Spa Clientéle Marketing Tips

Telling it like it is. Does it work to increase return clients?

I often coach aestheticians, massage therapist and stylists to encourage them to embrace their expertise to recommend the correct home-care regimen for their clients.    So often I hear their fear of being too  "pushy" or "sales-y" -- yet we all know that what happens in the treatment room will only show long term results when lifestyle changes at home are consistent and correctly applied.

The "uber-aestheticians" highlighted in this NY Times article are not in need of such advice.   They really tell it like it is.  Please click here to read:

NYTimes, "Aestheticians that get in your face"

I applaud these women for their no-nonscense approach to skincare.  From a client perspective, it is refreshing to hear an experts advice on what will work to improve my skin.  With so many choices and marketing from skincare brands, it is hard to know who to trust.  Clients are hungry for this type of leadership and will be loyal (even addicted) clients when them find it in you. 

As the article also mentions, delivery of a statement like "your skin looks like a Shar-Pei" does need to be given with some love.  Clients are also looking for a safe haven from the world that is bombarding them with demands (work, home, kids, spouse, bills, etc.) and the spa is a a place for self-care, not a place for more negativity heaped on them.

How many of your clients know exactly what they should be doing for their skin, hair or body care at home?  What percentage of time in the treatment do you spend educating vs. simply treating? 

Print ads that work to fill up your books

I would love to hear success stories from spas or salons that know that their print advertising is working to fill their books.

My guess is that most everyone really doesn't know if the ad worked or not.  They are very difficult to track unless you set up customized web pages and toll free numbers that are only listed on that ad.   So it is hard to really know, but sometimes they can bring in a flood of customers if you offer a significant discount.

But then a significant discount (more than 20%) means that you don't make any profit on that service.  So you are in effect paying clients (in addition to the cost of the ad) to come in to your spa.

There is a better way.

And it doesn't require print advertising. 

I'm currently creating a 4 week program that will help solve this problem for you so your 2008 marketing will be stress-free and on autopilot.  Mark your calendars, as I'll be offering a free teleseminar on November 14th "Smart Spas Don't Advertise: Secrets to Filling Your Schedule without Low-Response Advertising." At the teleseminar, you'll hear from spas that don't advertise to attract new clients and learn what their secret is.

And if you do really love the results from your advertising, please comment or contact me directly.  I would love to hear from you.

The basics of building your aesthetics business

Hi Heather,

I have just started as an esthetician at a salon that has been in the business for about 10 years. There are two other estheticians there that have built up a good clientele and have also been there for 10 years. Of course there is seniority on new clients so how can I market my self differently than them and also what are some ways that i can introduce myself to the already existing clientele?

I have talked to the owner and I'm telling her that i want to separate myself by being more of an advanced treatment specialist rather than just a relaxing facialist. she wants me to come up with a promotion for myself for December. I'm thinking some kind of introductory  discount with my bio. And also I'm going to be talking to some marketing groups at luncheons about skin care and she wants me to do some demo's on people any ideas there would be helpful. thanks so much. The owner says she has marketing degrees and stuff but I've read all of your things and any ideas you have would be helpful to me.

Thanks,
Marie

Thanks for writing Marie!  I'm confused as to why the owner isn't promoting you as well, unless perhaps you are renting, but regardless of employment status, my advice for building your own clientele is the same.

1. Do not discount your services. Ever. Clients with coupons do not become loyal clients.  Instead offer a free upgrade with a full-paid service.  For example, free brow wax with facial.  Or free upgrade to a more advanced facial.  Anything that doesn’t have a significant material cost and will not add time to the service.  Just because others discount does not mean they are successful OR profitable. While tempting, giving away or discounting your services to build business is in fact not the best way to build business.  It in fact encourages people to take advantage of you or only see you when you offer them a “deal.”  Those are not people you want as clients.
2. Donate services with caution. A demo for one person in front of an entire group could be good to educate them but you need talk to explain everything you are doing.   Do not do demos for everyone, if you want to do mini services so people can try it out, charge for it.
3. Treat your existing clients like VIPs. To build business, make sure you are leveraging the clients you do see as much as possible. Offer them a referral bonus (free upgrade or gift card to dinner/retailer) for every new client they refer.  Call them after their visit to make sure they are okay.  Send them a thank you card.  Send them a birthday card.  Send a card to clients you haven’t seen in more than 6 weeks to say hi and offer a free upgrade.  One way to make it easy to send cards automatically (without having to purchase them at the store, mail them, etc.) I like the SendOutCards service. Send one to yourself to see the quality and how easy it can be.

Good luck and write back with an update on how your holidays went!

Halloween & Thanksgiving promotional ideas

Now that the lazy days of summer are just a memory, it is now time to start taking advantage of upcoming holidays and events to talk to your clients and prospective clients.  Whether you communicate this in an email, phone, in-store flyer or direct mail postcard, here are some reasons to go out there and talk to your contacts.

Halloween

• Frightful Hair and Makeup.  Offer creative or scary hair styling and makeup application for the week prior to Halloween.  Clients may be going to a costume party and want to be over the top in character and need the hair, eyelash extensions and nails to make it happen.   Motivate by using pictures of "what can be done" as this may inspire someone to design their costume around your services. Encourage bookings with a coupon for a free upgrade on their next hair or spa service (e.g., free cut with color or free brow wax with facial).
• Bewitch the Betty. A fun way to introduce a possible ongoing service to match the hair down there to the hair on ones head.  Carry BettyBeauty and offer Betty coloring add-ons for bikini waxing, facials or mani/pedi packages.  Clients will need to set for two 20 - 30 minute processing sessions for the service so it wouldn't be good for hair or back massage add-ons.  For Halloween, using a combination of BettySunburst (orange) and BettyBlack you can do stencils of a pumpkin or other design.  Visit BettyBeauty website for more information. Note: Check with your local licensing standards for estheticians who many not be able to tint hair.

