Is It Ever Too Late To Woo Back a Missing Salon Client?

Is It Ever Too Late To Woo Back a Missing Salon Client?

Missing Salon and Spa Clients

How long is too long when it comes to trying to woo back a missing salon or spa client? That’s a really tricky question, but let’s take a look and see what can be done. To be honest, I’m all for an optimistic approach to re-activating a missing client. After all, what harm can you do? The worst-case scenario is that the client won’t come back and remains a missing client. But the best-case scenario is that she’s been waiting for just the right opportunity to come back to your salon or spa because she wished she’d never left in the first place. But before we get into how to woo our missing salon clients back, let’s take a quick look at why you lost them in the first place. Clients can be a funny bunch, but the truth of the matter is that you and I are both someone’s client too, and I wouldn’t mind betting we’ve done much the same thing in the past as your clients are doing to you – disappearing in a puff of smoke for what seems to the salon owner for no good reason.

Why Salon and Spa Clients Leave

So, when we wonder why our clients leave us, all we really have to do is look at what made us do the exact same thing to someone else. If we take a quick look at the research statistics, it seems that clients leave for a bunch of different reasons, but some are much more important than others. These reasons include: • They didn’t think you cared about them (I’ve been part of this group). This makes up for a whopping 68% of lost clients so this one is definitely not one to be ignored. • They weren’t happy with a product or service they’ve received (I’ve been in this one too). This is a lot less at only 14%, but still definitely needs some attention. • Because they are lured away by a competitor. Another 14% gone here. Could we have avoided this with better communication? • They move away. This is just a tiny 3% and I don’t think we can force them to stay in the area to suit us. • And sadly, 1 % pass away (I’m hoping to stay well clear of this reason for moving on!). Ok, so it’s pretty clear why clients jump ship. A massive 82% of clients who leave do so because they didn’t feel that you cared about their needs or they weren’t happy with the service/goods they received. But surely the good news is that now you know this, you can do something about it. Prevention, is after all, better than cure. Don’t you agree?

How to Get Missing Salon Clients Back

But let’s get back to those clients who’ve drifted away already. What’s it going to take to get them back into your business? Well, if someone on your team really messed up, nothing short of a miracle is going to get them back but, as I said before, there’s no harm in trying. For these MIA clients, you need to do some research to find out what services they had in your salon or spa, and then set about tailoring a really mega offer to bring them back in. Let me be clear. A crappy $10 salon voucher is not going to cut it! The goal here is to GET THEM BACK into your loving embrace. Not to make any profit from them this first time back. Communication has to be clear and the offer generous if they are going to consider returning. A quick email or SMS will be promptly deleted, so I’m going to suggest you go with the good old snail mail. A well-worded and personalised letter accompanied by a great offer is what you need. Keep the restrictions to an absolute minimum to help get them back. And what about those others who are gone but not forgotten. Well, once a client is outside her normal return time, you need to take action. She may well have just been away or a little short on money, but she might also have gone for her first visit to another salon. If this is the case, you are on your way to having another MIA client so don’t take any chances. Get in touch with her and tempt her back in with a nice offer. Something tailored to what she’d enjoy so she’ll find it hard to refuse. Personalisation is key to communication with missing clients. Showing them that you know who they are and what they had when they were coming to you. The offer itself depends on the amount of time the clients has been missing (the longer the period the better the offer required) and the value of the client to your salon. After all, a client who spends $100 a week with you is worthy of more than a client who spends $25 month. To help ensure you are aware of when clients go missing, be sure to run your missing clients report regularly and then take action promptly. Sitting and worrying what went wrong won’t bring back your clients, but the right action taken swiftly might just bring them back before they’ve been gone too long.
5 Essential Strategies to Generate More Salon Profit

5 Essential Strategies to Generate More Salon Profit

I’m often asked this question by salon and spa owners, ‘How can I increase my revenue (turnover)?’ In fact, if staying in business and taking home a decent personal wage are the goals, the question should actually be ‘How can I make more profit in my business without working any harder than I already do?’ 

Almost every salon or spa owner I’ve met is already a very hard worker who puts in longer hours than nearly all their employees. They’re often the first in to open the doors each day and the ones left to lock up each night.

If this sounds a lot like you, then working harder is not something you should have to do, however working smarter certainly is!

Taking time out of the everyday grind to work on business growth strategies is an activity some salon owners are not that comfortable with.

