I recently had a coaching call with my members about competing on price, and I thought I’d share a few nuggets with you.

I can’t tell you how many times I get asked… “How can I raise my prices and compete with other salons that keep slashing theirs”?

Let’s take a closer look…

If we line up 100 salon owners and play “Who Gets The Business” game, and you asked every salon owner to step forward if they deliver a good cut, color, waxing, facial or massage – then unless you have a poor inadequate soul they’re ALL going to step forward. The same happens when the question is asked – please step forward if you truly care about how I look.

You see, without realizing what they have done, every one of these salon owners has positioned themselves as a commodity. Commodities are sold on price. So when the buyer can’t see any difference between you, and your competitors, they start asking the price question, and of course, someone in a 100 is more than happy to fill that (lowest price)  position.

Why? Well, either because they don’t know any better, or they’re desperate, or like some of my clients, they’re modeling their business after Wal-Mart and they truly believe this is the best way to run a business (by being the cheapest). They’re hoping when 100 salon owners are lined up against the wall, the buyer will ask… “will the cheapest salon please step forward” – and it will be them.

This hurts me to even see someone think this way. Now, because the buyers don’t know any different, it’s up to YOU to help them SEE the DIFFERENCE. We need to show them that there is a difference. So let’s play the “Who Gets The Business” game with a new set of questions.

•    Do you offer a FREE consultation before each service for new and existing clients?  Now only 75 salons out of the 100 step forward
•    Do you offer coffee, tea, water, wine, or Champaign? – Now we are down to 50 salons
•    Do you offer “on time” appointments? – Now we are down to 40 salons
•    Do you offer a strong guarantee? – Now we are down to 20 salons
•    Will each client receive an amazing “consistent” experience even if they use different staff members? -  Now you are down to 5 salons
•    What question, or series of questions would you ask from here that leads a potential prospect, just to you?

I think you get the idea. You need to direct the buyer to “points of interest” that of course are important to them, and even more importantly, completely differentiates you from your competition. The more these points are of interest to the buyer, the more you can charge.

So when a potential prospect calls your salon and asks about your prices – you might want to say… “That is a great question – may I ask you a couple of questions to calculate that for you?” In the process of asking the questions you will want to make sure that they know what makes you different from everyone else they may be considering. Help them to understand that price may be one of their least concerns.

One of the things that I teach our coaching members when talking to a client on the phone is to make sure the client knows what makes them different. We try to make sure they have at least 4 things that make them different than most of their competition, AND one thing that completely separates them from the competition. When you can do this, you work in a “competition free zone,” and this allows you to charge a lot more than so called bottom feeders.

Hope this helps – don’t let price be what makes you different and don’t let your competitors set your price. Give your clients something no one else does and charge accordingly.

So, what are you doing to differentiate yourself from your competition?
Love,

Balayage

Here are a few key points to running a successful salon given by a 15 year award winning, AND Canadian Hairstylist of the Year Mario Verrilli.

Mario Verrilli has been in the hairdressing industry for over 15 years, and is the owner of Onar’e Salon located in Mississauga Canada. He has created stunning looks for top models, And he’s been featured in the pages of national fashion and beauty magazines like… (Canadian Hairdresser, Glow Magazine, Hidden Gems Magazine, and a host of others.) Mario owns a successful salon as well as an Eco-friendly product company called Saijojo (Sigh Joe-Joe). Interested in Eco-friendly products go to http://www.saijojo.com

Click above to listen

12 Key Points to a successful salon

Leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts

Glen Andrews

Have you ever wondered how to keep your clients faithful, AND get them spending more with you?

Implementing a simple salon membership program will help keep your client’s loyal, and if done properly will reward them for spending more with you. The more your clients spend, the more they save, it’s a win/win for everyone.

I know you’ve had a Costco card, Barnes and Noble, Grocery, or a Sears’s card at one time or another.

These retailers aren’t handing these cards out because they like the feeling of giving back. They have done thousands of studies and have determined that the card holder will return more frequently, and spend more money if they hold their discount card, or membership card. It doesn’t matter what you call it the cards are all designed to keep clients coming back and spending more money consistently.

