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Re-thinking your salon
In this lesson we’re going to look at:
- The biggest single mistake most business owners make - and how to avoid this pitfall
- The truth about why you lose clients AND how to get them back!
- Why marketing is a process not an event
- What is your salon’s most valuable asset and, more importantly, how hard do you make that asset work for you?
PHEW! Still with me? Great! Lets move on …..
You know just the other day I was speaking to a salon owner. They told me that they’d run a great little event with the local school. You know, a kinda open evening for the parents etc. They told me how great it had been and how the results they’d achieved had been outstanding.
Another owner had told me that she’d taken just one letter from the Essential Salon Owners Marketing Toolkit. Sent it to just a small number of clients and had a tremendous response rate.
Want to know what each of the salons had in common? They both asked me what they should do next!
The answer? Repeat it! Do it again. And again. And again. Why? Because it works! That’s why!
Which would you sooner do?
A. Do some experimental marketing and promotions
B. Copy someone else’s successful marketing and promotions
Give me ‘B‘ every time! Especially when times are tight (like a recession, or “credit crunch”). Why? Because I know that it worked for someone else and therefore it should work for me! Going for ‘A‘ is a little like gambling, whilst with ‘B‘ you’re more likely to be on a winner.
So nothing, and I mean nothing, you’ll learn here is new. It has been tested and proven to work. Time and time again, by salons and spas up and down the UK. And that’s what you want isn’t it? Things that actually work?
Which neatly leads me on to putting together processes that work…
So, what is the single greatest mistake most business owners make? Here’s a story (a real one!). I was working as a marketing manager in a large international company. Regularly, the main sales person would come into the office holding a brand new order from a brand new customer. He’d receive hearty pats on the back and the senior management would be very happy with him. After we got the order that new client was ignored.
What had we done wrong here? We’d fallen into the same mistake soooo many businesses make. We were chasing new business all the time, whilst ignoring the wealth of business we could have gained from our existing customers.
OK, let me ask you another question. What is your greatest asset in your salon? There is one thing AND ONE THING ONLY of any great value in your salon. This one thing I could (metaphorically) walk into your salon, pick up and walk out with, and you’d be left without a business. Penniless. Also, when you come to sell your business this one thing is THE ONLY thing of any real value. What is it?
Your client listing!
‘What?’ I hear your cry! Well think about it. Your shop fixtures and fittings, your printed material, your therapists, you (even) can all be replaced relatively easily. BUT how easily can you replace your client listing? After all, how long has it taken you to build that loyal client base? It is THE most important asset you have. Without it you simply don’t have a business.
Soooo if that’s the case, just how hard do you make that asset work for you? If you think that all the people on your listing will just automatically come back to you for treatments, then YOU ARE LOSING MONEY. Fact.
You need to be constantly marketing and promoting to these people to maximise the return you can achieve from them.
How do you do that? Direct mail, in-store promotions, newsletters, and so on.
But what about your lost or lapsed clients. What about them? Well, some time ago there was some research done as to why you lose clients. It found that:
4% move away or pass away - not much you can do about that!
5% get a better relationship - hmmm maybe, just maybe, you could have seen that one coming
9% get a better price - well if they’re really THAT price sensitive, do we want them anyway?
14% dislike the product - hmmm should see that one
BUT… and here’s the biggie…
68% is due to indifferent personal service
Now, I’m not proposing that this ‘indifferent personal service’ is delivered in the salon. Far from it. I’m saying it is delivered afterwards.
Just think what currently happens EVERY TIME in your salon… One of your best clients says “I’ll not re-book today thank you. I’ll give you a call” or even “I’m off on holiday. I’ll give you a call when I get back.” Or a new client has a treatment and says “I’ll not re-book now. I’ll get back to you”
What happens next? Do you all sit around drinking coffee, looking at each other, and wondering why you’re not busy? Or do you have a system, a process in place that works really hard, all the time, every time, to make sure you get those people back in to see you? Because if you haven’t you’re losing money. FACT.
It’s a little like the salon owner that is focused only on getting new clients. There is little point because as fast as she is getting them in through the front door, they are leaving by the back. Or put it another way, you wouldn’t go collecting water with a bucket with holes in it would you? Then why run your business like that?
So what do you need to prevent this leakage? Firstly (obviously) you need to identify who these clients are. Then you need a marketing process to get them coming back to see you.
This marketing process is:
Letter 1. Then, if there has been no response within 10 days you send out letter 2. Then, if there is still no response, you send letter 3.
Working with real salons, here in the UK, we’re reporting anything between 9% and 25% response rates to this series of letters. Of course, you can sit down and write these letters yourself. But wouldn’t it be easier to copy the success of someone else?
Checkout what’s included in The Essential Salon Owners Marketing Toolkit.
Coming up in lesson number 4 (click the “Next Lesson” link below):
- Discounting - DON’T DO IT
- Building an offer
- Targeting your prospect - effectively
Dedicated to filling your salon with clients
Martin Smith
