Attracting New Clients To Your Hair Parlor
Beauty salons are operating in a competitive industry. The average salon faces losing between 10 percent and 25 percent of their clients every year. That means within three years they’ll have turned over half of the people that they once counted as regular customers. The only way for such a business to stay afloat, if they can’t solve what appears to be a systemic retention problem, is to keep attracting new client.
So, how can beauty salons attract new clients? Well, the first thing they need to do is target the right people, and work with other local businesses to pull people in. Beauty salons work well with hairdressers, for example, and can often build mutually beneficial business partnerships.
Who is your ideal client? Many salon owners make the mistake of thinking that anyone who is willing to spend money in the salon is a good client. That’s not a good way to grow your business. The best client for you is not just ‘anyone that will spend money’. You want to find someone who loves the kind of treatments that you offer, that will buy them regularly, that isn’t a customer service burden, and that will spread the word about your business to their family and friends.
Why do you care about those things? Well, you’ll get a lot more long term money out of those clients, for a lot less hassle, than you would if you allowed yourself to be trapped into dealing with the coupon-clipping clients that complain about everything, and that are purely interested in finding the cheapest place to get their nails done or to have a facial.
If you invest in finding your perfect clients, you’ll build a reputation among a more selective crowd; people who will become loyal clients more readily. So, how is it possible to reel in the most loyal clients we’ll ever meet?
Networking over social media is a great way for a beauty salon owner to find new clients. Don’t limit yourself to Facebook and Twitter either – the real market is in Instagram and Pinterest – image sharing, aspirational and inspirational networks where people share ideas and show off their new looks. Combine that with check-in bonuses on the more ‘standard’ social networks and you have a powerful recipe for word of mouth marketing from exactly the right people.
Finding Those Referrals
Getting people to come through the doors for the first time can be hard, but as a salon owner you do have a few golden opportunities to bring in new customers. For example, you can work with local boutique fashion stores and with hairdressers, or even jewelry stores, to get customers. Joint promotions are easy to set up, and can be mutually beneficial.
Set Your Prices Sensibly
Set your prices sensibly – it’s easier to run a sale to cut prices than it is to increase them at a later date. So, if you’re looking at your pricing and you think that’s what’s holding people off, run a seasonal sale instead of just outright cutting your prices. Find the kinds of things that will be in the greatest demand at that time of year, and put them on offer. If you need to revamp an offer before people get ‘price fatigue’, then do that by changing it – instead of 10 percent off, if it’s something that people will have done regularly (waxing, for example), do a “buy X treatments, get one free!” offer, or offer a free waxing with your spray tan, for example.
Remember that first impressions count when it comes to bringing in new clients. Make sure that your salon is clean and organized. Have an appointment book on hand and welcome people as soon as they come in. Be punctual, and make sure all your staff are well presented. You wouldn’t get a haircut from someone with bad hair, so you can’t expect your customers to get skin treatments from someone who looks tired and drained.
People want salon treatments throughout the year for special events, holidays, and just to feel pampered. Once you figure out who your clients really could be, it’s easy to keep their attention in the medium term, and as they move away, bring in new customers.