Free Hair Salon Business Plan Template: NZ Salon Superstar, Terra Evans – The Membership Campaign that created a Storm!
If I said to you that every dollar you spent on marketing would give you $2 back, you would probably be very happy. Well Inner Circlemember Terra Evans of Skin Deep Face and Body in the little seaside town of Browns Bay on Auckland’s North Shore recently launched her Mini Memberships program and made an astounding return for every $1 she spent on marketing these memberships….WOW!
But before I let Terra explain to you how she did it, I want to tell you some of the benefits of having memberships in your salon….
Memberships are a great way to get a huge chunk of cash up front from your clients or regular cash flow depending on the membership type. If cash flow is a bit tight and you have a GST bill coming up then memberships give you that much need boost. Or perhaps you want to go on a holiday or buy a new car then memberships give you more financial freedom so you don’t have to go grovelling to the bank for a loan!
Memberships are also a great way to guarantee your clients stay loyal to your salon for a long time and if a staff member leaves and starts working at a salon down the road it also stops clients going with that person.
You will often find that people on memberships will try out other services that they have never had before which opens up more opportunities to sell lots of product. Remember these people have paid their money upfront, so they are going to feel like they have got money to burn when they come in for their treatments….so SELL, SELL, SELL like crazy!
But enough from me, here is what Terra has to say about memberships and being a part of the Inner Circle Program…..
Terra Evans, Owner of Skin Deep Face & Body, Auckland
“I have been a member of the Inner Circleprogram for 2 months now. I decided to join because even though my salon is already doing well I knew it wasn’t working it to its full potential. So when I saw the ad for a free DVD on how to make more $ and do fab marketing it intrigued me and I phoned Chris to find out more. The first thing I felt when I spoke to Chris was that I wasn’t being sold to, I was just being told the facts and I could also see how genuine and enthusiastic Chris was about the whole thing. I asked Chris to give me some people to ring who are already members which he did and everyone gave rave reviews so I asked him if he could ring me in 2 months, when I felt I would be ready and I would give it a go, I really didn’t have anything to lose as there is the free trial period and I told Chris that if it didn’t work for me within that time I wouldn’t continue, but he was very confident that that would not be the case and that I would love it, and he was right!
I have implemented lots of new ideas but also things like new client letters which I knew I needed to do before I joined but didn’t know where to start. Well not anymore, with all the templates and ideas that are in the manuals I finally feel like I am taking control of my business! So far I have done New client letters 1,2 and 3, birthday letters, raise the dead letters, Queen of referrals, Valentines day specials, newsletters (mail and email), changed my messages, implemented the Happy form and testimonial form, cross over promotions, top client rewards, about to send out a school holiday special, ordered a new A frame for the sidewalk, increased my prices and am now using the Staff finder service to look for a new therapist so we have more spaces to fill so I can do some more marketing.
The Best success I have had so far is with the Mini Memberships. I did like the Manual said (why try and fight it) and offered $350 worth of treatments for $200 I had 20 up for grabs and they had a 6 month expiry. .I sent out 672 texts @ 22 cents each = $147.84 and 252 emails @ 5 cents = $12.60 total cost $160.44 all to my existing clients. The response from the texts was amazing within 24 hours of sending the message we had sold all 20 and had many more on a waiting list for next time. So all up it cost me $160.44 to market and I had a Membershiop campaign that created a STORM! Oh what a feeling!
What was interesting about the whole thing is that it actually has encouraged the mini members to try different treatments that they have been thinking about trying, already I have 2 clients starting a course of IPL (which of course will end up costing them more than $350) another client is going to use hers towards microdermabrasion course (again more than $350) and 3 of the members have only visited us a few times so after they have used up there credit I am sure they will be addicted! The rest of the members I am going to test and measure at the end of the 6 months and see how many different treatments they have tried and how much extra retail they have purchased.
