by Greg Milner | Aug 30, 2010 | Australia, The Smell of Success
IC member and salon owner Leah Bobridge of Fresh Hair & Body in South Australia – at just 21, a new house and a new Mercedes thanks to the Inner Circle program. Leah becomes one of our first Ambassadors, starting in 2011
Salon Client Information Sheet Template: Smell the Leather! Salon marketing the WSM way brings this 21-year-old salon owner a new house, a new Mercedes…
“I am writing to thank you for the opportunity to be part of Worldwide Salon Marketing.
I have learned a great deal since joining the WSM Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program and will continue to use your marketing material along with my own touches. However, I wanted to inform you on a little bit about me.
I bought my salon “Fresh” in August 2008 at 19 years old. I received a lot of negativity from many people, but strived to become one of the best/most successful hair salons in South Australia. I joined the Inner Circle program not because we weren’t doing well, but to learn new ways of marketing and to get to know business owners in my industry.
In the 1st 3-4months of joining the program I was listed as Member of the Month which was quite pleasing, I have to say. Since then we have only continued to get better. I started off with 1 staff member and I now have 5. Even though sometimes staff can be difficult, I thoroughly enjoy their company and without them my business would not have grown to the capacity it has today.
(Thanks to WSM) my fiance Daniel and I have been able to buy an 1880 cottage in one of Adelaide’s most prestigious areas, plus we have just ordered a brand new 2010 C250 Mercedes Benz! I would never in my wildest dreams think that at 21 I would be able to not only buy my dream house but my dream car, too.
Success in marketing her salon has allowed Leah and her fiance Daniel to order a brand new Mercedes C250 saloon
April this year, I decided to put my marketing to the test and open up a Day Spa in the Adelaide Hills. From scratch I opened the doors starting with 1 full time therapist and myself only being able to work 2 days. It’s been 4 Months and we now have 2 Therapists and a Massage therapist and reaching high sales and retail sales. On the way to success already.
Almost every day I get business owners calling me up asking me how I did it, did I win the lottery? Can I help them? Along with recommendation of joining WSM I help them along and encourage them as much as possible.
I have lots of people asking me if I would be their business coach. Which got me thinking one night; I love helping people, I always have. I love training my staff and I love that they look up to me. I want to be a business coach/Lifestyle leader.
I know that most business coaches have had years of experience. But have they really? Were they once young and lost? Do they know how tough it really is out there? Or did they just do a University Degree in Business, get offered a job and took it!
From my experience, in my short amount of years of business, coaches need to have worked in the industry and know what results salon owners want!
So my question to you, Greg, is can you help me? I do believe that I owe it to WSM after helping me. This is where I want to go and this is where I am headed.”
Kindest Regards,
Leah Bobridge,
Fresh Hair & Body,
Salisbury, South Australia
by Greg Milner | Aug 18, 2010 | New Zealand
NZ Salon Business Plan Template Superstars Nikki Smith & Phil Newman of NV Hair in Wanaka PROVE how even in a small town, there is big money to be made!
If I ever needed to provide evidence that the Inner Circle system works, regardless of the size of your town or the area your salon is in then Nikki Smith and Phil Newman of NV Hair in Wanaka, New Zealand are living and breathing proof!
Nikki Smith and Phil Newman of NV Hair, Wanaka, NZ
Nikki and Phil joined the program in July this year and have seen their takings sky rocket since then. For those of you unfamiliar with Wanaka, it’s in a fairly remote location in the South Island and has a population of around 7,000 (which grows a bit depending on the season).
Nikki and Phil actually took over an existing premises in Wanaka and it’s fair to say that prior to them taking over, the business was on a downward slide, with few customers and the clients that did come in, simply paid whatever they wanted to pay. It’s VERY hard to run a business like that!
But Nikki and Phil are a ‘no-nonsense’ team and knew what they had to do to turn things around…FAST. As soon as they joined the Inner Circle program and got their very own copy of the Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit® they took massive action.
“Hi Chris
We did the Hollywood promotion last month and here are our results…
We printed 2000 mailbox flyers at a cost of $110, and purchased 2000 envelopes at a cost of $230 (and we’ve now found them even cheaper).
We also ran 2 adverts in the local newspaper for $188 (we now do trade on service with advertiser so costs less, sometimes nothing depending on advert and time scale)
Our total number of bookings was 34 and out of the 34 only 3 paid the minimum $99. The average client spend was $130 (this was from up-grades and product sales).
The script for selling product and the method in the ‘Selling Like Crazy’ manual works a dream. I now have only 4 bottles of treatment on my shelf and my supplier loves me…..lol.
Thanks Chris this is definitely proof that the system works anywhere. The salon was on its knees when I took over and now, well I’m that busy I now need staff….lol.”
So let’s break these results down a bit more…
All up for the printing, envelopes and newspaper ads the cost was $528 (*You can get plain envelopes from the Warehouse Stationary for around $20 for 500…so this would have saved Nikki even more money).
