Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Prepare for Success!

 
     So today's tip comes once again from a status update on Facebook. My friend LisaMarie Santos posts a motivational journal entry every morning and today's was especially timely. It was a devotional that spoke of taking time in the morning to meditate and pray. Quote" Rein in your impulse to plunge into the day's activities. Beginning your day alone with Me is essential preparation for success. A great athlete takes time to mentally prepare himself for the feat ahead of him before he moves a muscle. Similarly, your time of being still in My presence equips you for the day ahead of you. " Are you taking time to plan your day? Quieting the chatter in your mind and placing yourself in the right frame will make a huge difference in your productivity. I took a class over 10 years ago on planning. It was a brotherhood of the planner class , also known as Franklin covey. The content was so valuable I remember details of it to this day.
     What else can you do to prepare and better plan your day? Look at your schedule the night before. Think about opportunities in your schedule. Do you  have a few open spots? Remember every minute counts in the salon and once those minutes are gone they can't make you money. Think about what add on services or upgrades your client might appreciate. Can you upgrade a basic service to a spa service? Maybe they would like a toe polish change to match their new nail polish. If you have open appointments call or text those that you haven't seen in a while that you have an opening and would love to see them. You know, the ones that don't make a regular appointment and then want  to get in that day. We all have them. Believe it or not this really works and clients really appreciate that you were thinking of them. Look a week ahead and see if those clients might like to come in early. You will increase your productivity and have 7 more days to get that time rebooked. How are you preparing yourself physically? Do you stretch or work out in the morning? Morning activity gets your metabolism ramped up and will keep it up all day. Consider switching your workout to the morning. How are you fueling your body? Take time to eat a good breakfast, or at the very least a piece of fruit and a breakfast bar. I love Kind bars and they really keep you full for several hours. Eating a protein in the am will help too. Do you have time for lunch? Make sure to pack if there is no time to go out. I just heard you all say what lunch? If you are booked really tight consider packing several  smaller" power" snacks to get you through the day. Many health food stores have energy bites. Bite size morsels of sustenance to get you through till you can have a proper meal.
 
     No time at all? Keep cup of soups or protein shakes  on hand to put  in a coffee mug and sip at your station. None of us perform at our best when we're hangry. That is when we are so hungry we're angry. Also think about filtering what you let in your brain during the day. My friend Geno Stampora never looks at his emails or texts when he is teaching or speaking for the day. He says " Why would I let anything influence my mood when these people are paying me to come and educate them. It's just not fair to them." Any of that sound familiar? How many times a day do you get bad news and let it affect you and your mood? This is just plain smart thinking. Our clients come to us for a respite from their problems, the least we can do is be that for them. Now don't get me wrong, emergencies are another story, but rarely do we have something so important it can't wait till we have given our best possible selves to our clients. Preparing for your day is having a plan for success. Start with a better plan and you'll end up with better results. Have a great planning tip? Please share in the comments section :)
 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Lessons From The Fringe


I found this article looking for something else. Isn't that always the way? It had so many nuggets...I just had to share.

Eight Lessons from the life and work of Jack LaLanne


  1. He bootstrapped himself. A scrawny little kid at 15, he decided to change who he was and how he was perceived, and then he did. The deciding was as important as the doing.
  2. He went to the edges. He didn't merely open a small gym, a more pleasant version of a boxing gym, for instance. Instead, he created the entire idea of a health club, including the juice bar. He did this 70 years ago.
  3. He started small. No venture money, no big media partners.
  4. He understood the power of the media. If it weren't for TV, we never would have heard of Jack. Jack used access to the media to earn trust and to teach. And most of what Jack had to offer he offered for free. He understood the value of attention.
  5. He was willing to avoid prime time. Jack never had a variety show on CBS. He was able to change the culture from the fringes of TV.
  6. He owned the rights. 3,000 shows worth.
  7. He stuck with the brand. He didn't worry about it getting stale or having to reinvent it into something fresh. Jack stood for something, which is rare, and he was smart enough to keep standing for it.
  8. Jack lived the story. He followed his own regimen, even when no one was watching. In his words, “I can’t die, it would ruin my image.”