Here are 3 membership programs that will add thousands to your salon

1. You can have a simple salon membership card that you hand out to all your clients. When they present the membership card to your receptionist they’ll receive a small discount for holding your salon membership card (A.K.A the customer loyalty card.)

2. You can have a preferred client card that allows your client’s a discount by how much they spend in your salon. If they spend $50.00 they’ll receive a 3% discount, if they spend $100.00 they’ll receive a 10% discount, if they spend $200.00 they’ll receive a 15% discount. This will get your clients spending more money with you consistently.

3. Here’s my favorite way to implement a membership card. Let’s say you have one thousand clients. You would set up an in store flier promotion, and have your staff get your clients excited about this great opportunity to save “big” money through your NEW membership program.

A. You must create scarcity so that your clients feel a sense of loss if they don’t get to join your NEW salon membership program. So you’d offer this membership program to the first 200 clients (out of one thousand) who sign up. Let your clients know that your membership program is on a first come first serve basis.

B. Then set a launch date for when you’ll be accepting members into your new salon membership program (this will help build momentum and excitement.)

C. Your membership will be a “continuity” membership. Meaning, you get to charge your client’s credit card every month regardless of whether or not they use your services. It’s like having a gym membership, you get charged every month regardless of whether or not you decide to “stay home” and pack on the pounds, or show up and take off the pounds.

This is absolutely the best way to have instant and reliable cash flow each and every month.

Implementing a salon membership program keeps client retention high, keeps your client’s spending more, and it allows you instant cash flow each and every month regardless of how hard you work.

This simple salon membership program will add thousands to your bottom line, and create a win/win scenario for you, and your clients. If you need help implementing, or marketing a membership program, please email me at Glen@AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this article by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcome.

Helping you increase your salon sales,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

In order to market your salon successfully you have to have captivating headlines that are “benefit” driven, OR  headlines that provoke “curiosity” in order to get your prospects interested in what you have to say.

Everyone scans newspapers, magazines, websites, brochures, and mail, then decides whether or not they’re going to take the time to read more . This video will help you market your salon more effective using headlines. Check it out NOW!

Technical note: Trouble watching this video? If the video seems to be starting and stopping, try refreshing your browser. This fixes the problem in about 90% of the cases. For the other 10%… don’t ask me, I only work here:)

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this video by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcom

Here’s to marketing your salon more effectively,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

P. S. If you haven’t signed up for my FREE Salon Marketing Tips & Strategies TV Show you’re missing out on some killer salon marketing strategies that will enable you to attract more clients, and increase sales cost effectively.

Having salon marketing and business systems will allow you more freedom to go, do, and have, whatever you choose. If you want to remove yourself from the “doings” of your business, and become a true business “owner,” setting up systems will allow anyone to step in and run the day to day operations WITHOUT you having to be there.

Do you have a salon marketing system for attracting new clients? Do you have a system for bring back existing clients? Do you have a system for your staff to sell more “in-store” products, and services?

Do you have a system to collect testimonials, or before & after photos? How about a system to collect your clients COMPLETE contact information? A system to communicate properly with your clients so your staff doesn’t create their own.

If you don’t create extraordinary salon marketing and business systems, you’ll be at the mercy of your staff, and clients to create their own.

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this article by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcome.

Helping you increase your salon sales,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

P. S. If you haven’t taken the FREE 7 day salon marketing video series, you’re missing out on some simple, yet effective, salon marketing strategies that will enable you to attract more clients, and increase sales.

To many times as entrepreneurs we get caught up in the day to day minutia of our businesses and forget why we started the business in the first place.

I remember I wanted the freedom to spend more time with my wife, and have the business provide us with the comfort to go, do, and have, whatever we wanted. Isn’t that why we all start a small business, because of what we think the business will do for us?

Then all of a sudden 5 years races by and before we realize it, we’re working harder and longer than ever before. Has this ever happened to you?

