New weekly client introductions with the beauty group

[Sassy32]

Has anyone else been approached by this deal? Basically what happens is the company sends you a list each week of a minimum of 3 people who have a voucher for a free mini treatment (they may have been bought this as a gift from someone)
I would then have to get in touch with them to arrange an app time to suit me. I pay the company £4 for each client. They can upgrade treatment if they want and pay the difference. All clients are from my surrounding area. If I retain them as a new client then the £4 is well worth it, if not I lose £4 plus my time on the treatment. If I go with it I have to give 3months notice.
I am in 2 minds with this one so wanted to know if anyone has tried this out before.
Thanks x

 

[persianista]

I did it for a while when I opened one of my salons. It is limited as to how well it works. Some people just want a free haircut/ treatment! Plus some can be difficult as to appointments. We got fed up with the way some people behaved and stopped using it.

 

[Sassy32]

I know, i'm torn between the fact that it could get me some new clients and like you say people just come for a free treatment and you never see them again!!

 

[Cathie!]

When I had the salon, we did it and the return for the fee that you pay is rubbish, I think it was £2.50 then. Even if you turned the service into a premium treatment we found that the clients never became regulars. And when they send you 10 leads in your area costing you £40 and you get nothing back from it, despite your best sales pitch, how maddening is that?

Not wanting to sound snobish or rude but most of the leads we got were from QS Stores, not your most exclusive clothing outlet on the high street!

IMO you'd be better off saving the money for a better targeted advertising plan.

There are other schemes like this that are often on offer, I know Tampax did one and you don't have to pay for their leads.

I wouldn't touch it again. xxx

 

[TheBack&Beyond]

From the top I'll say I've never tried it, but personally - it's my policy to only give 'free' treatments to existing clients. There are so many tales from colleages who just get people 'surfing' the free deals. And they never come back.

IMHO it's far cheaper to keep an existing customer happy than to get a new one. Ask yourself strongly - does each new regular customer really cost you more than £4? The only way this deal is better is if the answer is 'no'!

In my business model - overall I don't make much profit if I only see a customer once, it's when they return and I can speed-wax them after a couple of treatments there is benefit to the business.

As long as your not signing up for a long contract, you could always try them out for a couple of months - see if you get repeat business?

Good Luck! J.

 

[honeymummy]

We had this in my last salon i worked in, its such a con babe.
For a while, the person was entitled to a e.g mini facial and they could upgrade to the full facial if they wanted to pay the extra £

then a year later, the client list of prefered treatments got longer and longer, ( when it was supposed to be only one free mini treatment ) and they wanted two to three treatments fof free.
Gift vouchers were being bought for them, from departemt stores and the internet.. tiese vouchers were costing the buyer about £25 - £30 promising them free three treatments. so who was getting the money?? not our salon thats for sure. this company was.

Also i agree with the others, these clients dont come back because its something for nothing.. these sort of clients already go elsewhere for treatments or constanly look through magazines to collect vouchers n freebies all their life.
This offer was costing my boss money and we wernt getting nothing out of it.

 

[totalbirdbrain]

Just to add my name to the list!!! We tried it too, out of all the clients we had only two were what I would call 'good' cliens. They still come, they have reasonably regular treatments and buy gift vouchers for family and friends, however the other clients were those that are only out for a freebie, which I their choice, but not good for business. Some wouldn't turn up for their appointments, then ring and expect you to book them back in again! So in a nut shell - nope From personal experience I wouldn't do it

 

[Brandywine]

I haven't tried this myself, but other schemes I have been involved with that either give a very good saving or a free treatment never seem to be the "right" sort of clients. I can't think of one regular client that I have got through this sort of thing.

 

[persianista]

I did get a few good regulars out of it but most people were chancers who just wanted a freebie. Some behaved very badly re appointments and we figured it wasn't worth the ag as they were not our target Market anyway.

 

[lady R]

don't bother babe you pay out more than you get in return. I thought it was a great idea for a while but then realised it was just a waste of money. Spend it elsewhere, it really doesn't bring in the customers....

 

[taylor4beauty]

I used to work for a salon a few years back who tried this type of thing hun, if it's the offers you get in magazines it worked really well. We used to get quite a few clients coming in from our local area and i managed to hang on to them, it's was great for me as i just started out in beauty and i got a buzz from it, i still got alot of them have followed me today. I think the salon i worked for in Gosport is still with them. I guess you don't know until you try, best of luck sugar!x

 

[jo1983]

Has anyone else been approached by this deal? Basically what happens is the company sends you a list each week of a minimum of 3 people who have a voucher for a free mini treatment (they may have been bought this as a gift from someone)
I would then have to get in touch with them to arrange an app time to suit me. I pay the company £4 for each client. They can upgrade treatment if they want and pay the difference. All clients are from my surrounding area. If I retain them as a new client then the £4 is well worth it, if not I lose £4 plus my time on the treatment. If I go with it I have to give 3months notice.
I am in 2 minds with this one so wanted to know if anyone has tried this out before.
Thanks x

There is a company called Lifestyle Incentives Ltd that puts together beauty promotions for the likes of Direct Line, Nokia, Sony, etc. They will actually pay you £5 (I hope this is still right it has been a while!) to do the mini treatment, and put your details on the website of the company that is doing the promotion!

 

[Sassy32]

Thank you all for your advice, i've said no!!! I actually remember now someone getting in touch about sending clients and they pay me £5, not had anyone through but as its not costing me anything, no harm done!!!

 

[jes]

Has anyone else been approached by this deal? Basically what happens is the company sends you a list each week of a minimum of 3 people who have a voucher for a free mini treatment (they may have been bought this as a gift from someone)
I would then have to get in touch with them to arrange an app time to suit me. I pay the company £4 for each client. They can upgrade treatment if they want and pay the difference. All clients are from my surrounding area. If I retain them as a new client then the £4 is well worth it, if not I lose £4 plus my time on the treatment. If I go with it I have to give 3months notice.
I am in 2 minds with this one so wanted to know if anyone has tried this out before.
Thanks x

Hang on, are you saying that, effectively, they want you to pay £4 for every mini treatment you do.