The Giving Tree

Todays marketing tip is about giving back to your clientele. To quote St Francis “For it is in giving that we receive. “

     So many days we are the recipients of our clients love and money, this holiday is a wonderful opportunity to give back and share the love. Every year in my salon I put up “The Giving Tree”. I decorate a small tree with cute little pre-decorated ring boxes I find on line at nilecorp.com and inside I tuck a gift for my clients. Where the ring would go I fold a little paper that has a salon discount on it. I use a word document and print several types of discounts for my clients. Understand though I don’t just pick any gift. I strategically focus on upsells and add on services. I write things like Free upgrade to a spa manicure, or pedicure. Free paraffin dip. 15% off Spa manicure. 15% off anti-aging hand treatment. I offer the opportunity for my clients to experience an upgrade on their normal services because let’s face it. If they never experience the upgrade they really can’t understand the benefit. Once they experience the upgrade they will forever know what they are missing. This small gesture gives them the opportunity to see feel, smell and even taste the difference. Many of my spa treatments come with a complimentary beverage or treat. Peppermint patties and peppermint tea accompanies my Peppermint pedicure. Chocolate cherry hot coco comes with my Chocolate covered cherry pedi. Pumpkin spice tea comes with my pumpkin pedi, you get the drift.

     So the next time you ask them if they want to upgrade their service with your latest spa service they are more likely to say yes in order to get the spa experience. I also add in gift certificate specials like get a free 10 dollar gift card with every 50 dollar gift card purchase. Free gift, like a sample solor oil and travel hand cream. I do add a few 50% off retail purchases just for the excitement. Think about what it is you are trying to promote in your salon and make it a little easier for your clients to purchase and experience. The giving tree is up all season until January 1 but the special gifts have a very limited time line, usually from Jan1 to end of February or March. Just enough time to get through a few quiet months while promoting your best services. Everyone that visits the salon, even those just buying gift certificates are encouraged to take a gift off the tree. With these next few weeks we will see many more customers treating themselves for a special holiday party or just because. Don’t miss the opportunity to give back and say thank you for your loyalty and your business. I never forget for one moment without them there is no me.

CNTC

This past weekend I met up with Jada Cunningham, Michelle Torisk and Kimberly Hammond and headed up to the 3rd annual Canadian Nail Techs Connect event hosted by Dayna Knight and Laura Merzetti. We decided back in August on a field trip to Detroit to visit nail artist extrordinaire Janiese Newton we would make the treck. Dayna actually drove down from London Ontario for our nail "Play date" and told us all about this event. We almost didn't make it in one piece, there was a deer that decided to stand in the middle of the freeway when we were almost to Canada. Flying at 75 miles per hour, swerving was NOT an option, so I slowed down and moved to the side ever so slightly and it was just enough to get that deers butt in motion and it darted off across the highway. Whew, it was really close. Once we got to the Holiday Inn in London there was already a meet and greet in progress with many techs already sharing stories, ideas and wine! Dayna and Laura put together some fabulous speakers, vendors and demo tables along with a silent auction and free door prizes.

Something literally for everyone. Amy Becker, Carla Collier and Michelle Sproat shared amazing works of art as well as many others. We also learned that plum sauce comes with just about every meal in Canada, according to the girls behind us at the snack bar. The guy looked at Kim like she was crazy when she asked what it was lol. I know I picked up so many new ideas and valuable techniques. I watched Michelle do a gel design with an actual pin pen...so that's what I can do with mine.haha After a fantastic dinner at East Side Marios we had one more visit with Dayne and Carla before heading up to check out our goodie bags. I will definitely return again next year for more education and networking. Thanks again to all the sponsors and Dayna and Laura for all their hours of preparation and coordinating to bring such an awesome event!

