2008
A New Year
What's New For YOU and YOUR Clients?
A New Year
What's New For YOU and YOUR Clients?
The beginning of a new year is a great time to re-assess yourself and re-assess your business. It's a good time to take your business apart and put it back together again. A good time to look at your role and contribution to the business and at how to do things better or different.
w What is working well?
w What is looking and feeling tired?
w What needs a new look or new image?
Here are a couple of things that I have used that work well.
New Year's Think Tank
With this exercise you ask others to help you assess your business. Gather a group of people together whose opinions you respect. You can make it a full day or perhaps you could even have the option for an overnight stay. It is amazing what ideas happen over a glass of wine.
How to choose the right people
w You of course
w Two clients who you are confident will tell you what you need to hear not what they think you want to hear
w A friend or associate who has a background in customer service or marketing
w Your business coach
w A representative from your product company with whom you have a good relationship
Preparation will ensure a great result
w Prepare your goals for the day
w Decide what results you want to achieve and work backwards as to how you can best get the results you want. For example you may want to review your service menu and gain good strong feedback
w Plan your day and set an agenda and set some time frames to work to
Some good subjects to consider
w Presentation of the salon - break up into areas
w What message does your salon give?
w Presentation of your team
w Present all the marketing you used in 2007 and ask for comments
w Review your points of difference
w Review your refreshments
w Review your client needs form
How can you improve level of client service?
w New marketing for 2008
w New services for 2008
w Review your gift vouchers
w Value for money
The opportunities are endless. Don't make the mistake of trying to cover too many things. Choose the most important and spend the time to cover them well.
At the conclusion of the day create an action plan of the things you decide you want to implement and most important put in a date by when you will have the various things completed.
The greatest challenge for salon owners is to action the ideas. This is about change and change is not easy. It takes time and effort and can be uncomfortable, but change is essential if you want your business to develop and grow. You don't have a choice with this. Make the time to do it. The future of your business in 2008 depends on it.
Start With a Blank Sheet of Paper
Imagine you are about to begin your salon business all over again. Take a large sheet of paper and put down all the things you would change about your salon and the way you currently do business if you were starting from scratch. Think outside the circle and see how creative you can be. Ask your team members to contribute.
Once you have the list then make the decision how you can change the things that you need and want to change. It may not be possible to alter everything on the list but if you feel strongly about the change try and find a way.
Team Management Check List
Again get out that big sheet of paper and write down all the good things that you have in place in your salon for your team and then on the other side write down all the negative things that you are aware of that need to change. When you start to put pen to paper of all the positives you will be amazed at how long a list you have. Really think about this and my suggestion is that you make the list up over a period of a couple of weeks. Keep adding to it as you think about things.
The next step is I suggest you review the culture you want to create for 2008 with your team and based on this culture you review your list and see what stays and what goes and what changes you need to make.
A happy team means happy clients and that is what it is all about.
Tour of the salon
This is a great team exercise to do at the beginning of a New Year. Give everyone a clipboard and a blank sheet of paper.
Everyone is to change places and be a client. Do a tour of the salon and look at every point of contact to see what the client sees that you need to improve or do in a different way. Walk outside the salon and see what someone walking past or driving past will see -
w Reception
w Treatment rooms
w Capes and towels
w Wax pots
w Bathrooms
w Signs & messages
This exercise is about starting the New Year with new eyes and presenting the salon to match your client's expectations.
Link tour of the salon to:
w Your action list
w Your training plan
w Your marketing plan
2008 can go in one of two directions. You can set your goals to be safe and aim for a 10% increase and with a little effort you will probably achieve this, or you can look at everything on your action plan and really focus on it. Introduce new ideas, make changes, and set yourself and your team some new challenges
Set a goal that you know you will have to work at. Set a goal that will give you a sense of achievement. If you want a different result you will need to do different things. The beginning of a New Year is a great time to start.
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team of coaches work with a beauty specific programme that can help you on the road to success. To learn more go to their web site.
www.yourcoach.net.au
Faye Murray -National and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford- WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
Business Tips
From The Expert No: 4
From The Expert No: 4
In this edition of Expert Talk for Business Success we have some more interesting questions that salon owners frequently ask. Acquiring knowledge in business management is a whole new apprenticeship you have to undertake. Just like the way you had to learn to be a successful therapist you need to learn the skills of management.
Question …Systems & Structure
Many salon owners I meet with tell me that they operate a busy salon but they never seem to have enough money in the bank to pay all the bills. If we are busy why can't we get this right?
Answer -
It is absolutely essential for the manager of any business to know exactly how much it costs to open their doors each and every week. This is called the salon break-even point. This is something that as a coach I do with every client so they are fully aware and focused on what they must take to be in a profitable position.
The best way to do this is to gather the following information, which can be found by reviewing your most recent profit and loss (which I recommend is done every quarter not once a year) and make any changes to reflect your current expenses. Changes that you might need to be aware of can be an increase in rent or a change in your actual wages.
You will need to know:
Your weekly sales
Your weekly expenses:
w Wages
w Rent
w Stock Purchases
w Marketing / Advertising
w Training
w Other expenses such as insurance, electricity, petty cash, car expenses, telephone and cleaning
Once you have all this information it is a simple process to then do the exercise that will give you your break-even point. This is not a “maybe” this is a “must” if you want to have control.
Question… Team Management
Anyone who knows me well or that has sat through a training session that I have conducted will have heard me say “The single biggest thing that will build your business is re-booking.“ So how do you convince your team to offer this to clients each and every time they visit your salon?
Answer-
As a trainer in the beauty industry I believe that many people are great at showing “how” to do something.
- How to do a leg wax
- How to present the room for a facial
But just as important as how is also why. As part of training if you tell someone why it is important, they will then deliver the words or service to a client with a level of commitment and belief. 'How' is important but those who only know the 'how' and not the 'why' are often just puppets, copying what they have been shown.
To be able to offer the service of re-booking and get a great result you need to understand why it is an essential part of the service you must offer to your clients.
'Why' from a client's perspective
w It ensures the client returns when they should to ensure a good result that is ongoing
w It ensures the client is able to have their appointments at their preferred time
w It ensures the client can have their preferred therapist
w It ensures the client is organised for all her treatments
'Why' from a therapist's perspective
w It ensures you have a full appointment book
w It ensures you get great results for your clients
w It ensures you have a great sense of satisfaction from working with regular clients
w A full appointment book usually means a bonus
w It ensures you build a relationship. As client trust builds with you so will the services they have and products they purchase.
It is easy to see that there are a whole lot of reasons why the service of re-booking should be offered to every client. Remember, some will say yes and some will say no, but your obligation, as a professional therapist, is to invite all clients to return to you.
As a trainer and manager this won't happen unless you first lead by example. The next step is set some goals for everyone to work to. The goal I recommend is 50-65% of your clients should re-book and then as the manager of your team be prepared to “inpect what you expect”
Question… Marketing
Many people I work with have a small budget to spend on marketing. If you are a salon that is averaging $4000.00 per week and have a 5% marketing budget you have approximately $200.00 per week or $1040.00 per year to spend, so what is a good way to invest your dollars?
Answer-
Rather than focus your total marketing at attracting new clients, I suggest you look at some opportunities to encourage your existing clients to:
w Return more frequently
w Increase their spend with each visit
Ideas for encouraging your existing clients to return more frequently
Offer to a facial client who re-books their next facial in 4 weeks or less, either a 10% discount or a value added service such as a complimentary eye treatment that is valued at $x. Many facial clients do not come as frequently as you would like or as often as they need to, so by giving them a reason to come more frequently you encourage them to do so because they see they get added value or a bonus.
This is the simplest marketing concept of any. The good thing is it costs you absolutely nothing. “Open your mouth and suggest”
Easier said than done you might say. So what you need to do is each week have something exciting to open your mouth about. I call these “add on services”. Here are some suggestions that many salons offer but often there are not as many done because they aren't offered as an exciting extra.
w Paraffin with a manicure, pedicure or facial
w Hot stones added to another service
w Microdermabrasion of the décolletage
w Microdermabrasion of the hands
w Eyes and lips make up application
w Lunch or refreshments
The list is endless and you will have a happy client because they have experienced something different, and a more profitable business because you have invited the client to spend a little extra.
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year. To learn more about how you can help your business to achieve greater success in 2008 go to their web site www.yourcoach.net.au and register to receive your monthly free business and marketing tips and one hour of free coaching.
Faye Murray - All States of Australia and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford - WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
Marketing To Strangers
You have most likely heard it said “It costs ten times more to get a new client that it does to retain an existing one.”
You have heard it, but do you really believe it and embrace it as part of your marketing plan?
When I meet with a new client who is a salon owner I always ask them what they believe they need to and want to change about their business. There usually is a long list but almost always as part of the list is…
“I need more new clients”
Very rarely do they say…
“I need to look after my existing clients better”
I agree 100% that you will always need a steady stream of new clients. I work with the goal of an established salon needing 15% of new clients each and every week to maintain their existing client base. That means your marketing plan must have some strategies directed at achieving this.
So hold this thought and I will give you some ideas on how to best achieve this a little further along in the article
But first I want to examine the title of the article, 'Marketing To Strangers'
What's the difference between a client and a stranger?
A client is a regular visitor to your salon or a person who has previously had a treatment in your salon. They already know:
n Pretty much how they will be treated (which will vary depending on the number of visits)
n Where your salon is located
n Because of a level of familiarity they are not going to experience the feeling of “intimidation' that new clients can feel on a first visit
n They have an expectation about what you offer
You have already done a lot of the hard work.
A stranger to your salon on the other hand:
n Has never heard of you
n Has is no relationship
n Does not know where you are located
n Does not know if you are warm and friendly
n Does not know what level of service you offer
n Does not know what treatments you offer
n Does not know if YOU guarantee the results THEY want
n Does not know what products you use
n Has no IDEA if what you offer is what they NEED and WANT
So if you are going to market to strangers accept the fact that you are not going to answer all these questions at the first point of marketing contact
What exactly does that mean and how does it relate to your salon?
Imagine designing a marketing strategy such as a postcard or brochure that you could distribute to 3,000 prospective clients in your local area that aims to achieve:
n Telling them who you are
n Telling them where you are
n Telling them how to contact you
n Telling about the great service you offer
n Telling about the beautiful treatments you do
n Telling that you care and are interested in your clients
n Telling what products you use
n Telling what your price point is
n Telling why they need to choose you
And then getting them to pick up the phone and call today
A big ask
The 5 times rule
To be effective when marketing to strangers you need to invest time and the big ingredient, repetition, which of course costs money.
Let's say the 3,000 postcard or brochure drop is your first marketing of this type to this sector of clients. The return you could expect to get is around 1%. Approximately 30 people who will take action.
(Yes I know that this may vary and as a salon owner you may have had a success story that is much better than the figures I have quoted. Congratulations if you have, but generally a 1% return is about average.)
Most people would look at that result and say “Not worth it” and either give up or try another 3,000 area.
Don't give up and don't move on to new strangers
As part of your planning over the next 12 months look at four more ways to introduce yourself and what you have they that they might want and need to buy.
Your 5 point plan
Number one…..Goal 1%… a postcard introducing yourself and giving a reason to visit the salon
Number two…..Goal 2-3% an invitation to a salon special event such as a months celebration for a winter specific facial
Number three….Goal 3-5% Copy of your salon newsletter with a reason to visit the salon
Number four…. Goal 5-10% Copy of your treatment menu
Number five…….Goal 10% plus a post card Merry Christmas and a reason to visit the salon
You have made contact with the same people 5 times and each time you become less of a stranger and your success rate will increase with each contact.
