The referral contest winner at Sandy’s salon sure did a lot to increase her referral base! The beauty of all of those referrals is that the new referrals will tell their friends and they will tell their friends and so on. There will be so many new faces in her chair. You have to keep working on referrals; it's a never ending business practice. We all need new faces, since you never know when someone will leave you, move, or stop coming to see you.

When I consult in salons, referrals are something we always talk about. It is an important part of our business. Yes, as a salon owner I can pay to advertise with a billboard, newspaper ad, or commercial, etc. That is a good way to BUY clients. But, a referral by word-of-mouth is golden. The reason for that is people trust the opinions of their friends, family, and coworkers. If they say they received exceptional customer service and a fabulous pedicure or manicure, people want to know who provided such a service.

Another way to get referrals is to ask your clients for them. Ask your clients to send their friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors to you. This is something else that is covered during my visit — creative ways to market yourself and your salon. There are many ways to ask for referrals, but not all of them work. Sometimes we feel uncomfortable asking our clients to send people to us. We aren't sure how to word it and most of the time we talk too much and we lose our client’s attention. I can help with those feeling of anxiety and give your salon creative ways to get the referrals rolling in.

Retail-phobia? Are we afraid to offer a retail item to our client for fear of rejection or that uncomfortable "no." Don't sweat it. There are ways to ask without making it feel like selling. I will help you and your nail department to feel confident when making that retail suggestion. We usually have the wrong delivery that makes us feel like we are pushing the product onto our clients. There are ways to get the product to go home with your client without a pressure sale. During my consulting visit with your salon, I will help you over the fear of retail and give you ways to sell the benefit and not the product. It's all in the verbiage and the words you choose.

Client Recovery Program — do you have one? Does your salon? How do we recover clients who have fallen off the map? How do we bring them back? Do we have a system to get those first-time clients or clients we haven't seen in a while back? We think about it, but do we ever take the time to set up a system and keep it in place. We may follow it for a month and then forget about it. We all want those clients to come back, but how do we recapture them? I have a system that works to get those clients back in you salon. I will share this with the staff. Together we will get those clients to walk through your doors again.

We can see that there is a lot more to running a successful business than just polishing nails and making them pretty. We have to work at our business skills DAILY! We can be an average nail tech with an average life, making average money with our average skill set and service or we can take it to the next level. We can become an exception nail tech with service standards and high client retention who makes money while using her business and technical skills. Which one do you want to be?

E-mail me at jwilson@summitsalon.com if you or your salon is interested in having me consult on location. Conquer your fears and turn despair into profit. I would love to meet you, come to your salon, and help to rebuild your nail department. Let's get your salon on the fast track to growing and showing profit. Professional business and technical consulting exclusively for the nail department — one more way to stand out above the rest and become the BEST!

—Jill