Growing your Beauty Business with Jana Elston: 2015

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Why aren't your customers coming back? How to build customer loyalty.

You have worked on your marketing and promotions and you have new customers coming in daily. But it's a never ending exercise and it can get exhausting. It's very expensive and a constant battle having to come up with innovative ways to bring in more new customers. While you focus so much on bringing in new customers in the hope to bring in more profits, have you ever wondered what would happen if all your new customers re-booked and came back? Do you have a 100% re-booking rate? If you do, congratulations! You will soon be unable to accept new customers unless you expand.

If however you find your customers retention rate is poor, have you ever wondered why your customers don't come back? I'm not saying that getting new customers is not important, businesses need to grow, but the only way the business will grow is to retain customers and build loyalty. Beauty businesses who have a strong loyal client base are far more resilient that businesses that rely on walk-by traffic.

Do you have customers on your database you haven't seen for some time? Did you know that if you could get back just 5% of your lost customers, you can potentially increase your profits by 25% - 125%? We all know that it is far easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. Studies show that repeat customers spend 33% more that new customers. This is because they already have a relationship with you, they know you and they trust you.

So why is it that some of your customers are not coming back? Studies show 96% of customers who have not come back, leave because of poor or average customer service. Your customers are real people with real feelings. If they come to see you and leave feeling just like any other customer, or worse, can you blame them for not coming back? If you received average service, would you go back?

With so much competition in the beauty industry, customers are selective and choose to go back when they feel like they are important to you. Of those that don't come back, 68% leave because they felt you or the people in your business didn't care enough. This is really mind blowing, the reality is that it's not the product or the beauty services your business delivers, but HOW you deliver it. It's all about the delivery, the attitude of your staff, their ability to connect with your customers to make them feel truly special. It's about creating an amazing experience that will make your customers want more.

Truly exceptional service is a skill and a mindset. The mindset you and your staff have to be in is that of complete focus and attention on the client when they are with you, how to make them feel more comfortable, how to create an amazing and unique experience and how to find and deliver a solution to their problem. The skills that are required include superior interpersonal and communication skills, knowing how to really listen and ask great questions. Being in the service industry, demonstrating good etiquette, manners, grace and style are very important in delivering exceptional service. Do you feel your business can deliver this better than your competitors? If they are not completely satisfied, 9% of your customers will leave because they tried the competition and liked them better.

Businesses that focus on the customer experience generate 60% higher profits than their competitors.

Some of your customers will leave because they were not followed up. Do you follow up a few days after they had a treatment or purchased products to ensure they were completely satisfied? Do you book a follow up consultation to ensure they are happy with the results and are using the products correctly? If you truly care, and you want to show to your customers that results are important to you, follow up is a must. This is one of the best ways to engage your clients, demonstrate your expertise and build long-term loyalty.

If you feel awkward contacting your clients, why? Does this mean you need more training in communication skills and build your confidence? If you say you don't have the time to follow up, why is that? Aren't these customers important enough to you? If you feel that if you follow up, the customer may not be completely satisfied so you don't want to open a can of worms? This tells me you don't have the confidence in your products and services, why is that? More importantly what can you do to fix it?

Do you regularly contact your customers you haven't seen for a while? It's good practice to go thought your client base regularly to touch base with your clients and invite them back in for a treatment. Do you feel awkward contacting your client because you don't want to seem pushy? Why is that? If you don't contact your clients, they will fall off the radar because they felt you didn't care if they come back or not. Try and see it from their perspective. Do you feel like you are being pressured when you doctor sends you a reminder for a pep smear? Do you feel pressured when you dentist sends you a reminded for a dental check up or an optometrist ringing to remind you it's time to get your eyes checked? Why do you feel awkward to contact your clients to remind them it's time for their wax, a facial or a skin check? Don't you feel these services are important enough that deserve the same respect?

We are in the business of making people feel great about themselves, about discovering their beautiful self. We have the potential to change peoples lives by helping them build confidence in themselves through looking and feeling better. The ripple effect of spreading this love and care for people can be a life changing experience. Successful beauty businesses are built on loyal, returning clients and word of mouth referrals. If you focus on how you can change your customers lives for the better, you will have their loyalty and they will spread the word.

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Monday, October 26, 2015

How to sell more through inspiration and enthusiasm

retail legends sales customer service training

How enthusiastic are you about the products you sell and the services you provide?

Are you excited? Do you really believe that what you do that will help people? Do you believe the products you sell people will absolutely love?

If you are enthusiastic, people can't help but be inspired and motivated by your enthusiasm. They think "I want what she's having". Are your clients inspired and motivated by you?