Yes it hard work getting strangers to your salon. So how can you effectively market to get new clients without all the blood sweat and dollars?
Use others to do it for you
Have the people who already know you…your clients… do the work for you. Here are just 2 ideas that as a coach I have used with my clients to get great results. There are many ideas of this type that you can tailor to suit your needs
Host evenings
These work amazingly well. The challenge when you want to hold a promotional evening is getting the people along. If you market it yourself you will normally be inviting your existing clients. So ask a client if they would like to be the host for the night. As a reward for getting a determined number along they will receive a lovely gift from the salon. Maybe a $100 gift voucher. All you have to do is arrange the evening. An investment of the gift voucher will be cheap compared to the time and money you would invest in getting the same result.
Opportunity cards
How many times a day does a client say, “That was the best treatment I have ever had”? Those clients are the best referrals you can possibly have. Design a business card size introductory offer card that is an invitation for a new client to visit the salon and ask the clients, who have just told you that they “love what you do”, to pass them to friends and work colleagues and of course they will tell their friends how wonderful you are. Sounds so much better than coming from you.
“Self praise is no recommendation”
There are some steps to ensuring you use your marketing dollars successfully
n Get some professional advice from someone who understand the needs of your salon
n Get creative and think outside the circle
n Put a marketing plan in place
n Refer to your plan each month
n Stay well ahead with your planning
But most of all recognise that your existing clients are the most valuable source of success. The strangers? Well you need some of those, but don't making the mistake of focusing on continually getting new clients. Look after the ones you have and you won't need as many new ones.
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team of coaches work with a beauty specific programme that can help you on the road to success. To learn more go to the web site.
www.yourcoach.net.au
Faye Murray -National and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford- WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
Gift Vouchers are like gold
Gift Voucher Sales
Gift Voucher Sales
Gift Vouchers
For beauty salons and spas this is the biggest area for potential sales.
Imagine it is Xmas morning and the family is sitting around the tree and the gifts are being handed out and you receive a gift. Which would you prefer? A plain envelope or something that is gift wrapped to look really special? The plain envelope just does not do it. You need to look at the presentation of your Xmas gift vouchers and ask yourself “How I can make this look so good that on Xmas morning it is the gift that everyone hopes is theirs?”
It can be something as simple as taking the envelope and tying some really lovely Xmas ribbon around. You could get some nice boxes and place the envelope in with some coloured tissue, again keep your colour theme in place and tie with a nice ribbon.
This is also promotion for your salon. Develop a reputation of beautifully presenting your gift vouchers and people will want to return to buy for others all throughout the year.
A lot of the people who come to buy gift vouchers are men. They are not usually good at gift wrapping, so do it for them.
Offer the service of mailing or delivering gift vouchers. There are companies who do this and you simply add the cost onto the total in the same way as happens when you purchase flowers.
Look at business in your area that might be buying gifts for their clients and staff and contact them and offer your gift voucher service.
When a person comes into buy a gift voucher what is the response that is given by you and your team? Usually “How much do you wish to spend?” I believe you need to help people to choose.
Create a Xmas gift menu with a range of prices. Remember how nice it is in a restaurant to have a friendly helpful waiter or waitress make suggestions about the food? Well help the client to select the perfect gift.
Include six selections. Most salons will create a Xmas Package that they promote and this will usually have a value add. Include this on your gift selections. Then group together some other services and sell the experience but don't necessarily offer any discount or value ads. You are just putting together the ideas. Always make sure you have one that is for the person who really wants to spoil their partner and spend more.
Presenting The Gift Vouchers
Team members should say when a gift voucher enquiry is made “We have put together a list of the most popular gifts that we have found our clients most like to purchase. May I help you choose from this list?”
Create a display in salon for gift vouchers. Show how they look in their presented form. Remind people that you sell gift vouchers and you do it well.
If you have good passing trade, use your window to display a gift voucher message. Get a poster professionally done. If you hunt around you can get done very reasonably and they can greatly increase sales. If you are using a window poster, promote your Xmas Package or offer. Have a smaller version of your poster done for your gift voucher display inside. Put it into a frame so it looks well presented.
The few days before Xmas try and have someone in the salon to totally focus on the selling of gift vouchers and sales of gift packs. If you are in an area where there is a beauty college all the students will be on holidays and would love the opportunity to work in a salon for a few days. This will save you lots of time that you can spend with clients. Make sure you train them properly first of course.
Offer the service arranging gift voucher appointments
Your gift voucher sales will often help to really make January (and February if you are in a tourist area) really busy. When someone buys a gift voucher ask for the name and contact number of the person who will receive the gift and then offer the service of calling and arranging their appointment. Approximately 10% of all gift vouchers are never redeemed. People just don't get around to it. What a waste. If you call and offer to arrange the appointment the client will get to enjoy the service they have been given and you will get the opportunity to work with a client in quieter times and possibly convert them into a salon client for future services and products.
Add some client testimonials on gift vouchers
Having The Very Best Xmas You Can
Christmas is the one time of the year that every salon is so busy that not only is the appointment book full but the waiting list is also full.
If only you had more hours in the day
If only you had more staff
How to get the most out of every opportunity this Christmas
Planning re-bookings early
Your Christmas planning should have begun in October. If it didn't then make sure you make a note to do so for next year. This is the opportunity to begin arranging and suggesting to your clients all the things that need to be done in order for them to look and feel wonderful for the holiday and festive season. Plan appointments by working back from Christmas. Put into the appointment book the treatments that will need to be done immediately before Christmas and then work back to the present and help your clients to be totally organised. Christmas is the time of parties, holidays and catching up with friends and relatives. Everone wants to look their best.
Think about Christmas as being both December and January
Christmas is definitely about the month of December, however, your marketing and planning must also include January. January is traditionally the month for gift voucher redemptions and cash flow can be lower than expected. So look for opportunities to focus on how to have an equally great January. You have the client numbers, you just need to market and train your team to get the dollars accordingly.
Here's some ideas showing how you can achieve two good trading months:
Always set goals
Your total sales goals for December will as usual relate to sales of services, retail and gift vouchers. January total sales goal should have the additional focus of extra sales that can be generated from clients redeeming gift vouchers.
How do you set a target that is both reachable and will make you stretch to achieve?
Consider last year's results. Look back at what you took in October 2003 and December 2003. Calculate the percentage increase from October to December. Assuming your October 2004 takings have increased from 2003, apply the same percentage increase and use that figure as a basis to set an achievable goal.
At the same time you need to factor in any variances from last year such as higher staffing levels, increased marketing initiatives in place, new services on offer, price increases and so on. In fact any changes that may have an affect on overall salon performance
If you are working with a business coach they will help you to set goals and also assist you with the motivation to really drive you to success.
Once you have set a goal make sure you manage it and focus on it. If you manage it before, during and after you will achieve it. If you simply look back at it at the end of the month, it is too late to do anything about it.You must be totally committed to getting there. Anything less than 100% certainty that you can achieve it is doubt. There need to be no doubt whatsoever.
Your results during this period will be a reflection of the effort you put in.
Why have a separate focus on gift vouchers?
Last year one of my new clients and I were setting her goals for Christmas gift vouchers. The previous year she had taken $3,800 in gift voucher sales and was looking to achieve a 20% increase. Together we designed a complete marketing plan focused on gift vouchers. She set her gift voucher goal at $4560. She achieved $12,200. Yes it really is worth putting in a lot of effort because you can be guaranteed to get the result.
Have a separate reward for your team for achieving your gift voucher goal. Give daily feedback on how it is going so that everyone stays focused and aware of where you are.
Look for opportunities to market gift vouchers both in reception and with in-salon displays. Messages that prompt people to purchase are a must. At this time of the year people are all thinking about what to buy friends and family so help them to decide.
Re-booking competition
During December you will have between 20-30% more clients coming to your salon. It gets so busy that often the all-important service of re-booking for the New Year is forgotten.
Give your clients a reason to return. For the month of December every client who re-books goes into the draw for a lovely prize. I like to suggest something visual like a Christmas hamper that sits on your front desk for all to see. This will help you to have a great January and February.
Develop a positive attitude to gift vouchers
January is when salon owners can get the grumbles about how many gift vouchers are being redeemed. Remember they are the same as money and every client should be treated as though they were paying with money. You already have the money. These people are often a new client to your salon and if the experience is a memorable one and they receive some education about why they should return for future treatments they could become a long-term client. Lost add on sales with gift vouchers is often an attitude of the therapist. They think gift voucher and they forget to offer the same level of service and don't recommend additional services and products Every gift voucher should be looked on as a great opportunity and if your can convince your team of this you will win clients and get extra sales.
Turn the lights on for clients and staff
How to engage your staff and get them to be just as excited as you are
Have a get together and present your Christmas Marketing Plan. Often a breakfast is a good idea.
Ø Tell them how your salon will be themed. Get suggestions from them. Involve them as much as possible.
Ø Show them how your gift vouchers are to be presented. The new packaging especially for this year.
Ø Explain your Christmas packages that are to be linked to your gift voucher sales (Don't discount these packages, sell the experience)
Ø Present your separate gift voucher menu (make it easy for uneducated buyers to buy)
Ø Explain that they should offer a service of calling the person (after Christmas) who is receiving the gift voucher to arrange the appointment
Ø Present your product packs that have been especially prepared for Christmas
Ø Present your goals and get everyone committed and involved in what you want to achieve
Make it a training session too:
Ø Enact a role play about how to present your gift voucher menu
Ø Show how to encourage extra sales from gift vouchers
Ø Show how to market gift vouchers in the treatment rooms
Ø Refocus on products sales especially things that clients will need for the holidays
Exciting and involving your clients
Ø Have a Christmas evening for clients
Ø Invite clients to attend and bring a friend where you launch all your Christmas ideas.
Ø Present your Christmas treatment packages
Ø Have all your Christmas packs on display clearly priced and available for sale
Ø Give them a gift for coming and thank them for their support during the year.
Ø Do a demonstration of a new service (something that links to Summer)
Ø Give them a reason to book that service on the night
Ø Make sure your salon is beautifully themed for the night so everyone gets into the Christmas spirit.
Ø Have your gift voucher display set up to show how beautiful they will look
If you do it well expect to get a really good return. It is important to be really well organised.
Have several people assisting you with things like sales and appointment taking. You don't want to be so busy you miss opportunities. Ask your product company for support to help make the night a great success.
Have a happy team
One of the most important things to remember about having a successful Christmas is to have a happy team. Think about little things you can do to keep everyone in the right frame of mind in the busy lead up to Christmas. Team members will get tired and a bit jaded. You need to keep them 'up' and focused. An idea that has been successful is to give them all a 'survival pack' containing such items as Berocca, chocolate bar, eye drops and so on. Your people will give you more if they know that they are appreciated for their efforts.
Your New Years Resolution
When you finally get through Christmas and start to think about what 2005 is going to bring for you, both personally and in your business, look at what changes you need to make to increase your success. Look at getting professional help to allow you to grow and develop your business. If 2004 had not returned you what you believe you deserve or if you have had a good year but would like to make it even better, add to your New Year's list to commit to working with a business coach that has strong beauty industry understanding and knowledge. The New Year is a great time to begin this new approach to your business.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a wonderful 2005
Wow...Xmas sales up 20%!!!
Everyone recognises that Xmas is a very different time of the year from a business view point. Clients and prospective clients have a real reason to spend money and they do just that.
The average person spends 55% more during December than they spend during any other month of the year. If we recognise that there is willingness, a want and a need to spend, we must make sure that we offer tailored products and services that clients will want to buy. We must match their needs.
