Surviving the Economy (Part 3) - Get Out in the World

Step #3 in our series on “Surviving the Economy” is “Get Out in the World”! I started my book “Get More Clients, Make More Money, FAST!” with “I used to sit around waiting for clients, until I realized no one knew I was waiting!” If you’re like me and lots of other stylists, you can tend to think that clients are going to walk in and beat a path to your door. Some may, but will you starve while you’re waiting?!?

Here are several ways to let people know ‘who you are and what you do, without seeming ‘pushy’! And more importantly, have them asking you for your services!

Host an event in your salon – an open house, a grand opening, a product or service introduction, a class on haircare or make-up

Hair shows – have your own or do the hair for someone else’s fashion show(s) - be sure to get the hair credits in their program

Sunday or Monday night host a ‘Football Widows’ party
Or if your clients are football fans (or any sport), have a football party
Or what about a movie party (remember what we said in tip #2 about making your place fun)

Attend an event! That’s right, get out of the salon and do something social, you never know who you might meet – sorority meetings, business classes, book clubs, church events – meet people find out what they do and share with them what you do! I’ll bet they’ll be excited!

Matter of fact I just had a Coaching session with a stylist who wants to build her business and I asked her what outside activities she was involved with. She didn't have any, so I asked if she went to a church. That's a great place to get involved with activities and build relationships with lots of people! It turns out that she belongs to one of the largest churches in the country! She often doesn't attend (because she's working), so now her homework is to attend and get involved! It can't help but give her more balance in her life (all work and no play, makes Jane a dull girl) increase her spiritual growth and increase her clientele!!! That's what I call a real win/win!There are so many more ways to 'Get out in the world', to keep this short and sweet, I'll have to share those next time!

Til next time, try some of these out and let me know about your successes,

Miki Wright, Your Salon Business Coach for Life
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

www.myspace.com/mikiwright

For more info on the “Get More Clients…” book, go to http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

Surviving the Economy (Part 2) - Keeping in Touch

Tip #2 Keep in Touch!

As we continue our series on “Surviving the Economy”, there’s often a push to figure out how to get new clients. But what are you doing to keep the ones you already have and say ‘thank you’ or ‘you matter to us’? There’s a saying that “people don’t care how much you know, til they know how much you care”. Here are a couple of ways that you can easily and inexpensively stay in touch with your clients.

Online – When I ask groups of stylists how many of them are online, many of them (sadly) are not. When I ask how many of their clients are online, most of them say “Almost all of them”. There’s another saying, that you need to ‘go where the fish are biting’ and right now your clients are on the internet trying to find you – are you there??? ( Stay tuned - We will have more on "Using the Internet" in Part 4)

Mail – There’s nothing like getting a cute little personal envelope in the mail (something that’s not a bill!), you just can’t wait to open it. Your clients feel the same way. This will have a little more cost, but if one client comes in one more time in a year, it will probably cover the cost! Consider using snail mail just for birthdays and/or the Holidays. (listen in on our replay for “How to be Busy in January and February” at 1(218) 936-7995 Access Code: 397475 )

Phone – You can always call just to say ‘hi’, call to check on how your client made out with her new look, did she get lots of compliments or does she have any questions about it. Also, it can be great to call to update your records or to contact clients you haven’t seen in a while, just to check on them. Many times when you call, they’ll actually book an appointment and sometimes they may be with a friend and schedule them also!

These are just a few ways to “Keep in Touch” with your existing clients. You might be surprised that just showing you care will encourage them to come in more frequently, spend more money each visit, try new services and refer more of their friends! Let me know how it goes, miki@BeautySuperStars.com

To listen to the entire "Surviving the Economy (and Celebrating Successes)" Telephone Coaching call, check out our 72 hour replay line at 1-218-936-7995, passcode 794987 (available 24/7)

To join us on the next call, Join the Club, Club SuperStar, that is, visit http://beautysuperstars.com/clubsuperstar.aspx

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s tip on “Get Out in the World”!


Miki Wright, Salon Business Coach
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

Surviving the Economy (Part 1) “Where everybody knows your name…”

Stylists from California, Atlanta, New Jersey and more joined us on a really hot Telephone Coaching Call on “Surviving the Economy”! Over the next few days, I’ll share some of the ideas that are designed to help you become ‘the busiest Stylist (or Salon) in your area’…

Remember the popular TV show “Cheers”? Their theme song says “Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name…”. People, especially in troubled times, want to go where they can escape the troubles of the world, feel appreciated and have a relaxing, familiar experience. Why not at your salon?

