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Create a Holiday Crush and Reap the Benefits
Better Business
Neil Ducoff
Now is the time to begin marketing your
salon or spa for the end-of-year rush.
Preparing for the holidays requires
planning if you want to reap all the benefits
a successful holiday season can offer.
That’s why now is the time to focus
on the essentials of holiday planning: from
service and retail, goal setting, to retaining
all those valuable first-time clients. And
don’t forget to plan your best gift
certificate strategies, from promotion to
redemption.
To make the most of the holidays,
first consider historical performance.
What kind of numbers has your salon
or spa posted in the past?
Decide which areas need improvement:
preliminary marketing, phone
coverage, technical consistency, anything
at all. Which services, products
and technicians are traditionally in great
demand, and are therefore overburdened
during the holidays? And perhaps the most
important question is what to do about it all.
Your holiday strategy will consist of several
components. For example, you need a
product plan, including merchandising, sales
scripts, packaging and promotional objectives.
Likewise, you need a comprehensive
service plan. Consider whether the holidays
represent an appropriate time to launch new
services, or to stick with what works.
And if service sales really go through
the roof in the next few months, are there
enough technicians on your team to satisfy
client demand? Historical data will be your
best guide for determining where to set your
holiday sights.
Holiday Merchandising and Gift
Certificate Strategies: The word “merchandising”
usually conjures images of a
sparkling display case at an immaculate desk,
or of forward-facing items placed three
inches apart on the shelves. Those are important
practical elements of a merchandising
plan, but there are external less known
elements that are just as important.
The first thing you must merchandise is the
business itself. A shiny, happy salon is attractive
to clients. But a shiny, happy salon is
not just about keeping the floors swept and
displays dusted. It begins behind the scenes,
with the things clients don’t see. It begins in
the back room and weekly huddles, where
team members establish codes of conduct,
dress, interaction with clients, customer
service initiatives… when you stop to make
your list you may be surprised at how many
things are on it.
Hectic holiday schedules make it even
more interesting. So it’s especially important
to establish rules of conduct for dealing
with frazzled, time conscious clients. Some
will be delighted with everything the salon
offers; others decidedly won’t be. Either
way, the holiday season is a time for infinite
patience from salon owners and team. Client
perception will determine whether the business
truly capitalizes on holiday client traffic.
How to Retain Those First Time
Holiday Clients: All first time clients challenge
many salons and spas, but first-time
holiday clients even more so.
Now is the time to focus on the essentials
of holiday planning: from service
and retail, goal setting, to retaining all
those valuable first-time clients.
Ah, the holidays. For many in the retail
and service industries, there is no substitute
for—and no way to live without—the financial
boon provided by consumers possessed
by the spirit of giving. Some salon and spa
businesses are absolutely dependent on the
gift certificate driven cash influx they usually
experience in November and December.
Then the clients come and here begins
the real test: what happens to these clients?
Do hundreds or even thousands of firsttime
faces disappear? A few questions and
keystrokes on the phones and at the point
of sale can capture enough information
to give you an edge on turning them into
repeat visitors. The important first step,
which many businesses forego, is asking the
questions.
A gift certificate, with no follow-up plan
for retaining the client, is not worth the
paper it’s printed on. Coordinated marketing
campaigns cost money, sometimes in significant
amounts. The reward for this investment
is new client traffic. Once the clients
start to arrive, a salon or spa is charged with
converting them into loyal, raving fans. If
this does not happen, the business would
have fared much better marketing to its
existing client base, which costs significantly
less than new client acquisition.
A Holiday Hypothesis: How many gift
certificates will your salon or spa sell this
season? What will be their average value,
and for which services? Generally, salons
and spas will see about 75 percent of holiday
gift certificates redeemed. The average
number of clients retained varies greatly, and
depends on many factors, including which
services they experience. Clients that redeem
certificates for luxury services are less likely
to return, because they consider
the visit a treat; it’s nice as a gift,
but not something they would
normally indulge themselves in.
Let’s Look At Some Numbers:
Let’s say your salon sells
100 gift certificates. Of these, 75
percent are redeemed. Of those 75
clients, 35 percent come back for
another visit. The business nets 26
new clients.
Sadly, those numbers are
probably generous for many salons and spas.
Redemption percentages fluctuate, and most
salons retain closer to only 30 percent of
first-time clients.
So the question is, if a salon only retains
roughly 25 percent of its gift certificate
customers, is it really worth the hassle and
expense? Some business owners do not
hesitate to say that it is. It’s important to
reach as many clients as possible. Others
feel the funds invested in concept, design,
production, mailing, paperwork and tracking
are better spent elsewhere. Both points are
valid. Either way, the trick is turning clients
that you pay for via marketing expenses
into paying clients via referrals and a greater
share of their personal business.
If you play your cards right, each
generation of first-time clients will produce
another, as they refer and purchase gifts for
friends and acquaintances.
Neil Ducoff, founder of Strategies and author of the upcoming book
“No-Compromise Leadership,” developed the team-based
pay concept more than 30 years ago and developed a company that
trains and coaches to ensure businesses implement the program successfully.
For more information, visit www.strategies.com.
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