october 008 - Stylist and Salon Newspapers

Create a Holiday Crush and Reap the Benefits of the Season
INTERNATIONAL HAIRCOLOR EXCHANGE
TO REGISTER
Better Business
Neil Ducoff
Now is the time to begin marketing your
salon or spa for the end-of-year rush.
Preparing for the holidays requires planning
if you want to reap all the benefits a successful
holiday season can offer.
That’s why now is the time to focus on the
essentials of holiday planning: from service
and retail, goal setting, to retaining all those
valuable first-time clients. And don’t forget to
plan your best gift certificate strategies, from
promotion to redemption.
To make the most of the holidays, first
consider historical performance. What kind
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of numbers has your salon or spa posted in
the past?
Decide which areas need improvement:
preliminary marketing, phone coverage,
technical consistency, anything at all. Which
services, products and technicians
are traditionally in great
demand, and are therefore
overburdened during the
holidays? And perhaps the
most important question is
what to do about it all.
Your holiday strategy will
consist of several components.
For example, you need a product
plan, including merchandising, sales scripts,
packaging and promotional objectives. Likewise,
you need a comprehensive service plan.
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Consider whether the holidays represent an
appropriate time to launch new services, or to
stick with what works.
And if service sales really go through
the roof in the next few months, are there
Now is the time to focus on the essentials of holiday
planning: from service and retail, goal setting,
to retaining all those valuable first-time clients.
enough technicians on your team to satisfy
client demand? Historical data will be your
best guide for determining where to set your
holiday sights.
Holiday Merchandising and Gift
Certificate Strategies: The word “merchandising”
usually conjures images of a sparkling
display case at an immaculate desk, or of
forward-facing items placed three inches apart
on the shelves. Those are important practical
elements of a merchandising plan, but there
are external less known elements that are just
as important.
The first thing you must merchandise is the
business itself. A shiny, happy salon is attractive
to clients. But a shiny, happy salon is not just
about keeping the floors swept and displays
dusted. It begins behind the scenes, with the
things clients don’t see. It begins in the back
room and weekly huddles, where team members
establish codes of conduct, dress, interaction
with clients, customer service initiatives…
when you stop to make your list you may be
surprised at how many things are on it.
Hectic holiday schedules make it even
more interesting. So it’s especially important
to establish rules of conduct for dealing with
frazzled, time conscious clients. Some will be
delighted with everything the salon offers; others
decidedly won’t be. Either way, the holiday
season is a time for infinite patience from salon
owners and team. Client perception will determine
whether the business truly capitalizes on
holiday client traffic.
How to Retain Those First Time Holiday
Clients: All first time clients challenge
many salons and spas, but first-time holiday
clients even more so.
Ah, the holidays. For many in the retail
and service industries, there is no substitute
for—and no way to live without—the financial
boon provided by consumers possessed by the
spirit of giving. Some salon and spa businesses
are absolutely dependent on the gift certificate
driven cash influx they usually experience in
November and December.
Then the clients come and here begins the
real test: what happens to these clients? Do
hundreds or even thousands of first-time faces
disappear? A few questions and keystrokes on
the phones and at the point of sale can capture
enough information to give you an edge on
turning them into repeat visitors. The important
first step, which many businesses forego,
is asking the questions.
A gift certificate, with no
follow-up plan for retaining the
client, is not worth the paper it’s
printed on. Coordinated marketing
campaigns cost money, sometimes
in significant amounts. The
reward for this investment is new
client traffic. Once the clients start
to arrive, a salon or spa is charged
with converting them into loyal, raving fans. If
this does not happen, the business would have
fared much better marketing to its existing
client base, which costs significantly less than
new client acquisition.
A Holiday Hypothesis: How many
gift certificates will your salon or spa sell this
season? What will be their average value, and
for which services? Generally, salons and
spas will see about 75 percent of holiday gift
certificates redeemed. The average number of
clients retained varies greatly, and depends on
many factors, including which services they
experience. Clients that redeem certificates for
luxury services are less likely to return, because
they consider the visit a treat; it’s nice as a
gift, but not something they would normally
indulge themselves in.
Let’s Look At Some Numbers: Let’s say
your salon sells 100 gift certificates. Of these,
75 percent are redeemed. Of those 75 clients,
35 percent come back for another visit. The
business nets 26 new clients.
Sadly, those numbers are probably generous
for many salons and spas. Redemption
percentages fluctuate, and most salons retain
closer to only 30 percent of first-time clients.
So the question is, if a salon only retains
roughly 25 percent of its gift certificate
customers, is it really worth the hassle and
expense? Some business owners do not
hesitate to say that it is. It’s important to reach
as many clients as possible. Others feel the
funds invested in concept, design, production,
mailing, paperwork and tracking are better
spent elsewhere. Both points are valid. Either
way, the trick is turning clients that you pay for
via marketing expenses into paying clients via
referrals and a greater share of their personal
business.
If you play your cards right, each generation
of first-time clients will produce another,
as they refer and purchase gifts for friends and
acquaintances.
Neil Ducoff, founder of Strategies and author of the upcoming book “No-
Compromise Leadership,” developed the team-based pay concept
more than 30 years ago and developed a company that trains and coaches to
ensure businesses implement the program successfully. For more information,
visit www.strategies.com.