From our research over the last 26 years in the salon and spa industry the most overlooked sources of profitable revenue growth is your current customer base.
While many salon/spa owners beat the drum espousing the importance of current customers, I have found that very few companies have a comprehensive current customer growth strategy that is communicated, monitored, and enthusiastically embraced by the entire organization. How about just a GOOD Referral Program?
Call MIKAL for a FREE 8 Page Referral Contest Idea Kit at 800-448-5420.
The first steps for getting more sales out of your current customers -- ranking your customers by sales and profitability and developing your Best Customer Profile.
Use your MIKAL Customer Ranking Report and run it with every criteria and print just 2 pages (not a ranking of ALL your clients) Once you have identified your best customers, you need to teach your employees to know who they are and to provide them with techniques and tools to uncover customer preferences and make every customer interaction count!
Five Techniques for Teaching Your Employees to "Grow" Your Current Customers
#1: Broadcast your Top Customers throughout the Organization
The first critical step to involving your team in growing currents customer is to share the Best Customer Profile. Be sure to include your Best Customer Profile as a primary part of your new employee orientation. We all talk with new employees about procedures, polices, company history and specific job duties. But rarely, if ever, do we let them know who are current best customers are, why they are important, and the profile characteristics of our best customers. These customers are the lifeblood of the organization and need to be top of mind with everyone. On an ongoing basis, broadcast your top customers throughout the organization. Everyone from the receptionist to the Salon/Spa Owner should receive a monthly "best customer case study" that provides an overview of one of your best customers, why the company is important, what its current status is and the value of that customer.
Use the MIKAL Advanced Daily Action Report to get a report of your best clients each day based on number of visits, service sales, retail sales, and loyalty points accumulated. Call MIKAL at 800-448-5420 for a sample report!
#2: Build Your Customer Preference Profile
The Customer Preference Profile was by far the most powerful tool we used to get more revenue from current clients. To build your Customer Preference Profile meet with your team and make a list of data elements you would like to capture for each customer. Many salon/spa owners have asked me, "What type of information should we collect?" Beyond the obvious contact and demographic information, you want to capture information that will help you and your team sell more to your best customers. For our salon and spas, we want to capture customers' age, marital status, credit card usage, home ownership, type of car/vehicle driven, age and gender. The ultimate goal is to have your team complete a Customer Preference Profile on each customer over time.
#3: Train Your Employees to Be Detectives
You have developed your Customer Preference Profile -- which addresses the "what" you should capture and the "why" -- to sell more to your current customers. Now comes the "how" Our primary training objective is to teach our employees to think of themselves as detectives -- to decipher the needs of current best customers and to sleuth out new best customer prospects. Provide your employees with key questions they can use in in daily phone and e-mail exchanges, in face-to-face interactions, in online surveys, etc., that will assist them in completing the Customer Preference Profile. Get all employees involved in thank-you notes, surveys, and visiting client sites.
#4 Keep Tabs on Your Customers with the Customer Activity Report
To help employees uncover new opportunities we developed and use theCustomer Activity Report. This report provides a snapshot view of the specifics of the relationship history with each customer, the number of transactions we had, its average transaction value, its last purchase date, the age of the customer, and its active status. This tool is particularly helpful in recapturing possible customer defectors and assists in timing marketing communications to the customer's buying patterns.
#5: Increase "Share of Customer"
Probably the most valuable tool after the Customer Analysis Report. This tool was one of the key drivers behind our efforts to sell more to our current customers. The objective here is to move your customers across your products and services lines and capture 100% share of your existing customers' salon/spa.
The first step is to make a grid that lists all your company's products and services across the top and the annual potential customer spend value of each product line. The last column is the "total spend" value if a customer purchases all of your products and services.
Next, list your top customers down the left side of the grid. Indicate which customers are buying which products and the customers' annual spend. If the total annual spend value per customer for all of your products is $2500 per year and your current customer is spending $1000 on a few product lines, you have the opportunity to capture an additional $1500 per year from this existing customer! And this is a cost effective sales opportunity as you will not incur customer acquisition expenses.
These five techniques have truly transformed my salon/spa. The focus on the value and potential of current customers across the organization helps us to maintain stellar customer and client retention rates, to cut sales expenses, and to achieve the easiest path to new revenue growth!
Call MIKAL for more marketing ideas and a FREE Recession Buster E-book at 800-448-5420 and www.mikal.com
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Cash Flow Ideas for Salons and Spas
Successful Cash Flow Management
Cash management is ultimately about cash flow -- and very few salons and spas are awash in cash. Even successful, growing salons and spas are vulnerable to cash flow problems because they tend to add employees and inventory rapidly. This may quickly deplete the company coffers and lead to cash shortages.
Because having cash at the right time is so important, salon and spa owners must pay close attention to cash management. Here are some tips for saving money and managing cash flow:
Make financial projections. Forecast both expenses and anticipated revenues for at least the coming year. This will help you predict when you're likely to have cash and when you're likely to need it. You should also maintain a cash reserve if possible.
Create contingency plans. Have several budget projections, including best case and worst case scenarios, and think about how you might respond. In the event sales don't take off as expected or there's some unforeseen problem, you'll be better prepared.
Keep a lid on spending. One of the most common problems with new salon and spa is the owners' tendency to spend freely. There's no need to have lavish offices or expensive furniture. Remember, you're in this for the long haul: You should try to get as much value as possible out of every transaction, whether you're leasing office space or stocking the company kitchen.
Keep inventory low. Don't stock inventory based on your fantasy of what you think you'll be selling in six months. Instead, stock only what you know you can sell in the short term.
Lease, don't buy. Another good way to conserve cash is to lease equipment instead of buying it. Although leasing can be more expensive in the long run, it helps you avoid laying out a lot of capital all at once for things like office furniture, computers and copiers.
Delay hiring employees. Try to improve the productivity of current employees (without burning them out), use independent contractors and consider outsourcing certain nonessential functions. Employees are expensive, so you should put off adding permanent hires as long as you can -- or at least until you're earning the revenue to support them.
Go without a salary. Some experts recommend stockpiling a year's worth of living expenses before going into business. Admittedly, this may be difficult, but you should at least avoid paying yourself an excessive salary. Too many salon and spa owners waste cash by paying themselves big salaries without the revenues to justify them.
Speed up customer payments. Try to get customers to pay in advance with gift cards, series sales and incenntives like discounts for prebooking appointments, and adopt more effective collection techniques for deadbeat customers.
Don't be wasteful. Recycle and reuse what you can -- for example, boxes, computer discs and file folders. The savings may not be large on any given item, but they can add up!
The MIKAL Corporation 513-528-5100 www.mikal.com
Cash management is ultimately about cash flow -- and very few salons and spas are awash in cash. Even successful, growing salons and spas are vulnerable to cash flow problems because they tend to add employees and inventory rapidly. This may quickly deplete the company coffers and lead to cash shortages.
Because having cash at the right time is so important, salon and spa owners must pay close attention to cash management. Here are some tips for saving money and managing cash flow:
Make financial projections. Forecast both expenses and anticipated revenues for at least the coming year. This will help you predict when you're likely to have cash and when you're likely to need it. You should also maintain a cash reserve if possible.
Create contingency plans. Have several budget projections, including best case and worst case scenarios, and think about how you might respond. In the event sales don't take off as expected or there's some unforeseen problem, you'll be better prepared.
Keep a lid on spending. One of the most common problems with new salon and spa is the owners' tendency to spend freely. There's no need to have lavish offices or expensive furniture. Remember, you're in this for the long haul: You should try to get as much value as possible out of every transaction, whether you're leasing office space or stocking the company kitchen.