Tip # 1 - Create a Community (and an Experience)

• Plan events – pre-holiday (shopping) parties? Upcoming Fashion (or hair or make-up) Trends? What about a class on “Styling Your Daughter’s Hair”??? Whatever you do, keep it simple, and make it more about the people and the experience
• Serve light refreshments in the salon – apple cider in the fall, hot chocolate in the winter, donuts on Saturday morning, etc.
• Make sure that all of your clients know each other and know what they do, so that they can support each other’s businesses, maybe host a “Meet and Greet” and while you’re at it, why not invite your entire community? Call your local paper and let them know what you’re doing.
• Why not hold a class on ‘Financial Matters’? Bring in an outside expert or ask one of your clients.

These are just ideas to help you and your salon ‘stand out from the crowd’ and keep clients talking about you, coming in for service and waiting to see what’s next! Make your salon the place where they want to come, even if they don't have an appointment! Try them out, come up with your own ideas (along with your team) and let me know the response!

To listen to the entire call, check out our 72 hour replay line at 1-218-936-7995, passcode 794987 (available 24/7)

To join us on the next call, Join the Club, Club SuperStar, that is, visit http://beautysuperstars.com/clubsuperstar.aspx

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s tip on “Keeping in touch”!

Til then,

Miki Wright, Salon Business Coach

http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

Do all your neighbors know?!?

Does everyone within a 10 block radius know who you are and what you do??? I mean do they really KNOW! So that when someone even mentions 'hair' or better yet, 'your specialty in hair', are you the first person or salon that comes to their mind? The only one? Do they have your cards handy so they can easily refer you? If not, it's time to get busy! Take any downtime you have and introduce yourself. Invite them in (the folks that work in your area) for a service! Feel free to offer a special coupon, discount or gift with service to get them in and talking about you. Then let them become your sales force by referring you new clients! After all, it's all about building relationships!

Blessings,

Miki Wright
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/

Houston, we have a problem!

As I'm sure you've heard, Hurricane Ike hit Houston and Galveston, TX with a vengeance! It's been 5 days of no electricity, no water and very limited food and gas. It's one thing to hear about it on the news, but quite another when you know the people who are living thru it. Please pray for Marta, one of our Club SuperStar Members, as well as all of the other stylists and residents of Houston. Marta is a dynamic and vivacious stylist who has been working diligently to leave her job and return to styling on a full time basis. Her last day at her job was to be last Friday and she would start her full time styling career this week. But Ike intervened and had other plans. I don't know how to help, other than to send our prayers for their safe keeping. If you have any ideas on how we can be of greater assistance, please let me know!

As I told Marta, when this all clears, there will be lots of people who will need their hair done! :)

Send Marta some love at magic@magicinmotionhair.com - I'm not sure when she'll be able to get online, but it should give her a smile!


Miki Wright
www.BeautySuperStars.com

A Whole School Day!?!

I recently did a first time client, who said she didn't go to the salon much and when I asked her why, she said that in most salons it 'takes all day'! She went on to share about her girlfriend who goes to the salon on a regular basis and on her last visit she had a 9am appointment and didn't leave until 3pm!!!

When I really stopped to think about how long that is, it was mindblowing! If you have a child, they typically go to school at 9am and get out a 3pm and during that time they've had english and math and social studies and science and gym and lunch! That's a WHOLE school day! Anyway you slice it, that's a lot of time for one hairstyle!!! (unless they're getting a weave or something - which she wasn't).

If that were the only time I heard that type of story, it would be one thing, but unfortunately, it's a fairly common one. My fellow Beauty Professionals (and I'm using that word lightly), we've got to step up our game! It's time for us to pull out a timer, to see how long it really takes us to do our services - and then schedule accordingly! We had an interview with Patric Bradley, who said it may be related to not having enough education - when you don't know how to do something, it takes you longer! It's the 21st Century, our clients are BUSY and don't have time to spend their lives with us in the salon! If we don't get it together., we're going to keep losing our clients and our salons! You may be tempted to say 'it's not me' it's the other stylists!' That may be true, but we are only as strong as our weakest link! Let me know your thoughts.

Miki Wright
miki@BeautySuperStars.com
http://www.beautysuperstars.com/