HOW TO: be a successful salon entrepreneur

The way you walk, speak, dress, and hold yourself are all relevant to how people on the outside see you. “We can't help it. We're predominantly visual creatures. The visual area at the back of our brains comprises 30 percent of our cortex.” Which means most people have decided what they think of you before you even have chance to open your mouth to speak. Lickerman (2012) goes on to state how our judgement of something has a large effect on how we react towards it. We are more “influenced by our own biases than we are by actual evidence. When we have a powerfully positive or negative emotional reaction to someone upon first meeting them—often due to their overall presentation—it powerfully affects our reaction to the "content" we find inside, meaning their personality and character.”

This is an extremely important factor to filter in to business. Your salon is a place of profession and business so the names and prices on the treatment list, the way you answer the phone, the way you dress, and the way the entire salon is run are all factors you are judged on before you may get chance to engage with a customer.

Anyone can be an entrepreneur but the very essence of a successful entrepreneur is how they choose to build their company, or how and where they choose to market it. A successful businessman knows that communication is a buzz marketing word, especially when it comes to service in the salon. They know exactly how they want their stylists to be perceived, and they are aware of exactly, how their clients will be leaving. The point is, successful business people have a plan, they can deal with any obstacles before they can touch the business, and they have an inside vision for COMMUNICATION, both verbal and non-verbal.

So what is communication? Talking, listening, writing? There is much more to communication than you would believe and one thing in particular is often neglected in training sessions which is body language. Actions speak louder than words in successful salons. When we communicate with clients (and other members of the team in front of clients) we use a combination of words, tone of voice and body language and as you might have guessed the 3 elements are not of equal importance.

Research reveals that words (the literal meaning) account for 7% of the overall message, tone of voice accounts for 38% of the overall message and body language accounts for 55% of the overall message. Salons are a difficult place of work because the aim is to feel trustworthy, comfortable and content in your surroundings. However, an extremely important thing to remember is it is still a business, these are your clients, and they are paying money for your service.

How to give positive body vibes?

- Eye contact- this shows interest and respect for whom you are conversing with.

- Be friendly- raise your tone of voice slightly to highlight enthusiasm and positivity.

- Angle yourself towards your potential client to portray a welcoming posture.

- Hold your head up- Try not to slouch as this can give off bad impressions.

- Be genuine. Smile and be yourself, don’t be false as this is equally as off putting.

- Now you have finished reading this go and see how your team are measuring up.

Salon Tracker helps save you time so you can focus on customer service, engagement and loyalty.

Call now for your FREE demo and trial on 0113 350 8230!

Twitter tips you need to succeed your business!

 Constantly checking on your follower count? Can’t tweet right for tweeting wrong? Twitter only allows 140 characters and in that you are expected to engage, excite and intrigue your followers without obviously selling….

#WHATTTTTTTT??????

Don’t panic! Here we have a few simple tips that big brands use to increase your follower count, customer interest and marketing strategy success. Read on for the twitter road to success…

1.     Find the perfect balance between controversial and professional. Take the brand ‘Charmin’ (@charmin) for example, toilet roll with 33.6k followers. Why? Because they have a great (and humorous) marketing strategy. Charmin are the perfect example of a company who know what goals they want to achieve from Twitter. Toilet roll will inevitably sell, so their aim is to build brand awareness and what better way to poo that than with toilet humour? ;)

2.    Be an easy follow. All reputable companies have one thing in common, they know how to work their customers. Take Innocent drinks as another example (@innocentdrinks). They are a successful Twitter brand because although a lot of their tweets are surrounding fruit, innocent and their brand, they also tend to get involved in other subjects which makes them an ‘easy’ follow. Many people would follow Innocent even if they disliked the products because they don’t push for sales. They inject human-like personality into a news feed through entertaining interaction making them a winner brand in the Twitter-sphere.

3.   Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is Facebook. Twitter is not based on becoming friends like Facebook is, it focuses more on the content popularity aspect (brutal we know). So if you aren't speaking about things that people want to here, then you simply won’t make the cut. Don’t worry though, this isn't real life Mean Girls, it’s just about knowing your audience and knowing what they want to here. Look at what they do that works, what are your peers tweeting about? Is it relevant, funny or informative? Why not try a beauty tip of the day or fun fact of the morning that might help your followers with their skin, make-up, fitness or tanning regime. Network with local businesses, retweet their offers, respond and interact with your followers whenever you can but remember that content is key.

4.  Be consistent. Your tweets should be on a consistent basis rather than a one off overhaul of too many tweets at once- that will annoy your followers. Keep it simple and basic and tweet once or twice a day.

5.   Don’t overdo who you are! We get that you are a salon in Manchester, we knew that when we followed you. We thought you had more about you and we enjoyed your variety. But just recently you've changed…your constant tweeting is a bit desperate. We need to break up. It’s not you it’s me I swear. Ahem.