If not, what can you do to feel passionate about what you do? There is only one way, you have to believe in it. Do you believe in your professional abilities and in the products you sell?

So what can you do to believe in yourself? How can you build self-confidence and passion? It is through learning, education, practice, experience, working hard and putting your very best effort in everything you do. You have to be focused on doing this better and you have to want to achieve your very best.

Ongoing education is absolutely critical to achieving mastery. Too many people think that once they have achieved their qualifications this is the end to their education. With the constant technological advancements, improvements in products and service delivery, those that do not keep up, will be left behind.

There is nothing more embarrassing than a client who knows more about the latest technology and products than you do. You have to stay informed. Don't wait for your employer to send you to training. Take charge of your own professional development. When your suppliers offer training, do it. And don't do it just the once, do it several times. They say we only take about 10% of what's covered in training. This is why every time you attend training, you learn something new.

Subscribe to the industry magazines and read to stay informed. Most industry experts and associations have Facebook pages, subscribe to the pages and join professional Facebook groups to share information and provide professional support to fellow professionals.

There are also many training events and resources now available online. Books you can buy and read. Videos you can watch. Webinars and online training courses. If you really want it, it can be done.

Attend workshops to fine tune and improve your practical skills and techniques. There is always a better way to do it. Clients you work with are all very different and require individual support. You need to be flexible and creative in your approach. Don't be afraid to experiment with a different technique or a different approach when things are not working. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

Do your very best each and every time. If you personally are not excited about a product or a service, find a way that will help you get excited. No one has control over your feelings but you. You need to find the truth in what you do to make you jump out of bed in the morning. Stop expecting others to motivate you, to make you happy. Happiness resides within you, you need to find a way to tap into it.

Failing all that, and you still cannot get excited about what you do and the products you sell, you are doing your clients a huge disservice. There is nothing worse than going to a shop, a restaurant, a beauty salon and being served by a dispirited, apathetic, disinterested, unhappy person. Time to re-think if this is really for you. Then again, if you change jobs, without acquiring the skills of enthusiasm for what you do, you will end up constantly looking for happiness, and it will always seem just out of reach.

Running away is not always the answer.

The answer is within you.

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Sunday, October 18, 2015

Why you need to educate to sell more

Customers come to you for results. Don't assume that they already know what it is they need to get the results they want.

You are the expert. It is your responsibility to your client to assess what the problem is and advise your client on what you and they need to do to get the very best result.

Always start from the best position and then determine your clients commitment to getting the result they want. Educate them on why you have made the recommendation, what is the objective of the treatment and home care routine, what they should expect to see and how long it will take.

Do they start with the full program or just a few products and slowly build it up? It really is up to them and how much they can manage. The more education you do, the more informed your client will be about the best course of treatment for them. They will then make a decision on how fast they want the results by the level of their commitment.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Educate people to support their local small businesses

We really need to educate people to support their local small business. Feel free to share the Facebook post below.

PS: I run this Facebook page to help YOU build your business, for FREE. I do this in my spare time. Why?

Why would I do something just for fun? I have been trying to explore and find the answers as I shared this post. I was thinking, what gets me excited?
I can tell you what gets me excited. What excites me is seeing you succeed! Seeing small business owners that are struggling to make ends meet, succeeds at their dreams.

I love inspiring people to be the best they can be. Why? Because I really appreciate the leadership and the role models in my life that helped me, shape me, to be the person I am today.

I hope I can inspire you, to be the best you can be.

Thank you

Whenever possible, please support your local beauty salons by purchasing products from them. In order to keep the...
Posted by The Beauty Business on Monday, September 28, 2015

Monday, September 28, 2015

Don't Be Average, Be Awesome!

Being average is boring, being awesome is exciting!

So what makes an awesome beauty professional?

1. Enthusiasm
2. Passion
3. Can do attitude
4. Hunger for knowledge
5. Always striving to improve their craft
6. Flexible communication skills
7. Excellent interpersonal skills
8. Punctual and organized
9. Self motivated
10. Impeccable grooming

One thing everyone will realize eventually is that we are never perfect, we don't know it all. Challenge yourself every day, step out of your comfort zone, because that's where happiness and true joy is found. If you work every day on improving yourself personally and professionally, you will learn, grow and evolve. You will achieve your dreams of a better life and be able to make a positive impact on peoples lives.

If you could change peoples life for the better, why wouldn't you?

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Sunday, September 27, 2015

How to lift yourself up and give a great customer experience, every time

When you are working face to face with customers and clients, you are always on show. Literally, you are on stage, and the show must go on, no matter what. No matter what is happening in your personal life, the mood you are in or how you are feeling, the customer experience comes first.

