November 16 2009
Did you know the mysterious Google algorithm that determines your search page ranking favors websites that update their content frequently? So if it’s been a while since you’ve freshened up your site, a little tweaking may be in order; this will keep it interesting to both the search engines and to your clients.
Where to start? TruePresence, a national Internet marketing firm, has identified the seven most important pages your website must have to ensure it’s primed to help your salon grow.
1. About Us. The About Us page is your opportunity to differentiate your salon with an identity and style people will recognize. What makes your salon different from others in the area? Use this opportunity to “pre-sell” the client on your facility, unique service offerings (massage, waxing, special nail treatments), and packages (bridal, birthdays, etc.).
Offer bios and contact information for the nail technicians and management. List your hours of operation and include maps and directions.
Effective “About Us” pages are succinct. Visitors become bored reading a webpage that scrolls on forever. Most importantly, don’t get creative with your title. Keep it simple — visitors view this page to learn “About You.”
2. FAQs. FAQ pages save time and money on consultations by answering the questions clients ask before they come to your salon. Ask current clients for input. Post their questions and the answers. If you don’t think potential clients have questions, think again. If you don’t know what they might ask, have them submit questions via an online form. As you see repeats, turn them into your salon’s FAQs.
What are people saying about your salon? Include testimonials from happy customers about the atmosphere, customer service, decor, and overall experience.
3. Latest News. A regular update of press releases and news — either about your salon, seasonal promotions, trends, or events — shows potential clients that your website isn’t stale and that you’re interested in being an information resource.
4. Services. Salon websites can generate huge profits, but only if clients can learn about the services you provide that make their manicures, pedicures, and other treatments worthwhile. Photos of your salon’s workstations, technicians, and before/after client photos can help boost your clients’ confidence in receiving services from you.
5. Current Inventory. If you sell products directly via your website keep it updated. Place technical details on subpages; those who are interested will find them. The main inventory page should include large photos and descriptions as well as prices.
6. Contact Info. Your Contact Us page should be accessible from every page on the site and repeated in the footer. Offer visitors a complete list of ways they can contact your salon: e-mail address, phone number, and physical address.
7. Contact Form. Users surfing away from home may not have access to their default e-mail account. Adding an easy-to-use form allows potential customers to quickly provide their information for follow-up contact. (And don’t forget to have a spot on your home page to collect valuable client e-mail addresses.)
Make sure your site has a purpose. If it’s to provide information, do it well. If it’s to attract new clients, create a great experience. Building a website that visitors enjoy browsing will boost client loyalty and encourage repeat visits.
— Judy Lessin
Coming Next Week: The 80/20 Rule
November 10 2009
For the last five years retailers have followed a trend that spa owners need to be aware of. Don’t forget the Internet. Four of the eight biggest retail e-mail volume days of the year occurred in the weeks before Christmas last year. These days actually have names, “Cyber Monday” (November 27) with the following three Mondays being referred to as “Echo Mondays” (December 4, 11 and 18). Sending out e-mails to your data base around these dates makes good sense.
Writing the e-mails now provides an opportunity to send out a well-planned and thought-out campaign highlighting specials and promotions. You may also consider identifying your top clients from last year’s gift certificate purchases and contact them with a reminder or special offer. Many corporate managers are looking in October and November for the gifts they will give their staff at the end of the year. Spa gift certificates are an easy and great gift for managers to give.
Think in your sphere of influence, who do you know who may need to buy lots of presents for their staff? Ask your staff where their significant others work. Create a game designed for your staff to sell gift certificates. Remind them to use e-mail. If your spa is not set up to sell gift certificates online, be sure to clearly map out through your e-mails and website how easy ordering from your spa is. Set protocols in place to handle all phone inquiries as well as a system to mail out gift certificates. All spas will see a significant increase to their gift certificate sales by making it easy for the clients.