Keep inventory low. Don't stock inventory based on your fantasy of what you think you'll be selling in six months. Instead, stock only what you know you can sell in the short term.
Lease, don't buy. Another good way to conserve cash is to lease equipment instead of buying it. Although leasing can be more expensive in the long run, it helps you avoid laying out a lot of capital all at once for things like office furniture, computers and copiers.
Delay hiring employees. Try to improve the productivity of current employees (without burning them out), use independent contractors and consider outsourcing certain nonessential functions. Employees are expensive, so you should put off adding permanent hires as long as you can -- or at least until you're earning the revenue to support them.
Go without a salary. Some experts recommend stockpiling a year's worth of living expenses before going into business. Admittedly, this may be difficult, but you should at least avoid paying yourself an excessive salary. Too many salon and spa owners waste cash by paying themselves big salaries without the revenues to justify them.
Speed up customer payments. Try to get customers to pay in advance with gift cards, series sales and incenntives like discounts for prebooking appointments, and adopt more effective collection techniques for deadbeat customers.
Don't be wasteful. Recycle and reuse what you can -- for example, boxes, computer discs and file folders. The savings may not be large on any given item, but they can add up!
The MIKAL Corporation 513-528-5100 www.mikal.com
Fall Marketing Ideas for Salons and DaySpas
GETTING THE MOST
OUT OF YOUR FALL
Now that summer is over (depressing isn't it?) it's time to get back down to business and get into the business of fall. Now is the time to crank up the business of beauty. Here are a couple of ideas to get you and your staff back down to business:
$ Get a staff meeting together and go over these ideas. See what ideas generate the most excitement and appoint people and set dates for getting the projects going!
$ Clean the salon/spa from top to bottom. Paint a few walls and make a few small changes. Move some plants and displays. Decorate for the season!
$ Have everyone get dressed up. I don=t mean formal but every summer people get a little casual. It=s time to change our look and the change should be professional and upscale.
$ Get into the fall colors. Make sure your make up is right for the season and coordinates with your new look! Get the staff together for a make up session and new fashion review.
$ Start your Referral Contest October 10th and end it on December 20th. Pick your prizes, do your precontest mailing/e-mail now, and get the signs up in the salon/spa. Call us for a free 11 page Referral Contest planning book. How would 50-100 new customers sound in the next 60 days?
$ Get your front desk staff to commit to cleaning up the customer data base in the next 60 days. All of your regular customers will be in by the holidays. Run a list on your MIKAL system of all customers with Invalid addresses. The goal is to verify every customer=s address in the next 60 days. Check on the progress by running the Invalid Addresses report for all Last Visits in the last 7 days each week. The report should be blank every week if the front desk staff is cleaning up the list!
$ Get your Gift Cards on order NOW! Call Betsy at Custom Plastics at 800-334-6488 for a free sample kit. Order the Gift Card option is MIKAL's SMS software and ask for our free information pack on promoting gift cards. Gift Cards will make a huge difference in your holiday sales over the old gift certificates. NOTE: beware of companies giving you gift cards for use with their Internet or bank card systems. The costs for the processing of the card every time it is swiped become a huge expense and if a customer loses their card there is no way to cancel that card and charge the balance up on a new card. Call us at MIKAL to make an informed decision.
$ Draw up a list of outstanding bills (that you owe). Make sure you pay off these bills during the increased cash flow period in the fall and holidays before you take on any more debt. Don't spend that gift card income before the redemptions start happening in January!
$ Increase your color service prices now just before the holiday season. This will give you an additional boost to your income and the customers are coming in for that popular service during the holiday season.
Now is the time to move into the Fall season with a new look, new ideas, and new promotions for increased sales and profits!
Please call us for additional information on the Referral Contest, Gift Cards, Pricing ideas, or your comments. Have a great fall season.
Fred Dengler
MIKAL
513-528-5100 email us at sales@mikal.com Website: www.mikal.com
OUT OF YOUR FALL
Now that summer is over (depressing isn't it?) it's time to get back down to business and get into the business of fall. Now is the time to crank up the business of beauty. Here are a couple of ideas to get you and your staff back down to business:
$ Get a staff meeting together and go over these ideas. See what ideas generate the most excitement and appoint people and set dates for getting the projects going!
$ Clean the salon/spa from top to bottom. Paint a few walls and make a few small changes. Move some plants and displays. Decorate for the season!
$ Have everyone get dressed up. I don=t mean formal but every summer people get a little casual. It=s time to change our look and the change should be professional and upscale.
$ Get into the fall colors. Make sure your make up is right for the season and coordinates with your new look! Get the staff together for a make up session and new fashion review.
$ Start your Referral Contest October 10th and end it on December 20th. Pick your prizes, do your precontest mailing/e-mail now, and get the signs up in the salon/spa. Call us for a free 11 page Referral Contest planning book. How would 50-100 new customers sound in the next 60 days?
$ Get your front desk staff to commit to cleaning up the customer data base in the next 60 days. All of your regular customers will be in by the holidays. Run a list on your MIKAL system of all customers with Invalid addresses. The goal is to verify every customer=s address in the next 60 days. Check on the progress by running the Invalid Addresses report for all Last Visits in the last 7 days each week. The report should be blank every week if the front desk staff is cleaning up the list!
$ Get your Gift Cards on order NOW! Call Betsy at Custom Plastics at 800-334-6488 for a free sample kit. Order the Gift Card option is MIKAL's SMS software and ask for our free information pack on promoting gift cards. Gift Cards will make a huge difference in your holiday sales over the old gift certificates. NOTE: beware of companies giving you gift cards for use with their Internet or bank card systems. The costs for the processing of the card every time it is swiped become a huge expense and if a customer loses their card there is no way to cancel that card and charge the balance up on a new card. Call us at MIKAL to make an informed decision.
$ Draw up a list of outstanding bills (that you owe). Make sure you pay off these bills during the increased cash flow period in the fall and holidays before you take on any more debt. Don't spend that gift card income before the redemptions start happening in January!
$ Increase your color service prices now just before the holiday season. This will give you an additional boost to your income and the customers are coming in for that popular service during the holiday season.
Now is the time to move into the Fall season with a new look, new ideas, and new promotions for increased sales and profits!
Please call us for additional information on the Referral Contest, Gift Cards, Pricing ideas, or your comments. Have a great fall season.
Fred Dengler
MIKAL
513-528-5100 email us at sales@mikal.com Website: www.mikal.com
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Camp MIKAL Sucess Stories
Success Stories from Camp
Great Ideas you need to be using NOW!
Success Stories from Camp MIKAL 2008
Employee exit and customer recovery story: One of the attendees had 2 stylists and a receptionist leave the salon about 120 days ago. She immediately cranked up the MIKAL 4 letter program and started marketing to the customers. Her first call was from one of the stylists who left - IRATE about the letters! In the first 90 days over 60% of the customers had come back to the salon at least one time. The next visit is being tracked to see how many of the customers the salon keeps. Either way the stylists who left had no revenue for their first 90 days at their new salon. Since they were new the stylists who left couldn't afford to give complementary services!
Gift Card Story: One of our owners reported brisk gift card sales through the spring and summer. His secret to consistent gift card sales was two fold. He has cards that are advertised as precharged for $25 and $50 on a rack at the front desk for quick grab and go sales. He also bonuses the front desk for any gift cards sold during the off season. The front desk gets $1 for every $50 card sold from June 1 to August 15 and October 1 to November 15.
Add on service story: two of our managers were talking about the Preceptionist upsell and add on systems now available in SMS. One reported that add on sales had increased over $50,000 in 2008 with the bonus paid to the front desk staff totaling almost an extra $4000. She said everyone wins with the service staff getting extra commission and the front desk staff enjoying a weekly bonus equal to a dollar an hour in extra pay!
