Everyone, who runs their own salon, eventually encounters the problem: how to attract new customers, and what to do so the existing ones keep coming back? Informing them about your services is not enough. You need the strategy, in order to achieve satisfying results of your actions. The right strategy will allow you to create a positive image of your salon, as well as increase your brand awareness and reach. I know, at this stage you may wonder, what am I talking about, but relax… I’ll explain everything in the text below. And maybe I even surprise you.
The process of attracting a client to the salon
The process itself is not as complicated as you may think. However, you need to spend some time, to put it all together. There are four elements that could help you increase the sales and attract new customers. These are: awareness, interest, decision, and desired action.
1. Awareness
It all begins here, and you need to be everywhere, where your clients are. I assume that you already have your Facebook page. If you don’t, there is plenty information online, on how to create one. Facebook page is an online equivalent of your brand’s business card, but you can also slowly build consumer awareness with it. Share interesting materials, document makeovers, show the effects of your work. Building awareness and visibility of your brand is a long and labor-intensive process, but it’s all in your hands. The growth depends on your skills, creativity, and commitment.
You can’t get off without online ad. You have to be everywhere, where your clients are. Try starting with running social media profiles, and then introduce your website, presenting your offer and what services you offer. It is not only about the image, but also about fast contact with the client.
2. Interest
If you run your own salon, you can interest your audience by offering them a free consultation. If it is a hair salon, you can offer a free appointment, and you can get to know your clients, find out what their expectations are, and help them to choose the best hairstyle for them. Additionally, on the test day you can offer a regeneration treatment, and schedule a makeover appointment for a particular day.
This is the moment, when you offer a free value and then paid services. At the end, you obtain their contact details, and this is the most precious thing.
A key to your success is to talk to the client, building a relationship, and gaining their trust.
3. Decision
If the client won’t make a decision about appointment, you can call them yourself. Ask them, if they are happy with the treatment, you offered them last time, and offer them another meeting. The decisive process of your customer is complex. Your task is to do everything, so they see you as a professional and trust you enough to make an appointment. During the conversation they still may have doubts if they want to use your paid services or not. The reason might be price, as it could be too high. In this case you can thank them for their trust and that they used your free consultation, and offer them a discount, if they decide to use the service.
4. Action
You almost got them! The client had already got a free consultation to choose the best hairstyle for them, used a free treatment, and also paid less for the service. You can attract a new client, when you act fast and be confident. Try to satisfy their needs and help them with every step on the way: from awareness to action.
Do you realize what you’ve just created? It’s a sales funnel. I didn’t explain it at the beginning on purpose. You can apply this model to every kind of business, and how they work on a particular example. It is the best definition of what sales funnel is. Before you start to create one, you need to find out what is the problem of your potential client, and how you can convince them to use your service.
Sales funnel as a perfect sales model
Sales funnels are tracks, which allow you to multiply your sales effect. It’s just walking your potential customer through the process of becoming your client.
Funnels are a wonderful idea for every type of business activity, so they will be perfect for your company. What’s more, they can become one of the most important parts of your strategy. Maybe you use funnels and you don’t realize it. Only after analyzing the particular example of the client in your salon, you start to think about it. All your marketing actions can be presented in a funnel scheme.
How to attract new customers to your salon through email marketing
Use the potential of email marketing and obtain an unlimited number of contacts. Start building your database now and collect email addresses of your existing and new customers now. By introducing email marketing to your business, you create consumer loyalty and build relationship with them. What’s more, you can reach an unlimited number of people, and inform them about your services and new products. And all these actions lead to increased sales in your salon.
Find out more: How to start with email marketing >>
Use Newsletter
Did you know, that newsletter is the best method to keep in touch with your clients? When you send messages to your clients, you can remind them to visit your salon, if they didn’t schedule an appointment for a long time. This way you won’t let them forget you and invite them to your salon.
Imagine that you check your inbox and you see a following email subject line: “Hey! When will you visit us?” or “Kate, you seem to forget us!”