Put yourself in their shoes, you have been saving up and looking forward to the treatment for weeks, when you arrive you barely get a greeting, the therapist looks like she hasn't had a good night sleep and during the treatment she tells you about the fight she has had with her boyfriend. Gossip is sometimes interesting to listen to, but that is with your friends over a coffee, not when you are trying to relax and have a facial. You end up paying and your therapist gets the therapy.

In theater, if the star of the show is unable to perform because of illness, or they've had personal issues and can't pull themselves together, they call a stand-in. You need to make the decision every single time to give the very best performance or give the stage to someone else.

Remember, customers pay your wages, your employer simply handles the money. So give your customers the very best service and treatment they deserve - every single time. Decide that outside what is happening in your personal life, when you go to wo rk, you enter a happy, positive, inspiring and uplifting place, a place where you can make people feel great about themselves. It's not up to others to make you happy, happiness resides within you.

You make the choice about how you feel. Sometimes you need to pretend you are acting and you are on stage, and practice it until it comes naturally and you no longer have to "act". There is nothing wrong with acting and pretending to make someone feel more comfortable. As long as it comes from the heart, it will be received as genuine.

Ultimately the best way to lift yourself up from a mediocre life is to uplift, help and inspire others. So take some deep breaths, straighten up, stand tall, put a smile you your face and decide today is going to be a great day and you will make every customer feel like they are the most important person to you, make them feel special and give them a terrific treatment. You can do it!

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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Frustrated when a client tells you they are using a supermarket brand moisturiser?

Do you ever get frustrated when a client tells you they are using a supermarket brand moisturizer and that they are very happy with it? Looking for ideas on how to handle such a situation?

What I have done in the past is try to educate the client about the differences between supermarket and professional skin care brands. Because this approach did not always work for me, I looked for other ways to approach this situation.

I now have tried a slightly different approach which has been working for me. When my clients tell me they just love their product and I come in and say, but mine is better and yours does not work as well, the ingredients are not as good etc etc etc. they feel like you are just trying to sell them. Their barrier goes right up and they shut down to any suggestions.

Something I learned in self-defence is, if someone grabs you and tries to pull you in one direction and you try to pull away in the opposite direction they are ready for it, they just pull harder or get more aggressive. Instead what you should do is go with them, move in their direction and this will throw them off balance. It will surprise them.

So to instantly overcome any barriers and to show them they can trust me and that I am not judging them for their choices, I agree with them. I say, wow that's fantastic that you are looking after your skin, your skin will thank you for it. What your skin needs to get the results you are after is perhaps just a few tweaks to your routine.

What I suggest are one or two products they can add to their existing routine that will make all the difference. For example an active serum, eye cream, active night cream, neck cream, corrective cleanser, resurfacing exfoliant - choose one or as many as the client needs that will make that difference in their skin. I fill their skin care gaps with other active product and once they see the results, they eventually come back and will be more open to using other products.

When they purchase the corrective products, this is where I plant the seed for a moisturizer by giving them a sample and suggesting that they use this moisturizer one day to two days with the active products they purchased to see how they feel. They always notice a difference and it works every time.

I don't believe in pressuring people into buying, instead, I like to educate - after I have earned their trust. When they trust me and are willing to listen, I show them results and they keep coming back for more.

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Thursday, April 9, 2015

Beauty Salon Business Tips - How To Boost Sales Leading up to MOTHER’S DAY

Mother’s day is the second biggest event for beauty businesses each year. Successful businesses start planting the seed to purchase gifts and vouchers at least 6-8 weeks before Mother’s Day.

Here’s how to make your Mother’s Day the biggest event of the year in your salon.

Plan Ahead

Begin your planning process first by analyzing the previous year’s Mother’s Day promotion to determine what worked and what didn’t.

What did you find sold the best? Was there any particular treatment package that was more popular than others? What was the average dollar spend on gift vouchers? When was your busiest time selling gift vouchers?

Did you run an in-salon event such as a buying evening for your VIP customers? How did that go? What worked, and what can you do better this year?

Team Meeting

Have a team meeting and discuss your previous Mother’s Day promotions and what they think worked the best. What suggestions do your staff have for this year? They may have received feedback from customers or may have seen an event run elsewhere that was successful and can give you valuable feedback. Involving your staff in the planning and running of the promotion will have them take it on board, take ownership and responsibility for the success of the promotion.