Be one of the many success stories for Camp MIKAL 2009.
Call to reserve 800-48-5420
August 1-3 2009
MIKAL Software and Consulting Clients only pleas
Great Ideas you need to be using NOW!
Success Stories from Camp MIKAL 2008
Employee exit and customer recovery story: One of the attendees had 2 stylists and a receptionist leave the salon about 120 days ago. She immediately cranked up the MIKAL 4 letter program and started marketing to the customers. Her first call was from one of the stylists who left - IRATE about the letters! In the first 90 days over 60% of the customers had come back to the salon at least one time. The next visit is being tracked to see how many of the customers the salon keeps. Either way the stylists who left had no revenue for their first 90 days at their new salon. Since they were new the stylists who left couldn't afford to give complementary services!
Gift Card Story: One of our owners reported brisk gift card sales through the spring and summer. His secret to consistent gift card sales was two fold. He has cards that are advertised as precharged for $25 and $50 on a rack at the front desk for quick grab and go sales. He also bonuses the front desk for any gift cards sold during the off season. The front desk gets $1 for every $50 card sold from June 1 to August 15 and October 1 to November 15.
Add on service story: two of our managers were talking about the Preceptionist upsell and add on systems now available in SMS. One reported that add on sales had increased over $50,000 in 2008 with the bonus paid to the front desk staff totaling almost an extra $4000. She said everyone wins with the service staff getting extra commission and the front desk staff enjoying a weekly bonus equal to a dollar an hour in extra pay!
Be one of the many success stories for Camp MIKAL 2009.
Call to reserve 800-48-5420
August 1-3 2009
MIKAL Software and Consulting Clients only pleas
Monday, June 29, 2009
Salon and Spa Recession Buster Ideas
Welcome to the MIKAL Recession Buster System
We have major challenges in this economy in the following areas:
- Building Staff
- Increased Costs from Vendors
- Client Loss and Loyalty Problems
- Loss of Sales Revenue
What is your plan to overcome these challenges?
The MIKAL Recession Buster System see more at www.mikal.com
The MIKAL Recession Buster System is a software package that integrates features that will drive your business marketing and management to the next level. Many of these ideas can be done, have been done before, or have been done by someone else but NOT at the same time with a consistent strategy!
Let’s learn how other successful salons and spas use the MIKAL systems to grow their businesses in these challenging times.
Fred Dengler, Co-Founder of MIKAL thoughts on this all new Recession Buster business approach:
Over the last four years I have been involved in teaching more business management classes that in the previous ten years. I have also audited many other consultants’ classes. From this exposure, research, and combined with the all new features and reporting power of MIKAL SIX I have developed the only software in the industry that directly uses the most powerful tracking, reporting and marketing tool in the industry and combined this tool with the strategies and systems needed to revolutionize your business.
We have to ask in your business – where is the WOW?
MIKAL will design the Recession Buster Success Plan based on your goals – sales, staffing, and systems – to create your new approach. Three major areas of your business will be evaluated and a customized plan based on your goals will be created using all new marketing and management strategies
Sales Goals
Staffing Goals
System implementation Goals
Competitive goals
We get serious about your Sales goal – increase sales and profits. We will research and evaluate every option you have in your business to increase sales and profits. Learn how to implement incremental sales. Evaluate your service menu to maximize profits. Find out new ways to create an add on environment. Redesign your retail sales strategy to eliminate the stress of closing sales and increase retail sales to up to 30% of your gross sales. Use all new evaluation systems to make sure every service is profitable – or eliminated!
Your Service Menu
Service times
Time line the client experience
Service Prices
Your Retail Menu
Retail Consultations
Surveys and marketing
Compensation and Follow up
We help you achieve your Staffing goal – grow the team, and create the culture for success. Using your MIKAL reports and a new approach to evaluating performance and profitability examine your present staff and learn new strategies to help them grow your business. Learn how to hire and train new employees that become part of the new improved culture in your business and how to get your new staff booked and busy in 90 days – or less.
Staff Goals build business goals
Staff sales analysis
Staff break even analysis
Staff scripting
Surveys and systems
Staff follow up
We implement Systems that work – the customer processing system for success – scripting and monitoring. Use the all new time line concept to chart every service in your business. Discover every possible event that can be used to increase customer satisfaction and retention. Examine your services in a whole new way.
The Client process – a wow at every turn
The service provider process
The follow up process
First we have some questions for you:
What is your business? __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Knowing your numbers will give us the insight and power to make decisions. Having clear financial goals makes it easy to evaluate marketing and staffing opportunities, weak areas, and expenses. In most cases we make decisions based on less information and more gut feel or heart. In today’s environment we can’t afford to do that and make mistakes. We also can’t wait to long to change a direction or strategy if it is not working.
We deal with limited resources every day. Only so many hours in the day, so many employees, so much money to spend on marketing and staffing, only so many clients and price points that can only be changed to some degree because of competitive forces.
See more at www.mikal.com
We have major challenges in this economy in the following areas:
- Building Staff
- Increased Costs from Vendors
- Client Loss and Loyalty Problems
- Loss of Sales Revenue
What is your plan to overcome these challenges?
The MIKAL Recession Buster System see more at www.mikal.com
The MIKAL Recession Buster System is a software package that integrates features that will drive your business marketing and management to the next level. Many of these ideas can be done, have been done before, or have been done by someone else but NOT at the same time with a consistent strategy!
Let’s learn how other successful salons and spas use the MIKAL systems to grow their businesses in these challenging times.
Fred Dengler, Co-Founder of MIKAL thoughts on this all new Recession Buster business approach:
Over the last four years I have been involved in teaching more business management classes that in the previous ten years. I have also audited many other consultants’ classes. From this exposure, research, and combined with the all new features and reporting power of MIKAL SIX I have developed the only software in the industry that directly uses the most powerful tracking, reporting and marketing tool in the industry and combined this tool with the strategies and systems needed to revolutionize your business.
We have to ask in your business – where is the WOW?
MIKAL will design the Recession Buster Success Plan based on your goals – sales, staffing, and systems – to create your new approach. Three major areas of your business will be evaluated and a customized plan based on your goals will be created using all new marketing and management strategies
Sales Goals
Staffing Goals
System implementation Goals
Competitive goals
We get serious about your Sales goal – increase sales and profits. We will research and evaluate every option you have in your business to increase sales and profits. Learn how to implement incremental sales. Evaluate your service menu to maximize profits. Find out new ways to create an add on environment. Redesign your retail sales strategy to eliminate the stress of closing sales and increase retail sales to up to 30% of your gross sales. Use all new evaluation systems to make sure every service is profitable – or eliminated!
Your Service Menu
Service times
Time line the client experience
Service Prices
Your Retail Menu
Retail Consultations
Surveys and marketing
Compensation and Follow up
We help you achieve your Staffing goal – grow the team, and create the culture for success. Using your MIKAL reports and a new approach to evaluating performance and profitability examine your present staff and learn new strategies to help them grow your business. Learn how to hire and train new employees that become part of the new improved culture in your business and how to get your new staff booked and busy in 90 days – or less.
Staff Goals build business goals
Staff sales analysis
Staff break even analysis
Staff scripting
Surveys and systems
Staff follow up
We implement Systems that work – the customer processing system for success – scripting and monitoring. Use the all new time line concept to chart every service in your business. Discover every possible event that can be used to increase customer satisfaction and retention. Examine your services in a whole new way.
The Client process – a wow at every turn
The service provider process
The follow up process
First we have some questions for you:
What is your business? __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Knowing your numbers will give us the insight and power to make decisions. Having clear financial goals makes it easy to evaluate marketing and staffing opportunities, weak areas, and expenses. In most cases we make decisions based on less information and more gut feel or heart. In today’s environment we can’t afford to do that and make mistakes. We also can’t wait to long to change a direction or strategy if it is not working.
