There is a very simple business question that 9 out of 10 Salon Owners can’t answer…
It is a questions that immediately tells me if your Salon is healthy or sick…
It tells me if your marketing is working or not…
It even tells me if your staff are good at what they do or if their service levels are below par…
Will you be able to answer “The Question?”
Here it is…HOW MANY NEW CUSTOMERS DID YOU BRING INTO YOUR SALON LAST MONTH?”
If someone broke into your house in the middle of the night and held a gun to your head, could you answer that question? Even if their life depended on it, most Salon Owners could only give a vague guess. Businesses exist to find, satisfy and keep customers coming back – thats why I find it appalling when Business Owners don’t even know how many new customers they recently acquired. What is even worse is the amount of Salon Owners who forget and neglect first time customers after they pay and walk out of the door.
Because new customers are so important to the future success of your business, Salon Studio CRM gives you a very simple yet extremely powerful way to measure how many new clients you brought into your business over the last month. Whenever you load a new client, or a walk in prospects contact details to the system, Salon Studio CRM automatically adds them to the “New Clients Group” on the contacts page and keeps them there for 30 days.
This simple little folder now helps you to do two important things as a Salon Owner.
Firstly, at any time you want, you can click on the “New Clients” folder and count how many new clients you have brought in for the day, the week or even the month. You obviously want to bring in more new clients this month than you did the month before. This simple little number will tell you if your marketing strategy is working or not.
Secondly, now that you know who your new customers are and what they came in for, it is your job to send these first time customers targeted, relevant promotions to get them to come back a second and a third time. Salon Studio CRM’s “New Client” folder automatically gives you 30 days worth of marketing opportunities to upsell, cross-sell and rebook these new customers. I hope that you are starting to understand that if you use CRM, you can quickly and easily create new business and increase revenue while your competitors are all letting repeat business from new customers slip through their fingers.
If you can get first time customers to come back again, it means that they trust you, they like your services and they want to do business with you. In the beauty industry, if you can get a first time customer to come back a second time you can easily retain him or her for years to come. I am assuming of course that your services are good and your customer communication is even better.
If you have been to any of my marketing or business management workshops, you will know that one of the ways I define marketing is, “The right message to the right person at the right time.” That’s exactly what marketing to first time customers is! With a little preparation and sales thinking, it is so easy to a compelling, professional looking sales letter to first time clients thanking them for their business and giving them value added reasons to come back…and bring their friends. The problem is, very few Salon Owners make the most of this wonderful marketing opportunity.
ABOUT VAUGHAN
Vaughan is the Co-Founder and Marketing Director of Salon Management Studio. He has literally grown up and lived his whole life in the beauty industry. Some of his earliest memories include spending his days in a family owned Hairdressing Salon in the South of Jo’burg. I guess that’s why he doesn’t have any hair today! Vaughan’s experience includes, sales, marketing, setting up beauty businesses, consulting with Spa’s, Salons and Industry Suppliers. Vaughan is regularly invited to speak at leading industry conferences. These include Professional Beauty Conferences, SAAHSP Lectures, Les Nouvelles Esthetique Spa Conference and the EOHCB. He also writes on business for Professional Beauty, Les Nouvelles and Absolute Nails. In 2010, Vaughan was invited to Europe to facilitate business training with Salon Owners from 36 countries around the world
UPCOMING SPA ASSOCIATION WORKSHOP
Spa Marketing – Is your database talking to you?
“Your customer database is your target market. It deserves all your attention and your highest priority” Michael Gerber
Your customer database is your Spas greatest asset, in fact, without a customer database you aren’t in business! But let’s face it, building a database isn’t the most stimulating work on your to do list. Most Therapists find collecting and updating customer’s names and contact details boring! Maybe that’s one of reasons why so many Spa’s and Salons have poor databases. Despite the fact the building a database can be boring, truth be told, building, nurturing and protecting your customer database is probably the most important work a Spa Owner has.
Rule number 1 of marketing states that “the more information you have on your client the more control you have over their spending. Your marketing can only be as good as your customer database. A recent marketing survey found that less than 38% of small businesses in South Africa have an accurate database that they regularly and consistently contact. I think that the Spa Industry is particularly negligent when it comes to collecting customer’s details. In my experience, only two out of ten spas that I work with have an accurate database that is stored on a computer. The other eight either don’t have a database or they have random customer details stored on disorganised client cards that they never refer to after the client’s first visit. What business owners don’t understand is that list building is the process of defining your market. No database equals no market equals no income.
If you want to learn how to build a profitable customer database, then join us at on the 17th September
At this workshop Vaughan Owgan from Salon Management Studio will show you;
· What is the most important customer information to collect and why.
· How to protect your database from Therapists.
· How to maximise your database and put money in the bank.
· How to extract information painlessly from your customers.
· How to turn customer information into money.
Date: 17 September
Time: 10.00 – 12.00
Venue: SA Spa Association Conference Room, Craighall, Johannesburg
Cost: R 240.00 Members, R 300.00 Non-Members
Tea, Coffee and Light breakfast included
For more information contact the SA Spa Association on 011 501 4740 or email: info@saspaassociation.co.za