3 packages were sold at $99 = $297
31 packages were sold with an average spend of $130 = $4030
So that’s a total income generated of $4327 for a cost of $528. A return of investment of $8 for every $1 spent…WOW!
If each of these clients were to spend on average $130 with Nikki and Phil every month for the next year, they would be worth over $1500 to the salon each. So potentially they have just increased the salons turnover over the next 12 months by $51,000….and that’s just from one promotion!
It’s pretty amazing considering that the salon was turning over a mere $2K a month before they took over.
Well done Nikki and Phil, keep up the good work!
Check out where Nikki and Phil’s salon is located…!
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by Greg Milner | Aug 10, 2010 | Australia, Canada, Salon Seminars, The Smell of Success
Ahmet and Selma Sadi of Answers4 Hair & Beauty in Narre Warren, Victoria…one of the first of 15 new salons to join the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program and get their new Toolkit at the Salon Profit Secrets seminar at the Sofitel on Collins this week…
Hair Salon Marketing Strategy: Have these salon owners gone MAD…or do they know something about salon marketing that you don’t???
There’s always one in every crowd. In fact I’d be surprised, if not disappointed, if there wasn’t at least one stand-out, Olympic-standard, world-champion naysayer in every marketing seminar I run for salon & spa owners.
This week in Melbourne, as I demonstrated the differences between typical ‘pretty’, branding-style marketing that most salons & spas are told to use, and ‘my’ kind of Emotional Direct Response marketing, I put two ads on the screen side by side.
One was a typical, wasteful salon ad that failed every test in the Direct Response Marketing 101 handbook, and deservedly didn’t draw a single booking. The other was a typical ‘copy-intensive’ ad our Inner Circle members are familiar with – this one brought in 35 new clients in a single week.
But there was one in the crowd who wanted to argue.
“But your kind of marketing doesn’t look professional enough for my salon. I just couldn’t show that to my clients…”
Deanna Ristevski and Debbie Wardle of Maestro Hair in Point Cook
At least she spoke up. There were bound to be other doubters not game enough to show their hand. So I did my best under time pressures to explain why this salon owner’s opinion about her marketing just doesn’t matter. The only opinions that matter are those of the customers…and they vote with their credit cards.
The ONLY valid test of any ad or flyer is the return on investment it generates – not what it looks like, how well it strokes your ego, or how many glowing comments you get from friends or family.
That is NOT to say that all Direct Response marketing must, by its very nature, be ‘ugly’, copy-intensive, bereft of pictures, with no appealing visual features. Quite the opposite. Well-used photos or graphics can often increase an ad’s pulling power. But they must earn their right to occupy valuable and expensive advertising real estate. They must sell. Using pretty pictures or graphics for their own sake is an almost criminal waste of money.
Trish Rochetich and son Kristian of Take Off Waxing in Melbourne
I was wasting my breath – the naysayer in the room didn’t get it. Needless to say, she did not join the Inner Circle coaching program and leave with her Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit tucked under her arm.
But 15 other Victorian salons did get it, especially when Inner Circle members like Mark Gibbs of Shellmark Hair Shack (18 months) and Kirsty Cuthbertson & Jasmine Dwyer of Adore Skin & Body Therapy (6 months) got up to do a ‘show and tell’ on their experiences.
Mark Gibbs reported his and wife Shelley’s salon had doubled their turnover in the past 18 months. Kirsty Cuthbertson reported her little two-person beauty salon’s takings for June 2010 were up by $15,000 over June the previous year.
Lina Rossi and Rebecca Naple of Vive La Belle Beauty in East Kew
Among the salons to join the program at the seminar…
Kristy Timms of Ren Skin Health in Geelong
Anita Kaine of Michindis in Mansfield
Kelly Inglis of Pure Skin Clinic in Belmont
Christine Palumbo of Take Off Waxing in North Melbourne
Debbie Wardle of Maestro Hair in Point Cook
Elva Vodanovich of Bio-Ger in St Kilda
Lina Rossi of Vive La Belle Beauty in East Kew
Selma Sadi of Answer 4 Hair & Beauty in Narre Warren
Andrea Martin of Lust for Hair in Forest Hill
Michelle Quarrell of Vanilah in Ballarat
Jacqui Chew of JC Unique in Mitcham
Deanna Hewitt of Academy Studio in Camberwell
Leanne Christie of Gossip Lane Hair Design in Park Orchards
Hair Salon Marketing Strategy: Have these salon owners gone MAD…or do they know something about salon marketing that you don’t???