If you are located on a heavily traveled road, you may want to consider setting up a gift certificate tent outside the spa. Send out e-mails letting your clients know your spa will be offering drive-up purchases for busy last-minute shoppers. One of our clients tripled their gift certificate revenue this way while connecting with new clients. Sending out appointment confirmations via e-mail this time of the year can drive additional revenue into the spa as well. According to a recent poll, 70% of clients receiving an e-mail confirmation for an appointment they scheduled will open the message. The spa has the opportunity to include a message, such as “Give the gift of relaxation. Spa gift cards available.”
— Bryan Durocher, Durocher Enterprises
Coming Next Week: Is Your Website Fresh Enough?
November 3 2009
This week, we pause for a word from our sponsor, Dashing Diva Professional. Thanks to them, we’re able to bring you 22 weeks of this exclusive business-building content in The 2010 Project e-newsletter.
Dashing Diva has a new way for you to boost your profits. The company’s Gelife Soak-Off Gel is a great entry point into the world of enhancements for your high-end manicure clients. These regular clients are the perfect candidates for an enhanced service that will ultimately leave you with more money in your pocket. Dashing Diva Professional suggests choosing a few clients who regularly get manicures and explain to them the benefits of the Gelife product (see list below).
- Applies like polish
- Truly soak-off removal
- No fumes
- No burning sensation under UV light
- No primers needed
- Self-leveling, non-yellowing
- High-gloss top gel covers imperfections
- Calcium salt content helps promote nail health
- Compatible with other enhancements and overlays
- Super light, flexible, and comfortable to wear
Your next step is to ask the client if she is willing to test the product (at no charge) on two of her nails. As the nail tech, you should select the nails the client tends to be the hardest on, so she will truly be able to compare the benefits of the product. You’ll use the Gelife Clear Soak-Off Gel as a base (apply two thin layers and cure after each), buff and cleanse the nails, and then apply polish and traditional top coat as usual. Send your client on her way and be prepared for her to come back wanting more.
When your client comes back for her next appointment, she usually returns asking for this upgraded service. Dashing Diva studies have shown that the polish will wear better and last up to a week longer on the nails where the Gelife was used as a base. So now you’ve converted your client to stick to her regular manicure BUT with the added Gelife base. Application time typically runs 25-30 minutes (gel goes on extremely thin and applies like a polish), and we suggest you add $10 on to your traditional manicure price. And with the cost of gel per service estimate at $2, what a great way to boost your most popular service to be your most profitable.
— Hannah Lee
Coming Next Week: Check Your E-mail List…Check It Twice
October 27 2009
Suggestive selling is one aspect of merchandising that is often overlooked, yet it can make a tremendous difference in the total retail sales of a salon. It is a proven statistic that close to 40% of clients will say yes when asked by a staff member if they wish to upgrade in size or quantity. There is a fine line to being perceived as pushy or merely suggestive, though.
A good way to assist your staff with suggestive selling is through the creation of simple scripts. Choose two to three products that you wish to feature during a period of time. Write out key features and unique selling points of each of the products and ask the staff to get comfortable with the language you have chosen. If you find this step challenging, your product representative is a great resource to turn to for help with descriptions and sales techniques for the featured products.
Then require staff members to be sure that each client receives at least one mention per visit. When clients are scheduling their next appointment and paying for their service, this is a wonderful opportunity for your staff to suggest additional product. The “every client gets one mention” is a great way to boost sales of a new product, turn a seasonal item or a product that you are looking to move off the shelves before it is too late.
Many times new products will be endorsed by celebrities. This is a great opportunity to create visual aids that can assist with sales in the form of photos of the said celebrity with their testimonial. It is common knowledge that much of beauty industry sales are driven by celebrity use. The credibility celebrity endorsements offer is staggering and many clients will be more likely to purchase a product used by their favorite musician, actor, or performer. Ask your product representative for any and all press releases and endorsements the product line has. By keeping the celebrity endorsements stored and ready to go, you will have a quick way to do a mid-month merchandising touch-up if you feel the need to switch or change a display.