The first Xmas I began coaching in the beauty industry I started out discussing preparation for Xmas. Salon owners would say to me “We don't need to do anything to be really busy. We are always really busy the first two weeks of December and are usually booked out after that and are in fact turning clients away.”
“What about gift voucher sales?” I would ask. The answer I generally received was that the response was fantastic and people came in and purchased heaps. So the feeling was “It's going to be good so just let's sit back and let it happen”
In fact I am confident enough to guarantee that if you take some time to plan and implement some positive action, you can not only get a great result from Xmas you can get a much better result than you have ever in previous years. The energy and focus you put in will I believe, mean that you will definitely get 20% more and in some cases even better.
Firstly you have to look at what you need to do differently. One of my favourite sayings is
“If you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting”
The Xmas Focus and Plan
(How to make your salon look like Xmas without spending a lot of dollars.)
Imagine walking into a large department store and not seeing any Xmas decorations or messages. In fact they seem to go up earlier each year. It would be wonderful to have the budget that they have to spend on the image of your salon; however there are some things you can do to get the look without spending a lot of money.
My tip is don't try and decorate the whole salon. Select an area in the front of your salon that is visible from the outside and prominent as clients walk in to set up a display for your Xmas message. By choosing a small area you can do it well without spending a lot. Step outside the circle and try and think of something different instead of the traditional Xmas tree with tinsel. Ask your team to come up with an idea and see what exciting things they suggest or maybe you have creative clients you could ask.
How about:
v A modern tropical theme that links to Xmas.
v Reindeer painted the colours of your theme (a visit to a good craft shop will find these)You will need to do the painting
v Instead of a traditional Xmas tree find a dead small tree that has a good shape and paint it white or silver and decorate to look really different.
v There are also hire places where you can hire really great Xmas decorations and props.(Just look in your Yellow Pages)
v If you are using a traditional Xmas tree think about decorating it differently. Hang your client gifts from the tree and invite your client to choose one as they leave.
Whatever you decide to do as your feature then just have a mini message in each room to carry through.
Matching The Client's Needs
What do people do during December that is different? Shop for gifts.
What do you have to offer? Do you display it well so clients will impulse buy or browse. Are prices clearly shown? People won't buy if they can't see the price.
Again I suggest you don't display in a wide area unless you have a very large amount of gifts to choose from.
Make sure they are beautifully packaged with ribbons. One of the reasons people buy gift packs is they
don't have to gift wrap them. Choose a colour for your gift wrapping and link it to the rest of your displays. For example you may have as your prominent colours in your Xmas display Red and Silver with a hint of green. You then would choose a ribbon that has red and silver. Obvious but important to keep the theme consistent.
Add a gift voucher to all gift packs from your salon that is a reason to return in January and February. It adds value to the gift and gives you the opportunity to have client returns in the quieter months. You are now not only starting to work toward a better Xmas you are starting to plan a successful beginning to the year.
Your product companies will always have some gift pack to choose from. Often because they are so popular they run out before December even begins and then what do you have to offer? Make up some of your own, or offer to make up and gift wrap for clients individually.
You can get some great packaging such as baskets and boxes from packaging companies. A visit to your Yellow Pages again. If you find after Xmas you have a few left you can simple unwrap and place back on the shelf.
Gift Vouchers
For beauty salons and spas this is the biggest area for potential sales.
Imagine it is Xmas morning and the family is sitting around the tree and the gifts are being handed out and you receive a gift. Which would you prefer? A plain envelope or something that is gift wrapped to look really special? The plain envelope just does not do it. You need to look at the presentation of your Xmas gift vouchers and ask yourself “How I can make this look so good that on Xmas morning it is the gift that everyone hopes is theirs?”
It can be something as simple as taking the envelope and tying some really lovely Xmas ribbon around. You could get some nice boxes and place the envelope in with some coloured tissue, again keep your colour theme in place and tie with a nice ribbon.
This is also promotion for your salon. Develop a reputation of beautifully presenting your gift vouchers and people will want to return to buy for others all throughout the year.
A lot of the people who come to buy gift vouchers are men. They are not usually good at gift wrapping, so do it for them.
Offer the service of mailing or delivering gift vouchers. There are companies who do this and you simply add the cost onto the total in the same way as happens when you purchase flowers.
Look at business in your area that might be buying gifts for their clients and staff and contact them and offer your gift voucher service.
When a person comes into buy a gift voucher what is the response that is given by you and your team? Usually “How much do you wish to spend?” I believe you need to help people to choose.
Create a Xmas gift menu with a range of prices. Remember how nice it is in a restaurant to have a friendly helpful waiter or waitress make suggestions about the food? Well help the client to select the perfect gift.
Include six selections. Most salons will create a Xams Package that they promote and this will usually have a value add. Include this on your gift selections. Then group together some other services and sell the experience but don't necessarily offer any discount or value ads. You are just putting together the ideas. Always make sure you have one that is for the person who really wants to spoil their partner and spend more.
Presenting The Gift Vouchers
Team members should say when a gift voucher enquiry is made “We have put together a list of the most popular gifts that we have found our clients most like to purchase. May I help you choose from this list?”
Create a display in salon for gift vouchers. Show how they look in their presented form. Remind people that you sell gift vouchers and you do it well.
If you have good passing trade, use your window to display a gift voucher message. Get a poster professionally done. If you hunt around you can get done very reasonably and they can greatly increase sales. If you are using a window poster, promote your Xmas Package or offer. Have a smaller version of your poster done for your gift voucher display inside. Put it into a frame so it looks well presented.
The few days before Xmas try and have someone in the salon to totally focus on the selling of gift vouchers and sales of gift packs. If you are in an area where there is a beauty college all the students will be on holidays and would love the opportunity to work in a salon for a few days. This will save you lots of time that you can spend with clients. Make sure you train them properly first of course.
Offer the service arranging gift voucher appointments
Your gift voucher sales will often help to really make January (and February if you are in a tourist area) really busy. When someone buys a gift voucher ask for the name and contact number of the person who will receive the gift and then offer the service of calling and arranging their appointment. Approximately 10% of all gift vouchers are never redeemed. People just don't get around to it. What a waste. If you call and offer to arrange the appointment the client will get to enjoy the service they have been given and you will get the opportunity to work with a client in quieter times and possibly convert them into a salon client for future services and products.
A Little Bird Told Me
No please don't buy me another toaster or slippers. Make sure that your clients receive gifts from their husbands and partners that they really want.
Create a list with the heading “A little bird told me what to buy you for Xmas”
Put down a list of services you offer and boxes for ticking. Suggest they leave it on their partner's pillow.
Gifts for clients
Everyone likes to give something to say thank you to clients for their support. Why not do that as well as help to promote your salon in January and February.
Some ideas that don't cost a lot but have the right feeling:
v Make a Xmas Bon Bon with a gift inside and a gift card to be used in January or February. (visit a craft shop for these)
v Get some cute little bags and include some Xmas treats such as rum balls, chocolates or Xmas cake and add or tie a reason to return gift.
v Make or buy some preserves and place in small jars and tie a reason to return gift card.
Excite your team
A lot of the success you get will come from the attitude of your team. During this busy period make sure you constantly think of ways to keep them feeling good. Show you really appreciate the extra effort they put in. Sometime you have to give to really get back.
If you really want to have a great Xmas this year start to think about how you can work to match your client's needs. Provide the excitement that Xmas really represents in your salon and the reward will be there I promise you.
Business Tips
From The Expert No 3
From The Expert No 3
At the recently held Australasian Aesthetic Expo I was privileged to facilitate a panel of experts from the industry and one of the questions that was asked and drew strong interest was in relation to building a great gift voucher business. Karen Briffa from La Beau Day spa in Perth talked about building your gift voucher business all year round. Our first question for this edition of Business Tips From The Expert addresses that.
Marketing Question
What are some ideas for building a gift voucher business that work all year round, not just at Christmas and Mother's Day?
The first thing you need to do is to tell people you are in the gift voucher business.
n What does your treatment menu say? Does it say you specialise in gift vouchers? Do you have appealing packages? Can a client purchase over the phone? Do you offer to deliver?
n If you have a web site does it have a separate gift voucher menu item? If you don't' have a web site it may be time to consider this step. Make sure it is current and changed on a regular basis. Link to seasonal or special occasions such as Valentine's Day, Secretary's Day, Mother Day etc.
n What messages do you have in the front of your salon to say you can solve gift giving with a beautiful gift voucher?
n How is your gift voucher presented? Does it look beautiful? Does it match the image of your salon? The person giving the gift should be excited about giving something that is presented so beautifully. The person receiving should be excited before they even open it. Printed ribbon is not expensive and really adds a finishing touch. You can print the name of your salon or have a selection for different occasions such as happy birthday, happy anniversary.
n Do you train your team on how to handle a gift voucher enquiry not just say “How much do you want to spend?”
n Do you market the service of providing gift vouchers to businesses in your area?
n Do you look for opportunities to give gift vouchers as marketing gifts?
All of these points I could write a full article on and each one on its own will help you to be more successful. Put in the effort and do all of them and you will see the extra dollars come in each and every week
Client Service Question
How can I take advantage of those clients who we have to say no to because we are fully booked?
It is frustrating when during peak times you receive enquiries that you have to turn away because you are fully booked. Then when it comes to the early part of the week you have far too many gaps in your appointment book.
Two ideas.
Always use a cancellation list. (BUT WITH A DIFFERENCE)
When a client cannot be accommodated, place them on a cancellation list.
THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE. If you can't arrange a suitable time to offer the client don't just forget about them. Call and say that all appointments have been confirmed and say how sorry you are and offer them the opportunity to visit in the early part of the week or another preferred time again. Be sure and take their mobile number in the event of a late cancellation. All part of the service.
Or
When a client calls and you have to tell them “Sorry we are fully booked” suggest that you could arrange an appointment on Monday or Tuesday. Because you are disappointed that you have not been able to offer them their appointment they requested you would like to extend an offer of (your option)
If a client is a desk enquiry the same offer is made but use a card that shows the offer and when it is available. The aim is always to get them to commit to the appointment, however, a client to whom you give a card you can be a little more flexible and allow them to use it on a Monday or Tuesday for, say, the next month
Team Management Question
How do I get a team member, who is a good therapist but just does not sell products, to change?
Firstly let's look at the question. I believe that if the “conversation” you are having with your therapists is about selling and not telling and you are dealing with a therapist that is currently not enjoying success you will not break through the barrier by continuing to talk selling.
“If you keep in doing what you have been doing you will keep on getting what you have been getting”
If you have a team member who is not sincerely recommending (you know if they are not… their results show it) then you need to change the way you are managing them and the first place to start is how you are talking to them.
A few questions for you as the leader of your team
1. Are you in fact talking to your team member about why and how you want them to recommend and prescribe to your clients on a regular basis?
2. Do they understand this is part of the service you provide to help your clients and not about selling products?
3. Do your clients all receive a good consultation and skin analysis with appropriate treatments?
4. Are they talking to their clients about how to use the product?
5. Are they talking to their clients about the results they will get by using the products they recommend?
6. Are they presenting the products to the client for them to touch and feel?
7. Are they writing down hints and tips on how to use at home that they can refer to in their bathroom?
8. Are they inviting clients to purchase after they have recommended?
9. Are they helping the client in the treatment room not at reception?
10. For a returning client are they referring to previous history before each visit?
11. Are they really excited about helping clients to get a result?
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team of coaches work with a beauty specific programme that can help you on the road to success. To learn more go to the web site and register to receive your free business and marketing tips.
www.yourcoach.net.au
Faye Murray - National and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford - WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
Do You Manage Your Appointment Book
…or does it manage you?