We deal with limited resources every day. Only so many hours in the day, so many employees, so much money to spend on marketing and staffing, only so many clients and price points that can only be changed to some degree because of competitive forces.
See more at www.mikal.com
Staff training ideas for salons and spas
Re-Indoctrinate Your Staff
While it's important to indoctrinate new staff, it is just as important to create a process by which you're constantly re-indoctrinating your existing ones.
Salon/Spa Owners and managers often expend significant effort, time and money to indoctrinate new staff. However, sometimes they fail to close the door behind them and re-indoctrinate their current staff.
Whether you are experiencing growth or even seeing a decrease in headcount, your most critical asset is still your staff. And re-indoctrination is your tool to retain superstars.
The focus of the re-indoctrination process begins before the stylist/staff joins your company, and it doesn't end until he or she leaves your organization. The major components of re-indoctrination include on-boarding, "water cooler" coaching, goal setting, performance evaluations/stylist/staff development, and living the salon/spa’s vision, mission and values.
On-Boarding
You've just hired a new stylist/staff. The offer letter has been sent and the new hire paperwork is ready for his first day. Now your Indoctrination efforts must begin in earnest. Once the person has accepted your offer, you have to ensure she will report for first day. Depending on the time frame between the offer and start date, you may need to have several conversations with your new stylist/staff, reassuring the candidate of her decision to join your company.
One method of cementing your initial relationship is to send the new hire paperwork to them ahead of time. Have them read and sign the documents prior to their start day.
After the new stylist/staff arrives, she goes through your orientation process. Orientation is a welcoming event, an event that must encompass more than just processing the new hire paperwork and providing general introductions. In this tender phase of a new relationship, you set the tone for the stylist/staff and help her confirm her decision to join your company. On- boarding continues as you introduce her to her new role -- what the job is and how it needs to done to be successfully executed. This is the time where you work hard to remove the new stylist/staff's fears, worries and anxieties of making the transition to your company and start the retraining of any bad habits from their last salon/spa employment.
On-boarding can last days, weeks or even months, depending on the role and individual. It's your job as a re-indoctrinator to make the stylist/staff comfortable, set expectations, explain, help, guide and direct her on a continuum to success.
On-boarding is a critical component during an new hire. First you must re-indoctrinate (get commitments) from your existing team. That means everyone from the top to the bottom of your organization. Personal, one-on-one conversations are best. And conduct them face-to-face whenever you can. Whether it's a written or verbal commitment, solidify your foundation and re-indoctrinate your current staff before you attempt to indoctrinate your new team members.
Water Cooler Coaching
You've finished your on-boarding process, and the stylist/staff is happy and productive. Now comes your next phase of re-indoctrination -- water cooler coaching.
This form of coaching is a conversation at the “water cooler,” in the hallways or in private. This applies when you observe positive or negative events. Having an immediate and candid conversation with the stylist/staff strengthens positive behavior; it also makes the stylist/staff aware of the negatives that need to be changed.
Positive coaching is simple and direct. Speak with the stylist/staff immediately. It's OK to do it with others around. Congratulate the stylist/staff specifically on what he did; ask for his input on how he handled the situation. Let him confirm the positive experience, as this will reinforce his behavior. Again, commend him and ask that he repeat the behavior. This is another step in your re-indoctrination process.
Not everyone will be the “perfect” stylist/staff. Sometimes corrective coaching has to occur. This, too, is another opportunity to re-indoctrinate your stylist/staff. You have to clarify the objective with the stylist/staff. You may recommend extra training. You may work with the stylist/staff to remove obstacles to deliver the desired results. The message you send must be clear and specific. This is a caring conversation, as it reinforces that you want the behavior to change. And remember to meet in private for these re-indoctrination events.
Performance Reviews and Stylist/staff Development
Your re-indoctrination activity continues whenever you conduct performance reviews and discuss career planning. Performance reviews are meant to summarize the events of a specific period of time. This must occur every week in the form of follow up on goal setting with your evaluation reports. Other meetings might occur in the first 90 days, every six months or annually. Bear in mind, performance reviews are exactly that -- a review of a specific period of time. Now is not the time for surprises; it's a written summary of past known events. Reviews are a strong mechanism to ensure staff remain on-board with you.
Re-indoctrination also occurs with your stylist/staff's career planning discussions. Career discussions are future focused. These are the discussions where staff further commit to your organization with their personalized growth plans. Likewise, you display your commitment to their future growth by providing processes, resources, and avenues for growth. The key is stylist/staff involvement and making stylist/staff development an stylist/staff-driven process. Their buy-in and self-accountability helps cement your continuing re-indoctrination efforts.
Vision, Mission and Values
These are often overlooked ways to re-indoctrinate your staff on a daily basis. Living your vision, mission and values begins with each leader and must spread throughout the company. Staff must see, hear and understand how and why these areas are important. Staff who know, understand, communicate and live your salon/spa’s vision, mission and values are committed staff. Hence, they re-indoctrinate themselves to your company each and every day.
The net impact of re-indoctrination is you will see a more committed workforce, decreased turnover, increased productivity, more stylist/staff referrals, happier customers and, most likely, improved margins.
What are you waiting for? Take your first step today to re-indoctrinate yourself. Then implement the process throughout your company.
While it's important to indoctrinate new staff, it is just as important to create a process by which you're constantly re-indoctrinating your existing ones.
Salon/Spa Owners and managers often expend significant effort, time and money to indoctrinate new staff. However, sometimes they fail to close the door behind them and re-indoctrinate their current staff.
Whether you are experiencing growth or even seeing a decrease in headcount, your most critical asset is still your staff. And re-indoctrination is your tool to retain superstars.
The focus of the re-indoctrination process begins before the stylist/staff joins your company, and it doesn't end until he or she leaves your organization. The major components of re-indoctrination include on-boarding, "water cooler" coaching, goal setting, performance evaluations/stylist/staff development, and living the salon/spa’s vision, mission and values.
On-Boarding
You've just hired a new stylist/staff. The offer letter has been sent and the new hire paperwork is ready for his first day. Now your Indoctrination efforts must begin in earnest. Once the person has accepted your offer, you have to ensure she will report for first day. Depending on the time frame between the offer and start date, you may need to have several conversations with your new stylist/staff, reassuring the candidate of her decision to join your company.
One method of cementing your initial relationship is to send the new hire paperwork to them ahead of time. Have them read and sign the documents prior to their start day.
After the new stylist/staff arrives, she goes through your orientation process. Orientation is a welcoming event, an event that must encompass more than just processing the new hire paperwork and providing general introductions. In this tender phase of a new relationship, you set the tone for the stylist/staff and help her confirm her decision to join your company. On- boarding continues as you introduce her to her new role -- what the job is and how it needs to done to be successfully executed. This is the time where you work hard to remove the new stylist/staff's fears, worries and anxieties of making the transition to your company and start the retraining of any bad habits from their last salon/spa employment.
On-boarding can last days, weeks or even months, depending on the role and individual. It's your job as a re-indoctrinator to make the stylist/staff comfortable, set expectations, explain, help, guide and direct her on a continuum to success.
On-boarding is a critical component during an new hire. First you must re-indoctrinate (get commitments) from your existing team. That means everyone from the top to the bottom of your organization. Personal, one-on-one conversations are best. And conduct them face-to-face whenever you can. Whether it's a written or verbal commitment, solidify your foundation and re-indoctrinate your current staff before you attempt to indoctrinate your new team members.
Water Cooler Coaching
You've finished your on-boarding process, and the stylist/staff is happy and productive. Now comes your next phase of re-indoctrination -- water cooler coaching.