[Editor’s note: In addition to actual celebrity endorsements (think Brooke Shields and the eyelash treatment Latisse), consumer magazines often run stories on celebrity beauty trends. Rhianna loves bright yellow polish? Awesome. Tear out the trend page from US Weekly and put it up at your station with all those yellow polish bottles you’re retailing. Kate Winslet shares her beauty secrets? Super. Stock up on the lotions and colors she loves and use the page in InStyle to help you sell these products to your clients. NAILS keeps track of professional nail product mentions in all the major consumer beauty and celebrity magazines. Go to our Hot Off the Presses online channel to see what celebrities are wearing and what products beauty editors are talking about. This helps your suggestive selling techniques by giving you something to show your clients. Ahhh, the power of celebrity.]
Suggestive selling may also be accomplished simply by featuring a ‘product of the month’ in a high-visibility area. This technique is great for seasonal specials and time-sensitive products. Cross-merchandising is imperative for your staff members to learn and master. It is a technique that is used with tremendous success by top spas. It is simply the art of matching products together that complement each other. Try using merchandise from different parts of the salon or spa, with the intent to introduce clients to ancillary services as well as products. Displays using this tactic present a wonderful opportunity to introduce clients to other services the spa offers than what they usually visit for. Just like it’s counterpart cross-marketing, cross-merchandising creates opportunities to increase sales while creating loyalty to your salon. It is highly effective and is the suggestive selling technique that can offer a significant reward to your business when applied consistently.
— Bryan Durocher, Durocher Enterprises
Coming Next Week: A Word From Our Sponsor
October 20 2009
Whether the economic times are flourishing or floundering, many leaders get stuck in the same trap: They don’t take time to stop and reflect on what they’re doing. Because there’s so much for them to do and they have so much responsibility and accountability on their shoulders, they’re constantly on the go, striving to deliver results. That’s why they need to take a step back, and give some serious thought to what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
If you ever feel that you’re working harder and harder but feeling less and less fulfilled, you may be making one these top mistakes. Take the steps to correct them today so you can reap bigger rewards tomorrow.
1. They ignore the vision. Having a vision means you’re clear about what you want. You are able to describe it in vivid detail. You know a little something about what it will take to get there and how it will feel to arrive. When you have a clear vision, you can connect to an inner source of inspiration that will call you forth and compel you to achieve your goals. Therefore, you need to get a vision not only for the company, but also for your own role as a leader. Who do you want to be as a leader? What do you want to achieve? What strengths do you bring to the role, and how can you capitalize on those strengths to meet your own goals and the goals of the company?
2. They lose their focus. Once you know your vision and what you want to achieve as a leader, you need to stay focused on it. There’s only so much you can think about at once. Finding focus is about choosing where to put your time, energy, and attention. It means highlighting, combining, minimizing, and even deleting priorities so your choices fit neatly in the greater context of your life. Once you know what’s most important, you can let other things drop. So, if you really want what you say you want, what areas do you have to focus on to get it?
3. They take inefficient action. After you decide where to focus, make sure your daily action plans reflect that priority — not just the 25 other things on the list. While many leaders are taking care of the needs of the business, their employees, the other people in their lives, and their existing responsibilities, they’re not taking action on the things that matter most to them. Therefore, stop asking, “How can I do everything I need to do in a day?” and start asking, “What are the most effective actions I can take to move toward my vision, and how can I ensure that I take those actions now?” By investing just minutes in the planning process and then taking targeted action, you can shave hours, weeks, and even months off the time it takes to reach your goals.
4. They do things the hard way. In business and in life, you always have a choice. You can continue to do things the hard way, the usual way, the way you’ve always done them. Or, you can do things your way — the way you were made to do them. The key is to identify, maximize, and leverage your unique attributes so you can be an effective, higher achieving leader. When you focus on your strengths, you do things your way based on where you naturally excel. To begin finding your strengths, answer these questions: Where are you especially talented? What do you love to do? At work, what are you recognized for? Given the freedom to do things your way, how do you do them?
