Attracting and Keeping Salon Clients

Gain, Retain and Re-activate Salon Clients.

Technology expert David Levine from Salon-iQ, looks at the fundamentals of building a salon business. 

GAIN

Salons are always looking for new ways to attract clients to their salon. A magic bullet, or some amazing way that is going to have clients flooding through the door. when often they have not even mastered the basics. At Salon-iQ we believe in mastering the basics. If it isn’t producing the results you want, then you haven’t mastered them. The best three ways to get new clients are:

• Client Referrals  You MUST have a good working referral system, this is your best form of advertising and attracting new clients.
• Your Shop window  If you are lucky enough to have a shop window and passing prospects, then make your window work. Make it interesting, make it inviting, make it tempting.
• Website  Your website is you 21st century window. A good website will get you clients. It pays to go to someone who speciallises in the hair and beauty industry because, getting ranked on page one of Google and staying there is a skill.

Traditional salon management systems, have not been used to attract new clients to salons. This all changed with Salon-iQ’s GASTM  Guest Attraction System, which puts client referrals on autopilot. Salon-iQ automatically sends texts and emails asking salon clients to recommend friends to the salon, a consistent referral system that keeps on working.

RETAIN

So you are getting your new clients through the door. How do you keep them? Again this is not rocket science, and you have to assume you have the basics right:

• Clean and welcoming salon

• High levels of customer service

• Basic Salon Systems

Assuming these are right, it ALL comes down to the team. Your team need the knowledge, the skill and the ability to be able to communicate effectively with clients. They need to be genuinely interested in clients, they need to inspire, be happy and listen. Educate, educate, educate. Salon-iQ can help with basic systems and processes but the team is YOUR responsibility. Think of it as the engine in your car, it needs to be kept fine tuned and oiled. If it isn’t, it will not matter how many new clients you get through the door, how many clients you re-activate, how great your systems and technology are, you will be on a dangerous slope. So invest in your team, I know a number of you will say yes, we all ready do that. I say if you are not getting the results you want, then you are not doing enough.

REACTIVATE

You now have new clients and a warm welcoming salon with a great team, but what about keeping them?

You will lose clients, they are continually tempted by your competitors, maybe you let them down once, or they couldn’t get in to see you and started going somewhere else, maybe you lost a team member. This is where your technology can really help. Targeted retention marketing and planned client journeys are now necessary key elements in any salon’s text, email and retention marketing strategies. Using Salon-iQ’s guest retention system, gives you another chance to win a salon client back. Targeted text and email marketing, coupled with customer calls, can dramatically improve client retention and win lost clients back.

Does retention marketing really work? YES. Measure the results. I have been using the new client salon dashboard, Salon Guest attraction system, and Guest Retention System in my salons and the figures are clear.

What makes Salon-iQ different? It is the result of 20 years salon experience. First as the UK’s leading salon software provider and second as a multi-site salon owner. As a salon owner, I need to know what works and what doesn’t, if it works it goes into Salon-iQ, if it doesn’t then we do not put it in.

The result? Salon-iQ does not fix salons if customer service is poor. However, it can give salon owners the tools that can help get them new clients, and give them the best chance that technology can at getting them back.

To find out more about Salon-iQ check out www.saloniq.com or Call 0843 289 6095

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