by Marion G Shaw on May 14, 2012
I am constantly monitoring various salon groups on social marketing websites and the conversations there are some great “shares”.
In a recent discussion on marketing the question was asked – “is it the job of the salon owner or the stylist to do the marketing.” We are in a marketing world, everyone in the salon, from the assistants to the receptionists should be part of the marketing plan and be actively promoting themselves and the salon in every way possible.
Business owners who neglect the responsibilities of building a healthy business overall are more likely not only to fail but they are also more likely to have stylists who work against one another, damage the brand of the business overall, walk out and take clients with them or any number of other negative results. As a salon owner, you need to have a strategy to market your salon which should include your website, which must feature your team members and their achievements and work, as well as important information about your business, latest promotions and interesting information that changes frequently to keep your visitors coming back. You should also be responsible for the “Internal Marketing” – all of those details that keep clients returning to you and stay loyal. This should include welcome cards, thank you cards, your referral program, newsletters and a birthday program. General promotions like business groups, trade shows and charity events are also part of the strategy. Definitely a Facebook page and a twitter account should also be included.
Your stylists should be networking constantly. Every team member should have their own business card, and a great promotional coupon to hand out to everyone they talk to. Being aware of their image – how they present themselves to their ideal client is important and they need to think of themselves as being “on stage” every time they go out the door.
I recently heard a great story of a hairstylist Mum who always took her daughter to school with no make up, hair tied back and jogging pants and t shirt. One day she decided to start dressing up and wore make up and great hair and the other parents suddenly took notice of her and were surprised to hear she was a hairstylist. They had no idea. Suddenly she had a growing clientele of these women whom she had impressed, simply by looking like she was in the beauty industry.
Great places to network are at the grocery store, restaurants, coffee shops and any other places your ideal clients hang out.
It’s a numbers game. If you hand out 2 cards per day, 10 per week and you get 1 person you talk to that is 50 new clients per year. That’s $2,000 worth of new business and if they come back every 5 weeks, that’s worth $20,000 per year in service income. Not bad for handing out a couple of cards per day.
There should always be reward and recognition for those stylists who stay dedicated and work the program. To help everyone to be on the same page, run the numbers for them, using your own pricing and see what happens. Numbers don’t lie.
So whose job is it anyway? Everybody’s. No exceptions.
Have a great week and I hope your Mother’s Day celebrations were wonderful and if you sold lots of gift certificates, well done, look forward to pampering those clients when they come in to you.
by Marion G Shaw on May 7, 2012
Haven’t so many of us worked so hard to make our industry more professional, higher status and a profession to be proud of? Listening to a salon owner this week talking of his experiences in a interviewing potential new team member, it makes you wonder where we are going wrong.
With a great “Ideal Stylist” description an ad was placed for a position as stylist in a great salon. The whole team are technically extremely competent, have a great image, give wonderful customer service and are constantly attending educational sessions to ensure that they are always on top of what’s going on in their industry and their business. So to hear the owner speaking out about his experiences was quite shocking, to say the least. Is this happening to you?
- No professional resume, no portfolio, no references.
- For those who did rate an interview, showing up for the appointment late.
- Showing up for the appointment poorly dressed.
- Showing up for the interview with bad hair and no make up.
- Having no conversational skills.
- Being unable to answer simple questions about goals and direction for their career.
- No license or proof of qualifications.
Worse still, are some of the stories the stylists tell of the pay scales and methods of payment that they are receiving.
Salons who pay commission only, with no guarantee. This is strictly illegal. There were stories of stylists who were in the salon all week, only did 2 haircuts and earned about $50 for the week. Others who were paid in cash with no paperwork and no deductions. Several salons paid only a minimum amount on a check – ensuring that this amount was just under the level that deductions would begin and paid the rest in cash. In other words, many salons, flying well under the radar of the government.
Knowing that these salons are out there, and they are usually the ones advertising $10 haircuts, makes it really difficult for the legitimate salons who are doing everything legally, paying their taxes, paying their employees correctly, making accurate deductions and remitting on time and all of those time consuming, labor intensive and highly expensive things that should be done, to make a profit and be successful.
What would you do if you were being told about these illegal and unfair practices?
Bravo to our salon owner who I talked to. As all of these interviewees were happy to give him the name of the salons where they were previously “employed”. He is now going to report them to the appropriate revenue agency. As business owners who uphold the labor and taxation laws, any time you find out about salons who are not being honest with their employees or the government, please report them, it’s the only way that we will weed out those who are making our industry look unprofessional and put everyone on a level playing field.
by Marion G Shaw on April 30, 2012
Yeh the bus is full! You have lots of clients in your chairs, your stylists are predominantly booked 80+% of their time, yet that bottom line is still not healthy, the average ticket price needs to grow and you have no more stations to add service providers. What do you do? Where do you go when there is not enough time to upsell services?
Some may think this is a great problem to have but it can be a dilemma as you look at those Profit and Loss statements and the growth is just not there.
There are really only 2 ways to grow in this situation. Either you upsell specific items, or you increase your prices.
“But”, I hear you say, “we are fully booked with back to back clients, there is no time for extra services.” Okay, I heard that, however now is the time to get creative and figure out services that can be done at the same time as the appointment with little product outlay or time needed. Get your team together and start a list of all those little things that can add up to big dollars.
- How about an eyebrow tint, done at the same time that the color is processing. Mix a demi permanent formula using the same formulation as the original tint. It will take a tiny amount of product, about 1 minute to apply with either a Q tip or angle eyeshadow brush and “Voila” a $10 add on.
- A color glaze between those foils – it will all be done at the same time and give that great bright new look that your client saw in the picture.