6.   Don’t put your business to private. This doesn't really need explanation, people follow businesses if they like the look of what they see. If they aren't provided with a little taster when stumbling upon your page, they 9 times out of 10 won’t follow.

7.   You rarely get a second chance at a first impression. Bare this in mind when you post tweets, images and information on your Twitter. Think about presentation, spelling and general professionalism. Don’t belittle your brand and this could be detrimental to your custom.

Does this all sound quite daunting? Never fear. On the bright side, you have society on your side. The salon, spa, health and fitness industry is one of the largest around, many thanks to all the celebrities who share their wonderfully miraculous beauty secrets, almost everyone wants little tips and tricks to being the best they can be. For this reason, Twitter is a great networking space to find inspiration, build contacts, and portray what you have to offer. 

Check us out on Twitter @salontrackerapp

HOW TO: convert a walk in customer to a LOYAL client!

A question at the forefront of salon owner’s minds is ‘how do you add value to ensure a loyal client?’ 

There are numerous marketing strategies that businesses can adopt. Our previous blog ‘top 5 tips on using social media’, is a brilliant read for those seeking to grow their salon awareness. However, what if you have done that and now you want to target clients directly and gain customer loyalty? 

 With the abilities of the technical market, SMS and email marketing are the closest you will get to customers unless you want to chase them down the street waving your treatment list in their face (an advised no no). 

A main aspect of running a business is running the hype of your business. If you cannot shout about your offers and promotions then how can you expect others to? 

Besides the techniques such as refer a friend schemes and new customer loyalty vouchers, here are a few friendly pointers to remember when consolidating your message with clients… 
• Personalise messages- it helps you engage the customer rather than sell to them. Entering a customer’s name into an email is more likely to increase click through rates and loyalty. Get this information by capturing as much client data as possible with your software service. Salon tracker provides and advanced marketing suite so that you can tailor your messages creating campaigns to ensure your business has growth in profit. 

• Be consistent- Emails should go out to customers about once a month with a call to action for more information. Of course not everyone takes advantage of the offer but some clients might be waiting for your ‘Promotion of the month!’ Customer loyalty is created by heightened familiarity. 

• Use client purchase history- Marketing products to a client’s purchase history is a brilliant way of utilizing information as you know at some point or another they have expressed interest in this product. Research has shown that emails are more likely to be read if they are of relevance to the reader, so make content informative through a friendly tone. 

 • Aesthetics- Well-chosen imagery, logos and colour enormously enhances a messages impact by distinguishing your company from competitors and making it pleasing on the eye. 

 • Keep it short. People receive a vast amount of emails or texts each day and usually have no time to read over long messages, it is important to get to the point, they will appreciate it. 

 • Undertaking a loyalty scheme- providing new customers with discount vouchers encourage customers to return frequently to get that ‘tenth tan FREE!’

Heighten customer engagement by speeding up the booking process!

Safeguard your salon from a £20,000 fine!

Over recent years, continuous research has been carried out on the potential health risks associated with extensive sunbed use. Since 2012, “experts have revealed that sunbeds account for almost 900 deaths every year in Europe”. These findings have demanded strict regulations and guidelines to be introduced in order to promote salon owners practising the correct etiquette throughout the industry. Nonetheless, studies still show that “70% of sunbeds fail council safety tests” causing danger for all users “as they receive three times recommended level of UV Rays” (Daily Mail 2014)

Regardless of plentiful documentation and proven high risk links to skin cancer, some salons’ lack of compliance have driven Trading Standards to confirm that disobedience of the law will leave owners liable of a £20,000 and all sunbeds removing from premises. Regulations have now been implemented in England, Scotland and Wales making it ILLEGAL for anyone under the age of 18 to use a sunbed. 

Can you confirm you are safely tanning all customers? If not we suggest you act now…

Salon Tracker has embedded tanning guidelines and regulations into its software to protect both customers and salon owners. This will ensure all staff levels in your business are aware of the regulations and that everyone is conclusively thinking of the customer’s health. Guidelines assert that skin should be rested for a minimum of 24 hours between sessions and businesses should record and provide customers with sufficient advice about the tanning suitable for their skin type. 

Salon Tracker allows you to enforce a prohibited use of allowing under 18 year olds onto the sunbed and will also flag up and restrict the use if someone tries to use the sunbed more than once in 24 hours. Furthermore, the client contact information will require the software user to select the client’s skin type, so that the software can calculate their safety sunbed usage with their skin type.

We feel that the implementation of these guidelines into our software will help make tanning safer for all users and therefore, will ensure our customers salons maintain a good reputation and look after their customer’s health as well as their appearance.

Don’t risk your business, call us today for your FREE trial on 0113 350 8230. 

Muscles, man waxing and moustaches... the life of a metro-sexual male!