There’s been flood of new members from all over the world in the past few weeks. In addition to this week’s Melbourne enrollments, we’ve welcomed from Canada:
Kirsty Cuthbertson and Jasmine Dwyer from Adore Skin & Body Therapy in Colac, Victoria. Members since February 2010, they’ve increase their takings 40% over 2009 since joining the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program
Glennys Shouldice from Pure Hair Studio, Rita Singh of Ossia Salon & Spa, Nadine Bastien of Aphrodite’s Sanctuary, Vanessa Pagano of Mellennia Aesthetics Institute in Ontario, Dawn Fraser of Studio 324 Hair Salon, Janice Carr of Kismet Hair and Body and Andy Palitti of Avanti Hair Studio in British Columbia, as well as Deb McMillan from City Looks and Angela Ruiz of Lash Love / Love Nail Bar in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
From New Zealand we’d like to welcome Nicola Smith of NV Hair in Wanaka, Tania Dench of Wish Hair & Beauty in Papanui, Lauren Meacheam of Chillout Face and Body in Auckland, Kelley Leonard of Inspired By You in Whakatane, Monique Bright of Beauty Matters in Hamilton, Robyn Franich of Hair @ Matakana, and Charlotte Wenslick of Reaveal Beauty Therapy in Warkworth.
Costa Rica? Sure, Marc Langwieser of Arco Azul Salon & Spa in San Jose decided if ‘it’ works for the English speaking world, Spanish speakers might well respond to the same marketing stimuli too! His spa becomes our first member in Latin America.
All up since the beginning of the new financial year we’ve accepted 45 new salons in to the Inner Circle program.
by Greg Milner | Jun 11, 2010 | Australia, The Right Mindset
When you’re standing around at a barbecue and somebody asks ‘what do you do?’, what do you instantly say?
Most salon owners will automatically reply
‘oh, I’m a hair stylist,’ or ‘I’m a beauty therapist/cosmetologist/nail technician’, blah blah blah.
And if that’s how you think, then that’s about the highest level you’ll ever reach. A mere technician.
Inner Circle member Sean Hayes (two years membership) is one who thinks the opposite. In a previous life, Sean was a carpenter – and no doubt that’s exactly how he responded when he got asked ‘the barbecue question’.
Not any more. Twelve months ago, Sean quit his carpentry job and threw himself into the real job of a business owner – as marketer of his wife Yvette’s Access to Beauty salon in Coogee, New South Wales.
Sean emailed me today, and you can tell from the words on the page he’s grinning from ear to ear:
Hi Greg,
Sean here from Access to Beauty, you may remember me writing to you a while ago after jacking in my job as a carpenter and becoming a full time marketer of Access to Beauty?
Well a full year has passed since that life changing event and I have just being looking over the numbers and they’re pretty fecking good!!
For the year May 2008 till April 2009 the salon did $ 301,951
Then for this last year (that Yvette went back into the salon and I concentrated on the marketing) May 2009 till Apr 2010 the salon did $425,560.
To say we were shocked is a understatement!
So you don’t have to work it out it’s $123,609 or about 41% improvement.
But the best gain has been the month of May 2010; May 2008 was $23,471, May 2009 was $34,177 and May 2010 was $46,037.
So it took us a little bit longer to double (nearly) our income for the month ( as you say you expect us to do) but for the fact it has rained almost all of May we would have got there.
So I just wanted to share with you guys our good news and again a big rap for you and all your team.
The saying “when the pupil is ready the teacher will appear “ sounds appropriate. Bring on the next 12 months! Keep up the good work.
Sean
PS Yvette and I have just come back from Beautyworld Expo in Dubai and they could do with some of your type of marketing over there!
by Greg Milner | May 31, 2010 | Australia, The Smell of Success
Salon Business Plan Template – got a tax bill to pay? Try THIS…
We’re often asked ‘will the your marketing program work for me, I’m in a small country town/poor area…’ etc etc. I give the same answer every time: YES! Just check the results Susan Anderson achieved in a little mining town of (mostly men!) just 7,500 people:
“I have found that my best results for any promotions are to deliver my newsletter as a flyer. I do this once a month with my monthly specials and any other news etc that is going on in the salon.
So my April newsletter went out with (a special offer) plus the dates they were available and the terms and conditions that I have on them. I also had it on my chalkboard outside the shop and had flyers in store.
I then sent one more flyer as a reminder the week before the event.
I found that this was enough to get everyone talking about it and as we are a small town the message was out!!
They went on sale from Wednesday the 5th of May to Saturday the 8th of May, we finish at 2pm on Saturdays so I also wrote that in the newsletter too.
We did this offer for Christmas and had great results then so I was prepared to do it again, I found that we were busy right through January February and March which is usually the quiet times of the year and also found that when people come in with a voucher they are willing to spend more on other things or add more to the voucher, so my takings stayed the same and did not drop at all, also I have secured my customers for the next six months!! What more could I ask for!
The next three days were very busy selling the vouchers and we ended up selling $35,400 worth of vouchers in a town of 7,500 people, mainly male dominated I might add, as we are a mining town, I thought this was an amazing result.
Once again thankyou so much for your ideas help and encouragement Greg. It would not have been possible without you. Now I can pay my tax bill!!!”