He died last year at 96. I don't think he has to worry about ruining his image. It stands strong!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Marketing Yourself at the RIght Price

     
     Are you marketing a business or supporting a hobby? Today's tip is a bit of tough love. I had an amazing class today called Building your nail care business. It was straight talk about numbers, not glitter, not lotions and potions, numbers. We have talked about this before on the show but today I really drilled down into the guts of the subject. Why aren't I profitable? Why am I not successful? I hear these questions over and over. I'll tell you why if you really want to know. You are not running a business, you are supporting a hobby. If you have not set up your business with the right structure and pricing strategy you are walking a thin line, a very thin line. So where to begin. It's all in your salon break even analysis. We discussed how to get to this point by looking at all your business expenses, all of them and understanding what you need to bring in before you make one dime. By analyzing these numbers you can discover what you need to change to increase your profits. 


      Much like a household budget, add up all your business expenses, everything you spend per day, month and year. Write down your income including service sales, retail sales and gift certificate sales. Next write down variable expenses like salon supplies, sales /service tax, gift certificates redeemed and cost of retail product. Next write down fixed expenses like rent, insurance, phone, office supplies, everything. If you don't have this history track expenses for three months, multiply by 4 and divide by 12 to get your monthly expenses. Subtract your variable and fixed costs from your income to get your net profit . Divide your net profits by total sales and divide that by 100 to get your percentage of profit. Any percentage is good but a healthy profit percentage is 15-20 percent. Next we looked at pricing your services. You need your monthly fixed expenses to calculate the proper prices. To determine what you should be charging, figure out your fixed cost for the service. Figure out your monthly expenses. determine your monthly service count and figure out the monthly profit you want to take home after expenses. Ok, your price should be calculated by adding the fixed cost per service + product cost per service + profit per service. You still with me? For the sake of demonstration I used fill service at 45 minutes. my product cost is $2.00, my monthly fixed expenses are $1500.00, my monthly service count is 112, that's 5 days per week with 5 fills per day, and when it's all said and done I want to make $4000. profit. Divide the monthly fixed expenses by number of services, that's your fixed cost per service 13.39. Add your product cost $2.00. And add your profit per service, which is your desired profit 4000 divided by 112 equals 35.71 profit per service. To get your price per service, add fixed cost, (13.39) + product cost( 2.00)+profit (35.71).Making your fill cost 38.33.

      Whew that was a mouthful. But I guarantee you if you do these calculations you will soon understand why you are making money or why you are not. You can play around a bit with the numbers. Try and cut expenses wherever you can, add more services per day. But at the end of the day the bottom line is still the bottom line. If you are not covering your expenses plus adding a profit margin for yourself per service you will struggle to make ends meet. period. We talked about a host of other sexy stuff like your productivity and average ticket price worksheets. Like increasing your productivity just 5% can result in almost $3000.00 in additional income and increasing your average ticket by $5.00 can ad an additional 10,000.00. Now that's hot. So the moral of the story. You can do all the marketing you need have a full house and still not make any profits sad but all too often true for many salons. Dig into your numbers, do the math and get your business profitable with a capital P.

Views: 1

Friday, October 19, 2012

Proper Care and Feeding of Clients

 
     Today’s tip is the proper care and feeding of a clientele. If you are just building or almost fully booked proper care and maintenance of your clientele is essential for your long-term success. The average technician loses an average of 5 percent of their clientele per year through no fault of their own. Clients move, they unfortunately move on to the big spa in the heavens, their economic condition changes dramatically. Whatever the circumstance we need to be constantly monitoring our current clientele.
      Thanks you’s are essential. I know I’ve talked about his before, a nice handwritten note especially after the first service but how about just because. Maybe you know they got a promotion at work, maybe they had a few difficult weeks or months or year for that matter. If you haven’t seen a client in a few months, chances are something’s up. Don’t ignore the warning signs and take the passive route. Take action with a phone call or a quick email, or yes that hand written note.
     Something like I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen your smiling face lately and just wanted to check in to make sure everything is alright with you. You may want to offer an incentive to return, It’s up to you to decide how you manage your offers. If you haven’t seen clients in more than a few months try a “Miss you” promotion. Same theme, maybe offering new items or services since they have come in. I sent out an email to my entire list when I started offering Shellac and it brought clients out of the woodwork. If you are consistent with your efforts chances are eventually something is going to strike their interest.
      Do you send your guests home with an instruction sheet to ensure they successfully maintain at home the professional service you gave them at the salon? I am including a link in my blog this week from Beauty Tech that has many useful ideas to use in composing your own client letter. Nail Care Check list
     Things like, treat your nails as jewels not tools, check your grip when lifting heavy objects to make sure you don’t break a nail, wear gloves when you do housework and gardening. You know all the things you think they know but don’t. I know a tech that makes her clients sign off that they have read her “10 commandments of nails” before she will guarantee her work.
      Do you recommend the right retail for them to be successful? Are you educating them about their nails or just providing a one time service stand? Are you building relationships or counting cattle? Do you follow up a new client service with a phone call to see how they liked their visit?