After all, if they’re working on their business, they have to pay someone else to care for the clients, and that is often a frightening prospect on many levels.

But the truth is that working productively on your business by developing your marketing ideas, planning staff training sessions, investigating new service options, or developing a more streamlined roster, amongst many other things, can actually be the best use of your time.

Yes, you may earn an additional $50 by providing that client service yourself but a well thought out marketing strategy might bring you an additional $5000 instead. It’s really all about using your existing working hours more effectively.

If you’re in the rut of working too many hours in your business rather than spending some quality time working on your business, then read on to discover effective ways to break the cycle of chasing revenue instead of making a profit.

Remember, revenue is just the money that goes into your register and this figure means very little at the end of the day, especially if every dollar is consumed by expenses.

Instead, you need to focus your efforts on is how to keep as big a portion of your revenue as possible, because this becomes your profit (and the only thing that really matters in the long run).

Here are 5 profit-generating strategies that you should implement into your beauty business asap.

 

Strategy #1 – Start making a profit from your salon services.

This is a no-compromise strategy. Every service you provide must make you some profit, and to ensure this you must first know what each service costs you to provide. Guessing is not good enough.

Forget about what the salon down the road is charging or what your suppliers tell you is the ‘normal average selling price’. These figures are meaningless to your business.

The salon down the road may be slowly going broke because of the way they do business and the supplier has absolutely no idea about what your unique expenses actually are.

So, the only person who can work out a profitable selling price for your services in your business is you.

Consider the labour cost, the product cost and the consumable cost to work out a service cost price. Then, before you decide on a selling price, remember that you also have to cover every other expense your business generates also (rent, utilities, marketing, etc.), and only then can you set a selling price that will ensure you make a profit.

 

Strategy #2 – Start charging what you’re worth.

Stop attracting those cheap-skate, discount-seeking clients who will never make you a penny in profit. You know the ones I mean. They’re the clients who only materialise when you’re selling something with a discount attached to it.

In business, as in life, we get what we aim for. If you want to attract more profitable clients, stop making every marketing offer into a discount-fest. Find better ways to position yourself by offering value to your clients instead of discounts.

If you’re offering professional services in a professional environment, then you deserve to ask a professional price for them. It’s important that you don’t undervalue yourself if you don’t want your clients to undervalue you.

 

Strategy #3 – Reduce your salon wages expense.

One of the biggest expenses in any beauty business is undoubtedly the wages. Now, while you definitely need staff to deliver the services to your clients as your business grows, what you don’t need is them standing around for hours on end making cuppas, chatting and dusting the product shelves for the 6th time that week.

So, what should you do if this is happening in your salon? The answer is ‘measure and monitor’. Understanding the productivity of each team member is vital so you can determine how many hours you need them to work on your roster. Things you must monitor as a minimum are:
 How many dollars per client they generate,
 How many dollars per week they generate,
 How many clients per week they service,
 How much of the revenue they earn is going back out in their wages? (Hint: If it’s more than 35%, you need to find out why.)

You need to understand all these figures for each staff member and then take appropriate action to reduces excess wages where needed by amending your roster.

If you’re not already doing this, I recommend you start straight away.

Minimising unnecessary wages will often make the difference between taking home a pay packet or not for yourself.

 

Strategy #4 – Make more money from each salon client.

If you can’t get more clients into your business, then you have to make more money from each client. Easy to say, I know, but not that hard to do when you put your mind to it.

The obvious solution is to have a price increase, especially if you’ve been holding off for far too long because you believe your clients might not want to pay a little more.

The fact is you are in business. You are not a charity!

Your clients also know this but the longer you hold off having a much-needed price increase, the more the clients won’t like it when the time comes.

With this in mind, work out your true costs (see Strategy #1) and set a price for your services that will make you a fair profit.

Regular small price increases are less likely to upset your clients’ budgets than a huge price increase once every couple of years.

Another method to lift the average client spend amount is to up-sell additional services.

So many of your clients would happily purchase more if only they were asked to (nicely of course).

Your clients may be missing out on services they’d thoroughly enjoy and benefit from because no-one has told them about a new and improved service, or an add-on service that would complement the service they’ve booked in for.

Here’s a FACT. If you don’t ask you don’t get. Talk to your clients about the services they might be interested in trying and make a goal to upsell to every client.

