The Beauty Group - mini treatments in magazines

[ADiva1]

Hi all

I have a feeling that this topic might have been discussed in the past, do forgive me if it has.

I was contacted by the Beauty Group today to 'exclusively' take on clients for mini treatments (20 mins) who had vouchers from magazines, eg: Zest, Elle, Aussie, Marie Claire, Cosmo Bride.

Now.... I have been asked to pay a membership fee, plus I will be charged approx £5 for each client that keeps their appointment? There wasnt any talk about products, my time or anything like that....

Has anyone been approached or have taken part in this? What was your experience? Or what are your thoughts about it?

Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[persianista]

We did it for hair. Waste of time to be honest, most people just wanted a freebie.

 

[ADiva1]

We did it for hair. Waste of time to be honest, most people just wanted a freebie.

Cheers Dawn thought I'd just get people's opinions rather than only judge it myself. Its strange because I my site has only been up and running a few days now, so they must have been thru all the others before me!

 

[naturalnails]

I tried this ages ago and my experience was the same as Dawn's - people either just didnt turn up or all they wanted was the freebie.

They also sent me leads for people who didnt actually want what I could provide - like beauty treatments and I only do nails. They still charged me for the leads, although after a fight I did get reimbursed for the dead leads!

My advice - dont bother!

 

[ADiva1]

I tried this ages ago and my experience was the same as Dawn's - people either just didnt turn up or all they wanted was the freebie.

They also sent me leads for people who didnt actually want what I could provide - like beauty treatments and I only do nails. They still charged me for the leads, although after a fight I did get reimbursed for the dead leads!

My advice - dont bother!

Thanks Fiona. Hope you are ok.:hug:

There was no talk about my time or products, just that I would get 5-40 clients per week. She knew I'm newly set up and would want clients. Yes, I do, but why do I have to pay someone to get them. I could use that same money for some positive/sensible advertising and products!
It doesn't even sound too good to be true either!

 

[persianista]

We found that people just wanted something for nothing. They tended to be difficult about appointments. The whole thing wasn't great.

 

[Cathie!]

BIG waste of money!

 

[Lynne Baker]

Ditto all of the above.

 

[ADiva1]

Ditto all of the above.

Thanks Lynne and everyone else who responded.

Lynne, you gave us some fabulous advertising tips in one of your threads. I will try ALL of them over time and I am sure I will be a lot better off than joining this firm.:hug:

 

[lady R]

seems like a great idea but its a waste of money, don't bother. I tried it and all the customers sent to me wanted a freebie and never returned. Don't bother honey x

 

[andi]

you know that old saying if it seems too good to be true it probably is!

 

[EMMA AT ELITE]

How strange I too today got 3 emails from this company! :irked:
and my website is new too, has only been going for about 5 days.
After reading all the above posts I certainly wont be taking up the offer. - Which I didnt think was that good anyway!
Thanks for the heads up geeks x:hug:x

 

[ADiva1]

How strange I too today got 3 emails from this company! :irked:
and my website is new too, has only been going for about 5 days.
After reading all the above posts I certainly wont be taking up the offer. - Which I didnt think was that good anyway!
Thanks for the heads up geeks x:hug:x

Hi Emma!
Yep, you are right, we have only been on the web this week. Interesting, isnt it? How do they know we are new then, lol.
Nope not going to bother either.X

 

[tog]

Blimey, wish I'd had a business idea like that . . . to get beauty therapists to give away free treatments and then charge them £5 for each treatment into the bargain!
Flipping rip-off if you ask me.
All they do is sit on their a***s, collect the money and send people to you, then YOU do all the hard work and paying out.

DON'T DO IT!

 

[ADiva1]

Blimey, wish I'd had a business idea like that . . . to get beauty therapists to give away free treatments and then charge them £5 for each treatment into the bargain!
Flipping rip-off if you ask me.
All they do is sit on their a***s, collect the money and send people to you, then YOU do all the hard work and paying out.

DON'T DO IT!

Lol, thanks chic. Already made up my mind not to anyway...XX

 

[add]

Having read some of the recent comments regarding the hair and beauty group I feel as a salon owner that has been part of the promotions they work in conjunction with I do question whether some salons are actually of a good enough standard to retain the clients that have been sent.