Grand Ideas

This week we have a special request for some marketing advice. Libera Stoner just opened her spa, Medi Pedi’s and Nails in The Villages Ocala Florida. She is an ER nurse with 22 + years experience and a nail tech trained as a Certified Master Pedicurist looking for grand opening ideas to draw a crowd. Well Libera. You said your spa has a Roman theme so I suggest a Toga Party theme. I googled Toga Party recipes’ and allrecipies.com suggest a wine inspired punch with toga friendly fare that isn’t too drippy to turn your togas into giant napkins. Try

Bacon and Date Appetizer
Coconut Shrimp I
Garden Veggie Pizza Squares
Cocktail Meatballs I
Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Bruschetta
Marinated Grilled Shrimp
Make sure the presentation is lush as well, Gold and silver colored platters will give you that plush look you are shooting for. Music should be light and instrumental or go all out and hire a harpist. Next you’ll need to drum up a crowd. Check out other area businesses that would like to be included in your Grand opening festivities. Their databases could quickly add up to a crowd in a hurry. Visit as many area businesses as you can with business cards, menus and an invite to participate in your grand opening. I did this for a grand opening and many companies donated gift certificates to their business that I gave out as door prizes all night. I sold chances at $5.00 per ticket and chose a charity that would receive these donations from the event. Contact your local chapter of that charity and they can send out a newsletter to their database about your event. The Arthritis foundation is a good one considering many people with foot pain never realize it is arthritis, they just assume it is from years of the wrong shoe choice. Make up flyers and post anywhere and everywhere they will let you. You can have a costume contest and even a Roman mythology quiz awarding winners gift cards to your salon. Create an event on Yelp, Facebook and Twitter and get the social marketing muscle flexing on your behalf. Have menus ready and maybe tied like ancient scrolls to go along with the theme. Last but not least out together a few of your own specials including the grand prize of free foot care for a year. Sounds extravagant but in reality is only 8-10 pedicures depending on how often you book them, I recommend every 6-8 weeks. Tie in with some local podiatrists and/or foot clinics and leave invites as well as menus and business cards. See if you can talk one of the podiatrists into speaking for a few minutes on Foot health during the event. Last but not least make sure to write a press release and send out to your local press including an invite to your event.
I also wanted to mention that I am holding a webinar next Monday at 3pm eastern standard time November 21st on Holiday Marketing. It is free to listen, and only ten dollars to download and listen at a later time. Make sure to join me for a ton of holiday cheer.

This Crazy Business

So yesterday I travelled to the Raylon Corp. in Reading Pa to speak at a sales meeting on behalf of Dashing Diva. This company is growing so fast that they can hardly keep up with themselves. I started my day when my alarm went off at 4:15 AM. Grabbed a quick shower, breakfast bar and headed off to a 6:55 flight to Allentown, through Philly. Two flights later, once in Allentown I rented a car and started my journey to Reading with plenty of time to get to my 1:00 time slot. Soon after I started my journey I was detoured several times due to heavy snow damage. I quickly got turned around, missed exits and found myself totally lost. I was on the wrong road, still heading south, but about 1/2 hour off course. No biggie, I'm sure I can find a way to cross back over to the correct highway. Time was getting away from me now. I was thinking in all my years of teaching, travelling, speaking, I have never been late or not shown up...maybe today would be the first? This is so crazy, I kept thinking. I pressed onward seeing I could keep heading in the direction I was going instead of doubling back and wasting even more precious time. Of course to stop and recalculate my phones GPS was too easy, I stopped and asked, what looked like a guy that would know, at a gas station for directions. My map I had printed out was cut off just past where I thought I could reconnect with the right road. Of course! The man very kindly confirmed my hunch that I would in fact end up on the right road, coming to my destination from "the scenic" route. I finally got to Raylon with 15 minutes to spare and they were of course running behind. Whew. Finally it was my time to speak. I got to share with the sales consultants about the fabulous company, Dashing Diva, their fabulous Global Technical Director ,Patty Yankee Williams, and their fabulous French wrap system. It had been a long time since I had given a presentation at a sales meeting and I have to say I was a bit nervous. I had prepared, even rehearsed, but this time was different. Because I really don't have a "position" with the company, I just went in as a consultant I spoke to them as Millie. A nail dork, and shared my passion. Even though I was being filmed, skyped actually, I was not nervous, ok maybe a little. Sharing my passion for great companies and great products still comes naturally to me. After an "atta boy" from the sales rep and a round of applause from the sales consultants it was back to an hour drive to the airport, two flights and home by eleven. Crazy, right? But love it!!