The main things you need to know about the male health and beauty market…

“Male grooming might not be the biggest market, but it’s definitely the fastest growing as it becomes much more acceptable for men to care about how they look” (John Vial- Fudge Creative Director). Beauty and health salon owners, generally, tend to target their treatments toward the female market because females tend to spend more time in the salon. However, we can see from all kinds of beauty, health, fitness and tanning products that it is becoming more acceptable for men to undergo treatments and, really take care of their self-regimes. Now more than ever, with the acceptance of this, men represent a key target market for health and beauty salons in pursuit of a better self-image. This is largely derived from the celebrity market with plenty of celebrities discussing how they clear spots, prevent wrinkles, tan their skin or build muscle.

So what are the basic facts you need to know?

In a survey of 2,000 salon goers, male salon goers cited concern over physical appearance as the main reason for indulging in treatments, in contrast to women, who said feeling good was more important. Therefore, services and products aimed at the male market should focus, articulate and appeal on the aesthetic benefits to further appeal to men.

How can I sell my products?

Men tend to use basic functional products, such as face washes and slap on moisturiser balm after a shave. They tend to be less convinced on the benefits of more complicated products from a good brand. Unlike females, men usually look at the immediate benefit in buying a product rather than the brand. Therefore, if he can sense it is a good product, he will indeed go on to purchase. Demonstrating the effectiveness of moisturisers, anti-ageing creams and serums may be the key to achieving sales, especially as men may feel reluctant to purchase these products in a retail environment. Therapists should take special care to explain which products they are using during treatments and how they work to male clients. Salon Tracker allows you to capture and store client data, including purchase history, making it easier to up and cross sell products in the future.

The purchasing power of female clients...

Women represent important purchasers of men’s products. Therefore, by offering a range of men’s lines in your salon you can tap into the market by cross selling to your female clients. If your clients have developed allegiances to a particular brand the chances are they will be persuaded that the men’s range is just as good. Again, providing samples for their husbands and partners to try could help overcome male conservatism towards beauty products.

How we can help...

Salon Tracker is a salon management software package which allows you to store, track and communicate with customers in one easy-to-use system. We can gather information on client history so you increase your retail sales and chance of a returning customer. Call us today on 0113 350 8230 for your FREE trial and watch how we improve your business!
 

Instantly improve your business!

Increase Customer Loyalty

Loyalty of customers is vitally important especially during difficult economic times. Your best immediate sources of additional profits and increased business are your existing customers. They know you, they trust you, hopefully they've enjoyed doing business with you, satisfying the experience is key to maintain customer loyalty. 

It is normally five to ten times easier to get an existing customer to buy from you again than it is to get someone to buy from you for the first time. Salon Tracker can help you with this by simplifying the process of capturing, storing and organising client data. Salon Tracker allows you to store all client details in one place, such as hair type, colouring history and even how your client takes their tea, allowing you to personalise your service. Knowing client information allows you to tailor your service to individual clients ensuring they receive the ultimate service experience, consequently heightening customer loyalty. Every client is valuable and important, even if they only visit twice a year, this can be shown through remembering them which is made easy with the use of Salon Trackers record system. 

Improve Marketing Campaigns

SalonTracker allows you to target your customers direct, fast and low cost with the use of the inbuilt sophisticated SMS marketing suite. As the system stores clients purchase history and personal details it allows you to market to them more effectively. SalonTracker allows you to create a contact mailing lists from your client database using any criteria you want, for example you may want to target irregular customers with a 20% off promotion in order to encourage a repeat visit, SalonTracker software will allow you to select these clients from your whole client base rather than offering the discount to all customers and losing a large percentage of the profit. This feature will help you target your clients more effectively and reduce the wastage associated with the one deal fits all campaign. 

Run Effective Advertising

It is essential that you measure the response to all of your advertising in order to evaluate whether or not it represented a viable investment and to shape your future investment decisions. SalonTracker’s advanced business reports will enable you to compare monthly/weekly sales and service figures allowing you to distinguish whether you campaigns have increased salon visits and most importantly your profits. 

Utilize the Power of the Internet

Businesses can reach a vast audience online quickly and more effectively than traditional marketing methods and online booking has fast become an essential feature for businesses in these modern times. Providing online booking will help increase you’re booking rates as it will enable your clients to book in their own appointment 24 hours a day regardless of whether your salon is open or not. In a bid to drive as many customers as possible to your appointment book SalonTracker’s online booking service will also integrate with your Facebook business page, meaning the cost of buying and maintaining a website will not be essential in order to take advantage of our online booking service. Facebook sees over 600 million people logging onto their social media account daily, therefore providing salons with the perfect framework to target and secure client bookings.

It is also important to use email marketing effectively; many businesses still do not collect the email addresses of everyone who contacts them. Every time a business fails to capture someone’s email address they’re turning down the opportunity to contact them for FREE, for weeks, months and years ahead. Once you have Email Addresses – use them! You can use email to thank people for their business, make them a special offer, give them a free article or report, send a newsletter, recommend a product or service they may be interested in, ask for referrals, share some news that may be interested in or ask why they’ve not done business with you.

Have your 14 day free trial of SalonTracker and see for yourself how it can instantly improve your business.