We forget that the business should be working for us, NOT us for it.

Here’s a quick road map that will help you get headed in the right direction.

First, you have to know where you’re going, how much money you want to make, how much time off you want, what your perfect salon looks like, what your key roll will be, AND most importantly, what does your perfect business life look like?

If you’re like most people you’ve never taken the time to design your business around you. And it all starts with the “end” in mind. You have to know specifically what you want, and create a plan to achieve it.

Let me give you a simple example of how this might look if you wanted to make a certain amount of money in your salon. This is  not difficult, you just have to take the time to work “on” your business instead of being trapped working in it.

1.    Write down how much money you want to make in the next 12 months. Let’s say your goal is to gross $1 million dollars.

2.    Write down your average sale per client on a daily basis (not including products.) Let’s say your average sale is $100.00 per client.

3.    How many clients will you have to see in order to reach your goal of $1 million dollars? $1,000.000.00 divided by $100.00 = 10,000.00 client’s per year.

4.    Then break it down into small chunks so that the task doesn’t seem so daunting. If we need 10,000.00 clients per years, you’d need 834 clients per month, and only 28 clients per day to reach your target goal. Not such a daunting task after all, is it?

Figure out how many clients that you currently have coming into your salon daily, and then, adjust your marketing to fit your needs. You can either turn the marketing up, or turn the marketing down it all depends on your specific goals.

The challenge with most salon owners is that they’re so busy working in the business that they don’t take the time to design the business to meet their needs, and then suddenly WHAM…5 to 7 years races by, and you’re still working feverishly to get ahead.

You have to decide today what you want next year to look like and design a plan, if you don’t,  your circumstances will look the same year after year. If you want more time off, more money, more clients, or you want to become a business owner instead of a business employee then write down exactly what you want and create a simple action plan.

If you take the time to do this simple task you’ll know exactly where you’re going weekly, monthly, and quarterly, so that you can make adjustments quickly if you get off course.

I also covered this topic in-depth in my FREE 7 day video training series on marketing your salon more effectively. Just fill out the box to your right in order to have instant access.

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this article by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcome.

Helping you increase your salon sales,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

P. S. If you haven’t taken the FREE 7 day salon marketing video series, you’re missing out on some simple, yet effective, salon marketing strategies that will enable you to attract more clients, and increase sales.

Do you have a salon system in place that removes the guess work from your staff so that they can run the day to day operations without you constantly having to be there?

Too often we get caught up running the day to day operations of our business to take any real time to “work on our business.”

If you find yourself stamping out fires on a consistent basis, constantly dealing with unruly staff, not having enough clients or in store sales, then what I’m about to share with you will literally change your business.

Have you ever wondered how Subway, McDonalds, or Wal-Mart serves, hires, fires, promotes, attracts, and sells billions of dollars of products and services each and every year?

Every successful small business has an operating system to do for them, what they cannot do for themselves.

Now I understand that you’re not a billion dollar company, BUT you can still set up systems in your business that removes the guess work. A system, once  in place, can run like a well oiled machine. You don’t have to be Wal-Mart or Subway to have a salon system that sets up boundaries and expectations in order for you to create an exceptional experience for your clients, and a system that allows you more freedom.

But you should take into consideration Subway, Wal-Mart, and McDonalds  started out just like you… as a dream that was turned into reality through vision, hard work, and systems.

So what’s your salon system? Do you have one?

Let me share with you some salon systems that will make your business and your life less stressful.

1. Having a simple script that your receptionist can use will help remove your caller’s doubts,  questions, and fears about your salon.

Have you ever called a business to find out more about their services only to be turned off by their receptionist? If you loose just one client a month because your receptionist isn’t out going, friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable about your products and services, you’re going to lose thousands of dollars each and every year.

After you have a script in place have a friend or colleague randomly call your salon to see how your receptionist is answering the phone. You might be surprised at what you hear.