This form of coaching is a conversation at the “water cooler,” in the hallways or in private. This applies when you observe positive or negative events. Having an immediate and candid conversation with the stylist/staff strengthens positive behavior; it also makes the stylist/staff aware of the negatives that need to be changed.
Positive coaching is simple and direct. Speak with the stylist/staff immediately. It's OK to do it with others around. Congratulate the stylist/staff specifically on what he did; ask for his input on how he handled the situation. Let him confirm the positive experience, as this will reinforce his behavior. Again, commend him and ask that he repeat the behavior. This is another step in your re-indoctrination process.
Not everyone will be the “perfect” stylist/staff. Sometimes corrective coaching has to occur. This, too, is another opportunity to re-indoctrinate your stylist/staff. You have to clarify the objective with the stylist/staff. You may recommend extra training. You may work with the stylist/staff to remove obstacles to deliver the desired results. The message you send must be clear and specific. This is a caring conversation, as it reinforces that you want the behavior to change. And remember to meet in private for these re-indoctrination events.
Performance Reviews and Stylist/staff Development
Your re-indoctrination activity continues whenever you conduct performance reviews and discuss career planning. Performance reviews are meant to summarize the events of a specific period of time. This must occur every week in the form of follow up on goal setting with your evaluation reports. Other meetings might occur in the first 90 days, every six months or annually. Bear in mind, performance reviews are exactly that -- a review of a specific period of time. Now is not the time for surprises; it's a written summary of past known events. Reviews are a strong mechanism to ensure staff remain on-board with you.
Re-indoctrination also occurs with your stylist/staff's career planning discussions. Career discussions are future focused. These are the discussions where staff further commit to your organization with their personalized growth plans. Likewise, you display your commitment to their future growth by providing processes, resources, and avenues for growth. The key is stylist/staff involvement and making stylist/staff development an stylist/staff-driven process. Their buy-in and self-accountability helps cement your continuing re-indoctrination efforts.
Vision, Mission and Values
These are often overlooked ways to re-indoctrinate your staff on a daily basis. Living your vision, mission and values begins with each leader and must spread throughout the company. Staff must see, hear and understand how and why these areas are important. Staff who know, understand, communicate and live your salon/spa’s vision, mission and values are committed staff. Hence, they re-indoctrinate themselves to your company each and every day.
The net impact of re-indoctrination is you will see a more committed workforce, decreased turnover, increased productivity, more stylist/staff referrals, happier customers and, most likely, improved margins.
What are you waiting for? Take your first step today to re-indoctrinate yourself. Then implement the process throughout your company.
I'm Back
Sorry my blogging slacked off in 2008. It was a rough year in many ways.
But I am back now with tons of new ideas and info for salons and spas.
Tune in and turn on. Call me or e-mail me with questions.
800-448-5420 fredd@mikal.com
Thanks for reading
Fred
But I am back now with tons of new ideas and info for salons and spas.
Tune in and turn on. Call me or e-mail me with questions.
800-448-5420 fredd@mikal.com
Thanks for reading
Fred
Salon and Spa Front Desk Operations Ideas
All About Marketing – 2008 Success Club
If you want to increase your sales and margins (sales per customer) in 2009, you need to understand the customers= perceptions, buying trends, and competitive environment. They have changed.
The importance of the positive customer experience has never been greater. Customers are tense, some are even angry about the society and environment they find themselves in. Time is at a premium.
Customers are experiencing an information overload. The Internet purchases have increased dramatically while in-store purchases have dropped, and we have a slowing economy!
How can we create an environment that satisfies customers and develops new loyalty?
We need to re personalize our business to the way customer=s want to buy. Each customer and every customer event (transaction) needs to be a positive one.
We need to look at every event in our customers= relationship and make sure the quality, consistency, and follow up is there. At the same time we need to make sure our customer experience is differentiated from our competition and the differences are clearly communicated.
Advertising to the customer of the new economy means:
Coupon offers can still work but they must have a specific dollar value, not a percentage off.
Customers want to feel that they are getting something extra for the price.
Giving an add on service or retail product free with a service is effective.
Customers want real value for the price stress long term effects of a product or service.
SERVICE MENU IDEAS
-or-
How to Double the Average Customer Ticket
In traveling all over the country working with salons and spa I get to see all types of service menus. It is amazing the impact of a good service menu can have on your salon or spa. Now I am sure you have a service menu with nice graphics and a great layout. Those areas are a given in most salons and spas these days. But the difference between a nice (good) service menu and a GREAT service menu is how much the service menu $ells for you!
Let me give you an example of this idea in the restaurant industry. David Frey tells the following story:
“ In my local town (Friendswood, TX) there is a privately owned sandwich shop that prides itself in offering more sandwich variations than any of the fast food restaurants in town. The owner is a friend of mine and he was mentioning to me the other day about how slow his sales were. Knowing that I was a marketer he asked me if I had any suggestions. I Asked My Friend to Show Me His Menu...
I looked at the menu and immediately spotted a major problem. I told him, "How would you like to increase your sales by 30% with the exact same amount of customers that currently come through your shop?" His eyebrows rose with interest. I mentioned to him that he was making the same mistake that many business owners make in not only the food industry but in most industries. He said, "I'm listening David."
Now I had his attention. (And I hope I have yours too.)
What I Told My Friend to Do...
As I looked at my friends menu it was packed with different types of sandwiches with all kinds of side dishes and about 12 different drink options. There were a lot of options. In fact, there were too many options. I told my friend to do 4 things...
1. Remove 30% of the sandwich and drink offerings on his menu.
2. Create 5 different bundled "value offers" such as a drink, sandwich, chips, and a cookie. Then increase the price by 30%.
3. Put a big red starburst on the menu next to two of the sandwich bundles. The first one should say "Voted # 1 in Flavor by Our Customers" (highest price) and the second one should say "Today's Special" (lowest bundle price).
4. Stock up on the ingredients for the two value bundles that had the red starbursts next to them and decrease the stock of the other sandwiches.
He was courageous enough to test my recommendations and low and behold, the average transaction value of his sales increased by around 20% (Not the 30% that I had hoped for but close.)”
David is a marketing consultant who works with many different types of companies. We can use his idea in our salons and spas. Read his book “Best Marketing Practices” for more ideas.
The idea presented to the restaurant owner can be modified slightly to work with our salons and spas. It is critical that we simplify our message to our customers and make it easy to do business with us. It is also important to make the services we offer easy to communicate for our front desk and easy to sell for our service providers.
Using these ideas and rules for menu and service development could double your average sales ticket without adding one new customer. That brings up another important fact:
With the number of customers shrinking in a slower economy and the competition increasing for those customers it is important to have the customer getting every possible service from us.
It will increase our retention and increase our sales dollars!
A smart marketer once said, "Confused Minds Always Say NO!" It's true, when you provide too many options to a customer then they get confused and often decide not to buy anything at all.
This marketing principle plays out in many different ways. Read the following examples of how you can implement this important marketing principle:
Example 1 - When asking for referrals, instead of saying, "Do you know anyone who would benefit from my services?" you say, "Is there someone you work with who might enjoy our services?
Example 2 - When selling multiple items, whether on your website or in your ads, or sales posters at your salon/spa always position your best products as "Top Seller" or "Todays Special" or "Best Value."
Example 3 - When advertising retail items only focus on one or two offers or one offer per category. Have a product of the month. Get your distributor to help with a discount you can pass on and free samples to give out. Get free backbar products to use to promote the product of the month.
Example 4 - When in a face-to-face selling situation, find out your customer’s needs and offer only one, or at most, two solutions. Give the customer two options to choose between.
