grow your spa or beauty salon business

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why a *device, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, has become the ultimate … new client magnet How to Build and Grow Your Spa or Beauty Salon Business, FAST Author Paul Clegg

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the spa and beauty market is high growth but sometimes the challenge of attracting new clients is overlooked. Here I share a number of different ways to Grow Your Spa or Beauty Salon business.

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Page 1: Grow your Spa or Beauty Salon business

why a *device, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, has become the ultimate … new client magnet

How to Build and Grow Your Spa or Beauty Salon Business, FAST

Author Paul Clegg

Page 2: Grow your Spa or Beauty Salon business

!Question Do you want to stand out, attract new clients and grow your business without spending a fortune on advertising or sounding like every other beauty therapist?

Then, there’s no point in copying what every other spa or beauty salon does. If you want to

be seen as different, you need to ‘zig’, when everyone else zags’.

My name is Paul Clegg and I have an extensive background in salon marketing in the hair, spa and beauty industry. I know the challenges you face in growing your business:

• attracting and retaining new clients • attracting and retaining good therapists • increasing spend per client • implementing cost-effective marketing that attracts and retains clients !What I am about to outline in this short report will enable you to achieve everyone of these four key points without having to go to the bank or mortgage the house.

!Attracting and Retaining New Clients Sure, you have your regular clients and perhaps you could attract them to try new services or visit more often. Even better - both.

To do this, you need to present a professional image that matches the expectations of your target clients. Remember, your target clients visit smart bars, chic coffee shops and restaurants where they are made to feel comfortable and special. You don’t need to spend a fortune on decor to achieve this effect but you do need to pay attention to the way clients

“You need services proven to work, that have an exciting wow factor Above all, You need to zig, when everyone else zags”

- Paul Clegg

Page 3: Grow your Spa or Beauty Salon business

are greeted in person and on the phone. The national chains engage ‘mystery shoppers’ on a regular basis, so I recommend you phone or visit your salon once in a while or better still, get a friend to do so and have them report back on ‘first impressions’. Catch people doing things right. Recognise and reward great service - people are starved of recognition.

What you do is not what it’s all about Surprising Fact: Clients are not interested in what you do. They are only interested in how you make them look and especially who they feel, after you have done what you do. Yes, many prospective clients are looking for the latest ‘in’ treatment but don’t get wrapped up in believing all the hype - focus on products and services that ‘make a difference’ instantly.

Apart from staple beauty treatments you always need services that are different, exciting, proven to work, with a wow factor where clients see a difference immediately and their friends see the difference too. So much so that they say, ‘where did you go to look so fabulous?’

Finding products and services that are genuinely ‘on trend’ is not always easy and separating marketing claims from genuine research and innovation can be a challenge.

Ambitious Spa and salon owners are always on the look out for that innovative approach that will help separate them from other salons, but they're often disappointed with the result. Tying up valuable cash in stock from an exclusive range can be a major mistake. Such lines ofter have ordinary staple products that just don’t move fast enough. And you end up paying for stock to gather dust that negates the popularity of their lead product. Beware those companies who focus on new design, new packaging, clever words added to old, tired out formulas.

If your sales are not rising and retail products are not moving off-the-shelf fast enough you're tying up capital. In addition, client expectations are just not being met.

The Idea is to win more clients than you lose You will win clients and you will lose clients and the game is to make sure that you winning more than you are losing. Clients are attracted by the promise of something that is new, innovative from what they've read and heard about via word-of-mouth. If a product or service delivers, they will come back. If they see an immediate result, a WoW result, they'll tell their friends or their friends will want to know what they have had done.

Average services and average product do not create word of mouth. Service below expectations promote negative ‘word of mouth’. So make sure you manage expectations. Under promise, over deliver.

Page 4: Grow your Spa or Beauty Salon business

Track your results If you're tracking your sales you will know if you have such a product or service, based on the percentage of repeat sales and repeat visits. Repeat sales and repeat visits are one primary focus for increasing revenue.

Note: Research led companies with genuinely innovative brands in the spa and beauty industry are few and far between. One such brand to follow is Ageloc by Nu Skin. A $billion brand from one of the most advanced anti-ageing research companies in the world treats the actual source of all ageing, the genes. The brand is recognised for having the ability to re-set the way our youth gene clusters express themselves.

Attracting and retaining excellent staff and therapists Therapists, juniors, staff are at the heart of your business and attracting and retaining a good team should be a primary focus. Choose your team from a customer focused attitude and personality and then find out what motivates each personality.

However, even the best therapists and staff leave. Many, also have clients outside of the salon. The best you can hope for is the satisfaction of knowing you made a difference in that person's career and that they don't take their best clients with them, permanently. And some will. When they set up mobile services or when they open their new salon. More often than not therapists want to continue to use the products that they've familiar with. They win, the client wins - you lose, but it need not be that way.

