Salon Owner Attacked…
So, this one caught your eye. Meaning the subject line caught your eye enough to open this email. Well, now that I have your attention…I want to give you something.
Yeah, yeah…I know I tricked you.
But, I did it to make a point. You see, we’re in a weird economy right now. Salons are struggling to figure out what “marketing” they can use to grow their businesses and what marketing they should avoid (to not waste their money).
Today, things are more confusing than ever because certain things don’t work at all (yellow pages, newspapers, etc) and other things just take a ton of time for very little impact (facebook, social media in general). I feel your pain!
But there’s one form of marketing that still works very well because the cost is next to nothing and it produces sales almost every time. And that form of marketing is email marketing. You know…exactly what I’m doing right here.
Now, don’t say that you’ve tried this and it doesn’t work. Because if you have…and you did it right…it would work. I know, because I get emails all the time from salon owners who use it and love it. In fact, I just talked to one this week (thanks, Maria) who told me that she gets an extra grand a week in sales by doing “last minute appointment” emails every Sunday for the next week.
That’s email marketing. And her cost is a small subscription to constantcontact.com and her existing HairMax Salon software. That’s it. So, maybe she has to pick out 15-20 appointments from her appointment book and type those into the email…but that takes maybe 15 minutes.
Is it worth it…for an extra grand in sales (every week by the way)?
I would say yes.
That’s the power of email marketing.
I also heard from a high-end nail salon chain that tried “last minute appointment” emails a few weeks ago and they filled up their two slowest days in no time flat. So, it works. You just have to give the client a reason for taking the appointment. Maybe you discount the service by a certain percentage or even a fixed dollar amount.
The key is that you specify that clients cannot cancel an existing appointment in order to grab a last minute one. Now in HairMax, you can specifically target clients who don’t have appointments already on the books if you wanted to…so you wouldn’t have to worry about that.
This is the type of marketing that works today. Hyper-targeted ads sent to your existing clients with specific deadlines. Email marketing does this exceptionally well.
But there is a huge elephant in the room and here it is.
You have to have a good client email list to take advantage of email marketing. And the best way I’ve ever seen the get a great email list is by using HairMax 11.6 with it’s connection to emailing client receipts. You can see all about it (video) right here…
Oh, by the way, we’re working on a email marketing module that will blow away anything you’ve ever seen (yup…even Demandforce) and will be available within a month or two. So, be on the lookout.
In the meantime, if you have a great email list…do the last minute appointments. If you don’t…watch the video and get on it.
P.S. In my next blog, I’m going to tell you a technique that will improve your email marketing by a ton. Yup, and it has to do with “Salon Owner Attacked”
P.P.S If you want to try out constantcontact.com and get a $30 credit toward your first bill just use this link when signing up. The program is kick ass and you can make very professional looking emails in a snap. Here is the link.
As always, aim high…and dream even higher…
Steve Sampson
Steve I have known you guys over 25 years and THIS is the best stuff you have presented.We use a strong Email base now but I am excited to see how we can take it to new levels.Cheers Christopher
I have a salon in Texas…called Big Texas Hair Co. and we have been in business about 1 1/2 years. We have tried everything as you say and we are truly struggling. We have 17 salons in a town that has 23,000.00 people. When we opened there was 7. Wow. right. We really need to figure this thing out are we won’t make it. I have 2 really good people plus myself and we are trying everything we can afford to. Please send me you thoughts and what you think we should do.
We have been using constant contact for 2 yrs. and love it!
Email marketing was the best move we’ve made in 10 yrs.
Of business!
Hi Edie,
I feel your pain! You’re in survival mode…no doubt. And most business owners have been there at one point or another (me too)…so don’t get depressed. I think it’s part of the deal. When you say “we are trying everything we can afford to” that tells me that you probably went into this thing a little under-capitalized (which is all too common as well). Well now your’e here…so what to do now?
The asset that you have the most of is TIME. So use that to your advantage. Do everything you can to get people in the doors. 50% off referral cards. $10 men’s cuts if a wife refers her husband. Big discounts, Groupons, whatever it takes to get people in the doors.
Have an active Facebook fan page. Post everyday if you have to…just don’t make it all advertising.
Spend some time on this question: “Why would a person come to my salon…in a town of 23,000 people…instead of the 17 other salons in town?” Make your salon unique. Find a unique service that nobody else does…that clients want. That is the best answer I can give you.
Bottom-Line: if you make it thru this period….you will be stronger for it.
Steve