So if you are nervous about trying mini memberships don’t be they work!! You can always try selling 10 and then when you see how well it works give it another go. Oh and by the way the clients love it and love you for it. It creates such a buzz and good energy which I feel is so important for true success.
Thanks so much Chris, I look forward to our next meeting and getting started on more great ideas!”
As you can see from what Terra has written she is a HUGELY motivated person that takes massive action. The memberships are just one of many strategies, systems and promotions that she has implemented since joining the Inner Circle program in January. Great results Terra, well done and I am so happy for you!
Did the headline suck you in – force you to keep reading? If you have a pulse, it’s the reason you’re reading this sentence now.
Master copywriter Eugene Schwartz – his advertising skills sold billions dollars worth of products
The headline – the ‘ad for the ad’ – was written by one of the greatest direct response copywriters of the past 50 years, Eugene Schwartz. His ads, for everything from beauty and diet products to investment services and gardening, have resulted in sales of billions of dollars.
Schwartz’s ads are so powerful, so magnetic, they’ve been copied in some form for decades. They’re classic direct response.
And yet…and yet, despite overwhelming evidence that direct response-style display ads, hard copy direct mail and yes, online marketing is the only effective, measurable, accountable form of marketing that any small business owner should invest in, I still hear
“but it’s so unprofessional, my clients are far too sophisticated/educated/up-market for that kind of thing…”
Well, I’m more than happy for the ignorant and the arrogant to continue wasting their hard-earned money on pretty, ‘imagey’ kind of creative advertising while the rest of us get one with what works, instead of re-inventing the wheel.
As the master of direct response, David Ogilvy once declared, ‘creative is what sells‘. He might well have continued, ‘who cares about winning creative advertising awards, if the ads don’t get customers to pick up the phone and buy?’
For the education and interest of those readers wise enough to at least acknowledge they don’t know much about marketing and would like to inform themselves – being armed with knowledge gives you a pretty good buffer against making dumb, expensive mistakes – here’s a small sample of some of the greatest direct response advertising ever printed.
(And for Inner Circle members, the complete Eugene Schwartz ‘swipe file’ of classic, powerful headlines, available for download now from here in the Member’s Only ‘sealed section’ of the website.)
For those salon owners who are NOT part of the Inner Circle program, well I guess you’ll look at these examples, wrinkle your nose in distaste and sniffily declare them far too unworthy of your further study.
For those salon & spa owners smart enough to have joined the Inner Circle program including the Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit®, the following examples will hopefully encourage and inspire you to go back to your Toolkit and begin to better understand the thinking behind the hundreds of advertising templates contained within it.
You can right click on these thumbnail images and ‘save as…’ to download the ads in full screen, so you can study them in detail. My advice: analyze these from the point of view of ‘HOW can I use this information to develop better marketing for my salon?’ rather than “this isn’t for a beauty or hair business so it doesn’t apply to me!’
What does a gorgeous, “over-the-hill” international model do when sales of her new book are flat as a pancake and she’s got no idea how to turn it around?
Simple. If she’s Oleda Baker, she calls Eugene Schwartz.
This is the 1973 ad for “The Models Way to Beauty, Slenderness and Glowing Health” which eventually sold over 60,000 copies with the help of Gene Schwartz’s pen.
The caption beneath her photo is very effective. “This is an unretouched photo of 39 year old Oleda Baker, author of this eye opening new guide.”
Shirley Polykoff wrote this ad for Clairol in the 50s, “Does she …or doesn’t she? Hair color so natural only her hair dresser knows for sure.”
It was so successful in selling product that today Clairol is able to spend over $30 million a year in the USA alone on advertising – yet it won not a single ‘creative’ award.
The ‘Does she or doesn’t she?” headline was at first turned down by Life magazine as being ‘too suggestive’. The Life editors would turn pale at what advertisers get away with these days.
The myth that ‘they won’t read it if it’s too long…”
Advertising sales reps ought to be hung, drawn and quartered for insisting on spreading this toxic myth about marketing.