Example 5 - When creating different price points for different packages of goods make one price an obvious choice. Put together a spa sampler for $99. Don’t allow swapping of services in the package.
Get back to your core services. If you have not done a hydrotherapy massage in 4 months get it off your menu. Delete it from your product classes. Take it out of your service inventory! If you direct your staff to concentrate on your core services and script them on selling, supporting and providing those core services you will be more successful.
Promote the things that make your core services unique. You always provide the service with a consultation. You run on time. You have special training in these areas. You have a great track record in the core service area with referrals, awards, and recognition.
Let’s take a haircut for example.
Many salons derive 40% of sales from cutting hair. How can you make your haircut unique? You offer a scalp massage with the precut shampoo. You have a quick conditioner that helps with your cutting technique.
Trademark your core service or name your core service to differentiate it. Your haircuts could be called precision cuts, the perfect haircut, custom cut, or whatever you think matches your core service. You use razor, clippers, or shears based on the look you want to achieve. You always style the hair so no customer leaves without a great look (and an advertisement of your work). You always do a consultation with the cut. You always prescribe the products to maintain the style and show the customer how to use them. You offer to do a free style training if they get home and can’t achieve the style. You always offer a survey card after the service and give a follow up thank you call or mailing.
When you have your core services look at add on services you can bundle with your core items to create a higher average ticket. Upgrade the quick conditioner to a deep conditioner for just $6 more. Add the paraffin treatment to the manicure for only $12. Do a nail art item with every manicure for a special price. Upgrade to a French manicure with hand massage for only $12 more. Combine a mini facial with your massage for just $30 and it only takes an extra 15 minutes. The options and opportunities are endless. They just need to be easy, uncomplicated, and provide a true value for the extra few dollars.
What can we do to get the Front Desk to generate more income, rebookings, and higher retention?
Let=s look at an example of how we can satisfy the customer, create consistency, include following up, and differentiate our business from the competition.
Use the booking of an appointment as an example. Most salons and spas have an interaction when a customer calls for an appointment like this:
The customer calls and asks if they can have an appointment with Mary for next Monday. The receptionist looks and says yes, gets the customer phone number and hangs up.
Now let=s use the model we discussed above to maximize the customer experience during the booking. The customer calls and asks for an appointment next Monday with Mary.
The receptionist says she will check and asks if the customer knows about the salon=s current specials. The customer says no what are they? The receptionist offers a special service that has a unique name (not a conditioning treatment - a hair rejuvenation process) that complements the service being booked and the customer wants to add the service.
The receptionist also asks the customer if they would like a phone or e-mail confirmation and the appointment is booked. The follow up is the confirmation call or e-mail. Look at the difference in the results.
With the new approach the customer is given options, an add-on service is booked, the service has a unique name that the competitors don=t use, and the customer receives a confirmation call. We must create this process with every step of the customer experience.
Using the strategy shown above for creating positive customer contacts will increase your sales and margins because of the upsell, increased customer loyalty by booking added services and naming the services to make them unique, and providing a confirmation call.
You can use our Preceptionist Upsell program to do the add on and upsell items at the time of the appointment and really make the whole system work!
Start with a few services
Script script script
Role play role play role play
Bonus the upsells
Support the upsells with e-mail marketing and table talkers
Celebrate the receptionists that do the upsells – run and post the reports!
Give the appointment booking staff the ability to upsell services to customers. McDonalds doubled their French fry sales at the drive thru window just by asking "will that be a large" when people ordered French fries! Have your appointment booking staff recommend a conditioning service at half price to every haircut customer, or a manicure for half price with every chemical service. Have the receptionist code the appointment for the service and give the receptionist a $ .50 bonus when they upsell the extra service. That way the services you are trying to build are "upsold" and the receptionist has the ability to make an extra $ 1.00 to $ 5.00 an hour!
Offer Slow times first – what an IDEA!
We recommend the use of the Red Yellow Green booking procedure. Define when your most booked days and hours are. These are Red times. Define your medium booked days and times. These are Yellow times. Define your least booked days and times. These are your Green times.
Note: don’t confuse this with your Green Booking times in MIKAL!
If Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. are your least booked times, these should always be offered to the customer first. These are your Green times and need to be filled as a priority! Get the customer to "buy into" the time by mentioning that the operator is slower then and will have the extra time to give the customer some extra attention. If the customer cannot fit into a Green time offer the customer a medium booked day/time selection. This is a Yellow time. If a Yellow time is not acceptable, as a last resort book the customer into a Red time (like a Saturday morning). Most Red times fill quickly, and a successful salon is great at filling the Green times first!
Check the appointment book for WHO booked the slow times and add up the number for each receptionist. Whoever gets the most (or most per hour worked) gets a bonus or dinner for two. Track this monthly. It will also show you (and the receptionists) who is not booking the slow times!
Price Inquiries An Untapped Marketing Area:
All prospective customers asking services and prices should be entered into your system and immediately sent a price menu and a gift certificate valid during their first visit.
Your employees should get the person's name and address before giving any pricing information over the phone. Tell the prospective customer that you need it to send out a detailed price menu and a special new customer gift certificate. The only people who will not give you their name and address are your competitors who are calling around doing price checks!
Just think the day after the customer calls to check on your prices they get a price menu and a gift certificate in the mail. How many of the other salons or spas they called checking on prices will have sent them anything?
What is your present script when someone calls for a price check?
Organize Your Product Displays and Increase Sales:
All retail products need to be labeled with the price. It is also suggested that the salon spa name and phone number be printed on the price label. This makes for a larger label but it shows the customer the name of the salon/spa every time the product is used.
The retail display area needs to be available to customers for examination of the product. Any shelf talkers or product information sheets should be available.
The retail display area needs to be merchandised by product line with each line receiving display area based on the line's contribution to total retail sales. If line XYZ accounts for 60% of your sales the line should receive 60% of your shelf space. If line ABC accounts for 8% of your sales the line should only receive 8% of your shelf space.
Four Corner Your Retail Area
Partnering with your distributors to increase your profits and their shelf space:
When the distributor for line ABC wants more shelf space, he/she can EARN the space by increasing sales as a percentage of total product sales. Ways of doing this include more education, distributor sponsored retail promotions, free samples, an aggressive back bar shampoo and conditioner program, and consumer advertising sponsored by the manufacturer and distributor. Use your Shop Performance Report – Retail Categories to see the percentage each distributor is contributing to sales. Note: also check the Inventory Cost Report for margin – some are not truly 50%................
Even with MIKAL inventory control systems in place keeping inventory carry costs down is a BIG job! Use these ideas to keep your retail products profitable.
A recent conversation with a salon owner reminded me of how much some small (and not-so-small) salons/spas struggle with dead professional inventory. My salon owner related how, slowly, gradually, over time, the percentage of dead retail and professional inventory had grown. And as it was growing, the problem was thought to be modest, because the rate of growth appeared to be modest, so modest measures were taken to deal with it.
An extra markdown here, a special promotion there, but still there seemed to be more of it this month than there was last.
Finally, when the sheer amount of retail and professional inventory involved became inescapable, and the dispensary was so full the door would not open all the way, and the realization came that the measures to deal with it weren't close to being sufficient, the whole thing started to feel overwhelming.
So if you're looking at a build up of dead retail professional inventory, and feel a little overwhelmed by the enormity of it, here are a few ideas to help you get started turning it into cash.
LOW HANGING FRUIT. This is the most desirable retail and professional inventory, the most marketable, and the easiest to sell and turn into cash quickly. It's the quick win. Start here. Break out a size, or item, feature it on a sales table, sign it $ALE, price it to move now 40% off (and no commissions!), and get your cash. When that item sells through, break out next item. If you've been struggling with tight cash flow, this is like a tall cool drink on a hot summer day. Most importantly, if you feel like you've been losing the battle, it's nice to get a win and feel like you're finally making progress. Note: put the sales table in a place where client have to trip over it to check in or cash out.
