Dont be afraid of giving away freebies.

[pazzy]

In the early days of opening a salon or starting your business, its well worth giving away small treatments free of charge. Or if business is a bit slow it can use up time and increase treatment awareness.

It has to be something that is minimal in costs and that it is really time your giving away.

Your ideas could be giving away your less popular treatments. It could also end in a retail sale.

Here are some ideas.

Nail treatments - offer a free toe nail shape & paint.

Whilst having a lash tint try giving a hand & arm massage or nail shape & paint.

Offer to do a free brow tint with eyebrow shape.

If a client is having nails done and there is a spare therapist doing nothing then she can give client a neck & shoulder massage.

Try and get some nail clients to try a beauty treatment and vise versa.

Its all about utilising time. It may not bring in immediate cash but people talk especially if they have had something for free and they were pleased with it. They might end up buying gift vouchers for a relative and now feel confident about buying it.

When I had my salon we tried this and it did put new ideas in clients minds. Its amazing how they look at price lists and havent got a clue what half the treatments are.

Its up to you to bring it to their attention.

Remeber to tell your client it is a one off free treatment for best clients but not available EVERY visit (some clients often think thats what it is lol)

 

[CadenceAlex]

I agree.

When I opened my salon with my husband, between us we went to all the shops along the two rows - including a large very busy eating establishment/pub and 4 hairdressers - and gave them all Raffle tickets entitling them to try our sunbeds for 6 minutes or 5 minutes for our High Pressure machine. This, slowly but surely got them all through the doors and they have remained great customers since. OK, I gritted my teeth when 6 months down the line the first of my tokens came back (without time limits :smack: )... but looking back through the books at our best customers... we have more than had our money back from doing this, and we LOVE the customers we have!!!

I was thinking about doing the same with Spray Tanning, but it has taken off nicely without needing to do this... however, I will be doing this again but only to the hairdressers near the bottom of the row of shops.

The other thing that worked well for us, was 20% off coupons in the local papers for about 6 weeks running. The people brought the coupons in, and again, have remained loyal to us since we opened.

The salon is clean, I have never had a can of Deodarant stolen from a room and I am pleased to say, none of the problems I see other sunbed owners having with their customers! It may be the area we are in.

Special offers work really well.

Good thread Pazzy

 

[BABSann]

Ok,I feel like I am always saying the opposite to everyone but.....we have never given any special offer or freebie of any type.

We are busy and dont need to offer freebies.I'm not saying its wrong to offer freebies.If it works then good for you but hopefully soon you wont need to.:biggrin: Please dont think I'm being off.

 

[CadenceAlex]

Ok,I feel like I am always saying the opposite to everyone but.....we have never given any special offer or freebie of any type.

We are busy and dont need to offer freebies.I'm not saying its wrong to offer freebies.If it works then good for you but hopefully soon you wont need to.:biggrin: Please dont think I'm being off.

I don't think you're being off!

We did this because due to problems with 3 phase electrics.. we missed half of the busy season for sunbeds and were desperate to get people through the door to SEE just exactly how our beds were superior to all those around us!

Horses for Courses... or however that saying goes!

It only cost us electricity!

I am not in the position to comment on offering free Beauty Treatments as I am not a Therapist, and have never given free nail treatments away. I do not even do sample nails.

 

[eager beaver]

many salons will not offer free treatments etc as they can feel it cheapens theyre image, thinks it may make them look aliittle desperate etc, and for others it gets people in the door. if you are going to offer something like this, i would advise a treatment such as an eyebrow wax, as once they have had this done by a professional, they dont want to do them themselves. once you have them in the door, they usually build up their treatments.HTHs

 

[gemsie1983]

I hear what you are saying about 'cheapening' the image but there are a few simple tricks to avoid this.

If a client is in for a treatment give them a 'sample' of another treatment and explain the benefits to them. Think of it a bit like the samples of perfume, foundations etc in magazines.

 

[becki x]

Ok,I feel like I am always saying the opposite to everyone but.....we have never given any special offer or freebie of any type.

We are busy and dont need to offer freebies.I'm not saying its wrong to offer freebies.If it works then good for you but hopefully soon you wont need to.:biggrin: Please dont think I'm being off.

I have to say i agree,and many times i have seen,written by Gigi it is better to give a "gift" than a discount/freebie hth's

 

[pazzy]

Its not about giving freebies for the sake of it.

Its about generating interest for other treatments that clients have never had before.

Doing it this way is cheaper than any newspaper ad by far.

If you have clients already by introducing them to something new generates more business and increasing your customer spend.

It costs less to give away to an existing client than to advertise for a new one.

No one wants to cheapen their salon - but does every client you have come to your salon for absolutely everything you offer? I have had clients who came to me for some things and stuck with another therapist for facials...how do you get your client to come to you for that facial?

If you have a trainee, it makes sense to utilise her/him with some intro trts for them to get to know each other.

I worked at a salon who had an open day and they used me (a trainee at the time) to do free nail shape paints and eyebrow waxes. They got to know me and liked what they got. They came back.