…or does it manage you?
Every salon, big or small, has one. So what exactly is an appointment book for?
It:
n Allows you to record the time a client is booked in for a treatment or a service
n Allows you to allocate the amount of time needed for that treatment or service
n Allows you to stipulate what service they are having done at that time
n Allows you to allocate a therapist to look after the client
n Allows you to note the clients phone number to confirm the appointment
Lots of great benefits and everyone would agree that you would be lost without one.
Along with the positives and practical reasons there are some other things to be aware of.
First and foremost you, the owner or manager of the salon, need to manage your appointment book. It must not manage your salon.
A computer or a page in a book will only say what you tell it to say.
n It can't control productivity
n It can't put extra dollars in your bank
But by using it well and managing it well it most definitely can.
As a salon owner have you ever been told by a team member, “We are fully booked tomorrow”, only to find when you have a closer look you can manage the appointment schedule to look after more clients?
The first thing to remind yourself of as you read this article is 'I must make the time to look at the appointment book several times a day.' Look at it not just to see 'what is in' but look at it to see how you can manage it better.
When you accept “we are fully booked” you are allowing your appointment book to be in charge.
Some Ideas On How To Manage Your Appointment Book
(And as a consequence look after more clients and as a consequence of that put more money in your bank.)
Check That Your Allocated Times Are Cost Effective
n For example…. eyebrow shaping. You charge $18.00 - you can't afford to allow 30 minutes. Computers only allow you to work in 15-minute segments. Your choice 15 or 30 minutes.
n Make sure team members are not extending appointment times, “I need longer for this client's wax service because she only comes every 9 weeks.”
If you need longer it should be explained to the client that because you need to allow an extra length of time you would have to charge more. You need to find the right words, but you need to do it!
Suggestion: You create an extra 15-minute service that can be added to a wax service. When you need to allocate more time you charge accordingly.
Many salons allow time between appointments to prepare the room for the next service. With short services, in particular waxing, you don't need this time and you can't afford it.
Take Action To Fill Gaps
Don't have one client at 9.00 for one hour and nothing till 2.30.
Be proactive and fill the gaps - SMS, email or phone a promotion to a limited number of clients. Don't just hope the phone will ring.
If you are looking at your appointment book for the days to come you will be aware of this and be able to take action.
Secure Long Appointments With A Deposit
Many salons ask for a deposit to secure a longer appointment or group booking. This is quite a reasonable thing to do, and most clients would understand the need for it. Your cancellation policy must be clearly explained to the client at the time of making such an appointment. I suggest that you have a written policy in place that all team members clearly understand to ensure that it is carefully explained to the client. In the event of a no show or late cancellation, when you make the decision to enforce your cancellation policy, the client must have been clearly informed that you are doing so.
Failure to handle this well can result in the client not fully understanding and you may lose them or even worse the unhappy client spreads negative comments about your salon.
Doing this well is about professional management; not doing it at all is about avoidance.
Confirmation Of Appointments
No shows are a challenge that most salons face every day. How rude, people just don't turn up for an appointment. Are they rude or do they simply forget? Unfortunately it is impossible to know.
Offering the service of confirming all appointments is not a “maybe” it's a “must”. I recently had a salon owner say, “I used to confirm all appointments but now that my clientele is much bigger it costs too much”. Bad decision.
Confirmation of an appointment is a service to your clients. The benefit to you is it helps to minimise no shows
Always do your confirmations 2-3 days in advance. That way if your client needs to reschedule or cancel, you have a greater chance of filling that gap.
Offer The Service Of Re- Booking
The single biggest way to work with a full appointment book is to offer and educate your clients about the value to them of arranging their next appointment. Like confirmations, this is a service that you offer to your clients to help them. It is important to remember that there are 3 types of clients.
One third will never rebook:
n I don't have a diary
n I work shift work and don't have my next roster with me
n Are you kidding? With 4 children I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow let alone what I will be doing in 5 weeks!
Accept the fact that this is the case; you should always offer the service and let the client decide.
One third of clients will re-book if you:
n Please them with their treatment and service
n Give them a reason to return to you (plan next visit)
n Invite them to return
One third of clients (like me) re-book their life.
You must however:
n Please them with their treatment and service
n And of course invite them to make the appointment
If you do the sums that means you should have 66% of your clients who are making their next appointment. How are you doing?
Smart Salons Work With A Cancellation List
Again another service that you should offer your clients (with all these services your client will impressed.)
It is so frustrating when you have to say, “I'm sorry we are fully booked”
Always offer to place your client on a cancellation list. After you have done your confirmations you can then call the clients on the cancellation list.
Tip: I suggest you call all clients you have placed on the list; even those that you still can't allocate an appointment for. This is an opportunity to really stand out in the service area.
“Susie we have confirmed all of our appointments for Saturday and I am sorry we have not been able to arrange an appointment. Can I help you with time for the following Saturday or perhaps we could arrange your treatment for one of our late nights, Tuesday to Friday”.
WOW! I would be impressed.
Don't Confuse With Too Many Choices
When a client calls and says, “Can I have an appointment on Tuesday?” Don't say, “What time would you like”, you need to manage your appointment book. Your questions should be two choices.
Question 1 - “Would you prefer morning or afternoon?”
Answer - “Morning”
Question 2 - “I have two appointments available 9.30 or 11.15. Which would suit you best?
Operating a successful salon is really very simple. You have to manage all the small things extra ordinarily well. Managing all the areas of your appointment book is lots of small thing that can make a big difference. If you want more clients and you want more dollars start today to manage this area of your business.
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team of coaches work with a beauty specific programme that can help you on the road to success. To learn more go to the web site www.yourcoach.net.au. Faye will be speaking at the Beauty Expo in Sydney on August 11th and 12th. Be sure to book early for her workshop.
Faye Murray -National and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford- WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
Business Tips
From The Expert No 2
In the second feature of Expert Talk for Business Success we focus on some more of the frequently asked questions that salon owners want the answers to.
Faye Murray from Your Coach believes that there is no such thing as a silly question when it comes to learning the skills of managing your salon business. Always remember, management is a learned skill. If these are questions you are seeking the answers to you will have taken one step more to having a successful business.
Marketing Question
When setting up a loyalty programme how much should a client receive as a reward?
Firstly before I answer that question I feel it is important to ask, “What is the purpose of a loyalty programme?”
n To say thank you for choosing our salon
n To encourage clients to return to your salon
n To encourage clients to come more frequently (this can be done by linking your loyalty programme to marketing)
n To encourage clients to purchase their take home products
n To encourage clients to purchase gift vouchers
Lots of benefits for you
What are the benefits that your clients can enjoy?
n Marketing and promotional offers that are available just for loyal clients
n A reward when they reach a qualified spend point
Now that we understand all the benefits how much do I suggest you reward your clients with?
3-5% of a clients total spend and always your reward is in service or treatment dollars. Not retail.
Use this as a guide but remember it is about how you package your reward rather than how much you give away. Your loyalty programme is a marketing exercise and all marketing is about presentation.
Marketing Question
Is SMS communicating with your clients a good idea?
Yes I think it is a fabulous idea. A service that you most definitely should be offering to all clients is that of confirmation of their appointment. SMS is a fast efficient way of doing this. Your computer programme should be able to set this up for you. The cost will vary depending on your programme from around 10 cents up to 22 cents but worth the investment
SMS works well in what I call 'action marketing'. I don't suggest that you use SMS for long period promotions, an offer for the month of July for example. It works best if it is a call to action now (today or tomorrow).
Let me give you some examples. On Saturday send out a message for a promotion you are having just on Monday. Only 6 appointments available.
Choose a limited number of clients say 100-200 after all you only want 6 more clients for the day.
If you have a client database of say 2,000 (many salons will have more), and if you send 200 each week and rotate those you send to, you will only make an offer to your clients every 10 weeks.
BE careful with SMS not to over do it. You will most definitely get clients complaining if they get an SMS every week.
Team Management Question
Question: How should you handle a team member who challenges standards that are clearly set and understood?
One of the secrets of management is to clearly set standards. Then whenever you see someone you manage fall below those standards, you reinforce the standard.
This refocus should be done as soon as possible. Don't wait till the next team meeting. If it only applies to one person it should be addressed with that person. It can be a little more confrontational for you to directly speak to someone; however you will achieve better results.
An example.
Your standard in the salon may be that “Team members with long hair must wear it tied back. On Monday, Mary arrives at work with her hair not tied back. What do you do?
You ask, “Mary is there a reason why your hair is not tied back?”
In this case it is highly unlikely that the reason is one that would be acceptable
You reinforce the standard.
“Mary there are two reasons why we require long hair to be tied back. Firstly it adds to the professional image we want to project and secondly it is required from a hygiene point of view so that loose hair will not fall onto a client during a treatment. Do you understand?”
You reinforce. “Please do not do it again”.
This is called inspecting what you expect.
If you allow Mary to wear her hair out you also give her a license to bend or break the other standards and for others to follow suit. Once you have addressed the situation and a satisfactory outcome has been achieved move on and you should not ever have to mention it again.
Tips It is not a good management strategy to put a note up on the notice board and hope that your team member you are directing the problem at will read it and take action. This is a way of avoiding and you will not get the result you need by doing this.
Client Service Question
Who is the most important person in the salon?
When I was 14 years old I went for an interview for a Christmas holiday job and was asked the question by the owner of the business “Who is the most important person in this shop?”
After thinking for a while I was sure I had the right answer. “YOU” I replied. I did not get the job and since being a 14 year old I have certainly learnt that the client or customer is without a doubt the most important person. Don't ever forget it.
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team of coaches work with a beauty specific programme that can help you on the road to success. To learn more go to the web site.
www.yourcoach.net.au
Faye Murray - National and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford - WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
Business Tips from the Expert No.1
As a business coach and trainer working with salons and spas I am frequently asked the same questions by owners/managers.
During 2007 I will share with you some of these frequently asked questions and the answers that I give which have helped salons to be more effective and of course more profitable. If I am constantly asked a particular question the chances are you as a salon owner are seeking the answers too.
As a business coach and trainer working with salons and spas I am frequently asked the same questions by owners/managers.
During 2007 I will share with you some of these frequently asked questions and the answers that I give which have helped salons to be more effective and of course more profitable. If I am constantly asked a particular question the chances are you as a salon owner are seeking the answers too.
Marketing Question
What is the best way to attract new clients to the salon?
The 3 R's. And no, that is not reading, writing and 'rithmetic
The 3R's of a successful salon business are:
n Reputation
n Referrals
n Return clients
Reputation always is at the top of the list. What do your clients talk about? The very good and the very bad. They don't' talk about anything that is ordinary or average. You don't want to have a reputation of being very bad so that leaves being outstandingly good.
The package for outstandingly good means great skills, great service, products that produce a result, offering the clients not only what they expect but much more.
Get this right and your clients will be your best source of new clients and promoters of your business.
A great reputation always leads to referrals.
Return clients. An exercise that I do with my clients is this. Look at your monthly report and see what % of new clients you have visiting the salon. In most cases it varies from 5-20% (This would apply for an established salon. A new salon would expect much more.)
If you have a high number of new clients coming to your salon and you are not growing, that tells you that you are not retaining your existing clients.
It is far more important to get your clients to return than it is to focus on continually getting new clients. A client is the most precious thing you have in your business. You take out an insurance policy on your plant and equipment; in the same way you must protect your existing clients.
How do you do this? By recognizing how valuable they are and making sure you look after them in every way. Don't ever take them for granted.
Quote.
“High achievement always takes place in an atmosphere of high expectation”
Recruitment Question
How do I write an advertisement for staff that will work?
