultation.
Before being taken through to the treatment room I was taken to a relaxation room and introduced to my therapist, as well as another therapist. From the time I walked in the Spa I had met 4 different people, who all knew me by name and made me feel incredibly special. I felt like a valued client of the Spa, and not just one therapist!
The treatment itself was also excellent, with music and lighting tailored to my mood and post treatment I was taken to a separate room to relax even further, drink some more tea and fill out a satisfaction survey.
I think you get the picture, overall the WOW factor was huge!
So you can understand my disappointment that I was NOT ONCE asked if I wanted to rebook another appointment. It was pretty evident that I had really enjoyed my visit to the Spa, so as a guest to the Spa, why wasn’t I invited back?…HOW RUDE!!!
Please Let Me Come back To Your Spa…PLEASE!
Maybe I was missing something, was I meant to get down on my hands and knees and beg to come back?
One simple question would have turned a $140 sale, into at least a $1700 – $2000 client over 12 months, because you know what, if they’d asked me to come back, I would have said YES!
“Okay Chris, we would LOVE to see you back here at (salon name) again, so let’s make that next appointment for you now because we do get booked up very quickly and I don’t want you to miss out on the time that suits you best….how does 3pm on (date) or 10am on (date) suit?”
Now obviously I am just one client, so can you imagine how much money this Spa is losing if clients are not being re-booked…it’s scary! But that’s the difference between a great salon/spa and an average salon/spa. Members of our Inner Circle program understand the value of a customer, they don’t look at each client as a one-off sale, rather as a customer for life who will be worth thousands of $$$.
The next thing here was that I was not offered the professional products to go away with and use until my next appointment. It’s a fact that 70% of clients who are NOT sold retail will go down the road and buy it from a chemist or supermarket (a salons biggest rival) within 24 hours, the products will be crap and the client won’t be a happy camper! Who are they going to blame first…that’s right, the salon/therapist! So they will never return. How sad!
Maybe they didn’t ask me because I am a guy or some other lame excuse like that – whatever it was, it wasn’t good enough and will be costing the salon a fortune!
*If you have never heard about former Schwarzkopf CEO John Lee’s 1000 hour customer care policy, you should Google it, learn it and apply it to your salon!
Finally, the reason for me writing this story some 2 months after my visit to the Spa was to at least see if they did some follow up marketing. A welcome letter perhaps, with a voucher to use off my next booking or an email with their latest offers…did it ever happen?….Nope!
After my visit to the Spa, I filled out a lengthy mystery shopper questionnaire making specific reference to these issues and how all the positive aspects of my visit had gone to waste because of the failure to rebook or retail to me. I even made special mention that I would look forward to receiving follow up marketing from them as I REALLY wanted to come back.
I suppose I’ll NEVER know if they fixed any of these issues because I am still waiting to be invited back.
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 14, 2010 | Marketing Superstars, The Smell of Success
Inner Circle Premium member Danielle Tripodi of Tonic Beauty Retreat in Swan Hill, Victoria – until a few months ago Danielle was a sole operator on ‘Struggle Street’. Business is now booming.
There’s an old quote of Dan Kennedy’s that keeps ringing in my ears.
“Do something. Be somebody. Be somewhere.”
It’s very reminiscent of that very Woody Allen statement that ‘eighty percent of success is just showing up‘.
Danielle Tripodi of Tonic Beauty Retreat in Swan Hill, Victoria is no different from hundreds of other Inner Circle member salons all over the world.
One minute she was doing what she had always done, doing it the way she’d always done it – the hard way, slugging away at the beauty business one day at a time, never really getting ahead, wondering if there really was a ‘magic pill’.
Then in July this year – just two months ago – she joined the Inner Circle program, got her Toolkit, immediately starting taking ACTION…and suddenly, as if a miracle, Things Began to Happen.
Which brings me to an admission:
There is no magic pill. The salon marketing & mentoring Inner Circle program, the Toolkit, the Members Only ‘sealed section’…. none of it is a ‘magic pill’.
But…what Danielle and so many others have discovered is that it does trigger great things. Great things happen in the hair and beauty business when these tools are combined with enthusiasm, an open mind, and a resolve to…think BIG, not small.
Danielle was tripping over her words with the excitement of it all when I spoke with her this morning. Click the play button and listen in.
