Apr 24, 2009
The most successful branding you can ever do is let people know what you stand for.
I was recently lucky enough to tour New Zealand where I got to meet and train salon owners throughout the North Island. During one of my training sessions I was asked about branding. How do we develop a brand then market that brand once it is established?
My reply was to ask every salon owner present to quickly tell me what makes their salon different. What was their belief statement about their business? You can imagine (as you are wondering what is your own salon’s point of difference), not one owner could quickly state what was the essence of their business. Some quoted that they were the best, others mumbled that they were results orientated, but no-one could clearly define what it was that made their salon special and have it roll off the tip of their tongue as a practised statement of belief.
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Dec 24, 2008
Everyone is talking about the economic downturn, how could you avoid it? Pictures of doom and gloom for the retail sector fill our television screens. It has everyone worried. As small business owners many of us are concerned about the effects a recession would have on our income. That’s natural. But not many salon owners know exactly what they can do to “recession proof” their businesses.
Basically, the ideas I am going to provide here are the same tactics we should employing whether we are approaching a recession or not – It’s just more pertinent in difficult economic times. I teach that there are two major areas we need to concentrate on when times get a little tough. The first is to cut back on some of your costs. (I know what you are thinking – easier said than done!) But cutting back significantly on costs could simply mean doing things a bit smarter, not necessarily making wholesale changes to your business. It certainly means putting some time and effort into maintaining a healthy, loyal data base so that less money needs to be spent on attracting new clients through expensive advertising.
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Nov 25, 2008
As a specialist consultant in small business management, one of my primary areas of work is in the field of marketing. It is also where I see the inexperienced salon owner spend and waste unnecessary money. Very few one - off marketing exercises bring in huge dividends or create long - term customer loyalty. However, when a number of easy to implement, effective, repeatable systems are adopted, the sum total of each of these smaller profit centres can be significant. Therefore the majority of a successful salon’s marketing effort should be in the implementation of systems to attract more business and create more profit, so I thought I would explore a few of these ideas in this article.
Marketing 101
The first logical way of making more money in a clinic is to attract more customers. Sounds simple enough, but there are actually two different types of customers that we need to work on. The first and easiest group are our past and existing customers. Here our strategy is to retain clients and establish on-going repeat business. The second is to attract new customers to our business through various forms of advertising.
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Nov 21, 2008
I was recently running a marketing workshop for salon owners where I declared that two of my preferred forms of marketing were to write letters and get on the phone. I went on to do a cost analysis on each of these methods of contacting clients against radio, newspaper advertisements or letter box drops and it was clear that letters and phone calls are a great, cost effective form of keeping in touch with existing clients.
As my seminar progressed, we discussed the types of letters and phone calls I utilise. The area that most interested participants was the need to follow up clients.
It seems very few salons bother to follow up both new clients and customers that have purchased a product or tried a new service. And they should!
Yes it takes a bit of time, but the benefits vastly outweigh the costs or time considerations.
Here’s why:
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Nov 11, 2008
As I travel around the world speaking about beauty salons, I get to visit hundreds of different salons every year. One of the most common questions asked of me is, “how can I establish a point of difference over my opposition?” Owners discuss new equipment with me, they talk about different product brands, varying their services, changing their price menus and even redecorating the salon. Now all of these things may help you to achieve a point of difference in the short term, but sooner or later your opposition will follow and you will be searching again. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do all of these things regularly, it’s just that I have discovered a cheaper, easier and longer lasting way of being significantly different to everyone around you.
You see, nearly all of the salons that I visit perform a “good” service. On average I am satisfied that they served me well. But the point of difference I am talking about is when a salon is anything but average and they serve me with extraordinary excellence and expertise.
I believe that the greatest point of difference we can establish in this industry is being recognised as an expert. That’s right an expert – Someone who is perceived to have greater knowledge, experience or skill.
The best part is that it doesn’t take a lot of effort to walk and talk, act and sound like an expert. The primary difference between a salon of excellence and an average salon is their attitude. I firmly believe that the vast majority of our customers want to be directed in their skin care. They want their therapist to sound confident and be up to date with the latest treatments, technology and information. It’s our role as professionals to inform, educate, direct and nurture our clients, assisting them to improve the look and feel of their skin. So here’s how it can be done:
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