- Face framing with a few foils around the front hairline – once again, takes about 5 mintes, maybe 1/2 oz of lightener with a low volume developer, but can add $25 to the bill.
- Again, treatments to the ends of the hair while a color is processing, add $15 - $20 to the bill.
- A 10 minute glossing treatment, once again, between foils.
- If you have someone to do eyebrow shaping, (or get fancy and call it sculpting) that’s a great add on. Little product, little time, $15 - $20 on the bill.
- Ear and Nose piercing, fabulous money maker for the salon, also brings in lots of new clients if you are using the right system, (e-mail marion@busybus.net and I’ll tell you which one to use.)
Are you getting the picture.
So, the second way to increase the bottom line, of course, is to raise prices. Hopefully you have my pricing project – if not, go to the www.salonbizessentials.com website and pick it up, that will give you a starting point, so you can go up from there. Think about your market – where is your price point right now? As beauty professionals, we are masters at underpricing ourselves. We get so afraid that all of our clients will leave us if we increase our prices, when the fact is that is you raise your prices by 10% you will lose a few clients, however statistics tell us that you will still be at an 8% increase if you do not increase your client base. Also, if clients leave, then that gives you time to upsell more services with that extra time.
Another way to increase that bottom line is to grow your retail. This is your most profitable department in the salon and needs to be constantly promoted, tweaked and updated. Are your stylists recommending product to every client? Do they know how to close a sale, and if they are not comfortable with it, can your front desk person close it for them. There are always those who can talk about product, but just can’t ask. Make sure you have a system that they can communicate the information and product that has been discussed with the client, so that they can be asked to purchase before they leave. A prescription pad system works well for this.
There are always ways to grow. Think of all the services you could be doing, all those little niche products, simple add ons. It’s just a case of focusing on what you have or could offer and get your team on board to increase their average service ticket. Being stuck is not fun. Bring profitable is!
Have a great week.
P.S. Don’t forget the “SHOW ME THE MONEY” program in South Surrey, British Columbia. Monday, May 14th. Everything your stylists need to know to be more profitable and productive behind the chair. Register now by e-mailing marion@busybus.net.
by Marion G Shaw on April 23, 2012
Cultures and image only last for so long and that goes for salons too. What was once really cool and fashionable, and appealed to a certain market, no longer works. So it’s now time to re-invent the wheel and rebrand.
Certain names become outdated or used too often and let’s face it, the name says a lot about your salon. What if you purchased a salon with a name that was linked to the ex owner? And what if that salon didn’t have the greatest reputation or the stylists didn’t like the changes and all quit. Then it’s time to put your own stamp on your business and truly make it yours.
So where do you start? Step number one is definitely get to know your demographics. Most salons cater to anyone and everyone, and while you are not going to turn anyone away, you must have a certain image of the person you truly want in your chair, and hopefully that person is part of the demographics of your area. There are numerous places to go to to get that information. Your town or city website will have lots of information, also your local chamber of commerce or business organization. Probably one of the best sources will be your local realtors. After all, it’s their job to know who lives in what areas, the types of families, what their earnings are and their habits. Also what new developments are going on in your area.
Once you have confirmed that you ideal clients actually live or shop in your area than you need to think about what those people want in the way of image, services, decor and comfort. It’s not just about a new name, it’s about a new image. Choose a name that will appeal to your target market and say something about the salon image. If you can think of a tag line to go with it, that’s great.
Obviously your stylists need to be on board with the changes and having them involved and excited about the process will definitely help to keep things moving in the right direction. They need to know why changes are being made and, what’s more important, what’s in it for them.
The salon’s decor is important, color, style and lighting all add to the image you need to create, however, that is also true for your stylists. Do they look like the type of stylists who your ideal market is going to be comfortable with. Do they look professional, is their hair and make up in sync with your image, are their customer service skills up to par. They really need to understand what their clientele expects and be prepared to give it to them consistently.
Think about your new mission statement, also your business cards and all of the image pieces and promotional pieces that are part of your salon and that are viewed and used by your clients. Your new name and logo must be eye catching and pleasing to your target market.
Now, how do you let your market know you are fresh and new and here for them? Where do they shop, where do they live and work? What activities do they do and how can you get to them. If you are in a residential community, get involved in community activities. Send out flyers or postcards, by mail, using a great attention getter followed by great information and a call to action. (The A.I.D.A. Principle.) Get to know the local businesses who cater to those people and invite them in. (Try a business to business networking evening at the salon.) Hold an open house and show your market who you are and what you do.
Make sure your stylists go out and meet and greet people. They should constantly be giving out business cards – great looking, image making business cards. Give them a quota per day to give out. It’s all about numbers, research shows that you will get a 10% return on this, so if you give out 10 cards per week you will get 1 new client. That’s 50 per year and if your basic haircut price is at $50 and your clients come back every 5 weeks that is 10 visits per year and that adds up to $25,000. Not bad for talking to a few people per week and handing them a business card.
Also make sure you are asking your ideal clients to help you build your business. Have a great referral program that rewards your best clients for sending their friends.
If you put your thoughts behind it and get all of the elements together, your new image will be a huge success and a win win situation for you, your team and your clients.
I am constantly monitoring various salon groups on social marketing websites and the conversations there are some great “shares”.
Marion Shaw is a highly experienced and effective seminar leader in the beauty industry with both technical and practical experience in most aspects of beauty. Marion has been a stylist, salon owner and educator, and is now a much sought after speaker at major shows and educational events, bringing ideas for success to industry professionals across the country. She also continues to educate in professional hair colour as well as hair and scalp therapies, skin care and make up