And what about selling courses of services. This is always a good idea as it not only provides good value for the client (generally with a bonus service included), but you get a lovely chunk of money up-front that keeps the client returning to you over a set period of time.

Courses rock when it comes to making more profit and you should seriously think about how to maximise your sales using them more often.

Finally, how’s your retailing?

Are you monitoring and measuring it?

Do you have some goals in place?

Something that many salon and spa owners don’t know is that retail sales can offer 2-3 times more profit for the time invested than delivering services.

Learn the art of retailing and teach your staff how to retail as well. This one strategy alone will make a huge and positive impact on your profits.

Strategy #5 – Reduce your general salon expenses.

Every dollar you outlay on unnecessary expenses is a dollar out of your profit (that means less in your holiday fund).

If you haven’t looked at the reports your accountant sends you each year, take a big gulp of something to calm your nerves and go find your last expenses report (I promise you will live through this experience, although you may come away feeling a little traumatised and in need a little nap to fully recover).

Now you have that report in hand, read through your expenses list.

What jumps out at you?

What appears to be way higher than you thought it would be?

Are these expenses ones you can do something about?

Some expenses are a necessity and impossible to budge but others can be culled or reduced without any ill effects to your business.

What expenses are a good investment (like quality coaching and training) and which ones should be minimised?

You’re bound to discover you’re spending way too much money in some areas, and this knowledge will allow you to reduce some of your expenses and therefore increase your profits.

 

And there we have it. 5 simple but effective strategies that will put more profits into your pocket without working any harder or longer. Be brave and do what’s needed so that you can enjoy your business knowing there’s a payday for you at the end of the week also.

 

13 Ways to Keep Your Salon and Spa Clients Returning

13 Ways to Keep Your Salon and Spa Clients Returning

Unless you’re the odd one out, your salon or spa is probably losing clients without even noticing them slip away.

Today, there is a great deal of competition for the same clients, and unfortunately, client loyalty is not what it used to be.

This isn’t always because salons were better back in the day, but more likely because there were simply fewer salons to choose from, and therefore, going somewhere else wasn’t always the best option when there was a small service hiccup.

People are now more informed and less tolerant of poor quality treatments and customer service, and they’re not shy about telling other people about their experiences via social media and the internet.

This is why it’s essential that you’re on top of your quality control and know how to be (or become) the go-to salon in your area.

In this article, I’ll pose 13 questions to help you discover how to keep your VIP clients returning to your salon and spending their money in the long-term.

 

1. Have you got your welcome right?

Believe it or not, getting new clients is the easy bit. The difficult part is getting them to return.

Statistics show us that in some salons as many as 3 out of 4 new clients visit just once, and never come back. Now some salons do better than this of course, but the fact is that once a prospective client arrives at your salon, your sole goal should be to get them to come back.

A new client’s first impression of your salon should be the best you can possibly deliver. If you don’t look, smell or feel professional, you’re already off to a bad start.

Clients will make assumptions about their forthcoming treatment based on their first impressions.
Don’t let yourself down before you even have the chance to prove how good you really are.

 

2. Does your new client leave with a thorough understanding of everything you offer?

In most instances, clients know very little about your salon by the end of their first visit.  It’s your job to make sure your new client knows what you offer, and what makes you the best salon in the area.

And there’s never going to be a better time to do this than on the first visit.

Tell them about your services, your programs, and everything else that they’ll benefit from by being a client in your salon.

If you offer a Rewards Program, Referral Rewards, Special Birthday Offers, Monthly Promotions or anything else that makes you stand out from other salons, you need to make certain that your prospective client knows about it as soon as possible.

If you wait for the second visit, it may never happen.

 

3. Do you provide a financial incentive to return?

On the first visit, many clients leave unsure of whether they’ve found their perfect salon. You need to give these clients a worthwhile reason to return and give you another opportunity to shine.

Ensure your new client receives a voucher from your salon asap to entice them back. Most people will find a voucher irresistible unless they were really unhappy with your treatments or service.  Once you get your new client back, the relationship phase is underway, and they’ll start to feel much more at home and comfortable in your salon.

This is then the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

 

4. Are you rewarding loyalty?

Clients are just like you and me. We all love to be rewarded!

By introducing a Loyalty Rewards Program you can reward your clients for spending their money with you, and they’ll love it.

If you’re computerised, it’s generally as easy as turning on the loyalty program option in your software and deciding how your reward points will be attained and spent. If you’re not yet computerised, the good old card system works just as well.