Most of ’em deride ‘direct response’ marketing as ‘okay for weight loss and hair replacement advertising, but you wouldn’t use it for professional services and products….’
Mmmm, really? Click on the picture here, the front cover of one of the world’s most respected business publications, and you’ll find a 15-page sales letter that’s pure direct response, sent out by the publishers to drive subscriptions.
Strange to say, it worked.
In 1919, Lillian Eichler was an 18-year-old working for a New York advertising agency when she was asked to figure out an ad that would sell a bunch of old copies of Ealnor Holt’s pre-1900 The Encyclopedia of Etiquette.
But most of the 1,000 copies sold came back within the 5-day guarantee period, the readers turned off by the antiquated text. But the publishers (Doubleday) were smart enough to realize that if Lillian’s ad could at least move the books, maybe she could re-write the original and turn it into something more appealing to the modern’ reader.
It did. Lillian’s version, the Book of Etiquette, sold 2 million copies at $2 each over the following two years, nearly $30 million in today’s money. Amazing to think that such powerful marketing copy could come from the pen of an 18-year-old.
Now, take a good look at all the examples above. If you note nothing else, note this: ALL of them feature columns of tightly-written copy, not mere pretty pictures and a phone number.
Go apply that thinking to YOUR advertising, and what your sales soar.
Salon Price List Template Free – Turning A Disadvantage Into A Raging Advantage
I’ll often hear salon & spa business owners saying “my salon has no passing traffic so it’s harder for me”, or “we’re in a poor area, I can’t raise my prices”, or “…there are roadworks outside my salon, and my business is dying…”.
If you spend enough time thinking about it, you can write a long list of reasons why others are successful and you’re not, why others seem to have an ‘easier’ time in business than you do, why the competition appears to be doing better than you are.
In fact, it’s deceptively easy to find reasons for failure, but they are, in the main, mere excuses. Barring cataclysmic events – like an earthquake in Haiti – there are almost no circumstances where not even a sliver of silver lining can be found in the cloud.
(Even in Haiti, I’ll bet there are some enterprising souls capitalizing on the devastation, and I don’t mean pure looting. In the West Australian goldrush of the 1890s around Kalgoorlie, the people who made the big money weren’t the prospectors, they were the people selling water and beer TO the prospectors.)
All of which is a round-a-bout way of introducing Cheryl Bown, one of our Inner Circle Premium members from a salon called Imagine in Tea Tree Gully, South Australia.
Inner Circle member Cheryl Bown of Imagine in South Australia – ‘outside the box’ thinking produced a brilliant result
During a recent heatwave, where the temperature topped 40C (about 105F in the old money) for days on end, Cheryl was faced with a real business challenge.
Her salon’s air conditioning died.
Many would simply use it as excuse to give up, close the doors, go home and wait for the repair man. Not Cheryl. Typically, she found a brilliant, innovative and simple way to turn disadvantage into advantage.
Here’s what Cheryl wrote to me this week.
“I now only work 3 days a week, amazingly the turnover has not dropped, we have had 317 new clients join us since beginning of July’09, and a consistent TO of $6,110 a week for the past 20 weeks.
“In the last 6 months of the business growing, I also sold my house and moved. I was presented at the North East Business Awards with an AWARD for ” BEST NEW ENTERPRISE” – I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited, on the way back it was a stop at the liquor store and back to the salon where the girls were still working, to celebrate with the team and clients.
“I have just introduced Birthday Letters, and the very next day we had 3 clients in delighted with their Birthday Gift. I have only touched the surface with a lot of the opportunities that are available to me, I started to delegate work, eg. I have now hired an ironing lady and house cleaner, I’m so proud of myself:-) I’m on the road to my 6 series convertible BMW. I used to aim small, not any more.”
So, what would YOU do if faced with a heatwave of epic proportions, no air-conditioning, an unbearably hot salon, terrified clients would take one step inside and bolt?