     Find out if they have any questions or challenges with their new full set or treatment products. If they are not happy, catching problems early and fixing them will score you big points toward the future of the relationship. I worked with a girl that had one of the first mobile nail salon service businesses in the country. While she was building she was truly a one woman band. She would work all day and at night, in her best British accent, call her clients back to see how they liked their visit. Needless to say she built her business with a strong foundation of loyal clients. So in these challenging times it is more important than ever to keep in touch so you don’t loose touch with your clients.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Holiday Marketing Ho Ho Ho


     The holidays are a time of tremendous opportuity in every salon business. Making your salon a one stop gift giving shop can have your business booming November through December. Clients are rushing around trying to pick out the perfect gifts for family, friends, relatives and co-workers. One sure fire way to get their attention is through targeted holiday marketing. One strategy? Create wish lists out of a simple word document. I will post example text at the end of this post. Offer them to each and every client that walks your doors these next few weeks. Offer to make their holiday shopping one stop, stress free by giving everyone on their list the gift of beauty. Have tabletalkers and posters strategically placed throughout the salon offering gift cards. Have reminders on your stations to make sure they have extra gift cards on hand for the unexpected guests that you don’t want to wind up leaving empty handed. Ramp up your retail efforts with special holiday items. Pre-Package $10 15 25 and 50 dollar grab and go gifts. Have them wrapped up in a beautiful basket or gift bag and keep them up front by the cash/reception area. These are impulse purchases, much like other area retailers. How may things have you bought that caught your eye when you were done shopping?

     Get creative with your holiday retail. Like Cream and Coffee gift sets that maybe have a few packets of Starbucks VIA ready brew and a hand cream. Or maybe cream and sugar with a hand cream and body sugar packaged with a nice fluffy from the dollar store. Or a holiday trimming gift set that has toenail clippers with a gift card for a pedicure. Or maybe a sugar and spice gift set with a body sugar and apple cider milingspice packets? Packaging a retail item like a foot cream with a pedicure is always nice so they have a little something extra top open up in addition to the gift card. Offer to make up Spaliday gift baskets with personalized content. Maybe they have a new daughter-in-law with a favorite scent. You can be a resource for all their holiday shopping so they can spend the rest of their free time getting services at your salon. Don’t forget gift cards. I always went big at the holidays. I didn’t bother discounting small gift cards,think about it, they sell themselves. Quit feeling guilty amd worrying about their money. I swear sometimes we worry about their money more than they do. Quit operating in scarcity mode and start operating in abundance mode. It makes all the difference. Think bigger like 500 gift cards that have 575 dollar value. Or a thousand dollar gift card that has a 1200 dollar value. The highest I sold was a 2000 dollar gift card with a 2500 dollar value. Think big and you will reap the benefits of a prosperous holiday season!

My Holiday Wish List
Let us take the stress out of Holiday shopping for your loved ones! Give us your name, Santa’s name, the best way to get in touch with Santa and what you want for this Holiday Season. Then leave the rest to us! We will contact your Secret Santa and let them know what you want, gift-wrap it and hand deliver it to them the week before Christmas. It’s a win/win for both of you. You get what you want and they know you’re going to like what you get.

