Ways to set yourself apart from the rest!

[hazeleyes]

Times are very competitive! Pricing wars mean it's hard to lower your prices to fight off completion so How do you guys set yourselves apart from the rest.
I'm trying to think of ideas for the new year to get clients coming to me, over the salon down the road. Obviously offering good quality products and treatments works wonders but what else?

I'm thinking of offering a brief hand massage to every enhancement and shellac client before/after polishing? I stuck with a particular eyebrow threaded because I enjoyed the massage they gave my eyebrows!

Any one got any other ideas?

 

[Nicolahayley]

To be honest I love all the wee added extras within a salon. But I personally feel that the biggest thing that will set you apart is absolutely making sure you make each and every single client feel respected as soon as they walk into your salon. Being professional but very friendly with people and making them feel comfortable. I think if a client gels with their therapist then that is what keeps people coming back... And wow it's an added bonus that respect, manners and friendliness is FREE!

But I do agree with u I love finding little added extras that makes clients feel like they r getting added things for free!! Xx


Nicola! Xxx

 

[siana]

Price wars are never a good thing - stick to your guns and realise your worth! Being professional and keeping up to date with all the latest products and education gives you confidence in what you are doing and allows your clients to trust you and feel safe. I always allow plenty of time between clients so there is no rush - they get tea, coffee, water etc and their appointments are made as luxurious and pampering as possible for them. I don't fit as many clients in as joe bloggs up the road - but I have a great regular client base who tell me that quality treatments and being treated as special and individuals are better than the cheap quick fix.

So treating your existing clients to the best, generally leads to recommendations. The extra little things you have mentioned sound great. Little touches to make your clients feel special. I always give a leg massage after waxing with an organic soothing moisturiser - everyone comments on how they love it!

 

[Shiv9mbs]

I hate to be pedantic but massaging the legs directly after waxing would increase blood flow etc to the area and therefore increase redness, heat spots etc. love the idea but practically it's not good


Sent from my iPhone using SalonGeek app

 

[virtues2011]

Guys I have noticed every single thread of this nature states the same responses, give a solar oil! massage 3 seconds more! Give them tea from a china cup, yet not not one person has yet to mention their surroundings and where they operate from. Does anyone notice what the windows look like? Are they covered in dirt? is their a nice eligible sign out the front? is the forecourt swept? Are the bins overflowing? Are their cigarette ends by the front door? Staff presentation etc. Service has a price to pay of course, but so does the state of the property. If it looks run down and dirty on the outside, you'll be twiddling thumbs ...not massaging them. Do you ever walk past a salon and think that looks grubby? I know this can't be said for mobile but I've seen empty cigarette packets in doorways, bird poo on Windows, weeds the size of small trees. .. it's bad.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[peepee]

I agree with Virtue - apart from being a salon owner I've also done a lot of business coaching with several well known industry guru's, and only 50% of the reason a client goes back to a salon is the way their hair looks - what is just as important is the way they're made to feel along with atmosphere and staff attitude - I'm only talking about salon owners and not mobile of course - also the most important person in a salon is the one clients see when they walk through the door, and I've been in quite literally hundreds of salons and that person unfortunately is the 17 year old trainee who looks completely uninterested and struggles to string a sentence together - think about the last time you went into a restaurant, who greeted you? Not some prepubescent teenager but someone with warmth and character - I'm not talking expensive places either, just go to pizza hut and they're always friendly and bubbly xxxx

Sent from my SM-N9005 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[MamaG]

Agreed. Only yesterday I walked past a nail 'salon' in town. Peeling paintwork, grubby windows. Faded price list scrawled on a board with things they no longer offer just crossed out! No way would I be going in there!

Sent from my GT-I9505 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[BannerPenguin]

Amazing what a lick of paint, new promotional stuff and new curtains/nets etc do.

 

[Miss_NBC]

Amazing what a lick of paint, new promotional stuff and new curtains/nets etc do.

Nets!? :-o *shudders* they should be banned!

 

[virtues2011]

Ha ha BP... You're making a rod for your own back here. NO NETS!

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[BannerPenguin]

Ha ha BP... You're making a rod for your own back here. NO NETS!

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app

haha makes it sound like I like nets!
Far from it.

 

[squidgernetball]

I have just picked up several new clients because their therapist had moved to new premises. Apparently her room is nice but how you get to it is pretty skanky. When I heard she was moving and where she was moving to, I timed my advertising for a few weeks after. We have got a fair bit of work from it.

Sometimes you forget to look. When I did beauty my teacher would make us all walk out of the classroom and walk back in to see what the client sees. That was a great lesson. I do it all the time looking at what could be improved etc.

Vicki x

 

[Miss_NBC]

haha makes it sound like I like nets!
Far from it.

Is this a classic case of back-pedalling?! I do hope so. I hold a dim view of people who love the nets! ;-)