5. They become disconnected from their work. To be successful, you need to connect not only to your work, but also to an inner sense of vitality. For many leaders, much of their energy goes into striving. Finding fulfillment and alignment with your work means understanding what you’re striving for. When you lack fulfillment, you lose your edge. You may even feel guilty and resentful — or bored. So the questions to contemplate are: What do you want from your work? Do you want to be happy? Do you hope to make a difference? Do you want to feel at peace? These are some of the experiences leaders seek when they seek “success.”
By avoiding these common mistakes, you’re laying the foundation for exceptional leadership results. As you go forward into the future, know that every step you take to improve your leadership is going to enrich your life and the lives of others.
— Joelle Jay, Ph.D.
Joelle K. Jay, Ph.D., is president of the leadership development practice, Pillar Consulting. She is the author of The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership. To contact her, e-mail joelle@pillar-consulting.com or visit www.pillar-consulting.com.
Coming Next Week: Suggestive Selling — Not Pushy, Just Persistent
October 12 2009
We all know customer satisfaction is essential to the survival of our businesses, but how do we find out whether our customers are satisfied? The best way is to ask them with regular customer satisfaction polling. Talking to your customers — finding out what they like (and dislike) about how you do business — is the first step toward success and growth.
So whether you need to tune up an existing survey or build a new one from scratch, you should begin by asking why you are doing the survey in the first place. There is a school of thought that you only need to ask two questions in a customer satisfaction survey. Those questions are: “Will you buy from me again?” and “Will you recommend us to your friends?”
The kind of questions asked can influence a survey’s response rate. Most experts agree that including too many questions can wreck havoc on a survey. Instead, survey questions should be short and simple.
Here are some examples:
• How satisfied are you with the service you received?
• How satisfied are you with the purchase you made?
• How satisfied are you with our salon overall?
• How likely are you to visit us again?
• How likely are you to recommend us to others?
The best time to conduct a customer satisfaction survey is when the experience is fresh in your clients’ minds. If you wait to conduct a survey, the customer’s response may be less accurate.
What To Do With The Answers
Regardless of what you ask your customers and when you survey them, the most important part of the customer satisfaction survey is what you do with their answers.
Yes, you need to compile the answers from different customers and look for trends. However, you mostly need to act on the information you get from your customers through the survey. You need to fix the things the customers have complained about. You need to investigate their suggestions. You need to improve your company in those areas the mean the most to your customers, and you need to make sure you don’t change the things they like. Most importantly you need to give your clients feedback that their answers were appreciated and are being acted upon.
— Ana Loiselle, Milady
Coming Next Week: The Five Ways Leaders Lose Their Edge
October 6 2009
Ultimate Beauty Companies, a Southern Calif.-based beauty distributorship, wants to make a difference in the world — and within the beauty industry — by “paying it forward.” So UBC recently created the Pay It Forward contest to encourage beauty professionals to nominate an industry friend in need, and the chosen finalist will receive $5,000 cash.
As part of the Pay it Forward campaign, beauty industry professionals are invited to submit a true story about someone they know within the beauty industry and the personal or professional challenges that person may be experiencing. The person who submits the winning story will have a chance to reward the friend featured in their story with $5,000 cash — with the request that that person then pay it forward with some small, random act of kindness.
“I’m so proud to be part of a company that is continuously giving back to our customers and our industry. We believe that small, random acts of kindness have the power to change the world one person at a time. With the Pay It Forward campaign we hope to enhance the circumstances of someone within the beauty industry who really needs it,” said Cynthia Heisser, senior vice president of Ultimate Beauty Companies.
Submissions to the Pay it Forward campaign should be made in the form of brief two-minute videos, uploaded to the UBC Giveaway Facebook page, telling the story of someone in need. All entries are due on or before December 1, 2009.