Hair Salon Website Template Free For NZ Salon Superstar of the Week – Lynda Moodley of Lynnel’s Hair Studio, Manukau
This week I got a very excited phone call from one of our Inner Circlemembers, Lynda Moodley of Lynnel’s Hair Studio in Manukau. Lynda placed an advertorial in her local Manukau Courier and the phone has been ringing red hot ever since!
Prior to being an Inner Circlemember Lynda was your typical salon owner, chasing a dream to have a salon bustling with customers and money flooding out of the till, whereas in reality her dream was dragging her down and the only thing flooding in, were bills, bills and more bills.
And as I say to new inner circle members, joining the program doesn’t instantly qualify you for a salon full of customers and bags and bags of cash. No, you still actually have to put the work in to make that happen, which is exactly what Lynda has been doing day after day, week after week, month after month. And it is this MASSIVE ACTION that has seen her salon grow consistently each month, employ her first staff members and become the leading retailer in South Auckland for her product range.
Lynda Moodley Owner of Lynnel’s Hair Studio, Manukau
Since joining the Inner Circleprogram in 2009 she has seen her rate of new clients increase each month. In October she had 35 new clients, in November she had 46 new clients and in December she had 47 new clients. And I think it is fair to say that with her advertorial in January she will be breaking some more records this month….
Editorials and adverts (advertorials) are a fantastic way to promote your salon and more often than not will result in a much higher response rate than just an advert alone. It is a way to tell people a bit more about your salon and make them feel like they already know and trust you before they walk through your doors or call you.
If you are thinking about advertising in your local paper it pays to ask them (especially if you are a new advertiser) if you can have some editorial with your advert. Sometimes they will give you this for free in the hope of you advertising more with them in the future. Alternatively some papers will want you to lock in to a contract for x amount of adverts before they give you editorial space.
Lynda ran a 10 week advertising campaign with the paper. The first 9 adverts did not include editorial and the response rate was 2 – 3 bookings per ad. The advertorial in week 10 generated 27 phone enquiries, 15 bookings (12 of which were new clients) and an immediate income of $896.
Each new client would be worth on average $1000 per annum to Lynda, so the advertorial has potentially increased her annual turnover by $12,000.
Needless to say Lynda has found out what works best for her salon and will continue to run an advertorial column each month.
And here’s what Lynda has to say about being an Inner Circle member…
“On many occasions I would sit in my quiet salon and think what on earth am I doing chasing a dream but there’s so much stress. I needed to be able to talk to others that are in my industry and understand exactly where I’m coming from and yes the inner circle program provides just that and definitely much much more.
Being a member of the inner circle program has decreased the stress level in my life in terms of marketing, gone are those days of sitting hours and hours in front of the computer screen and trying to figure out where to start with an advert. By being a member of the program we as a salon on average are doing 20-25 new clients in a month. October this year we did a record of 35 new clients and we have just broken that record again with 46 new clients in November.
My coaching calls are definitely my favourite. I am always excited to talk to Chris because I know even if I have had a low month he’s always there to encourage me and get me motivated. The other aspect of the program that I enjoy is the fact that everything is done for me all I have to do is just change my details and off goes the marketing.
Our most successful campaign that seems to work for us is the Hollywood Woman’s Hair Package. Every month we put out at least 2000 flyers and on average we get a return of 15-20 new clients taking up this offer and definitely topping that with retail sales.
According to my supplier Lynnels retails more products that any other salon that they supply in South Auckland
I spend at least 5-7 hours if not more on marketing each week. Just about every chance I get I’m in front of my computer going through the kit and getting an advert sorted.”
And all of Lynda’s hard work hasn’t gone un-noticed by her husband too….
“Well, my precious husband sees all hard work I have been putting into my business as well as still being a mummy and a wife so he decided to honour me and buy me my dream car. I drive it very proudly with my salon magnets on both sides of my car which includes a $99 offer and frequently I notice people at the lights or round abouts reading my magnet.