2. You must have a salon system for attracting new, and bring back existing clients consistently and cost effectively.

Are you running a consistent ad campaign, postcard campaign, sales letter campaign, or an in store flier campaign? If you don’t have a marketing calendar filled out at the beginning of each year how will you know if you’re hitting your goals?  Are you waiting, guessing, or hoping that your clients and prospects call or return?

As a salon owner you have to take the initiative in order to get new and existing clients spending more with you. Guessing and hoping is NOT a plan! Okay maybe it is a plan, a plan to fail.

Your salon system for attracting clients must have several marketing funnels running simultaneously. I did a post on this prior. You can read and listen by clicking the link below.

http://andrewssalonmarketing.com/2009/09/04/are-you-a-salon-marketing-hero-or-zero/

3. You also need a salon system for hiring staff. I did a prior post on this as well that you can check out by clicking this link.

http://andrewssalonmarketing.com/2009/09/25/how-to-hire-your-perfect-salon-staff/

Setting up salon systems is critical to building and growing your business. However, it’s more important that you set up these systems so that you have the ability to control your business instead of it controlling you.

Don’t be another parent who gets lost in their business because they think they have to do it all themselves. Take the time NOW to set up your salon system, so that your business provides the lifestyle YOU desire, and your family deserves.

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this article by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcome.

Helping you increase your salon sales,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

P. S. If you haven’t taken the FREE 7 day salon marketing video series, you’re missing out on some simple, yet effective, salon marketing strategies that will enable you to attract more clients, and increase sales.

l want to share with you the pros and cons of targeted salon marketing verses mass salon marketing and then you can decide which is best for you.

Mass Salon Marketing (Radio, Television or Large City Newspaper which cover a wide area.)

Pros…

•    You get your business in front of a lot of different people

•    It’s easy to implement this salon marketing strategy

•    You get to see and hear your name on radio and TV

•    Done often enough will give you name recognition

•    You can attract a wide variety of clients

Cons…

•    Hard to track results

•    Reaches a large audience that doesn’t need or want your services

•    Very Expensive

•    Not a good return on investment (marketing dollars)

•    Reaching prospects that are to far away to justify the commute

•    The producers control what you can, or cannot do in your marketing

Targeted Salon Marketing (Postcards, Sales Letters,  Fliers, and Small Targeted Area Newspaper.)

Pros…

•    Spend less to get your message in front of a specific prospect

•    You can track results and make adjustments quickly and easily

•    You get to decide exactly who receives your message

•    Better return on investment

•    Quicker return on investment

•    Targeted to your specific community

•    Name recognition within your community

•    You can target specific carrier routes, zip codes or demographics with ease giving you a higher response ratio

•    You get to place your promotion directly into your prospects hands via United States Postal Service

•    You get to farm a small area which keeps your salon in front of your clients and prospects consistently and cost effectively

•    You can set up a salon marketing calendar months in advance because you know exactly where your best clients are coming from, and your exact return on investment

•    Easily implemented with the help of a mail house

•    You get to be creative and have fun with your promotions keeping it fresh and new

Cons…

•    You have to understand simple “direct response advertising strategies.”

•    You have to send your marketing piece to the mail house for distribution, or do it yourself

•    You have to come up with a promotion

I was asked this question many years ago by one of the best marketing minds in the world… “If you had to attract 20 new clients every week for the next 30 days, and your marketing had to pay for itself (return on investment) or you’d go bankrupt, which strategy would you employ to save your salon”?

To your marketing success,

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this article by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcome.

Helping you increase your salon sales,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

Click on the button above to hear the inside secrets to marketing your salon successfully. I’ll share with you why some salon marketing works and why the majority doesn’t.

Contact me if you need further assistance, AND let me know what you thought of this article by leaving me a comment below. Good, bad, or ugly, your feedback is important and welcome.

Helping you increase your salon sales,

Glen Andrews
http://www.AndrewsSalonMarketing.com

http://www.balayagesalons.com

P. S. If you haven’t taken the FREE 7 day salon marketing video series, you’re missing out on some simple, yet effective, salon marketing strategies that will enable you to attract more clients, and increase sales.