When this happens, apart from the revenue that is lost to your new competition, you're back to the expense of finding and training new staff to your standards and that takes time. It need not be that way - look for ways to create a reoccurring revenue and income from ‘leavers’. Yes, there are ways.

Increasing spend per client Whilst some spa and salon owners will have the view that there is very little money in the economy, others will know that there are millions of people doing rather well. When money is tight, people are more discerning in what they expect in terms of value and results from the money they spend. They will spend more if their higher expectations are met. So the focus should be to get rid of ‘me too’ products and services and to find innovative products delivering more noticeable results. Look to move your prices up for unique services that competitors cannot compete with.

To ‘play it safe’ you may wish to develop two or even three, pricing levels. You also need to recognise that a number of clients will decide to visit the salon less often. This fact opens up an opportunity to sell an interim, retail solution. Embrace the opportunity to teach clients how to use *devices like the *Galvanic Facial Spa or the *Galvanic Body Spa at home and open up a profitable, additional income stream.

These devices are versatile and can be used for luxury treatments for feet, hands and legs.

!

Page 5: Grow your Spa or Beauty Salon business

Invite a Friend Client Building Tip Clients purchasing either of these *devices should be invited to a Special VIP Evening in the salon where they can be taught ‘insider tips’ on how to get the best results between salon visits. Such clients are to be invited to ‘bring up to three friends’ to the evening, where additional products in the range can be introduced. Of course each of the three friends are introduced to the friendliness and professionalism of the evening and additional bookings and product sales for certain.

You may even decide to add a supplementary charge to cover refreshments and offer those who attend a special discount to be used in the salon within a specific period. Remember, getting new clients ‘over the threshold’ is an important part of building your client base.

Remember also that people who find it difficult to get to the salon during the day, love to get ‘out of the house’ at other times. They love to be treated as a VIP and love to party. Identify, the most enthusiastic clients and offer to support a similar evening for more of their friends. Approaching your business in this way will certainly increase client spend, attract more clients and build a buzz in your community. And it will do it as fast as you decide.

Cost-effective salon marketing. Beauty is one of those unique businesses that gains most of its business from word-of-mouth. The personal nature of the business encourages relationships to be built and those relationships attract word-of-mouth advertising. Everyone can do more in this area by prompting and reminding clients to recommend your services to their friends. This could take the form of special evenings as previously described where selected clients are invited and given the opportunity to bring friends. Maybe to launch a new service, ahead of launching to your client base.

Following-up with new and established clients after the visit is one of the most effective ways of staying ‘front of mind’. Email and increasingly Mobile Marketing has the potential to ‘stay in touch’ and achieve this. But to do this you must have a system for gathering email addresses or mobile phone numbers. Spa and Beauty Apps. are particularly effective at offering to keep clients notified of special offers and with a no cost text allow you to fill empty appointments at a moments notice. We can help you with these services.

What do you look like on the internet? It's good to remember that potential clients ‘window shop’ the Internet, just like they window shop for new fashion. They use Google and YouTube to find out what's going on, before they decide to visit. If you don't have a strong presence with your website or your social media ie. Facebook page needs attention, you are certainly missing business.

Fortunately, you won't have a clue as to the amount of business your competitors are stealing from you.

Page 6: Grow your Spa or Beauty Salon business

Promote your presence on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram with your clients and consider getting someone to include a blog on your website to keep clients and prospective clients away of what you are doing.

Check what’s happening One statistic that’s important to know is how many new clients you are attracting each week, where from and how long does it take them to return, if at all. Then you can focus on what you need to do and the most effective way of attracting new clients and what you need to do to get them to return more often.

All of these suggestions mean that in order to Grow Your Spa or Salon Business Fast you need to take ‘time out’ to work on your business instead of always working in your business.

And for expertise in areas such as sales promotion, marketing and social media you will be as well to consider the services of a freelance specialist who understands how to get the most from your marketing efforts.

Find out More For more information about salon marketing, mobile app. and email marketing, genetic weight management solutions and optimal nutrition contact the person who sent you this information or find Paul Clegg on http://about.me/paulclegg 07976 243107 or [email protected]

Paul Clegg has extensive experience in the salon marketing industry working with such companies as Wella, Redken, Schwartkopf, Tisserand, St Tropez etc.

He has helped business owners in the West Country develop over £10 million of additional business through introducing networking, marketing and referral strategies and has championed the concept of ‘stay in touch’ strategies via his Seven Touch Marketing Systems because most salons don’t.

He has interest in photography, golf, music and health related issues and hosts a number of blogs including www.antioxidanthealth.org and www.spagentics.com