Problems with rival salons

[la-dolce-vita]

Hello everyone, sorry in advance for the little rant! hehe.
I'm sure the problem we are having at the moment is nothing new and that many of you will have experienced it before.

We are a relatively new salon and this is our first so we've not had any experience with any of this before. We opened in an area that was lacking in a beauty salon, the nearest being a good trek away.
However just recently so many new salons seem to be opening quite near to us.
We have to say that since then lots of problems seem to be happening.
If one day goes by without someone hoax ringing up grilling us on prices we are lucky!
We have even had people coming in who are quite obviously working for other salons and had treatments to find out exactly how we do what we do.
It has reached a stage now where it is becoming ridiculous. In the last week alone we have had at least 3 clients show who have been spying and were very on edge when they realised they may have been caught out.
We have had 3 clients that from the moment they booked we were dubious as to whether they would show, and surprise surprise they didn't!

Now I find this all very immature, I would never dream of doing this to other salons. I quite frankly could not be bothered and am too concerned with keeping my real clients happy to waste time on them.

What did you do when this was happening to you?
It's not like you can even say anything to the people that are doing it incase they turn out for once to be a real client!!

 

[naturalnails]

It is obviously jealousy so take heart in it.

If you have a credit card machine and someone calls to book a service and you are suspicious, ask to take a CC deposit, or at least take contact details and call a little bit later to confirm.

 

[persianista]

You crry on doing your own thing, and let your competitors waste their time and money keeping tabs on you. Call back to confirm bookings 24 hours before the appointment, or as Fiona says, take a deposit.
Don't let it bother you though. They will find out what they want to know and then leave you alone.

 

[Jack Dunn]

Hello everyone, sorry in advance for the little rant! hehe.
I'm sure the problem we are having at the moment is nothing new and that many of you will have experienced it before.

We are a relatively new salon and this is our first so we've not had any experience with any of this before. We opened in an area that was lacking in a beauty salon, the nearest being a good trek away.
However just recently so many new salons seem to be opening quite near to us.
We have to say that since then lots of problems seem to be happening.
If one day goes by without someone hoax ringing up grilling us on prices we are lucky!
We have even had people coming in who are quite obviously working for other salons and had treatments to find out exactly how we do what we do.
It has reached a stage now where it is becoming ridiculous. In the last week alone we have had at least 3 clients show who have been spying and were very on edge when they realised they may have been caught out.
We have had 3 clients that from the moment they booked we were dubious as to whether they would show, and surprise surprise they didn't!

Now I find this all very immature, I would never dream of doing this to other salons. I quite frankly could not be bothered and am too concerned with keeping my real clients happy to waste time on them.

What did you do when this was happening to you?
It's not like you can even say anything to the people that are doing it incase they turn out for once to be a real client!!

Even for us that work from home it happens... I get calls on a regular basis asking for prices and a usually more detail about the service than I would expect clients to ask... but thats good in a way as clearly they recognise your business as being worth following... or a leader in your field.. sadly we are powerless and have to grin an bear it..

I have had a few problems with duff appointments in the past.. but since I changed my booking system and I send text message confirmation etc and on the day a text requesting a confirmation... clients who ignore and fail to confirm then appointment is cancelled.. it seems too work...and they never turn up.

Its either local competition .. or clients who book and then find a better deal elsewhere.

Have a look at your appointment confirmation system and if you can tighten it up then do, I appreciate with a salon you may have a lot more clients, but I would rather know at 10am that my 5pm is not coming than be waiting for them when the time slot is lost...

Also I never call them back..I dont think it worth giving them the satisfaction!!.. Just log the number as a no show.. its a great feeling when two months down the road you can say " sorry sir you did not turn up for your last appointment......."

Good luck x

 

[EMMA AT ELITE]

I really feel for you, its not a nice situation to be in & one you cant really do much about.
I would definatly take deposits, & phone 24hours prior to confirm appointments, & maybe even do 1471 after you get calls that you are a little unsure of.
I think the trick is to make your salon a cut above the rest. Be one step ahead, offer new, different treatments, open longer hours, Sundays etc, do different things to other salons wheather it is offering hot & cold drinks, giving clients xmas pressie/vouchers, loyalty schemes, email newsletters.
Or how about doing a "client xmas party" as a thank you to all your clients for their loyalty over the past year, do raffles (for treatments) little party bags, mini hand massages, demos, lay on food & drink, xmas music etc, I bet the others salons wont be doing that.
Hope that helps
x:hug:x

 

[la-dolce-vita]

Thankyou for the advice guys, tis much appreciated!
We are definately looking to tighten up our booking system!