Thanksgiving

• Thank your clients now. Don't wait to send out holiday cards to clients in December (in fact DON'T send out holiday cards then) as your clients will see and forget too many cards at that time.  Instead, send out a card the week before Thanksgiving that thanks them for being a client and offers a holiday stress relief package for a limited time of 3 or 4 weeks.  Consider mini-services you don't usually offer like a la carte 25 minute express facial and 25 minute massage.  This way you aren't discounting existing services and motivating action with the scarcity of "limited time only."  To automate this type of communication, consider online card services like SendOut Cards.
• Pumpkin Pie Facial.  Using a pumpkin enzyme mask and a light, creamy moisturizing mask, serve a slice of pie at checkout.  See an example protocol using Preston Private Label products.

I'm sure you have some ideas of your own that are creative and unique.  What has worked in the past for you?

How spas & salons can support real standards of beauty

Today, I saw a new commercial from Dove's RealBeauty Campaign that stuck me on a personal level.  I have three young daughters and am still uncertain how alarmed I should, or should not, be when my 8 year old wants to weigh herself every day.  After 3 days of it, I put the scale away and had "a talk" with her about being healthy and loving ourselves for who we are.  Yet,  I still worry with all the marketing that fashion and beauty companies do toward adults, how much of it pervades my daughter's self-esteem?  Watch the video below for a small dose of what the beauty industry markets to everyone. [Click here for the video if you are reading via e-mail.]

It made me ponder how much day spas, medical spas and salons might perpetuate this impossible standard of beauty as well with our marketing without realizing it.  While usually our target market are women over 30, we know there is a growing trend for teen spa-ing and the always pervasive desire for girls to do things "just like mommy."  Even when they don't know it may not be age appropriate. 

To be honest, the majority of spas and skincare studios I see usually want to highlight their natural and healthy approach to looking ones best.  Whether it is with the melding of energy therapies or vigilant product ingredient review, they are often focusing on beauty as a result of healthy self-care.  Yet, prospective clients may lump spas/salons/medical spas into the same "big bad beauty industry" category that is portrayed in the commercial. 

So it got me thinking:

What can spas and salons do to encourage healthy self-esteem for girls (and women) while still marketing their products and services?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts, but of course have my own suggestions.  I realize it is a fine -- and controversial -- line between providing a service with a primary purpose of "making one more beautiful" and not perpetuating impossible standards of beauty that are portrayed in media. 

• Review your service menu (the one that sells) and website. Does is feed into the desire to achieve impossible standards of perfection?  Or does it support health, self-confidence and self-esteem.
• Host a Self Esteem workshop.  Have an open conversation where mothers can bring their daughters to the spa or salon and talk about self-esteem.  Dove has a guide to reference that you can follow without having to feel like you are "selling" Dove's products.
• Post a flyer or brochure with tips for moms to talk to their daughters about self-esteem
• Have a Real Beauty month where funds are raised for an organization that supports this topic such as Girl Scouts, StepUp Women's Network or a local school.  During the month, have exclusive services or promotions that support healthy perspective on beauty.  Host a workshop.  Have a non-extreme makeover event where teens or woman can receive advice on hair style, skincare,  makeup and stress management to increase self-confidence. 

Dove is, at heart, a skincare company -- and their face soaps are usually "not approved" by most estheticians -- but I see them doing a lot of good to open the conversations with young girls about real standards of beauty. 

We are in business of beauty, and when you provide ideas and education so your clients can talk to their daughters about realistic standards for beauty, it can build their loyalty and trust with you.    But even better than that, it can help build beautifully healthy girls.

Pink is In

In case you weren't already aware of it from reading any women's magazine, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Over the last couple of years, this campaign has grown in reach and popularity with advertisers to women. 

While on one hand, I applaud and rejoice in how mainstream the conversation has become about breast cancer awareness, research and early detection.  It is a far cry today from when breast cancer took Jeanine, my 22 year old friend and sorority sister in 1993.  Yet, on the other hand I'm starting to get a bit dis-illusioned with all the advertising.  It seems like all month we'll be asked to buy a bracelet, t-shirt, pin, ribbon, bumper sticker, etc. to support the cause.

I also see a natural affinity for spas to opt to support the numerous breast cancer research organizations like Susan G. Komen and City of Hope as well as simply open a dialog about healthy habits reduce our risk.  I'm clearly not alone in this thought either, as there are numerous skincare brands with limited edition pink packaging and other efforts like Universal Companies'  Pink Gloves campaign.

While you may have a grand event or promotion planned around this already, here are some ideas on how your salon or spa could support Breast Cancer Awareness in October and throughout the year.

• Pick a day where a certain percentage of all proceeds are donated to a charity that supports breast cancer awareness OR supports someone struggling with breast cancer right now.
• Print up tips for early detection from http://nationalbreastcancer.org and distribute to all clients.
• Offer a post-mammogram pampering package.  If you've had one, it is not the most pleasant experience and looking forward to a new hair style, facial or soothing massage can help immensely. Consider this for a year-round package where a portion of the cost of the package supports a breast cancer charity.
• Contact a local hospital and offer discounted (or complementary) services to cancer patients.

In all cases, don't forget to distribute a press release about your efforts and the result of your efforts.  It is news about your business that demonstrates that you practice what you preach -- that you take care of others as a part of the purpose for your business. 

I'm curious to hear your thoughts! Please click on Comments to add your ideas to the discussion.

And if you have procrastinating getting your annual mammogram, please don't put it off.  Schedule it for peace of mind -- yours and your families.