Your Name _______________________________ Today’s date ________________Email___________________________

Cell # __________________________ Work # _______________________________Home # _________________________

My Secret Santa’s are: (list anyone here that is going to buy you a gift this season)
((The wish list wouldn't print in a second column and printed at the end. It should be right next to the Contact info. Print 2 or 3 contacts per sheet))


1. Santa’s Name_________________________________
Best place to contact Santa _____________________
Cell # _______________________________________
Work # ______________________________________
Home #______________________________________
Email _______________________________________
Santa’s relation to you, or message to Santa: _____
_____________________________________________


Wish List: ________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________


Feed Your Brain

 



     Today’s tip is about feeding your mind a healthy diet. Garbage in, garbage out as they say. Many of us that are so meticulous about what we put in our stomachs think nothing about binging on junk food for the brain. Is it true as “they” say that successful thinking breeds success? The answer is a resounding YES. While listening to my podcast dujour one day last week I stumbled upon a classic recording by the master himself, Zig Zigler. In this particular podcast called the power of self talk Zigler explains to the crowd to whom he is speaking that they will be more physiologically energized after listening to motivational, success stories even after sitting on their bums for an hour through the presentation. How could that be?

 

     The answer was provided by Dr Forrest Tennant. He published a study way back in 1989 after conducting an experiment at one of Ziglers seminars. The Dr. took samples of blood from participants before and after the presentation. On closer examination of these specimens Dr Tennant found the levels of dopamine, epinephrine and serotonin to be up to 300% higher in the later samples. “There is a biochemical basis why people feel good after these talks. Something in hearing about success gives us an emotional charge that releases those chemicals into the bloodstream, and that makes the body function better” Dr Tennant explains. Tennant also states that while these effects only last for a few hours, he believes that regular doses of motivation will lead to better health, happiness and achievement. He puts it in the same category as helping your health as aerobics, sleep and 3 meals a day. I have studied the principals and practices of success, successful salon owners and beauty professionals for as long as I can remember. Success does leave a trail. One that can be followed if you are willing to be led. Personal development leaders have been shouting from the rooftops for years now about the importance of surrounding yourself with positive messages, mentors and coaching. Are people finally hearing? Is it more important now that the new economy has made business more scarce? I’m not sure if that is the case for everyone but for many nail technicians and business owners both big and small, the day to day operations are more challenging than ever. If you don’t have a healthy diet for your mind you will find yourself with mental constipation. So plugged up you can’t even think straight.


 
 
 
     My suggestions, put a filter on what you let rent space in your head. Worry? A waste, it prevents you from focusing on the present, which is the only moment we have any control over. Hide negative feeds on social media, even if you don’t agree, it still affects your psyche. Put positive affirmations in your head first things in the morning. Before you do anything else especially reading your email. Your email is like emotional roulette, you have no control over what comes pouring into your head. Instead? Read a daily motivational quote, passage in a book or scripture from a devotional. When the stress of the day sneaks up on you remember your morning meal. Let it fill your brain with a healthy snack of positivity. A steady diet of positive thoughts will have an amazing impact on your mood, which will in turn impact your productivity. And we are all after a bit more productivity right?

Originally Posted by Millie Haynam on October 24, 2011 at 10:39pm
 

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Marketing and Avocados?


 

      What do Avocados have to do with marketing? Well while checking my Facebook feed I noticed that our own Braden Jahr, show producer, liked Avocados from Mexico. Really? A Facebook page for Avocados? Well I happen to love avocados, ok I am obsessed with avocados. So naturally I clicked on the page and the power of social marketing wrestled me to the ground once again. I scrolled through the posts, clicked on links that took me to amazing blogs and websites with recipes, how tos and fun facts about avocados. In the end, of course I liked the page. Mission accomplished. When you design your Facebook page and generate likes from your audience the same thing happens. Friends of friends see your activity and curiosity gets the better of us. No matter if we were just on line for a few seconds to update our status or see who liked what we get pulled into the world of social networking. Make sure your content is valuable enough to connect with your future clients. So what does this look like in action? I attended Doug Schoons Schoon Scientific webinar on UV light cured gels sponsored by the PBA on UV gels this afternoon.


       Not 5 minutes later Tina Ciesla Nail Artist Educator for Entity Beauty, owner of Blooming Nails Salon.in Birmingham Alabama posted this on her page.