The biggest mistake that ad writers make is to write the ad for themselves. It is not about appealing to you it is about attracting the applicant who is looking for a new position
Think about this question “If I were looking for a new position what would I want?”
Make a list of all the special things about your salon that will be a wow for the job hunter and include as many of them in the advertisement as possible.
We supply to our clients a complete kit that takes the pain out of recruitment. It contains advertisements written specifically for a beauty salon, application forms and everything you will need to professionally recruit the right person.
Remember it is all about 'what is in it for me.' The purpose of the advertisement is to get them to come for the interview. During the interview you can determine if what they have to offer meets your needs. So it really is not just about them, but it helps to get the phone ringing with prospective team members if your advertisement is.
Quote
“There is no such thing as perfect people, only people who do ordinary things extraordinarily well”
Team Management Question
I hate confrontation and I avoid issues. I sometimes feel my staff run me.
What can I do to get better at this?
Surprisingly this is something that people share with me every week. The beauty industry is full of (and thank goodness it is) relationship-focused people. You chose our industry because you enjoy and like people and you want then to like you. Confrontation with staff challenges you and so you avoid it at all costs.
You can't do this one on your own. You need help.
First step is to recognise that it is a weakness of your management
Second is to recognise that it is Ok to be a weakness because you have not been trained to handle it.
Third you need to really understand the impact that avoiding and not addressing important issues in your salon can have on the level of service you offer your clients and the overall success of the business.
Fourth you must be able to identify what you find difficult. (Break into bite size pieces. It may be that a therapist simply refuses to wear closed in shoes or they often go home without cleaning their room.)
Fifth you need to work with a professional who understands and who can help you with the words and strategies to manage each situation as it arises.
Sixth your mentor needs to be a checker. If you don't have someone who will follow you up the chances are you will continue to avoid. They need to ask you have you addressed the situation and if not continue to support you to do so.
Seventh change the people or change the people. I am not suggesting that you start firing your staff but if you don't have control of the standards in your salon you must work towards getting it.
The feeling of empowerment that you will have when you achieve this will be fantastic. It is well worth the pain of working though it.
Quote
From Harry S Truman (President of the United States)
“A great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do and like it”
Faye Murray and the Your Coach team of coaches work with a beauty specific programme that can help you on the road to success. To learn more go to the web site.
www.yourcoach.net.au
Faye Murray - National and New Zealand 0409 342 653
Dianne Ford - WA 0417 982 637
Kym Krey - Qld 0403 042 312
YOU CATCH MORE BEES WITH HONEY
A wonderful old saying that is great to remember when it comes to managing people is “you catch more bees with honey than you do vinegar”
As a salon manager you need to achieve many things during the course of each day. Management is very much about getting other people to do what you need them to do because they want to do it.
It is not about issuing instructions with a big stick and getting people to carry out your direction. That style of management is called fear management and only is effective when you are standing there holding the big stick. As soon as your back is turned people will snub there noses at you and do what they think they can get away with.
Effective management is about making sure your people carry our tasks because they understand the why's and share the same passion and understanding that you do.
As a therapist you also need to achieve many things during the course of a day and management of your clients is about exactly the same. Getting them to do what you need them to do because they understand the benefits they will get from having the treatment you recommend today and from continuing to use the skin care programme you recommend between salon visits.
Let's look at some of the things you can do to best achieve this as a salon manager and as a client manager. How you can use honey and stay away from the vinegar.
Be a good leader who people want to follow
You need to be a 'do as I do' not 'do as I say' person. You need to stand out when it comes to amazing client service. Remember the clients is always right (even on the occasion that they might be wrong) they win you win.
When dealing with difficult clients and yes there are occasions that through your eyes you may see them as a challenge you need to make sure that at all times the clients feels they are treated in a way that meets their needs. A client should never feel they are a nuisance or a problem.
Some things to avoid
Getting angry (even a little bit)
Never tell a client they are wrong
Don't interrupt a client to score a point.
Never make a client feel they are not important
Never talk down and show how much you know and how little they know
You can't expect your team members to offer your clients warm friendly, attentive service if you don't. A client who visits your salon has expectations and one is most definitely that they will be made to feel special and welcomed.
They expect honey not vinegar, so are sure and give it to them or you have no hope of winning a client.
Check your happy thermometer…. in your salon is it up or down
What do you spend more time doing smiling or frowning in your salon. Did you know it takes 43 muscles to frown and just 17 to smile? Smiling is much easier so why not practice smiling rather than frowning.
The great thing is when you smile people will usually give on one in return. No one chooses to surround themselves with miserable people who love to tell you why everything is bad and why it won't work and who look like they have the weight of the word on their shoulders.
As a therapist you touch and with that touch you give your energy be it positive or negative. Make sure what you have to give is a smile. Remember it costs absolutely nothing to give and it is nice to receive.
A smile is like honey sweet to taste. Which do you prefer to receive a smile or a frown? Which do you think you client will like to receive a smile or a frown?
Consistency will always be a key to happiness
You can't be happy with your clients and the next visit be a grumble bum. They come to you not to just look better but to feel better.
Maybe it's time to check your salon joy list.
What exactly is a joy list? What you have in place in your salon that brings joy and good feeling to yourself, your team and most importantly your clients.
Some ideas
· Music is it feel good music or does it sound like elevator music. When was the last time someone said “your music is beautiful”
· Thank you notes
· Always remember your team members birthday
· Fresh flowers
· Affirmation board. This can be in the staff room or can also be feature in your reception area. Every week or day choose a new feel good saying. Something you read and say to yourself “I like that” or “that's so nice”
Some good examples of feel good saying are
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up” Paul Valery
“The best thing about the future is it comes one day at a time” Anon
“Some people are always grumbling that roses have thorns. BE thankful that thorns have roses” Anon
“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there” Will Rogers
They bring a smile to your face
Develop great communication channels that go both ways up and down
Communication in any relationship will always be the button to success. As a salon manger you must have great listening skills and always be available to listen to your team members and your clients. Having listened you then need to offer help and assistance that shows you care and are interested. Sometimes you may not always hear what you want to but you must learn to always handle each situation ion with the understanding it needs.
Failure to communicate in an effective way will break down the respect that you need so much to build a strong team. If you suffer from a high turnover of good staff who come and only stay for a short time you need to have a close look at this area.
Learn to give and receive compliments
How do you feel when you receive a compliment? Have you learnt to hold your head high and say a big “thank you” or do you find yourself saying “oh it was nothing” or making an excuse. When you receive a compliment learn to enjoy it and practise saying things like
“Thank you it was by pleasure”
“Thank you I enjoyed looking after you”
“Thank you we always love to offer wonderful service to our clients”.
How good are you at remembering to give compliments? Think about it when was the last time you said something nice to a team member. In the last hour I hope or most certainly in the last day.
Some may say it is difficult to find things to say well done or pass a positive comment about. With practice you will find it so easy to find nice things to say and you will learn to do it without even thinking. When you give you get. Pass a kind word and you will get back better performance from your team because they will have a greater sense or worth.
Your clients will also love it. Remember they come to you to look and feel good.
So get out the honey jar and start working on how you can improve the influence and affect you have on those around you. This is a management strategy you will enjoy working on improving
Profile
Faye Speaking at Beauty expo
A wonderful old saying that is great to remember when it comes to managing people is “you catch more bees with honey than you do vinegar”
As a salon manager you need to achieve many things during the course of each day. Management is very much about getting other people to do what you need them to do because they want to do it.
It is not about issuing instructions with a big stick and getting people to carry out your direction. That style of management is called fear management and only is effective when you are standing there holding the big stick. As soon as your back is turned people will snub there noses at you and do what they think they can get away with.
Effective management is about making sure your people carry our tasks because they understand the why's and share the same passion and understanding that you do.
As a therapist you also need to achieve many things during the course of a day and management of your clients is about exactly the same. Getting them to do what you need them to do because they understand the benefits they will get from having the treatment you recommend today and from continuing to use the skin care programme you recommend between salon visits.
Let's look at some of the things you can do to best achieve this as a salon manager and as a client manager. How you can use honey and stay away from the vinegar.
Be a good leader who people want to follow
You need to be a 'do as I do' not 'do as I say' person. You need to stand out when it comes to amazing client service. Remember the clients is always right (even on the occasion that they might be wrong) they win you win.
When dealing with difficult clients and yes there are occasions that through your eyes you may see them as a challenge you need to make sure that at all times the clients feels they are treated in a way that meets their needs. A client should never feel they are a nuisance or a problem.
Some things to avoid
Getting angry (even a little bit)
Never tell a client they are wrong
Don't interrupt a client to score a point.
Never make a client feel they are not important
Never talk down and show how much you know and how little they know
You can't expect your team members to offer your clients warm friendly, attentive service if you don't. A client who visits your salon has expectations and one is most definitely that they will be made to feel special and welcomed.
They expect honey not vinegar, so are sure and give it to them or you have no hope of winning a client.
Check your happy thermometer…. in your salon is it up or down
What do you spend more time doing smiling or frowning in your salon. Did you know it takes 43 muscles to frown and just 17 to smile? Smiling is much easier so why not practice smiling rather than frowning.
The great thing is when you smile people will usually give on one in return. No one chooses to surround themselves with miserable people who love to tell you why everything is bad and why it won't work and who look like they have the weight of the word on their shoulders.
As a therapist you touch and with that touch you give your energy be it positive or negative. Make sure what you have to give is a smile. Remember it costs absolutely nothing to give and it is nice to receive.
A smile is like honey sweet to taste. Which do you prefer to receive a smile or a frown? Which do you think you client will like to receive a smile or a frown?
Consistency will always be a key to happiness
You can't be happy with your clients and the next visit be a grumble bum. They come to you not to just look better but to feel better.
Maybe it's time to check your salon joy list.
What exactly is a joy list? What you have in place in your salon that brings joy and good feeling to yourself, your team and most importantly your clients.
Some ideas
· Music is it feel good music or does it sound like elevator music. When was the last time someone said “your music is beautiful”
· Thank you notes
· Always remember your team members birthday
· Fresh flowers
· Affirmation board. This can be in the staff room or can also be feature in your reception area. Every week or day choose a new feel good saying. Something you read and say to yourself “I like that” or “that's so nice”
Some good examples of feel good saying are
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up” Paul Valery
“The best thing about the future is it comes one day at a time” Anon
“Some people are always grumbling that roses have thorns. BE thankful that thorns have roses” Anon
“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there” Will Rogers
They bring a smile to your face
Develop great communication channels that go both ways up and down
Communication in any relationship will always be the button to success. As a salon manger you must have great listening skills and always be available to listen to your team members and your clients. Having listened you then need to offer help and assistance that shows you care and are interested. Sometimes you may not always hear what you want to but you must learn to always handle each situation ion with the understanding it needs.
Failure to communicate in an effective way will break down the respect that you need so much to build a strong team. If you suffer from a high turnover of good staff who come and only stay for a short time you need to have a close look at this area.
Learn to give and receive compliments
How do you feel when you receive a compliment? Have you learnt to hold your head high and say a big “thank you” or do you find yourself saying “oh it was nothing” or making an excuse. When you receive a compliment learn to enjoy it and practise saying things like
“Thank you it was by pleasure”
“Thank you I enjoyed looking after you”
“Thank you we always love to offer wonderful service to our clients”.
How good are you at remembering to give compliments? Think about it when was the last time you said something nice to a team member. In the last hour I hope or most certainly in the last day.
Some may say it is difficult to find things to say well done or pass a positive comment about. With practice you will find it so easy to find nice things to say and you will learn to do it without even thinking. When you give you get. Pass a kind word and you will get back better performance from your team because they will have a greater sense or worth.