Just keep in mind that your reward must feel like a true reward. If it’s not meaningful to your clients, they won’t have any reason to return to your salon instead of trying the one around the corner.

 

5. Are you being consistent?

Your clients love to know exactly what they are going to receive when they visit your salon or spa.  Change is not always your friend; even if it’s sometimes in the client’s favour.

Be consistent in all things that affect your clients, especially in the treatments that they receive. Even a missed cup of coffee on arrival can sometimes make a client antsy.

This also means you must be cautious when providing freebies (discretionary services) to your clients. While the clients do love getting that something extra on the day for no charge, it can backfire on you when those little extras are not provided at every visit. After all, if the client receives a little extra pampering once, she’s got every right to expect it’s a normal part of the treatment.

Create a protocol for all your services and ensure all team members stay rigidly within that protocol when delivering services. If you want to deliver a little extra pampering, add it to your protocol. Nothing more and nothing less is then the best policy.

 

6. What are your re-booking skills like?

How frustrating is it when a good client rings your salon for an appointment and you just don’t have a single spot available for them? Naturally, they become frustrated, and you’re left feeling stressed because you know that there’s a good chance your client might try another salon for an appointment at a time that suits her.

Getting your clients to re-book is a skill that needs to be perfected so this kind of scenario almost never happens to you. Once a client goes elsewhere, you run the risk of losing them permanently, and that can cost your business thousands of dollars in potential revenue.

Added to that is the massive impact regular appointments have on your profits.  When a 4-weekly client is left to her own devices, she’ll often extend her booking interval out to 6 weeks. What this means for you is over 4 visits less per year from that 1 client.

Do the sums. For most salons, it can mean up to a $50,000 loss in revenue.  Can you afford to lose this amount of money each and every year?  Most likely not.

The only way to really make sure this doesn’t happen to you is to take control of the booking process and ensure every client is offered a re-booking for their next appointment (or several) before they leave your salon.

When you re-book a client, you’re actually helping her to get what she wants, when she wants it.

 

7. How are your communication skills?

Constant quality communication helps to build and maintain the rapport you have with your clients. If you’re not constantly top-of-mind, clients can be lured away quite easily.

Stay in touch with your clients regularly with informative newsletters that have content they want to read. Use SMS marketing to promote your special offers.

Don’t rely solely on Social Media to stay in touch unless you’re willing to use paid advertising. Without it, your message won’t reach many of your followers anymore (generally only around 12-18%).

 

8. Do you have a program for client referrals?

Did you know that if a client refers a friend to your salon, she’s far less likely to leave herself? Because she’s sung your praises to the person she’s referred, she’d feel a bit foolish going elsewhere without a very good reason.

Referrals are gold for your business and not just because they bring in new clients, but because they help to keep the ones you’ve already got.

9. Are you living up to your promises?

Think about it.  Do you promote yourself as a serene salon where clients come to relax and pamper themselves, but you also have a kid’s corner in your waiting area? If this is the case then you’re not living up to the promises you’ve made in your marketing.

Get clear about what your salon personality really is. If you promise total pampering, get rid of the kid’s corner, and ask clients to have their children looked after while they enjoy their treatments.

If however, you want to be known as family-friendly, a kid’s corner is almost a must.

Whatever it is that you’re promising to be for your clients, don’t disappoint them if you want them to return.

10. Is it time to let go of the silly rules?

Make your salon client-centred and get rid of silly and often offensive rules and signage that make the clients feel uncomfortable (you know the ones I mean….’Turn off your mobile phone or you will be shot and fed to the crocodiles!‘)

Your goal should be to make each and every client feel like they’re being welcomed into a warm, friendly environment where they’re respected and valued for their patronage; not one step away from being in a prison camp.

Resist the temptation to punish every client for the sins of one or two who’ve done the wrong thing, and ditch the dictator-style signage that clients will find insulting.

Every salon needs to have some rules and policies, but learn how to phrase them in such a way that the clients feel like your rules and policies are there to make their life more enjoyable, not less.

 

11. What’s your Point of Difference?

Be unique. Stand out from the rest of the salons in your area by offering something that your clients simply can’t get somewhere else.

Many salon owners make the huge mistake of believing that being cheap is what their clients want. The truth is your clients want to receive value; not necessarily cheap services. I’ve experienced cheap and I’ve experienced value that isn’t cheap, and I can promise you that value will win out every time.