" I just attended a wonderfully educational webinar featuring Doug Schoon, an internationally-recognized scientist, author and educator with over 30 years experience in the cosmetic, beauty and personal care industry. . The topic today was all about Gel Enamels; the latest findings and best practices. Gel Enamel is safe to wear long term, if it is properly applied, properly cured, and properly removed. As consumers, make sure you only visit reputable salons who continue their education. Please do not try the DIY approach by wasting your money on the products available to you. It's not just nail polish, ladies. They contain gel which can cause reactions if used improperly. The health of your nail and surrounding skin is important to us. ALSO, if you are currently wearing a gel enamel product, please do not try to peel or remove the product yourself. You could easily damage your nails. Put your trust in the professional nail artists at Blooming Nails Salon."
Awesome Tina, well done!!
      I also saw an interesting feed by Erin Does Nails.Erin Does Nails Blog Facebook has been toying with the algorithm of page views.

      "Due to the "advertising" mindset that Facebook has taken on lately to generate even more $$$ it is becoming much harder for good pages like EDN to be easily "seen" these days. I'm reposting this information from a friend who also runs a vibrant, but smaller Page. So if you like what you see here and would like to continue to easily see my feed from EDN every day , following these steps will make it easier for you to see the posts that I make."

     Then she reposted this instruction. You can add "interests List" for your favorite pages. To see all the updates from a page you have to "Open" the page, hover the mouse over the gear to the right of the like button and in the drop down menu click "Add to interests list".
You can also generate more traffic by encouraging viewers to "like" "Comment" or " Share". I'm sure you have seen posts that encourage readers to vote on a particular style or questions by their interaction with the page. As Facebook continues to change the way we do business it continues to create new learning curves. But if you aren't interacting you can't catch the wave.
 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

A Letter to Future Professionals


September 2011
 
     Hello future professionals. I am so honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. It really doesn’t seem that long ago I was on the other side of this screen, right where you are, with the world of beauty unfolding before me. I remember I couldn’t wait to be finished with school and classes, get my license and get on with my career. I attended a show as a student and I was hooked, immediately to this world of beauty and knew someday I would be the one on those stages teaching the classes.
 
Dallas International Congress of Aesthetics 2009
 

      Once I graduated I took a job with a large day spa, one of the first in the country and it would end up being a terrific first job in the business. It’s very important to land in the right place, so do your research and hold out for the best fit. This spa allowed me the opportunity to learn not just hair but make-up and nails to fill my beauty skills and service opportunity. It gave me more to offer my client and more value as an employee. I worked diligently at keeping up with each field by taking as many classes as I could and reading trade magazines. You my young friends have a wonderful thing called the internet with the answer to any question at the tip of your mouse. Take advantage of as many learning opportunities, you probably wont get fired for knowing too much.                                 

     As the years flew by I continued working hard perfecting my skill levels. I took a job as a manufacturers educator and that’s when the truly amazing things started to happen. These higher level trainings put me in a whole new pool of talent and afforded me amazing people to work with. I began talking to my mentors and having lunch with my heroes.
 
Geno Stampora and I circa 1994
 
      A very good friend and mentor to me (Geno) suggested to just go up to whomever you want to meet and introduce yourself and ask if you can include them in your network, worked every time. I met the most talented and giving professionals just waiting to mentor the next generation. I began writing for some of the trade publications, the same publications I poured over and read cover to cover not so many years before.
 
NailPro Show 2009
 

         I have been a salon owner, a manufacturers educator, a speaker, an author, a patent holder, regional education manager and most recently I just got back from New York fashion week where I worked with the Dashing Diva nail team. I am also producer and marketing segment director of  Nail Talk Radio. Who knew 30 plus years ago all this would have unfolded for me, just a kid with a couple of dreams from Cleveland Ohio. So my words of wisdom? Figure out what your passion in this business is and pursue it with relentless determination.  

  1.  Keep learning, growing and stretching yourself and amazing things happen. Play nice, it is a small beauty world.
  2.  Don’t burn any bridges unless you know how to fly.
  3. Run your own race, don’t be quick to be a follower, take your time to be a leader.
  4. Don’t be discouraged by the naysayers, we all begin at the same line. How hard we work determines where we end up.