Check out Lynda’s new BMW!!!
My goal is to be DEBT FREE, to be full time off the floor and definitely expansion in terms of employing staff. We have just employed another hairdresser because I cannot carry the work load on my own.
And my advice to people who are thinking about joining the Inner Circle program is ‘DON’T HESITATE. You have nothing to lose. If you are looking at closing the doors to your business don’t do it the inner circle program has the answers you are looking for and the mentors are amazing. If you shut the doors to your business you probably will lose the very thing that can catapult you right into your financial freedom. Give the program a try, you have everything to gain.”
Well done Lynda, you really deserve these fantastic results from all the hard work you are putting in….keep it up!!
A couple of examples this week that show how dangerous it can be to lose sight of the fact that it’s what the customers think that matters in your business, not what you think. This story is about the pizza company and the music critic.
Confused? Stay with me. It matters to your business.
In my morning paper today, a music critic resentfully acknowledging that the buying public doesn’t give a toss what he and his sniffy, elitist colleagues decide is ‘good’ music. The spark for this admission is frumpy, middle-aged, bushy-browed Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle.
In the US, Boyle’s album I Dreamed a Dream sold 2.5 million units in the lead-up to Christmas. In Australia, a proportionately even larger 600,000 sales. Here’s a reminder:
But this ‘critic’ and his colleagues around the world decided almost unanimously that New York band Animal Collective’s album Merriweather Post Pavilion was the ‘best’ album of 2009. Call me a neanderthal, but Animal Collective isn’t a name in my household, nor, I suspect, in many households around the world. (And I checked with our in-house music nerd. He’s never heard of them either.)
Here’s what’s instructive:
The music critics are focused on the product. That’s why they’ll always be the written-word equivalent of the starving artist living in a garret. But the companies who back shows like Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol are concerned (rightly) with what sells.
It’s never about the product. It’s about the marketing of the product. Susan Boyle sold because she had a story to sell. People buy on emotion, not logic. And inspiration is emotional. ‘Look at her…she’s dumpy, ugly, never even been kissed. If she can do that…’
Susan Boyle is a triumph of packaging over content.
(Even so, the Britain’s Got Talent judges – critics – still got it wrong. Susan Boyle was runner up. Anybody remember who won?)
There’s an old saying, you can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in sparkles. History is littered with examples of mediocre, ordinary – even inferior – products becoming sales powerhouses thanks to inspired, hard-nosed marketing.
In the 70s, Sony’s Betamax domestic videotape system was technically far superior to rival JVC’s VHS format. But JVC’s marketing put the Sony product out of business.
There are plenty of smart-phones and MP3 players that outperform Apple’s iPhone and iPod. But who owns the music hardware market? Apple’s marketing rolled the competitors.
But don’t think that just because you’re a humble salon or spa owner that you’re somehow not as smart as the marketing geniuses at the Big End of Town.
Just look at Dominos Pizza.
Fifty years after founder Tom Monaghan built an empire on the basis of a single, powerful Unique Selling Proposition – “Fresh Hot Pizza delivered in 30 Minutes – Guaranteed” the company’s inheritors have just embarked on a complete re-vamp of the giant’s entire marketing campaign.
Dumbly, in my view, they’re focusing on the product, dumping half a century’s worth of the most powerful USP ever developed. Not content with that, the marketing geniuses at Dominos are betting the whole farm on a campaign that admits, in excruciating detail, that for decades their product has actually been crap. (Did their customers even care? They never wanted good pizza, they just wanted it fast, and hot.)
Take a look at their latest commercial:
The lessons are clear: If you obstinately stick your head in the sand, stubbornly declare that ‘we’re really good, so customers should simply recognize that and come’ then you’re as dumb as Dominos, as blind and elitist as a music critic.
It’s better to be different than it is to be better.