Your clients will also love it. Remember they come to you to look and feel good.
So get out the honey jar and start working on how you can improve the influence and affect you have on those around you. This is a management strategy you will enjoy working on improving
Profile
Faye Speaking at Beauty expo
Questions
Do you work with a marketing plan? How has it helped your business? Yes we now do use a marketing plan. It has helped us greatly as we can now plan in advance and we are not such a pest for our printers saying can that be ready today?!
Will you be investing in training for your team as well as for yourself in 2007? What type of things do you include as part of your training plan? We are constantly updated our skills in the way of product knowledge, new techniques, adding new treatments. We hold in salon training as well as update evenings and seminars for the team in Brisbane. This is something we are very passionate about and it is so important in our industry as things are always changing and there is new information being found at all times.
During 2006 did you have a budget to work to? Did you know what it cost to open your salon doors each month?
Do you understand the financial side of your business? This is an area that we are working on with Faye and slowly improving however budgets are always hard to stick to with the amount of temptation and goodies available.
Do you track the cost of your stock each month? How does this help your business? We are tracking stock every month and it has improved now that we have a better understanding of why this is so important. We do tend to have the occasional blow out! Woops!!
Do you manage your wages/productivity? How does this help your business? We do monitor this regularly and we are currently working with our girls individually to improve these figures.
Does your salon operate with systems and structure? How do you find it helps your business to be so successful? We currently have structures in place, for example; employment agreement, procedures manual, training and induction procedures etc. This has helped immensely to run a tight schedule and give the girls more direction.
Do you still need to implement new systems? What are some of them? We are currently working on getting our girls to a level that we feel comfortable. Our policies and procedures manual leaves a little to be desired, as does our induction procedures. This all takes time and we are slowly getting there.
Do you sometimes get so busy working hard you find it difficult to manage your business? Absolutely!!!
Is finding good staff a challenge for you? Do you have systems for interviewing and recruiting? Finding great staff is very difficult to find the whole package and they need to be great because that's what our clients expect from us.
Do you have a system for training and inducting new people who join your team? We have training and inductions systems in place, but this is not as easy as it seems, because even though training is essential, it takes lots of precious time. Initially we ask them to fill out a employee agreement that is customized to suit our salon, this makes very clear what is expected from them as an employee of elysium. Followed be an orientation of roughly 4 hours- tour of the salon, gift certificate procedure, end of sale, cleaning duties etc. Then training begins in every area of every treatment so that we are all consistent with our treatments.
What do you find that you get most from working with a business coach? All this and more!! Now that I look back to the beginning I realized that we really had no idea what we were doing just fumbling along and hoping it would all come together and fortunately for a little while it did. Analyze your business? What do you mean? We still have a long way to go and everyday I learn something totally new. We are enjoying pulling our business to pieces and knowing exactly why that happened and what we can do about it! If not anything else our coach keeps us motivated to tackle the next month. We are constantly motivating our staff and it's really nice for us to have that professional someone to look up to and get advice from. We are really proud of what we have achieved in working with our coach and look forward to growing even more. Thanks Faye x
Do you work with a marketing plan? How has it helped your business? Yes we now do use a marketing plan. It has helped us greatly as we can now plan in advance and we are not such a pest for our printers saying can that be ready today?!
Will you be investing in training for your team as well as for yourself in 2007? What type of things do you include as part of your training plan? We are constantly updated our skills in the way of product knowledge, new techniques, adding new treatments. We hold in salon training as well as update evenings and seminars for the team in Brisbane. This is something we are very passionate about and it is so important in our industry as things are always changing and there is new information being found at all times.
During 2006 did you have a budget to work to? Did you know what it cost to open your salon doors each month?
Do you understand the financial side of your business? This is an area that we are working on with Faye and slowly improving however budgets are always hard to stick to with the amount of temptation and goodies available.
Do you track the cost of your stock each month? How does this help your business? We are tracking stock every month and it has improved now that we have a better understanding of why this is so important. We do tend to have the occasional blow out! Woops!!
Do you manage your wages/productivity? How does this help your business? We do monitor this regularly and we are currently working with our girls individually to improve these figures.
Does your salon operate with systems and structure? How do you find it helps your business to be so successful? We currently have structures in place, for example; employment agreement, procedures manual, training and induction procedures etc. This has helped immensely to run a tight schedule and give the girls more direction.
Do you still need to implement new systems? What are some of them? We are currently working on getting our girls to a level that we feel comfortable. Our policies and procedures manual leaves a little to be desired, as does our induction procedures. This all takes time and we are slowly getting there.
Do you sometimes get so busy working hard you find it difficult to manage your business? Absolutely!!!
Is finding good staff a challenge for you? Do you have systems for interviewing and recruiting? Finding great staff is very difficult to find the whole package and they need to be great because that's what our clients expect from us.
Do you have a system for training and inducting new people who join your team? We have training and inductions systems in place, but this is not as easy as it seems, because even though training is essential, it takes lots of precious time. Initially we ask them to fill out a employee agreement that is customized to suit our salon, this makes very clear what is expected from them as an employee of elysium. Followed be an orientation of roughly 4 hours- tour of the salon, gift certificate procedure, end of sale, cleaning duties etc. Then training begins in every area of every treatment so that we are all consistent with our treatments.
What do you find that you get most from working with a business coach? All this and more!! Now that I look back to the beginning I realized that we really had no idea what we were doing just fumbling along and hoping it would all come together and fortunately for a little while it did. Analyze your business? What do you mean? We still have a long way to go and everyday I learn something totally new. We are enjoying pulling our business to pieces and knowing exactly why that happened and what we can do about it! If not anything else our coach keeps us motivated to tackle the next month. We are constantly motivating our staff and it's really nice for us to have that professional someone to look up to and get advice from. We are really proud of what we have achieved in working with our coach and look forward to growing even more. Thanks Faye x
CREATING SUCCESS THROUGH YOUR TEAM
Imagine it is Monday morning and the phone rings… One of your team resigns…. Bad news
The phone rings again.. Another resigns… this is not turning out to be a good day. The phone rings for a third time and your last remaining team member also resigns. You are left with just you.
You have gone from a team of four to just you. You have to do everything. Look after the clients, do all the treatments. Answer the phone. Go to reception. Clean the salon. The entire revenue of the salon is going to be generated by you.
You would be limited by what you could do by the number of hours in the day. After having a team it would be very difficult.
If you have reached the point where you have grown beyond being a sole operator to employing other therapists you recognize that they are a valuable asset of your business.
As with any asset we value we want to look after it and make sure it grows in value.
So how to achieve success and growth with your team? How to make sure they continue to grow? How to keep them focused.?
If they grow who benefits? Your clients most definitely do through improved service and treatments. You also do as they salon owner and team leader.
Clients ask me constantly for ideas on how to get their team to perform to an acceptable level and to keep their energy up. Having fresh ideas to achieve this is a constant challenge.
Here are some useful team focus tools
IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT BONUSES OR MONEY
Often when a manager thinks about motivating their team they think “Money rewards” Money through a bonus or incentive is the reward that is given for a job well done, or for performing to a level over and above. The bonus money is not the motivation, it is the end result. If you want to get that result you have to do a lot of other things also.
Success Idea
Everyone has a different “button”. Take the time to find out what each team member is excited by. Don't try and have a one-size fits all scheme. Think outside the circle and be flexible in order to have a happy and motivated team.
BE AWARE
You need to recognize that as a manager the management actions that you take totally affect the results of the salon.
Success Idea
You need to be an action manager. Don't delay. Always take action when you see an opportunity to improve or encourage. Create a salon where you encourage people to see their potential.
PROVIDE STRUCTURE
In order to have your team achieve you need to remember management is about setting and maintaining standards. They need to know what is expected and you need to recognize and acknowledge good performance and recognize and encourage also when it is not so good.
To assess if you have a strong structure in your salon here is a simple exercise
Write down what your expectations/standards are for the following:
1. Your dress standard…what do you expect?
(Include hair, make up, dress requirement/uniforms, shoes, stockings, name badges, nail polish etc)
2. The presentation of your treatment room for a facial…what do you expect?
3. The way a client or prospective client is answered when they enquire, “How much do you charge for a one hour facial?” …What do you expect?
Having asked the questions of yourself, now using the same questions write down exactly what happens in your salon and give yourself a rating out of ten.
If you don't have three ten out of ten's there is a great opportunity to make some changes
Success Idea.
Working with a business coach will help you to create standards and most importantly to maintain the standards. Self-motivation is the biggest challenge salon owners face. You constantly give to others, but you need to get some help to keep yourself focused and your energy levels up
DEVELOP A TRAINING CULTURE
Ongoing training is a “button” that is a great motivator for our industry. Exciting and fun training is something your team will look forward to attending. Boring, disorganized old hat training will have the reverse effect.
Think carefully before doing training in-salon just for the sake of training, or going off to a training session at your product company. Your product companies provide excellent training and if your team members attend the right course and take along the right attitude they will learns lots. Make sure the session being conducted it is relative to the needs of the person. If doing in-salon training, prepare it well and deliver it with energy and lots of involvement.
Success Idea
I encourage some of my salons to include a training incentive as part of the package of a therapist. You pay (over and above a normal weekly wage) into a training account an amount on a weekly basis that can be used for the purpose of training. The therapist is able to choose in consultation with the manager what they would like to use the accumulated amount for. They may choose to do an advanced course to really broaden their knowledge or perhaps attend Focus on Beauty Expo.
GET THE RECOGNITION/ DIRECTION BALANCE RIGHT
The most motivating thing is known to be self-achievement; the second on the list is recognition. To get this right create an environment where people can achieve and when they do so you have the opportunity to say “well done.” Look for all the little things. Don't just make the measurement about money.
Success Idea
I call this 'The Silver Service Award'. You develop a form that asks clients to complete when they receive service that is above and beyond what they expect. They place it into a box or envelope that is displayed in your salon reception area. This does a number of things.
1. Encourages your team to always really look after their clients
2. Allows clients to give recognition to their therapist
3. Allows you to give recognition to the therapist.
You can have a monthly reward for the person who you deem to have provided the best 'Silver Service'
COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM.
Communication will always be the key to a motivated team. As with the development of any relationship they will grow and flourish based on the messages that are transferred. Make sure your communication is:
- Regular
- A combination of positive messages and direction as needed
- Consistent
- Fun and exciting
Success Idea
A morning meeting is a great way to start the day. If you have a team of 10 or only one they are just as effective. I call it turning on the lights. Just as you would not consider doing a treatment without turning on the lights you should not consider starting you day without focusing your people. They can be short and snappy(the meetings not the people). Educational and enlightening. Everyone should contribute. As long as they give your team fresh ideas for the day.
EMPLOY GREAT ATTITUDES.
When you are interviewing a new person to join your team always look to employ a great attitude. You can train and teach them all the skills that you need for your salon but you will feel like you are pushing your cart up a hill continually if you have someone who does not have a willing to learn attitude. A positive attitude about learning usually is a positive attitude about life and that will transfer to all areas of your business.
Success Idea
If you have negative attitudes “change them or change them” You cannot afford to have them in your salon. They will spread through your business and take away the energy you need to grow and be successful
Today should be the beginning of investing into the development of creating success through your team. You will be rewarded by the effort you put into this in the results that they will give to you. A strong team will also mean that you are no longer the only strength in your salon. You can spend more time on managing your business and less on doing the day-to-day duties. That is when real success is achieved.
CREATING GREAT SERVICE EXPERIENCES
Winning Clients One At A Time
To succeed in today's busy and competitive beauty business world, you need commitment, passion, a strong business plan and of course, most of all …… HAPPY and RETURNING CLIENTS.