But a warning: enthusiasm can be contagious!
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If you do NOT yet have the tools, the guidance and the on-going support that Danielle and so many other salons and spas around the world are enjoying, here’s your chance:
Click here to find out more about the program, how you can get your very own copy of the world-famous Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit®, and start paying yourself what you are worth!
NOTE: Salon & spa owners in Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Canada are coached one-on-one by our own Direct Response Marketing experts in those countries. Salon & spa owners in the UK, Ireland and Europe are coached and supported by our head office in Australia, while we seek appropriate representation in that part of the world.
Here’s where Danielle’s salon is located:
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by Greg Milner | Sep 2, 2010 | Australia, Newsletter marketing
IC Member (since February 2010) Sandra Chiarella of Get Nailed – a brilliant newsletter writer
I’ve written long and loud about the business value of a regular monthly hard-copy newsletter, so I’m not going to bang on about it again here.
Most owners of small businesses grumble and gripe about doing it, but those who make the effort reap immense rewards.
Take Sandra Chiarella of Get Nailed in Altona, Victoria. Sandra ‘gets it’. Newsletters are supposed to be personal, like sitting down and having a good chat. And Sandra has pulled it off pitch-perfect with these examples she’s generously shared with other Members.
Here’s how Sandra describes how she puts these together:
Hey Greg,
Thanks for the positive feedback, I actually love doing the newsletter, and I never have a shortage of ideas or stories to write.
We send out 400 handwritten envelopes each month. I know how valuable it is for me to be in my clients’ homes and hopefully attached to my clients fridge….(ooh maybe an idea: get some magnets made that say ” this magnet is only to hold Get Nailed’s monthly newsletter!!! …and pop it in with my next newletter!)
I am happy for you to display my newsletters on the (members only) site. I also can share my tips for them. I have a little plastic A4 file with NEWSLETTERS written on the front. In it I keep a hard copy of every month’s newsletter so I can refer to them at a glance and also see what I wrote previously if I want to keep talking about that topic etc, and I have blank white pages in them with all the months of the year written on the top.
Every time I get an idea for something to feature/write for any month of the year, I pop it on a sticky note, bit of paper, back of a receipt, bit of toilet paper (clean of course!) and pop it on the appropriate month- even my staff know this drill and they are getting into the habit of doing this as well.
So when it comes to writing the newsletter, I dont have to try and remember all the good ideas I had, and stories to tell.
Another idea is for all those who have a laptop or like me an iphone , when even I know I am going anywhere that I will have to wait and pass valuable time like doctors and dentist appointments, kids events, even traffic jams (I dictate to my daughters in the back seat!), I sit and I write my ideas in a word document, or in my drafts in my email, so when it comes to formatting the newsletter I can simply cut and paste. Well I have to admit my husband, Fil does.
But it saves so much time. There are so many ways to utilize time to do the little jobs that you don’t want staff doing when they could be using that time to make money. My mum and daughters help out with folding the newsletters, even clients don’t mind helping sometimes if you know them well enough, and what kid doesn’t like sticking stamps on envelopes? Delegate delegate! Think smarter, not harder!
I’m sure these ideas might help some of my fellow members.
Regards
Sandra Chiarella
An example of Sandra’s terrific (and profitable) salon newsletters. Inner Circle members can log into the Members ONly area and download full copies in .pdf format for study
The point about Sandra’s newsletters is that they ARE very personal. She talks to her clients about a staff member who got engaged on a visit to the Empire State Building…about her dad and how he loves doing odd jobs around the salon…about her daughters…
A newsletter has several important jobs:
1) to act as a Trojan Horse, turning you into a Welcome Guest marketer instead of an Unwelcome Pest, always trying to pitch something
2) it acknowledges that your clients have a life outside your salon…in fact almost ALL of a client’s life is outside of your salon. So a good newsletter attempts to engage on that level, by bringing the client into your outside-work life.
3) it puts an ‘iron cage’ around your clients. If you’re getting a good newsletter regularly from somebody you do business with, wouldn’t YOU feel guilty about going anywhere else?
These examples are yet another lesson in just how to do it. Nothing flash, nothing ‘professional’, just good honest stuff that appeals to human beings, rather than mere buyers.