      So for the same person that was told at one of my first jobs that I should really pick something else, maybe this is not for me, to have just finished Mercedes Benz New York fashion week and am right now as you watch this just getting back from London fashion week.


     I guess I'm pretty happy I stuck with it. Beauty has been such a wonderful, fulfilling career for me and I know, if you persevere, it will be even more wonderful for you.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Education?

Representing Beauty Professionals in DC

     SO... I got this comment a few months ago on this blog. From "anonymous" aka coward, wrote something to the effect of "Please forward me your formal education so that I might consider this content valuable." Really? I have to admit, it stung...for a couple of days. Just for the record...I do not have a piece of paper from a university stating that I spent hours in classrooms looking at books, writing papers and cramming my mind full of information I might never need nor use. Don't get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for those that have this said piece of paper, especially since I don't have this coveted prize. It took me many years to understand that life education and non formal education has just as much value, if not more. I heard a quote the other day that stated  "It's not about the amount of intelligence you have...it's about how you learn how to use it!"

     The same can be said for education. So many have a degree that they don't use, or they stop using once they are "done" with school. After feeling sorry for myself for about a minute...I got mad...then got thinking. A very good friend of mine that has his MBA with a concentration in marketing told me "Your knowledge is so much more valuable than my MBA. The fact that you read as much as you do, keep current as religiously as you do makes your information surpass most degrees." Well this made me feel a little better. Ever since I graduated from beauty school I have continued my education. I have spent countless hours on educating me, and not just in the traditional ways. I have studied my mentors, read countless books and invested in hundreds of seminars/webinars and workshops. By concentrating my efforts and studies in a very small targeted area it has enabled me to be somewhat of an expert in my field. 30+ years in and I'm still learning, still growing, still exploring. I am honored to get asked to speak, write and train in an industry I love so much. So piece of paper or not, I pulled up my big girl pants and put that comment where it belonged...in my SPAM folder. I have learned just as much from my failures, maybe more, than my successes. And after all isn't that what this life/work game is about. How you play it? I welcome your comments...as long as they are not anonymous!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Beauty Classic 2012

      Today's segment is a show report from Premiere Columbus. First stop was the Dashing Diva Booth to speak with Mary Jo Zwirowski about their new fall products. We got a look at the new wrap designs that were beautiful as well as the base and top gel system. Her clients are getting two week wear with the Design fx topped off with their base and top gel. It has superior flexibility and can be used with any other system, it also cures in both UV or LED lights. You can also layer other fx before the final top coat. Patti@Fashion week Their new colors fx are available November 1st. I posted a link on our Facebook page that features Patty Yankee and these awesome new appliqués she used at Fashion Week. Check out more here Dashing Diva


     Next I visited the OPI booth and talked to Kelly Hettesheimer a guest artist from Charleston South Carolina. She showed me the new Skyfall 007 Bond colors featuring The Man with the Golden Gun 18karat top coat. It has actual flakes of 18karat gold in it. They also have a Sky fall 007 Magnetic Lacquer and magnetizer for 3 different designs in IS that Silva? self explanatory, Bond James Bond gold obviously, and Morning money Penny, a rich burgundy red. To round out the promotion they are offering 4 new pure lacquer nail apps, which is their nail appliqué. And last but not least the 6 piece limited edition "Bond" gel color kit. Check out more here OPI




      I ran into Jaime Schrabeck at the Light Elegance booth who was teaching 5 classes at the show. She was thrilled her classes were standing room only. I did mention we were talking about feet all this month and asked her if she would like to come on and talk about her waterless pedicure, so hopefully we can make that happen. Check out her website here Precision Nails

      Darcy Olin educator extraordinaire from Orwell New York shared all the new and exciting things going on at Light Elegance. They have launched their new Poppy paints, small pots of highly pigmented gel that take your nail art to a whole new level. They have a slight 3 d effect and this introductory line is now available in 8 spectacular metallic colors. They also launched Pretties, loose powdered pigments to enhance any nail design that can be added to both gels and acrylics for one of a kind works of art. They have two packs, Primary Pretties with shimmers and mattes and Effect Pretties with out there shimmer and sparkles. Very cool stuff. They also launched their nail art brush collection with 6 new brushed and 4 new bling brushes. Check out more here Light Elegance
 