A panel made up of beauty industry professionals including Cheryl and Jim Markham, founders of PureOlogy Serious Colour Care, Harlan Kirshner, president of the Kirshner Group, and “American Idol’s” Dean Banowetz, will view the videos and select the finalist by December 31, 2009. The winner will be announced on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at the International Salon and Spa Expo in Long Beach, Calif.
The Pay It Forward campaign is part of “UBC Makes Dreams Come True,” where one lucky salon professional will win $25,000 cash. The winner of UBC Makes Dreams Comes True will also be drawn on Sunday, January 31, 2010, at ISSE. Click here to enter UBC Makes Dreams Come True and Pay It Forward.
— Judy Lessin
Coming Next Week: Client Surveys: Getting Feedback You Can Use
September 29 2009
As a therapist, owner, and manager who is working full-time in my spa, I wanted to share with my fellow nail professionals how we survive during this hard time by not limiting ourselves to one area of marketing. At Maisie Dunbar Spa Lounge, we don’t believe in overexposure. We expose our business in the following ways:
1. Radio advertisement: We work with one of the leading black radio stations in the Washington, D.C., area — Howard University’s WHUR — promoting our treatments or specials. For example, on Father’s Day, they have a promo called Frantic Friday. We donated an introductory offer for massages/skin care for a investment of $68 to give away on the radio.
2. In-salon events or outside exhibits: When you host in-salon events, it’s a great way for your guests to invite their friends and family who they have been trying to bring to your salon. Create a theme around your event, make it fun, but don’t forget you have a message you are trying to get out. We also exhibit at some churches, girls’ night outs, and conventions in D.C., Maryland, Philadelphia, and Virginia to help get the salon name out. (I never thought after working trade shows all those years that I would be doing them for myself. But thanks to many years as an educator for CND and Seche, I have definitely learned that trade shows aren’t bad! They’re a great way to get your name out there.
3. Media advertisement: We participate in a nationwide Spa Week through Spa Week Media. In addition, we advertise the same treatment through our e-mail blast as well as using social networking as a source to list them. If we are fully booked we continue to honor the Spa Week specials through the next week. It’s good business and it gets new clients in your door.
4. Partnerships: We partner with companies that refer business to us as experts who are using their products (CND, Minx Nails, etc.). It’s smart to position yourself with companies that will support your growth. You can also partner with hair salons in your area that don’t offer nail services. You can refer hair clients to them and in return they can send you new nail clients.
5. Build your business from within: Build a very strong referral system. Celebrate the people who love you and send their friends and family to you. Be gracious. Offer them rewards for helping you grow your business. In the end, word-of-mouth is inexpensive and very effective.
6. Social networking: Everyone is talking about social networking and yes, it does work. Using Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc., to let your guests know what you are doing spreads the word like wild fire. I work 18 hours a day, and I make the time to keep up with the following social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, I See Color, ListServe, Cafe L.I.B., and Model Mayhem. I use them to communicate my latest and greatest, my YouTube videos, my specials, and tips for consumers to be aware of.
As a business woman in the nail industry I need nail professionals to understand that this is the best career in the world. All of your dreams can and will come true in spite of the economy. I changed careers 16 years ago and did not realize I was changing my life. Now I have a successful spa lounge, make-up line, skin care line, and a salon coaching business. I partner with the best because I desire to be the best.
My fellow professionals: Be the talk of your town, develop the spirit of excellence, dare to be great, find a mentor, share your knowledge, be who you are and no one else, and lastly honor the license you hold. I invite you to visit my YouTube videos. Just type Maisie Dunbar in the search field. You can also visit me at www.maisiedunbar.com or www.maisiedunbarspalounge.com. Thank you !
For information on building your business, you can contact me at (301) 675-5491. Stay tuned for classes next year.