Ensuring success with client retention is not about being better than your competitors; it is about satisfying your own clients. So keep your eye on your clients and don't put your energy into worrying about what the salon down the road is doing.
What do today's clients expect? - Your clients!
Today's client's expectations are different from what they were three years ago and what they expect will be different again three years into the future.
We have chosen to be part of a moving and changing industry and we need to make sure we keep moving. Clients are demanding new, better, different services and treatments and fresher ideas.
How long since you introduced something new, better, fresher or different to your salon?
Today's client is very educated and knows the difference between unacceptable, acceptable and great.
The thing to remember - “Great” is what they expect and will measure by and as a result, will decide whether or not to be a return client. Yes they make the decision based on the experience you provide.
So the first thing to understand is you must be “great” at everything you do.
There is no second place. It is a WIN/LOSE situation. Satisfy the client you WIN. Fail to meet their expectations and fall even just a little below, you LOSE.
What upsets clients most?
Consumer research shows that approximately 70% of people fail to return to a salon because they were “poorly treated”.
What comes under the heading of “being poorly treated”?
- Being ignored
- Feeling like an intrusion or interruption
- Being contradicted
- Experiencing indifference
- Abrupt communication
- Being kept waiting
AND
In a beauty salon/spa, we must add the most important of all
- Unimpressive treatment
If we recognize that these are the reasons clients don't choose to return, how can we manage and minimize these issues?
There is a great saying - “What you can't measure, you can't manage”
Having standards in place for everything in your salon that are understood and subscribed to by your team will help.
Does everyone on your team clearly understand the VISION of the salon and how you, as the salon owner, you expect clients to be treated?
Creating the opposite of “being poorly treated”.
The only way to find out if your team is clear is to ask them.
I call this the “VISION TEST”
SIX SIMPLE QUESTIONS THAT YOU CAN ASK OF EACH AND EVERY
TEAM MEMBER TO SEE IF YOUR VISION MATCHES THEIRS
1. Who is the most important person in our salon?
2. Why are they the most important person?
3. Describe this in your own words; How should each client who visits our salon be treated?
4. How can you personally give more to our salon clients so that they are not just 100% satisfied, they are impressed beyond that?
5. As a valuable member of our salon team, how can other team members help you to provide the best client service?
6. As a valuable member of our salon team, how can you help them to provide the best client service?
Once everyone has done the Vision Test, set aside time to have a team meeting. Encourage input from everyone and communicate with everyone so that there is a clear picture of the salon's “VISION” and everyone is working to the same standard.
The key to a shared vision is first understanding what is expected, then training and communication.
Only when everyone understands, can you measure and “inspect what you expect”.
Maintaining client service standards and achieving consistency will help to create a great client experience.
Put your standards down in writing.
Developing a Policy and Procedure Manual or as I like to call it a Guide to Client Satisfaction, will allow you to clearly define specific details about clients service and in-salon procedures. Once written and implemented, you need to refer to it on a regular basis.
They take hours and hours to put together. Make sure they don't gather dust in the staff room. Use them constantly for training and refocusing.
It is worth the effort if you truly want GREAT CLIENT EXPERIENCES to deliver what you promise.
Ask your clients what they want
If you truly want to find out how to satisfy your clients, plus give more, who better to ask than your clients.
So ask your clients “What do we do well and what could we improve or change?”
Then act upon it.
This can be done through
- Feedback forms
- One on one client interaction
- Client feedback sessions/focus groups
- Just listening to their day to day requests and suggestions
Look for ways to solve your client's problems and to make a visit to your salon all they expect.
Visit other salons/spas
A great way to improve your client service is to see what other salons are offering. Every time I am a client having a treatment, I learn a great deal.
I learn what is special and memorable about that particular service.
But most of all,
I learn what not to do!
I believe if you have a very open mind, you can learn as much from a negative experience as you can from a really great one. Once you identity something as being NOT AS YOU EXPECT, when you are the client make absolutely certain that you take that knowledge and ensure your clients are never treated in that way.
Always look for opportunities
Most salons have a standard procedure for the way in which a particular treatment is done. To ensure the quality and consistency of client service, this is a MUST. However, encourage your team to look for those additional opportunities beyond the standard procedure that will make a client feel really special.
Show You care about them as a person…by asking questions about their expectations and needs
Show You care about the quality of the service you are providing…by explaining what you are doing and why
Show You care about the results they get…by checking that they are
really happy throughout the treatment
Show You care if they return to you for future visits…by telling them just
how much you enjoyed providing their treatment and offering the
service of re-booking .
Show You care if they are using the right products between visits to the
salon…by sincerely recommending and explaining what your client
needs.
Remember - “People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care”.
Do your clients really deserve to be treated so specially?
YES THEY MOST CERTAINLY DO!
As a beauty therapist you can't “WING IT”. The level of service you provide with your hands, your knowledge and experience and through your communication, needs to come from a genuine desire to really please each and every client.
If you don't have the desire or if you've had it but perhaps it is a “little lost” at this time, YOU NEED TO FIND IT AND FIND IT FAST. Because your clients can tell, and your ability to WIN or LOSE clients for your salon will be apparent.
by Faye Murray
Home
WHY DO MIND READERS SELL FEWER PRODUCTS?
As professional therapists in an industry that places so much emphasis on relationship building you should all be very good at communication. You spend all day talking with and to your clients in lots of different ways. Your goal should always be to ensure that your clients like and trust you. That is, after all, the basis for developing any strong lasting relationship. That is how a loyal clientele is built.
So having given yourself a big pat on the back for being a good communicator there is an area of communication that often therapists struggle with.
Having begun to develop the relationship, as you do with your welcome and your consultation, you then proceed to provide the client with a beautiful in salon service, followed by advising the client on valuable information that they need, in order to have an effective skin care programme until their next salon visit.
Congratulations.
While I believe that most therapists carry out the service to this point amazingly well, there is still a step needed to make the service complete, and this is the step that is often the most difficult.
Issuing the invitation to buy
Yes it is about asking the question and inviting the client to make a purchase today. Many therapists offer the advice but then fail to invite the client to buy. This means that many leave the salon or spa without the products they need.
The question being “What do you need to take with you today?”
Now that is a question that is often just too hard to say for some. So I am here to give you another step to add to your communication to strengthen your confidence.
Before you ask the question, as a professional therapist, make sure the client understands what you personally recommend.
The words you use before the question are simple, easy to remember and most of all easy to say.
They are
“This is what I believe you need to use……” the word “I” being so important, remembering you are the professional. Your advice is valuable.
You then make your recommendations of what to use and how best to use it to get the best results. Your professional hints and tips.
By introducing this step you show a genuine care and interest, a crucial step in developing a relationship.
You then invite the client to buy by asking “What do you need to take with you today as I really want to make sure you have everything you require to keep your skin looking just as lovely as it does today”
You are not clairvoyant
We have spoken about developing a relationship, but be wary of becoming too close to your clients and believing you know what they are thinking.
Don't judge
1. Whether they can afford to buy
2. Whether they will want to buy.
3. Whether they need to buy
We can start to believe that we are mind readers.
This is very important because if we allow ourselves to believe we know what clients want and need, it seriously affects how we talk to them. So if we make assumptions about 1, 2 and 3 above it will show in how we communicate whether we are conscious of it or not. Many of you, if you are honest, will be sitting there nodding your heads in recognition.
I'll say it again…DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS!!
Ask the question and learn to listen.
Once you have asked the question learn to listen for the reply. The clients reply not what your 'mind reader' voice is saying. If there is a moment's silence, then allow that to happen. Don't think 'this is a no' and find yourself answering for the client by saying something like “or would you like to just take a sample”
Learn to wait for the client to take a moment to think and I promise they'll say one of two things:
“Yes I would like to take those products today thank you”
Or
“No I won't take the products today”
You all love to hear the first reply.
Remember, if you aren't getting rejections…
you aren't asking enough people.
Individuals will make a decision based on the experience they have had. Sometimes they will say yes. Sometimes they will say no. Let them choose. Your responsibility is to find out their concerns and problems and then give them the necessary advice.
10 tips to help get the YES word more often
Here are 10 tips to follow to ensure you are more successful getting the client to say yes more often. You will feel happy about the success you achieve and your client will most definitely be happy with the results they get. Without the right products to use between visits there is no way the client can get the results they want.
1. Put your ego on ice.... If the client says no don't take it personally
2. Don't contradict the client. The client is always right even when they are wrong.
3. Listen deeply. Listen for what the client says and also what they don't say.
4. Speak confidently and convincingly.
5. Only offer what you believe is a true benefit to the client
6. Be enthusiastic. A client will sense your endorsement is real if it truly is.
7. Remember the two high points that are the best time to offer a product or service to a client.
- During consultation
- Before the client returns to reception.
8. Be consistent. Offer help and advice to all clients. Don't pick and choose
9. Training, training, training will always be the key to confidence and success
10. Love what you do. You can't fake it. (And turn off the mind reader)
What do you need to change?
If you want to get a different result from the one you are getting now you need to make some changes. Having read this article take some time to plan and practice what you are going to change.
- Have a look at your current results.
- Set yourself a goal to achieve.
- Enrol in some training to acquire more product knowledge
- Have an expert such as the Your Coach coaches and trainers help you with training in your communication skills. But make some changes.
Remember
RESULTS, not words
ACTION, not promises to TRY
BEING MEMORABLE FOR THE RIGHT REASONS
Just what do people tend to remember?
They tend to remember the exceptionally good and it is also absolutely true that they remember the very bad.
What they don't remember is the ordinary.
So assuming that you don't want to be remembered for the very bad, that means making your salon experience very good in order to be memorable.
How do you go from where you are, to being memorable?
Firstly it is important to understand what your clients expect. Then you need to move beyond their expectations to create a memorable and talked about experience. If your clients love what you do they tell others.
WHAT IS EXPECTED AND HOW TO GO
BEYOND THE EXPECTATION
Making the appointment.
What Is Expected?
Your clients or prospective clients will expect as a minimum level of service that their request for an appointment will be dealt with professionally, efficiently and courteously.
Here are some checkpoints to help you move beyond that expectation. And remember, consistency is the key. It must happen all the time.
Your Smile
You need to smile with your whole face but even more, smile with your voice. This applies whether you are speaking on the phone or face-to-face. It applies whether you are busy or upset or just not feeling like it. It may be cliché, but first impressions count, and you only get one chance to make that first impression.
When you consider the lifetime value of a happy regular client and the value of referrals she may bring over time, you are speaking about many thousands of dollars. It's worth the effort.
Make the client feel that you genuinely welcome her enquiry. Make sure your client remembers you for how well you do this simple but ever so important thing. Decisions are based on it.
A smile costs nothing but is remembered long after it has gone
Use Their Name
We all love the acknowledgement of hearing our own name. Use your client or prospective client's name as often as possible and build rapport during the appointment process.
Listen Attentively
There is a significant difference between listening and hearing. Listening means that you have understood what is being said. Hearing means understanding the reason it was said or questioning to find the reason.
This is a vital part of developing a relationship with the client. If your mind tends to buzz with thoughts about your next client or what is happening elsewhere in the salon, you need to catch yourself and refocus on HEARING what is being said while arranging the appointment.
Make Them Feel Special
We all like to feel that we are special. Using phrases like “We're looking forward to seeing you on Thursday [Name]. We always enjoy your visits to the salon” said and meant sincerely is so much better than “We'll see you on Thursday then”.
The arrival.
What Is Expected?
Your client will expect to be acknowledged promptly, made comfortable if she is to wait or taken through to the treatment area.
