CJ Murray has learned plenty of tricks in her 26 years as a licensed nail tech. Chief among them was her wine-and-dine promotion that successfully upgraded clients from a $25 to a $45 pedicure, while also boosting retail sales.
CJ Murray, owner of Centre for Beauty — a Seminole, Fla.-based distributor of products that are “all about feet” — has learned plenty of tricks in her 26 years as a licensed nail tech. Chief among them was her wine-and-dine promotion that successfully upgraded clients from a $25 to a $45 pedicure, while also boosting retail sales.
“I used to own a full-service salon and day spa and we had a very lucrative pedicure business. However, most of the pedicures were our lunchtime 30-minute service,” says Murray. “At that time, our price was $25. So, in order to introduce new Footlogix products and increase our price structure (since we were using far better quality products), I came up with the wine-and-dine idea.”
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Murray delivered a private invitation to 18 of her best pedicure clients who were receiving the $25 service. They paid $25 to attend the event and received a Footlogix pedicure on one foot only, along with home-care products. “We treated them to wine, cheese, and petit fours, and offered a 20% discount on their next pedicure if they booked it before they left the event,” she says.
“The kicker was, the pedicure they were used to paying only $25 for was now going to be $45. We took away our inexpensive pedicure and offered only Footlogix or a spa pedicure. We soon discovered clients were really interested in results. Seventeen of our 18 invitees went with the Footlogix pedicure at $45 and continued until the day I sold my salon. For new clients we offered the pedicure at $65 and included a can of the retail mousse for at-home use. My retail business increased at a rate of 75% consistently.”
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