Every service you offer should stand out from what your competitors offer in some way. Given that you offer as good as your competitors do, then adding that something extra and unique will keep your clients returning to you, instead of meandering off to other salons.

 

12. Do you remember to celebrate your clients’ birthdays?

Birthdays are our special day (even if we share them with thousands of other strangers)!
Let me ask you how many service providers have ever acknowledged your birthday? If you’re like most, the answer is very few, if any at all.

If you’re lucky enough to have had your birthday acknowledged, you’ll already know how much it helps to develop a warmer relationship with the business that not only remembered your birthday but also acknowledged it with a small gift.

You can easily acknowledge your client’s birthday with a small salon gift certificate.  It doesn’t have to cost you an arm or a leg, but your clients really do love to be remembered on their special day.

 

13. Are you really an expert?

Would you consider yourself and your team members to be experts in all services provided in your salon or spa?

Ongoing training and learning are a necessity in this ever-changing world of beauty. If you’re not the best at something, either stop doing it or become the best fast. Invest in training for your team and remember training isn’t a once-off activity. It needs to be ongoing. It’s pointless spending a small fortune on that new piece of equipment if your team members cannot deliver basic services expertly.

Focus on what you’re positive your clients want from your salon, and become the best provider of these services in your marketplace.

 

Now, while this is by no means an exhaustive list of how to improve your client retention, many of these simple and inexpensive tips will help you to keep your clients and therefore build your revenue.

And what’s even better is that you can start implementing these tried, tested and effective strategies immediately without spending a small fortune on expensive marketing programs.

Treat your clients like VIPs, reward their loyalty, invite them back, be consistent, and give them the very best service at every visit. After all, the cost to retain a client is only a tiny fraction of what it costs to gain a new one.

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practised every day. Jim Rohn

 

How Blogging Can Attract New Clients to Your Salon or Spa

How Blogging Can Attract New Clients to Your Salon or Spa

First, let’s clear up any confusion about what a blog actually is.

According to most dictionaries, a blog is simply a Weblog or online diary.

When I first heard about blogging many years ago, I remember thinking “Who wants to read stuff from something called a blog?” It all sounded a bit iffy to me at the time, but many years later I’ve embraced blogging as an important part of my business growth strategy, and so should you.

Currently, blogging may not be very high up on your list of must-do activities.

It’s most likely one of the many things you’ve thought about doing but weren’t quite sure about why you should bother, or what benefits it would bring if any.

In this article, I’m going to explain the ‘Why, How and When’ of blogging for your business that will have you jumping enthusiastically into the blogosphere (hopefully).

 

Why you should blog for your salon or spa.

As a business owner, I blog as part of the marketing activities for my business because it’s a great way to showcase my expertise inexpensively, and more importantly, begin to build trust and rapport with people whom I’ve never met (but would like to).

This in turn, often leads to enquiries about what I can offer, and if we find we’re a good match, business takes place.

Now you may be thinking, “Yes, but you’re business is different to mine”, and you’d be absolutely right about that.

But here’s the thing; blogging can work just as well for client attraction in your business as it does in mine. After all, we both need to build trust and rapport before we can gain a new client, and the stronger that trust and rapport become, the longer the client is likely to stay, and pay us for all the knowledge and skills we can provide.

Another important point to consider is that according to BIA Kelsey and Constat, 97% of consumers now use online media to shop locally. That means if your website is appearing on the first page after an online search, there’s an excellent chance that you have lots of prospective clients roaming about your website looking to see if your salon or spa is going to be a good fit to meet their needs.

Given this, including a blog page on your website that is full of great information is an excellent way to show that you and your team are experts within your field.

In other words, your reader knows she can feel confident in contacting your salon and taking the next step towards making an appointment.

But blogging can be even more than that.

When a prospective client visits your website, you also have the opportunity to capture their details, which is a real marketing plus. It allows you to keep building the relationship with them each time you post a new blog; even if they aren’t yet a client.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can also send your blog posts directly to your Social Media pages by simply copying and pasting the URL of the post (the bit of code at the top of your website blog post page) to where you want to share it.

That is truly clever marketing because it allows you to use the same information many times over.

So, a well written, informative and entertaining blog will:

  • Attract prospective clients to your online presence (your ability to get found online)
  • Showcase your knowledge and expertise in your area of skills (your amazing articles)
  • Enable you to stay in touch with your readers (by capturing reader’s details with a sign-up form)
  • Encourage them to get in touch with your salon and make an appointment (by displaying your contact details).

