How to Double your Customer Average Ticket

A FEW SERVICE MENU IDEAS

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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 sidedishes 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 anddecrease 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.

You see, the idea is not to make anyone think about your offer. If they have to think too much about your offer you're one step away from losing the sale.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.

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! See our Preceptionist information at under presentations and articles.

You can offer the special packages of services and product of the month deals at the customer checkout and sell them on the deal for their next visit. Note: it’s even better to sell them on the add ons and product of the month during the pre-service consultation. Most customers want to rush out the door as soon as their service is completed. It is hard to keep their attention during the customer check out. Try moving the up sell and add on script to the preservice consultation period and watch your average ticket grow!

Call us for more marketing ideas at 513-528-5100 or check out our web site at
Fred Dengler
The MIKAL Corporation