I have now been receiving prospects through gift experiences and national promotions for three years and have gained a high proportion of regular paying clients. It has increased the footfall into my salon and due to my outstanding customer service and extensive range of treatments offered have benefited tremendously from this, far better than advertising, it’s down to yourself at the end of the day to keep the prospects and show case yourself, if you treat them as a freebee and they don’t return then personally you simply have not given the correct service to attract them back.

So you provide a short treatment for free I’d rather do this than have an empty salon with my staff sitting around all day. I pay a small fee for the intro but then I’m exclusive in my town so no other salon has the opportunity to gain extra cliental from their immediate area.

I have a hot data base of leads that have expressed a desire to visit a new salon or perhaps don’t have a regular salon that they are entirely happy with and I can use this data over and over again for my own in house offers, I’m certain there are plenty of salons that this works for others wise there would not be as many salons joining.

What better endorsement for my business than to ring a prospective new client and tell them I represent the likes of Elle magazine, Marie Claire virgin experience and last minute .com.

 

[Blue Rose]

Having read some of the recent comments regarding the hair and beauty group I feel as a salon owner that has been part of the promotions they work in conjunction with I do question whether some salons are actually of a good enough standard to retain the clients that have been sent.

I have now been receiving prospects through gift experiences and national promotions for three years and have gained a high proportion of regular paying clients. It has increased the footfall into my salon and due to my outstanding customer service and extensive range of treatments offered have benefited tremendously from this, far better than advertising, it’s down to yourself at the end of the day to keep the prospects and show case yourself, if you treat them as a freebee and they don’t return then personally you simply have not given the correct service to attract them back.

So you provide a short treatment for free I’d rather do this than have an empty salon with my staff sitting around all day. I pay a small fee for the intro but then I’m exclusive in my town so no other salon has the opportunity to gain extra cliental from their immediate area.

I have a hot data base of leads that have expressed a desire to visit a new salon or perhaps don’t have a regular salon that they are entirely happy with and I can use this data over and over again for my own in house offers, I’m certain there are plenty of salons that this works for others wise there would not be as many salons joining.

What better endorsement for my business than to ring a prospective new client and tell them I represent the likes of Elle magazine, Marie Claire virgin experience and last minute .com.

Hmmm, not sure you're going to garner much favour with fellow geeks with generalised sweeping statements like that!!

 

[vintagekj]

Hmmm, not sure you're going to garner much favour with fellow geeks with generalised sweeping statements like that!!

I agree, this just sounds like making a quick buck............may I mention nobody said they were sat around waiting for clients!

 

[honeymummy]

We used to use this company in the last salon I worked in.
it cost my boss a lot of money every month for this service.
What we did was tell the client that they have a mini treatment and would they like to upgrade to eg the full facial if they pay an extra. £.. so we got some profit from it at times.

some did and some didnt... most of these type of clients scour through magazines and newspapers for any feebie going and they dont come back.

It was fine when this company offered one mini treatment but what they did without telling us was selling gift vouchers in department stores, for eg £25 for two full treatments.
They client would purchase the gift voucher expecting us to give them two full treatments which of course, we made nothing on..losing time and products.. whilst this company were making the money, we was not and my poor old boss was paying them for this!!

 

[Bombalurina]

Thanks for this thread ladies. I used Beauty Group in my old salon, and it came to mind the other day, I was thinking about finding out about it and joining up myself...but you comments have bought back the flood of memories of clients after a freebie, and the poor return we had from it.

I actually sat and made a spreadsheet one year, of all the leads we'd had, who actually came and claimed their free treatment, and who had turned into a regular client...I think (if I remember rightly), we had around 1000 leads, about half of those took the free treatment, and ONE client had returned for further treatments. ONE!!!!

We were treating these freebie clients like royalty!! Sent a letter out informing them that we were their exclusive BG salon, followed up with a phone call to check had received letter and to see if they wanted to book, made sure the rooms were perfect, gave them tea/coffee, did a full consultation, and gave them a "welcome pack" with pricelist, samples, and vouchers for money off further treatments...certainly not treating them like timewasters...and still nothing. People very rarely upgraded either.

When I think of the time spent entering these leads onto the database, sending the letters, making the followup calls, paying the bill (which was usually around £250 a month, if not more), making up the welcome packs, not to mention doing the treatment, I realise what a complete waste of time it really was!!

So, to summarise, thankyou ladies you have helped me to make up my mind - I will NOT be joining the Beauty Group!!!