How to get started with a blog for your salon.

The first step is to create your blog page; somewhere to post your useful articles.

Most websites today have the capacity to include a blog page, but I see lots of salon and spa websites that have this facility and don’t use it.

If you don’t yet have your website up and running, but would like to get started on blogging, there are free blog sites that you can use for this purpose. Visit http://stylecaster.com/best-free-blog-sites/ for some ideas.

Some of these blog sites are easier to use than others, and some, such as Wix and WordPress, also allow you to build a full website around your blog.

 

Content

Blogging is really very straightforward and nothing to be scared of.

Think about how you can turn all that great information you give to salon clients every day into short, information-packed articles that will benefit your readers.

You don’t need to write a version of War and Peace for each blog article. I’d recommend around 300-500  words to get started but if you need to write more to produce something really worthwhile, then that’s fine too.

One thing you should avoid is writing about basic and boring information.

I cringe when I read salon owners write ‘remember to cleanse your skin before you go to bed to let your skin breathe overnight’ or ‘apply your sunscreen daily before going outside’. This kind of information doesn’t provide real value to your readers, and to be frank, it’s downright boring.

Spice up your writing with information about the latest trends in skin/hair/makeup or whatever it is your salon specialises in providing.

Draw in your readers with great information, and establish yourself as an industry expert.

Remember, the purpose of your blog is to showcase your expertise and get readers to become clients.


Images

It’s always a great idea to use interesting images with your blogs.

As they say, ‘an image speaks 1000 words’ so choose your images wisely, as they will often lead to either the reader going on to read your article or clicking out.

Not all images online can be captured and used freely (you don’t want to infringe on copyright); however, a couple of good resource for royalty free images is www.pixabay.com ; www.pexels.com ; www.unsplash.com 

With a bit of research, you can find great images online that you can use for little or no outlay. You may also need to get permission from your suppliers if you use images supplied by them.

 

Editing

Editing is one of the most important parts of the blogging process and judging by some of the content I see, one that is often overlooked altogether.

The article you produce and publish says a great deal about not only your expertise but also your attention to detail.

A blog post filled to the brim with spelling and grammar mistakes is probably going to send an unflattering message about you and your salon, so always make the time to edit your written content several times before you hit the publish button.
Here’s the process I like to use:

Step 1: Once you’ve written your blog post, give it a quick review looking for obvious spelling and grammar mistakes and fix them up. I like to do this by printing out the post and reading it out loud (shut the office door if you feel a bit silly, but do it anyway).

Step 2: Looks for ways to shorten or improve your content:
~ Make sure you aren’t saying the same thing twice using different words.
~ Get rid of industry jargon so you’re writing in the same way your readers like to read. Remember, you’re not writing for other therapists.
~ Move information around so your content flows smoothly and makes sense.

Step 3: Let your post simmer for 24 hours. Just like a great spaghetti sauce, your blog post improves if you let it simmer and then review it. You’ll be amazed by how many little tweaks you will give it after it’s been left to sit for a while.

Step 4: Get a supportive friend or mentor to check it out for you before you publish.

 

When to post your salon blog.

How often you blog depends on a couple of things.

If you intend to use your blog to help improve the Search Engine Optimisation for your website, then twice a month should be your minimum goal.

However, if you find you love writing and sharing your incredible knowledge, you can write as many blog posts as you want; daily or even more often if you have the time and inclination!

Finally, remember the goal of blogging is to attract new prospects, convince them you’re the right salon or spa to meet their needs and get them to make an appointment.

If you ensure each blog post you publish meets these criteria, you’ll have added a new and worthwhile tool to your Client Attraction Kit.

Anyone ready to blog?

 

132 Lost Clients

132 Lost Clients

132 Lost Clients in your Salon or Spa

What would you do if you found out you had lost the opportunity to gain 132 new salon clients? Personally, I’d be devastated.

So, let me tell you a true story about something that happened to me recently.