      I spoke with Gina Cella from CND for a few minutes before her sold out Flavor of the season class. I got to see up close and personal their new fall shades and a sneak peek at the two holiday shades Ruby Ritz and Tinsel toast , both shimmers. Check out more here CND


 
      I stopped at the Venique booth to see what that was about. It offers the newest technology called Sil-tek. It actually integrates silicone into the top coat allowing the polish to expand and contract, almost like saran wrap. It Their top coat also boasts added diamond dust for enhanced strength and superior shine. Their nail lacquer flexes with the nail for longer lasting wear. The base begins the process with a tacky film creating an anchor for polish preventing chips and peeling. Check out more here Venique Nails We also sat in on MaeLing Parrish's gelish class. Who knew in Ohio we would have the honor of a cover girl in our class, but MaeLing is actually from Columbus. She is getting ready to head out to Brea California for a national educator training. She shared her new House of Gelish colors, and don't you all be Gelish when I start posting these fabulous colors. Her class was jam packed with top tips from a true gel master.

      We also got to see how she created those fabulous cover nails. She is on this month's NAILS magazine and she will be on December too. Check it out here NAILS

She also said they are launching new colors at Premiere that are so fabulous she couldn't even talk about them...well she told me but I'm sworn to secrecy..just kidding, I told her I was going to say that. So that's it for the Premiere Beauty Classic.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Retention Marketing

      What is great marketing without great retention? Do you know your retention rate? Out of 100 new customers do you know how many are still coming in one year later? Do you know the industry standard?
Unfortunately the most recent statistics posted online have the average retention rate at about 30 percent. So 30 out of that hundred stayed on as a client, worse yet that's 3 out of 10. Not such a great rate. So with social media, rewards companies and gurus praising electronic marketing and push notifications why are retention rates still this low? How on earth can you move the needle and get a larger percentage to stay loyal to you? Basically you need to quit pushing your agenda and start listening to your clients. Salon loyalty is not what it used to be. I have to blame GroupOn for that, well some of that. Their ridiculous service discounts offered your guest the opportunity to try out another salon, basically about the same caliber as yours, let's be honest. There is a certain sea of sameness among mid-level salons out there. Actually all levels have about the same feel and experience. So what is it you are truly doing to keep your guests coming back, remaining loyal. A Facebook contest? A discount for a last minute appointment? I read an interesting article over the weekend called Need a better enewsletter? Think like a drug dealer on Inc.com. While I don't advocate we drug our clients, although there are those few.. the point was to make them addicted to your content so they can't wait for their next fix. Is your salon and service addictive? You need it to be so they wouldn't even think of going elsewhere. How do you create addictive service? Well there are quite a few strategies that help prevent your clients slipping through the cracks and finding another dealer.
      Be current. You truly need to be up on the latest trends. Do you have to buy the master kit at every show? No. Don't send me hate mail, but you can find most of the new trends at the hobby stores. Once you see if it is a trend that works for you, then you can invest in the master professional kit. Keeping current is also reading the latest nail blogs, trade magazines and listening to Nail Talk Radio. And if the quality of your work is poor, they won't be back, end of story.
Check out what the competition is doing. Maybe not next door but across town. Shankman states in his article" No matter how good your business is, if you’re not monitoring your competition, you’re losing to them. Those who don’t learn from their competitors are doomed to be eaten by them." The only way to really find out if you are better is to be on the same side of the service as your clients. One of my best additions to my basic service was to add heat mitts, when I was offered these at a discount salon and yes, it is still within my 30 minute manicure service.
      Follow up with each and every client. If you are going to use a rewards program Keep it simple sweetie. If they have to rack up points in the hundreds of thousands, really? Mine is simple. I hand each client referral cards. The new client gets 15% off their first service, my current client gets $5 off their next service. Appreciation goes a long way. Follow up each new guest visit with a phone call or a thank you letter. Keeping in touch with clients "just because" is a great way to build a relationship of loyalty. Building loyalty is going above and beyond, with the economic climate what it is most everybody is nice, listens and offers a technically good service. You must go way past what is standard. Tune in next week for more ideas on going above and beyond standard to outstanding.