— Maisie Dunbar
Coming Next Week: Pay It Forward: Win $5,000 for a Friend in Need
September 21 2009
Don’t let downtime bring down your morale. Use the lull to accomplish projects that help you reach your long-term goals. Here are seven great ways to fill the space in your schedule:
1. Call clients who haven’t been to your salon in a while and ask them to take a short phone survey about their salon experience. Find out what would make them return. (You could conduct the survey by mail as well.)
2. Write a press release about your salon and e-mail it to local media. You should attach a few photos. (If you don’t have any current photos, this would be a great time to get that accomplished too.)
3. Skim through magazines for nail art inspiration, then make a demo nail. Prominently display the inspiration and the art at your station.
4. Meet neighboring business owners. Find out if they’d be willing to cross-promote with you. Zenka Nail Lounge in Manhattan Beach, Calif., recently partnered with a neighboring apparel store to do the nails for the store’s upcoming seasonal photo shoot. The resulting photos are being shown in both spaces.
5. Move slow-selling retail items to a more prominent location.
6. Offer your services to the hairstylists or other employees or booth renters in the salon who are also having a slow day. If it’s just you, then practice your designs in a fun-to-display way. Nail tech Michele Hoffman of Shelley’s Beauty Zone & Day Spa in Bullhead City, Ariz., makes 3-D acrylic animals on polish bottle tops.
7. Start a Facebook or Twitter page for your salon.
— Sree Roy
Coming Next Week: There’s No Such Thing as Overexposure
September 15 2009
These days, most salons offer party packages of some type or another. You may service the occasional bridal or birthday party, or maybe you market a “Girl’s Night Out” party package for clients to book with their friends, but have you fully tapped into the party market? Have you ever thought about actually throwing the party yourself?
Instead of waiting for a client to call and book a party for 10 friends (a great idea in itself, by the way), why don’t you become the party planner yourself? Make your salon the “It” place to party — and you, the salon owner, become the “hostess with the mostest.” It’s as easy as picking a day (or night) and making it a recurring, happening event. You can do your own Girl’s Night Out (GNO) party every Thursday, say, marketing it to your existing clients, placing ads in the local papers and magazines, and cross-marketing with other like-minded business owners in your area. You can offer shortened, discounted services (mini manis and pedis) or you can simply keep your regular service list and have clients book appointments during the designated GNO hours. Play fun music, have refreshments on hand, and create a fun atmosphere for ladies to come and hang out.
Mani Pedi Cutie (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) salon owner Ally Conley hosts Happy Hour every Wednesday from 5 p.m – 7 p.m. Clients are encouraged to book appointments during this time and come in with friends. Wine or beer is served and Conley also puts out homemade snacks and treats. (We encourage you to check to see if you need a liquor license. Usually if you're giving away a small quantity and not selling drinks, you should be fine without a licence.) Sometimes the happy hour has a theme (one time when I went it was a Mexican Fiesta with Corona beer and mini tacos). She doesn’t discount services, but offers clients a free hand scrub and tasty treats (as seen in the above photo). Women come in for their services with friends and stay to linger over the food, drinks, and conversation. Conley acts as the consummate hostess and introduces guests to each other to encourage everyone to hang out.
Polished Nail Bar (Charlotte, N.C.) salon owner Sonny Kim says 50% of his business is parties. Every Wednesday night is Sangria and Manicure Night, and it always attracts a large crowd. Kim advertises in local weeklies and monthlies to attract groups of friends who might be looking for something fun to do together. By now, everyone in Charlotte knows that Polished is the place to be on Wednesdays. In order not to leave their male clientele out of the equation, Polished also hosts Sunday Beer and Pedicures for the men, where they fire up the flatscreens with sports.
Parties or theme nights can be a great alternative to a group dinner or cocktail hour at a bar. By creating an atmosphere in your salon where people want to congregate, you can help establish your salon as the “It” place to party on specific nights of the weeks.
— Hannah Lee
Coming Next Week: Using Downtime to Your Advantage