Building clientele - when you work from home

[katml]

In the world we live in today we have to be so careful about who we let into our home salons. I was using facebook for advertising, but realise that with it I cannot accurately screen who joins my fan page, and as a result anyone can join find out details and call for an appointment without me having any sort of reference.

How do you ladies build clientele knowing that you have to be a little more cautious than usual as it is your home they are coming into?

 

[loza789]

Hi,

Why do you have clients coming to your house? Would you be able to go to the house of your new clients? If you could you could get to know them before you invited them to your home for a treatment, if you don't feel happy you can keep treating them at their home

 

[katml]

Hi,

Why do you have clients coming to your house? Would you be able to go to the house of your new clients? If you could you could get to know them before you invited them to your home for a treatment, if you don't feel happy you can keep treating them at their home

I work from home, as in my nail salon is in my living room, so that's why they come to me. Unfortunately no mobile isn't an option for me.
So I'm looking for ways to build an exclusive clientele

 

[Lynne Baker]

I think you're going to struggle to build a client base quickly if you're going to screen every single client before they come to you.
If you're going to run your business from home (as I do) then you have to accept the risks. I treat men for intimate waxing and I've never yet had a problem (apart from the man who asked if I did spanking!), because I behave professionally, which sets the boundaries.

 

[Lou x]

I don't think you can be choosey or who you do or don't trust to come to your home.
Say if you let one person but not another and they knew each other and found out?
I don't think I'd use somebody again if they felt they were getting a bad vibe or something from me!

Do you live with somebody else? If not let a good friend know when you have appointments and call them afterwards x


Sent from my iPad using SalonGeek

 

[Nicki100322]

yeah i agree with the above hun...just remember ppl r mostly going to come to u through recommendation so altho u dont personally know them ppl u know do! and also as i do client cards for everyone so u have all their details anyway! relax it will b fine but u really cant pick and choose as u will find urself short of business! xx

 

[mateykaty]

If you are worried you could always make sure you have always spoken to the person on the phone to make an appointment and not make appointments by text/ email/ facebook etc. That way you have a feel for the sort of person you will be treating and whether you want to treat them or not. Use your sixth sense about people, I went against mine in the week and now regret it. x

 

[heatherp]

Alot of my male clients are referrals, but if I do get a new one, I will speak to them on the telephone, take contact numbers and address, then I have a look on facebook, twitter etc to see if they are on there so I can get a little background or feel for the type of person they are. Also Im quite lucky as I have a few friends and family who are willing to pop in and sit in the next room for the first appointment.

 

[redsadie]

I have only ever had 2 male clients (don't usually do men), one spray tan who I knew and one nail client who contacted me through my website. The rest by and large are people I know or who have been recommended (I reckon about 20% are from my site)

I called the nail client too gauge and luckily (or not) my husband was around as he was made redundant, so I booked him in when my hub was at home. Had he been working, I would have made an evening appointment.

Any client coming to your home for the first time, whether male or female is going to feel a bit strange if they are not known or recommended to you, so my advice is as above really, speak to them and try to get a feel, and if you're still unsure, try to make sure either someone is there or get them to call you when the appointment is/should be about 10 minutes in.

If you really feel like this, do you think home based is best for you?

Xx

 

[kylieb]

I don't treat men but i'm never worried about female clients coming to my home salon.
Don't display your address anywhere that way you will know who you are giving it to. I agree with Lynne....you will struggle to build a client base! And we all know how hard it is anyway.

 

[katml]

Sorry I should have been more specific. I have no problem with referrals that is actually what I want, I wanted to know how do you go about getting them so that you only have people who are friends of friends coming to you (which I don't mind even if I don't know you, to me once you have a referral knowing my friends/clients I'd be happy to have you)

I was meaning how do you advertise, if you can't actually do open publications since it's not a public location spa, it's an at home spa, do you give flyers only to people within neighbourhood that kind of thing. Do you do referral programs only? How do you try to go about it?

 

[redsadie]

Sorry I should have been more specific. I have no problem with referrals that is actually what I want, I wanted to know how do you go about getting them so that you only have people who are friends of friends coming to you (which I don't mind even if I don't know you, to me once you have a referral knowing my friends/clients I'd be happy to have you)

I was meaning how do you advertise, if you can't actually do open publications since it's not a public location spa, it's an at home spa, do you give flyers only to people within neighbourhood that kind of thing. Do you do referral programs only? How do you try to go about it?

Ah :idea: Ok, well if it was me, I wouldn't have a website as strange people you don't know would book, so I would then have to do a refer a friend programme to build my client base as otherwise there doesn't seem to be any other way to screen people. This way you know the people you have coming to your home are friends of a friend and you know the person you have in your referral program know each other.

Other than this, I can only think that you could use the same idea with Facebook. This would work if you had adjusted your privacy setting to only friends, then your offers would show up on your friends' walls and you could ask "if any of my lovely friends know anyone who want XX treatment, please refer them to me and as a thank you, you get XX"

I do think you are really limiting yourself though, it will also be a very slow way to build up. Most of my clients are friends or friends of friends, and building this up was a painfully slow process as I found friends want to go to someone they don't know smack but I'd say at least 20% are people coming through my site, more now it's established.

Hope this helps?

xx