Gather Feedback

Talk to your customers, tell them that you are planning this year's Mother’s Day promotions and ask for feedback. Ask your customers what they would like to buy for their mother or for themselves as a treat. You can do this research directly or indirectly through social media. I have started asking people on social media what they would ideally like to spend their gift vouchers on, if they received one. This kind of research can give you some valuable ideas for designing promotional packages and offers.

Theme

Decide on a theme for your Mother’s Day promotion. What colors will you use in your posters, displays and marketing material? What message will you try to convey? Is it going to be an offer of pure luxury, high tech treatments or a more natural organic approach? Are you trying to take your clients on an imaginary trip to Paris, New York or an exotic tropical island?

Chocolates and roses are a terrific inspiration for Mother’s Day. Can you offer a chocolate facial, or a body scrub? Roses make a beautiful addition to marketing materials and displays for Mother’s day. How about a rose petal pedicure or therapeutic spa bath? The possibilities for creating a theme for Mother's Day are endless, and once you decide on a theme, naming packages, creating headlines for your marketing material, choosing color schemes and display materials makes it that much easier. A theme will set your business apart, create excitement, stir their imagination and engage your clients.

Offers & Packages

Decide on the offer and the type of packages you can create that will fit within your chosen theme. I suggest offering at least three packages for different budgets, a package for under $100 for example $79, a package over $100 around $139 and a premium package of $199 or more. Some people that are on a budget or are purchasing a gift voucher in addition to another gift, may choose the cheapest option. Others - especially men that wish to give the best offer you have available, will choose the top package.

Make it easy for men to buy

Men love quick and easy purchases. They don’t like to think things over for too long when they come into the “female domain” such as a beauty salon, and to spend too much time thinking about what they will buy. In my experience, when men come in to buy a gift voucher, most of them want to be in and out as soon as possible. So make it as easy as possible for them to make a quick decision that the special women in their lives will absolutely love. Have a list of packages ready to show them, so even if they don’t purchase a package, they get a general idea of how much to spend on a gift voucher.

Structuring your packages

Most buyers will choose the middle package, not too cheap and not too expensive, so design this package carefully so that when the receiver of the gift comes in, you have the opportunity to offer upgrades and add-on services to the client on the day. What I am suggesting is, don’t include your most popular upgrades and add-ons as part of this package, you can do that with your premium package to reward your clients. If you are stuck for package ideas, have a look at some of the responses I have on my Facebook page The Beauty Business where I asked people what packages they would buy for themselves.

Supplier offers

Start talking to your suppliers about what they will be offering for Mother’s Day. Suppliers usually launch offers two months before Mother’s Day. The reason for this is because suppliers know very well that your customers that are most likely to purchase special offers are your facial clients, and your facial clients come in approximately every four to six weeks. This means they will see your promotion and product offers once or twice before Mother’s Day. Leaving Mother’s Day offers to just a couple of weeks before the event will result in lost sales for your beauty salon. So be sure to start promoting Mother’s Day specials and packages two months before the event.

Delegate & outsource

If you are short on time or not sure how to design marketing material, I suggest you outsource the design of posters, flyers, email, newsletter and posts for social media. You can always contact me if you would like help, I love coming up with new ideas that stand out and make sales for your beauty salon. This can save you a great deal of time so that you can keep working on clients and making money.

Whether you choose to utilize my marketing services or another graphics designer, we can make up a concept for you in a few days and it is not as expensive as you may think. We can make up all your marketing material ahead of time so you have it ready to promote the event over the next two months. Your local printer can print posters, banners and fliers at a reasonable price, so shop around. Some printers have in-house designers as well.

Displays

Decide on a window display and book a professional merchandiser or delegate the window display to a creative staff member. Gather materials for window display and in-salon display hot spots. Products and gift voucher samples can be merchandised around your salon to create interest. Have all this ready to go up two months before Mother’s Day.

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Growing your Beauty Business with Jana Elston

Pages

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Why aren't your customers coming back? How to build customer loyalty.

Monday, October 26, 2015

How to sell more through inspiration and enthusiasm

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Why you need to educate to sell more

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Educate people to support their local small businesses

Monday, September 28, 2015

Don't Be Average, Be Awesome!

Sunday, September 27, 2015

How to lift yourself up and give a great customer experience, every time

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Frustrated when a client tells you they are using a supermarket brand moisturiser?

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Beauty Salon Business Tips - How To Boost Sales Leading up to MOTHER’S DAY

Plan Ahead

Team Meeting

Gather Feedback

Theme

Offers & Packages

Make it easy for men to buy

Structuring your packages

Supplier offers

Delegate & outsource

Displays

Do you need help with your social media or content writing?