Late last year, I ordered 8 cushion inserts online.  I ordered these particular inserts for 2 reasons:
  1. They were eco-friendly – that got a big tick of approval, and
  2. They were guaranteed to be extra plump (plumpi-ness was the big winner here for me).
So a week or so later, I received my 8 eco-friendly cushion inserts.  I can only hope they were really eco-friendly because they weren’t so plump. I was disappointed, to say the least.  My plumpi-ness expectations were not met. They were not even close. So, I sent a short email off to the suppliers outlining my thoughts and promptly received an email with apologies and a promise to send 3 extra inserts so I could plump up the ones I’d already received. Yay.  My happiness was restored! Well, weeks dragged by and no inserts arrived, so I sent another friendly email reminding them of their promise to send additional inserts. Nothing.  Not a peep.  As quiet as a mouse. Being nothing if not persistent, I shot off another email reminding them of their first reply promising those additional inserts. Deafening silence! Nothing, nada, zero replies. So what was a girl in need of cushion plumping going to do? Write a review of course. My review was precise and accurate with no naughty words used – just the facts. I was hoping to finally gain their attention. And here’s the interesting part. I still didn’t get any acknowledgement from the suppliers, but… so far, 132 people have not only read my review but marked it as useful to their needs. That’s 132 customers who, after reading about my lousy customer service experience, have most likely decided not to purchase un-plumpy cushions from this company. And all because they didn’t keep their promise to send 3 inexpensive cushion inserts and live up to their satisfaction guarantee. So, the point of this post is to ask you how you’re handling a less-than-satisfied customer? [bctt tweet=”Are you hoping they’ll just go away so you can get on with your day in blissful ignorance, “] …or have you finally realised the power of the internet over your business success? Do the sums for yourself, and work out how much 132 lost customers would mean to your business?  It’s a scary number to be sure.  Now think about what it would have cost them to re-supply 3 cushion inserts.  At the most and including postage I would hazard a guess at under $20. Moral of this story…If you have a satisfaction guarantee in your salon, be sure to live up to it.  And if you don’t, then you still can’t afford to let a customer walk away unhappy or angry. Whatever it is you have to do, you don’t want a nasty review about your salon or spa hitting cyberspace.  And if you already have a negative comment about your business floating around, deal with it.  Do it now. Resolve your customer’s complaints and turn them into a raving fan of your business. Get rid of those unhelpful and dangerous comments ASAP. Today, they can land a mighty blow to your bottom line, and faster than you thought possible. **UPDATE**  The latest notification I received from the review company has taken the number of reviewers to 245 **UPDATE**  06/05/17. 661 potential clients have now read my review.
When New Clients Matter Most to your Salon or Spa

When New Clients Matter Most to your Salon or Spa

Are you stuck in a permanent client attraction frenzy?

If you are, then let me assure you that you’re not alone.

Most salon owners are continuously on the hunt for new clients, which begs the question, “What happened to all the previous clients that have patronised your business in the past?”.

But, I won’t get too deeply into that because I’ve covered that topic in earlier posts.

The fact is that most of the time you should be much more focused on client retention, but there are times when client attraction strategies should take precedence.

 

Starting a brand new salon or spa.

This is pretty self-explanatory.

When you first open your doors, you need to attract as many new prospects as possible.  And then you have to impress them like they’ve never been impressed before in the hope of retaining them as clients.

Here’s a tip though.  It takes up to 5 visits by a new prospect before they mentally commit to your business, so don’t get too blasé, too quickly.

When you lose a key team member.

Much as you hate the thought of losing clients when you lose a team member, it’s a reality, and previously loyal salon clients stampede away like a herd of cows in search of a hay bale.

While there are strategies you can implement to help prevent this from happening, the fact is people get very attached to their favourite stylist or therapist, and it can be next to impossible to stop clients from leaving under these circumstances.

When this happens, you need to revert to focusing on Client Attraction Strategies quick smart to rebuild your database.

When you employ a new team member.

New team members need to return a profit to your salon as quickly as possible, but this can’t happen if you can’t fill their appointment column.  Generally, this means new clients are needed.

Focusing intently on getting as many new prospects lined up for your new team member as fast as a superman on steroids just makes good sense.

 

If you’ve taken your eye off the ball and let client numbers slip without taking any action.

It happens. We all get distracted at times and forget to monitor key figures (like how many clients haven’t been back to the salon in a while).

So when you suddenly realise you’ve had a drop in client numbers, or you’re not getting as many new clients as you normally do, you need to pull out all stops and re-build your numbers.

All business boils down to being a numbers game, and at the end of the day having the best treatments and offering great value doesn’t amount to much if you haven’t got sufficient clients to sell them to.