SLUDGE. We all know intuitively what sludge is: It's the bottom, the worst, the oldest, most shop-worn, most outdated. And it's toxic! When you see it mixed in with or merchandised near low hanging fruit, it makes that look like sludge as well! So get the sludge off the sales floor, away from the rest of your dead professional inventory, and most importantly, away from you customers. The ugly truth is that sludge has little or no market value. It doesn't merit the time and effort necessary to try to sell it. Think about donating it to charity. The resulting tax deduction is one tangible benefit you will receive; another benefit is that the rest of your dead professional inventory won't look quite so bad and will likely be more highly valued by your customers. In the end, if you can't find a charitable organization to donate your sludge to, donate it to your dumpster.
DEVELOP MERCHANDISING AND SELLING STRATEGIES TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT ON YOUR REGULAR BUSINESS.
The last thing you want your store to look like is that it's going out of business. You want to protect the brand integrity of your store. This is why a slow, steady approach works best, so that your dead professional inventory never represents more than a small piece of your overall offerings. For some salons/spas, it may be a small feature just off the front of the store, or perhaps a dedicated table or rack on a traffic aisle further back in the store.
The Product Consultation and Prescriptive Sales Approach
I hear from owners and managers “Our retail stinks. Everyone is in a rut. They don’t talk retail, they don’t sell it. Our clients are buying shampoo somewhere! What can we do?
If you want to increase your sales and margins (sales per customer) in 2009, you need to understand the customers= perceptions, buying trends, and competitive environment. They have changed.
The importance of the positive customer experience has never been greater. Customers are tense, some are even angry about the society and environment they find themselves in. Time is at a premium.
Customers are experiencing an information overload. The Internet purchases have increased dramatically while in-store purchases have dropped, and we have a slowing economy!
How can we create an environment that satisfies customers and develops new loyalty?
We need to re personalize our business to the way customer=s want to buy. Each customer and every customer event (transaction) needs to be a positive one.
We need to look at every event in our customers= relationship and make sure the quality, consistency, and follow up is there. At the same time we need to make sure our customer experience is differentiated from our competition and the differences are clearly communicated.
Advertising to the customer of the new economy means:
Coupon offers can still work but they must have a specific dollar value, not a percentage off.
Customers want to feel that they are getting something extra for the price.
Giving an add on service or retail product free with a service is effective.
Customers want real value for the price stress long term effects of a product or service.
SERVICE MENU IDEAS
-or-
How to Double the Average Customer Ticket
In traveling all over the country working with salons and spa I get to see all types of service menus. It is amazing the impact of a good service menu can have on your salon or spa. Now I am sure you have a service menu with nice graphics and a great layout. Those areas are a given in most salons and spas these days. But the difference between a nice (good) service menu and a GREAT service menu is how much the service menu $ells for you!
Let me give you an example of this idea in the restaurant industry. David Frey tells the following story:
“ In my local town (Friendswood, TX) there is a privately owned sandwich shop that prides itself in offering more sandwich variations than any of the fast food restaurants in town. The owner is a friend of mine and he was mentioning to me the other day about how slow his sales were. Knowing that I was a marketer he asked me if I had any suggestions. I Asked My Friend to Show Me His Menu...
I looked at the menu and immediately spotted a major problem. I told him, "How would you like to increase your sales by 30% with the exact same amount of customers that currently come through your shop?" His eyebrows rose with interest. I mentioned to him that he was making the same mistake that many business owners make in not only the food industry but in most industries. He said, "I'm listening David."
Now I had his attention. (And I hope I have yours too.)
What I Told My Friend to Do...
As I looked at my friends menu it was packed with different types of sandwiches with all kinds of side dishes and about 12 different drink options. There were a lot of options. In fact, there were too many options. I told my friend to do 4 things...
1. Remove 30% of the sandwich and drink offerings on his menu.
2. Create 5 different bundled "value offers" such as a drink, sandwich, chips, and a cookie. Then increase the price by 30%.
3. Put a big red starburst on the menu next to two of the sandwich bundles. The first one should say "Voted # 1 in Flavor by Our Customers" (highest price) and the second one should say "Today's Special" (lowest bundle price).
4. Stock up on the ingredients for the two value bundles that had the red starbursts next to them and decrease the stock of the other sandwiches.
He was courageous enough to test my recommendations and low and behold, the average transaction value of his sales increased by around 20% (Not the 30% that I had hoped for but close.)”
David is a marketing consultant who works with many different types of companies. We can use his idea in our salons and spas. Read his book “Best Marketing Practices” for more ideas.
The idea presented to the restaurant owner can be modified slightly to work with our salons and spas. It is critical that we simplify our message to our customers and make it easy to do business with us. It is also important to make the services we offer easy to communicate for our front desk and easy to sell for our service providers.
Using these ideas and rules for menu and service development could double your average sales ticket without adding one new customer. That brings up another important fact:
With the number of customers shrinking in a slower economy and the competition increasing for those customers it is important to have the customer getting every possible service from us.
It will increase our retention and increase our sales dollars!
A smart marketer once said, "Confused Minds Always Say NO!" It's true, when you provide too many options to a customer then they get confused and often decide not to buy anything at all.
This marketing principle plays out in many different ways. Read the following examples of how you can implement this important marketing principle:
Example 1 - When asking for referrals, instead of saying, "Do you know anyone who would benefit from my services?" you say, "Is there someone you work with who might enjoy our services?
Example 2 - When selling multiple items, whether on your website or in your ads, or sales posters at your salon/spa always position your best products as "Top Seller" or "Todays Special" or "Best Value."
Example 3 - When advertising retail items only focus on one or two offers or one offer per category. Have a product of the month. Get your distributor to help with a discount you can pass on and free samples to give out. Get free backbar products to use to promote the product of the month.
Example 4 - When in a face-to-face selling situation, find out your customer’s needs and offer only one, or at most, two solutions. Give the customer two options to choose between.
Example 5 - When creating different price points for different packages of goods make one price an obvious choice. Put together a spa sampler for $99. Don’t allow swapping of services in the package.
Get back to your core services. If you have not done a hydrotherapy massage in 4 months get it off your menu. Delete it from your product classes. Take it out of your service inventory! If you direct your staff to concentrate on your core services and script them on selling, supporting and providing those core services you will be more successful.
Promote the things that make your core services unique. You always provide the service with a consultation. You run on time. You have special training in these areas. You have a great track record in the core service area with referrals, awards, and recognition.
Let’s take a haircut for example.
Many salons derive 40% of sales from cutting hair. How can you make your haircut unique? You offer a scalp massage with the precut shampoo. You have a quick conditioner that helps with your cutting technique.
Trademark your core service or name your core service to differentiate it. Your haircuts could be called precision cuts, the perfect haircut, custom cut, or whatever you think matches your core service. You use razor, clippers, or shears based on the look you want to achieve. You always style the hair so no customer leaves without a great look (and an advertisement of your work). You always do a consultation with the cut. You always prescribe the products to maintain the style and show the customer how to use them. You offer to do a free style training if they get home and can’t achieve the style. You always offer a survey card after the service and give a follow up thank you call or mailing.
When you have your core services look at add on services you can bundle with your core items to create a higher average ticket. Upgrade the quick conditioner to a deep conditioner for just $6 more. Add the paraffin treatment to the manicure for only $12. Do a nail art item with every manicure for a special price. Upgrade to a French manicure with hand massage for only $12 more. Combine a mini facial with your massage for just $30 and it only takes an extra 15 minutes. The options and opportunities are endless. They just need to be easy, uncomplicated, and provide a true value for the extra few dollars.