Here is a checkpoint to help you move beyond that expectation.
Greeting Or Welcoming?
There is a world of difference between greeting and welcoming a client.
Greeting a client involves acknowledging them and inviting them to take a seat or escorting them from reception to the treatment area. It can be a bit like being a people mover. You get them there but how do they feel?
Here is a greeting:
“Hello Jane, come on through to the treatment room.”
Or
“Hello Jane, please take a seat and we'll be with you shortly.”
Here is a welcome:
“Hello Jane it's great to see you. You look lovely today. Come on through to the treatment room, Sarah is ready and really looking forward to giving you a beautiful treatment.”
Or
“Hello Jane it's great to see you. You look lovely today. Sarah is really looking forward to giving you a beautiful treatment and won't be long. Would you like to choose a herbal tea from our refreshment menu and it will be waiting for you when your treatment is finished.”
The treatment room.
What Is Expected?
Your client will expect the room to be clean, tidy, private and ready.
Here is a checkpoint to help you move beyond that expectation.
Create Little Surprises
A strategically placed card in the treatment room that reads:
“Welcome Mary Smith, one of ABC Salons most precious clients.”
These can be written or printed the day before for all clients out of the appointment book ready for the following day.
There are many such ways of moving beyond the expected. Use your imagination.
The treatment.
What Is Expected?
Your clients will expect to spend their allotted appointment time with a beauty professional who will provide a proficient service and give them the results that they anticipate.
Here is a checkpoint to help you move beyond that expectation.
Applying your skills and knowledge will always be the key. To give more to your client you must focus on the results that can be achieved so that the client when shown in the mirror after the treatment is complete can see a noticeable difference. We have become a results focused society and what better way to impress that by providing a treatment that really does make a difference.
Your advice
What Is Expected?
Your clients will expect you to recommend products for their home care routine.
Here is a checkpoint to help you move beyond that expectation.
Always recommend with integrity. Explain that your advice is not just about the treatment today it is about the future and building on the success and results that can be achieved by combining in salon treatments and the right home prescription. Encourage the client to touch, feel and smell the products you are recommending.
How memorable are you?
Just what do your clients say about you?
“She is really nice” is not what you want to hear.
“She is by far the beat therapist I have ever been to”.
“I knew as soon as I walked in I had made the right decision”.
Ordinary they will not remember.
Can you remember a really special restaurant that served great food and had amazing service and went beyond your expectations? Yes of course.
If you want your salon to be known as the number one in your area you need to be memorable and this is about getting the whole package right.
“I wouldn't go anywhere else” is the best measurement of “Is your salon memorable?”
ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT GIFT VOUCHERS?
I recently read an article that gave a list of the gifts that women most loved to receive.
A gift voucher from a beauty salon or day spa came in at number three. So if we take note of that and acknowledge that people, particularly women, really do enjoy receiving a gift from salons like yours we really need to market this as a service 365 days of the year.
Everyone recognises that the three big gift voucher selling opportunities in order of potential are:
1. Xmas
2. Mothers Day
3. Valentine's Day
What about the rest of the year?
There are lots of other reasons why people buy gifts. How can you continually say 'We have the gift solution for you' and prompt potential buyers?
Let's look firstly at how to tell potential clients and remind existing clients.
1. Messages from outside our salon.
Have a sign writer create a beautiful gift box as a permanent message on your window with wording such as 'Beautiful gift vouchers available here' Make it look classy. Always add a beautiful bow. If this is going to be a permanent message it need to look just right. So work with your sign writer and always see a proof. Choose a design and colours that match your salon image.
Banners work well to get the message out that says you offer gift vouchers. I usually suggest that you have three different ones for this purpose. One especially with a Xmas gift voucher message, also one for Mother's Day and then another for general marketing during the year. Valentine's Day can vary as to how successful it is. I usually don't recommend a separate one for this. Just use your general banner.
2. Service Menus
These should carry a clear message that says you offer a gift voucher service.
- Beautifully packaged
- Can arrange over the phone
- Can offer delivery
- Corporate gift vouchers
You should almost regard this as a separate area of your business. Market it so as to continually be generating new clients. You need to set separate gift voucher goals and monitor your results on a monthly basis.
You must be continually reminding your team about looking for opportunities.
3. Gift Voucher Opportunities
This is a really large list and you can probably even add to it. You can use any of the following as a marketing opportunity. I will give you some ideas as to how to
Birthday Gift Vouchers.
A lot of salons collect client's birth dates and send a letter with an offer to say Happy Birthday. You could include in the letter a little gift menu that they could pass on to a husband or partner.
Don't forget your own team's birthday. I am sure they would love to receive a gift voucher from your salon or even another salon that you know has a great reputation. This will not only be a nice birthday treat but they may learn something new from visiting another salon. Look at other businesses in your area that may buy birthday gifts for their team members. If you make it easy and provide a good service you will develop loyal and regular clients who will just make a phone call every time they have a need.
Anniversary Gifts.
An anniversary is always a time to buy something very personal. A time to remember a first meeting, a first date wedding etc. For women it can be jewellery, lingerie, or yes a beautiful pamper package. Market to your male database and suggest ideas for anniversaries (Wedding or other special dates to remember). Help them to impress. For your female clients what better gift for them to give to their male partner. The opportunity to enjoy a pampering just like the girls do. Be careful once he has experienced it he'll be back.
Secretaries Day
This has become a very popular occasion for the boss to say thank you. A lovely facial is usual the right price point and if you arrange gift wrapping and delivery no fuss as well. So just before this date get a flyer out to all the offices in your area. This one is easy to forget so when you put your marketing planner in place be sure to note the date.
Corporate ideas
There are many opportunities to capture this market. Staff birthdays, staff leaving, special achievements and recognition by a staff member. Team member of the month award that can be voted by the team or by customers.
You can have the whole team in together and they can all use their gift vouchers one evening. Many clothing and jewellery retailers do this each month. You just need to make the suggestion to the business owner.
Client referral thank you gifts. Many businesses build their business on referrals and they usually say thank you to customers for doing so. Offer an attractive price for gift vouchers purchased for this purpose. You get a new client and they get a good deal. Try…
- Car Sales
w Real Estate
w Hairdressers
w Accountants
w Solicitors
w Anyone in sales
So put your thinking cap on in this area. It is a big one. It needs to look good so the client receiving really wants to know what is in the package before they open it. When you visit the business to tell them about your corporate service always take an example so how you package your gift vouchers
4. Displays in your Salon.
You should constantly have a message in your reception area that reminds your clients and visitors to the salon that you sell gift vouchers. It must however change regularly. Keep them interested.
Some suggestion to add variety
At Mother's Day add a bunch of fresh flowers
Xmas is easy to get the right feel. Either do a traditional or modern theme
During the year your general display could show the different ribbons you have.
Maybe your packaging is a gold box or folder. You could offer Pink ribbons for the girls, royal blue for guys. Red and gold for the flashy and even have happy birthday ribbon printed.
5. Remind close to expiry.
Most salons offer a 6-month valid to on all vouchers and it is a known fact that approx 20% of gift vouchers are never returned,. Some may say great, we get to put dollars in the till for not doing any service. Wrong. Long term that person who did not come in could have the potential to be a very valuable client.
Most computer programmes track gift vouchers really well. I suggest that four to six weeks before the voucher is due to expire phone your client and remind them. Tell them they need to use by the due date and offer to arrange the appointment. They will be very grateful for the reminder and the service being offered. I know I have on occasions managed to forget a date and then get really disappointed to miss out on my wonderful treatment.
Gift voucher sales are a very important area of your business and they should always have a focus. You should be looking at how to continually increase sales for the salon. Take the ideas I have shared with you and I promise you will see a big improvement.
by Faye Murray
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A GOOD LEADER NEEDS TO BE REPLACEABLE
Do you sell yourself or the services and treatments you offer?
So often as a business coach I am introduced to a salon owner who is seeing help and guidance to get their life back.
- I am exhausted
- I am not getting any time off
- The rest of the team need to be busier
- I do not have any time to manage my business
- I am so busy but I have no control
Do you recognise some or all of these points. Many salon owners will.
You have created a very successful salon that is totally YOU focused.
You have become irreplaceable.
How to manage the situation and make some changes so that you can embrace the saying
'My business can operate efficiently without me'
Step One - Change your attitude
You need to change your attitude. You need to accept that it is time to change. Some of those changes may not be always easy to implement and manage. It is much easier to manage change with other people. You are now talking about change within yourself
Some focus areas….5 point plan
- You need to reduce the number of hours you spend actively working with clients.
- You need to increase the number of hours your team members spend working on clients
- You need to get a balance of work and play
- You need to have quality time to manage you business.
- You need to have complete control again
The very best management strategy when looking to implement change within a salon business is recognise that you need to mini manage. Identify the bite size pieces that make up the big plan and start to work on each area.
Step Two - Reduce the number of hours
This is where you need to be strong. Imagine your doctor advises you to reduce the time you spend working on clients. They tell you that the consequences of not doing this will affect your long-term health. Good reason for taking action. You would most definitely take the steps that were appropriate. You need to apply the same level of commitment to your decision.
My suggestion is that you take (not try and take), but take one full day off each week and you allocate between 2-3 hrs weekly for management or training time (This may vary depending on the size of your salon)
Make a decision when you will implement. I recommend 6-8 weeks to allow you to arrange client appointments accordingly and cross yourself out. Train yourself and your team how to handle a request for an appointment at the times when you are not available.
Do no apologise for taking time off. The reply should be 'Mary is not available on Wednesday. She has appointments on Thursday or Friday would that be suitable.' Or I can suggest that Susie or Jane could look after you on Wednesday if that is your preferred day.'
Update Your History Cards
Go through your client cards and add all the little details that you carry in your head. All the special things you do for your clients. That way the therapist you hand over the client to will be totally aware of what the client's expectations are and you will avoid the comment 'she is not as good as you'
Train Your Team
You will now have the time to put into training of your team. This is an investment that will pay off for you many times over. Develop a training plan for each person based on their needs. In a short time you will see that with your personal input, each member of your team will become as good a therapist as you are. Without your training this may never happen.
Create Systems
Every professionally operated salon should have a system for everything that is done in the salon. From the way each treatment is done to the way each client is offered a level of service. Consistency will always be the key to developing a great salon reputation. Remember our aim is to develop a salons reputation not just yours as the owner.
The development of a salon policy and procedure manual is a great first step. If it is not written down it can become grey. As a service to our clients we offer to develop a personalised policy manual for you. We recognise that time is very precious and many salon owners just don't have the time to undertake this.
Inspect What You Expect
When you step away from doing all the hands on tasks and start to delegate you need to learn to check to make sure that things are being completed, as you would like.
Don't be impatient if when you do check you find it is not quite to your satisfaction. Again explain what you require and remember to come back and check again. Eventually it will be done well. Lose the 'it is easier to do it myself' attitude.
Give Recognition
Remember to say the all important words when you hand over a client or a task. 'Thank you. You did a really good job' the most powerful sense of achievement comes from knowing that you yourself have done a good job, the next most important is when someone you respect and look up to tells you well done.
The difference between a leader and a manager
Do you want to be a leader or a manager?
Management is a position you are given. Leadership you earn. If you want to know which style you are following in your business, here is a simple test. If you look behind and your team is following you are a leader, if no one is following and you are doing it all alone you are a manager.
A leader will always get result through their people. Without people you are not a leader.
Ask these two questions -
- Are you a leader in your salon?
- Are you replaceable in your business?
The answers need to be both 'Yes' for you to have great success and enjoy what you do.
by Faye Murray
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