Do I approach the (potential) competition?

[Lynne Baker]

Hi all

In the (large) village where I live there is a nail lounge which offers gel enhancements, CreativeSpa mani/pedis and Tantrick spray tanning. I have no intention of providing nail enhancements or spray tanning in the foreseeable future but some of my clients ask me if I can recommend anyone nearby for the nail enhancements. I offer a fairly comprehensive range of beauty treatments and so I don't see us as bitter rivals, more that we offer a different portfolio with a little overlap in the middle.
My question is this: Do I go see this lady to suggest some cross promotion? I was thinking that if I have a chat with her I can pass some trade to her vis a vis the nail enhancements. Of course I could end up losing some clients to her for the spa mani/pedis, and some who prefer spray tanning to my lotion applied Fake Bake. Alternatively I could gain some clients from her for facials/waxing etc.

What does the Salon Geek massive think?

Thanks for any comments/advice/suggestions!

 

[Anita]

hi, There is no harm in speaking to her, you never know, you could both benifit from this. Why not invite here in for a coffee or to go out to lunch. Comunicate to here the positives of cross promoting and do not dwell on the negatives.
Another option is to go to her for a treatment that you dont offer, introduce yourself and bring up the subject, she is propably in the same situation as yourself and wondering if she should come and see you.
The worst that could happen is she says no!

Good luck

 

[joanne7174]

I have a local hair / beauty salon near to me and they dont do nails so they very kindly refer people to me I do their nails but dont offer them any services that they can get at the other salon works well for me x

 

[essentia]

Hi Lynne I suppose the possibility of clients 'jumping ship' may occur but this could also happen if you do not recommend somewhere else and they find a salon to do their nails anyway. I guess it cannot hurt to speak to the lady and see what she says. Maybe go there as a client as has been suggested and take it from there.

 

[Lynne Baker]

I'd like to go talk to her anyway - but she doesn't offer any services that I would want for myself. I don't want nail enhancements - and I don't want a spray tan!
Hmmm. I think I'll drop her an email and invite her over for a coffee. Thanks for the input, ladies!

 

[Bebeautiful]

Hi Calla,
I have a friend in the same situation as you, she does beauty treatments but some of her clients often request nail enhancements and some other treatments that my friend doesn's do. Although she still has her regular clients, it seems that she is turning away her clients but she managed to keep them I suppose that's because she has had the same cleints for a while. My suggestion to you would be to offer the facial treatments to her clients, give it some time, perhaps in the meantime you could do a nail extension course then add that treatment onto the list of your current treatment. Hope this information help

 

[pure]

Sounds like a great idea to me. One of my (better) rival salons offers intimate waxing, whereas I don't. I offer enhancements, she doesn't, so we cross promote. I have absolutely no problem with doing that at all.

At least I know that I'm sending my clients off to someone I know to be good at what they do.