In the past I’ve run specials to try to entice clients to book their next appointment. I remember during my first year in business I would tell my clients that if they booked their next two appointments ahead then the third one would be free. It was successful in that I had several people who did just that and a few of them were really good at telling other people in town that I was offering that deal. For that time in my life and career, it was a move that produced results. However, I ended up doing more free work than I had originally intended to do, and eventually I had to quit offering it because it was costing me more money than it was bringing me. Looking back now I can see that there were other ways that would have been even more successful.

I have not tried to do a gift basket incentive for pre-booking. That is a great idea. Rachael and I are putting one together this weekend. We have been really excited to pick out the products for it and make up a cute sign to display on the spa side coffee table. It has been a fun project for us to brainstorm together. We are even thinking about running a contest for the spa-side service providers since we have a newer esthetician and massage therapist that this could work well for too. We are really excited to see how this can help raise Rachael’s pre-book percentage. I am hoping for myself that it will help to raise my two month average percentage for November/December to 90% from the previous two years at 85%. We will keep you posted.

— Sandy