You are curious, what is it about. In the email content, there is an invitation for another visit to the salon, where you got your hair colored few months ago. What’s more, the person who sent it, has to convince you to schedule an appointment, so they offer you a free treatment if you book your visit this week. See? Maybe you forgot that you were there, but this message made you consider going there again. Not only they remember you, but they also offer you an additional free treatment.
This is a simple example, but you can send such messages to your clients, so they won’t forget you. Even people, who visited you a long time ago, can be attracted again.
In the end, the most important thing is income. When you gradually introduce email marketing to your business, it will become more recognizable and will bring you more earnings. Social media posts are not enough.
Lead Ads campaign on Facebook
The best way to reach your customers is through advertising. If you have a Facebook page, you can create a marketing campaign. First, you need to establish the group of people you want to reach. You know your clients better than anyone. Answer the following questions. How old are they? Where do they live? What are their interests? What can draw their attention or interest them? Maybe it’s a mini guide, or a discount?
In order to obtain contact details to a person, who could be interested in your services, you can run a campaign on Facebook, and the ad will take them to the contact form. The form should be extremely simple, and contain basic data as first and second name and telephone number. The simpler the form is, the more likely you will obtain a contact. This way you can connect with your client fast and invite them for a free consultation. If the person gives you their number, it means that they are interested in your offer and is really close to making a decision.
However… Nothing comes for free.
In exchange for contact, the person should get value from you. You can prepare a short guide on how to take care of your hair in the winter, or how to keep the blond hair cold shade. The person downloads the guide, and leaves contact details, so you reach out to them and schedule a free appointment.
See the post, where you can find out how to start a Lead Ads campaign on Facebook >>
Add a call to action on your page
Besides creating Lead Ads campaign on Facebook, remember about a fast contact option for your clients. Add a “call now” or “send a message” button. Call to action will be visible under your cover photo on your page.
Use remarketing
And now I’ll tell you about how to keep the existing client and make them come back frequently. You’ve made effort to reach the right person with your ad. You also obtained their contact details, they used your services once, twice… and they’re gone. They haven’t visited you for a long time. So, you’ve lost your client? False. You can’t leave it like that. Prepare a remarketing campaign, which will be directed to people, who were on your website and took action.
You can direct your remarketing message to the people, who visited your website, people from your Facebook page, or to the landing page.
How to sell more in your salon?
One of the problems that salon owners have to deal with is pricing. Yo really need to think about your prices so you gain new customers and don’t lose existing ones. Above all, you have to get to know your clients well enough. When you find out what are their needs and expectations, you can create an offer, and adjust the price to them.
Use the cross-selling and up-selling strategy
When you want to increase your income, you don’t have to raise prices for your services. Instead, take care of good communication with your client.
When the client comes to the salon, you can offer them an additional service. If they decide to have their hair bleached, you can offer them a product like Olaplex, which will protect their hair from chemical damage. Tell them about how it works, and encourage them to make a decision. When you finish, you can recommend another product such as shampoo, conditioner, which will keep their shade last longer and protect the color from washing out. This way, the client, who came only to get their hair bleached, decided to pay more for hair protection and for products you recommended to them. They are happy with the service, left your salon with a beautiful, new color, and they feel like someone treated them professionally. And you increased your sales. This strategy is cross-selling, that is offering complementary products.
There is also an up-selling strategy. That means offering a more expensive product. When the client wants to have a treatment done, you offer them a more expensive one, of a higher quality, or if they are interested in purchasing a product x, offer them a product y, which can bring you more income. Tell them about perks of the product, and explain why it’s better for their hair type.
Happy client is a loyal client
If the client is happy with your services, they will keep coming back. Every offer has to be tailored to their individual needs. Otherwise they can feel discomfort and see your propositions as pushy.
Listen, listen, listen. If you talk to the client during the bleaching process, and they tell you about their dry ends, act fast and offer them a product that could help. Tell them about the oil, which will make their hair smooth and properly nourished. Show them how it works. If it doesn’t work, give them a free sample, and they will certainly ask about it on their next appointment.