What can we do to get the Front Desk to generate more income, rebookings, and higher retention?
Let=s look at an example of how we can satisfy the customer, create consistency, include following up, and differentiate our business from the competition.
Use the booking of an appointment as an example. Most salons and spas have an interaction when a customer calls for an appointment like this:
The customer calls and asks if they can have an appointment with Mary for next Monday. The receptionist looks and says yes, gets the customer phone number and hangs up.
Now let=s use the model we discussed above to maximize the customer experience during the booking. The customer calls and asks for an appointment next Monday with Mary.
The receptionist says she will check and asks if the customer knows about the salon=s current specials. The customer says no what are they? The receptionist offers a special service that has a unique name (not a conditioning treatment - a hair rejuvenation process) that complements the service being booked and the customer wants to add the service.
The receptionist also asks the customer if they would like a phone or e-mail confirmation and the appointment is booked. The follow up is the confirmation call or e-mail. Look at the difference in the results.
With the new approach the customer is given options, an add-on service is booked, the service has a unique name that the competitors don=t use, and the customer receives a confirmation call. We must create this process with every step of the customer experience.
Using the strategy shown above for creating positive customer contacts will increase your sales and margins because of the upsell, increased customer loyalty by booking added services and naming the services to make them unique, and providing a confirmation call.
You can use our Preceptionist Upsell program to do the add on and upsell items at the time of the appointment and really make the whole system work!
Start with a few services
Script script script
Role play role play role play
Bonus the upsells
Support the upsells with e-mail marketing and table talkers
Celebrate the receptionists that do the upsells – run and post the reports!
Give the appointment booking staff the ability to upsell services to customers. McDonalds doubled their French fry sales at the drive thru window just by asking "will that be a large" when people ordered French fries! Have your appointment booking staff recommend a conditioning service at half price to every haircut customer, or a manicure for half price with every chemical service. Have the receptionist code the appointment for the service and give the receptionist a $ .50 bonus when they upsell the extra service. That way the services you are trying to build are "upsold" and the receptionist has the ability to make an extra $ 1.00 to $ 5.00 an hour!
Offer Slow times first – what an IDEA!
We recommend the use of the Red Yellow Green booking procedure. Define when your most booked days and hours are. These are Red times. Define your medium booked days and times. These are Yellow times. Define your least booked days and times. These are your Green times.
Note: don’t confuse this with your Green Booking times in MIKAL!
If Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. are your least booked times, these should always be offered to the customer first. These are your Green times and need to be filled as a priority! Get the customer to "buy into" the time by mentioning that the operator is slower then and will have the extra time to give the customer some extra attention. If the customer cannot fit into a Green time offer the customer a medium booked day/time selection. This is a Yellow time. If a Yellow time is not acceptable, as a last resort book the customer into a Red time (like a Saturday morning). Most Red times fill quickly, and a successful salon is great at filling the Green times first!
Check the appointment book for WHO booked the slow times and add up the number for each receptionist. Whoever gets the most (or most per hour worked) gets a bonus or dinner for two. Track this monthly. It will also show you (and the receptionists) who is not booking the slow times!
Price Inquiries An Untapped Marketing Area:
All prospective customers asking services and prices should be entered into your system and immediately sent a price menu and a gift certificate valid during their first visit.
Your employees should get the person's name and address before giving any pricing information over the phone. Tell the prospective customer that you need it to send out a detailed price menu and a special new customer gift certificate. The only people who will not give you their name and address are your competitors who are calling around doing price checks!
Just think the day after the customer calls to check on your prices they get a price menu and a gift certificate in the mail. How many of the other salons or spas they called checking on prices will have sent them anything?
What is your present script when someone calls for a price check?
Organize Your Product Displays and Increase Sales:
All retail products need to be labeled with the price. It is also suggested that the salon spa name and phone number be printed on the price label. This makes for a larger label but it shows the customer the name of the salon/spa every time the product is used.
The retail display area needs to be available to customers for examination of the product. Any shelf talkers or product information sheets should be available.
The retail display area needs to be merchandised by product line with each line receiving display area based on the line's contribution to total retail sales. If line XYZ accounts for 60% of your sales the line should receive 60% of your shelf space. If line ABC accounts for 8% of your sales the line should only receive 8% of your shelf space.
Four Corner Your Retail Area
Partnering with your distributors to increase your profits and their shelf space:
When the distributor for line ABC wants more shelf space, he/she can EARN the space by increasing sales as a percentage of total product sales. Ways of doing this include more education, distributor sponsored retail promotions, free samples, an aggressive back bar shampoo and conditioner program, and consumer advertising sponsored by the manufacturer and distributor. Use your Shop Performance Report – Retail Categories to see the percentage each distributor is contributing to sales. Note: also check the Inventory Cost Report for margin – some are not truly 50%................
Even with MIKAL inventory control systems in place keeping inventory carry costs down is a BIG job! Use these ideas to keep your retail products profitable.
A recent conversation with a salon owner reminded me of how much some small (and not-so-small) salons/spas struggle with dead professional inventory. My salon owner related how, slowly, gradually, over time, the percentage of dead retail and professional inventory had grown. And as it was growing, the problem was thought to be modest, because the rate of growth appeared to be modest, so modest measures were taken to deal with it.
An extra markdown here, a special promotion there, but still there seemed to be more of it this month than there was last.
Finally, when the sheer amount of retail and professional inventory involved became inescapable, and the dispensary was so full the door would not open all the way, and the realization came that the measures to deal with it weren't close to being sufficient, the whole thing started to feel overwhelming.
So if you're looking at a build up of dead retail professional inventory, and feel a little overwhelmed by the enormity of it, here are a few ideas to help you get started turning it into cash.
LOW HANGING FRUIT. This is the most desirable retail and professional inventory, the most marketable, and the easiest to sell and turn into cash quickly. It's the quick win. Start here. Break out a size, or item, feature it on a sales table, sign it $ALE, price it to move now 40% off (and no commissions!), and get your cash. When that item sells through, break out next item. If you've been struggling with tight cash flow, this is like a tall cool drink on a hot summer day. Most importantly, if you feel like you've been losing the battle, it's nice to get a win and feel like you're finally making progress. Note: put the sales table in a place where client have to trip over it to check in or cash out.
SLUDGE. We all know intuitively what sludge is: It's the bottom, the worst, the oldest, most shop-worn, most outdated. And it's toxic! When you see it mixed in with or merchandised near low hanging fruit, it makes that look like sludge as well! So get the sludge off the sales floor, away from the rest of your dead professional inventory, and most importantly, away from you customers. The ugly truth is that sludge has little or no market value. It doesn't merit the time and effort necessary to try to sell it. Think about donating it to charity. The resulting tax deduction is one tangible benefit you will receive; another benefit is that the rest of your dead professional inventory won't look quite so bad and will likely be more highly valued by your customers. In the end, if you can't find a charitable organization to donate your sludge to, donate it to your dumpster.
DEVELOP MERCHANDISING AND SELLING STRATEGIES TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT ON YOUR REGULAR BUSINESS.
The last thing you want your store to look like is that it's going out of business. You want to protect the brand integrity of your store. This is why a slow, steady approach works best, so that your dead professional inventory never represents more than a small piece of your overall offerings. For some salons/spas, it may be a small feature just off the front of the store, or perhaps a dedicated table or rack on a traffic aisle further back in the store.
The Product Consultation and Prescriptive Sales Approach
I hear from owners and managers “Our retail stinks. Everyone is in a rut. They don’t talk retail, they don’t sell it. Our clients are buying shampoo somewhere! What can we do?
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