If you’re a hair salon owner, you have probably been asking yourself “How do I increase revenue, sales or traffic?” Here are some tips, advice and ideas on how you can weather the current economic storm and increase profit.
During the current economic crisis, sales and revenues for hair salons has plummeted. Many people are choosing to prolong cuts and styling, and product purchases have dried-up for all but the largest and heavily trafficked locales. With economic conditiions are what they are, increasing traffic is the primary concern. Consider several several of these successful ideas we have seen or heard about:
- Give away business (cuts) for free - There are many people in a tough situation and could use a helping hand. While this idea seems to go against the grain and purpose, promoting free (or nearly free) haircuts can give you a lot of free press and customer goodwill. Ideas we have seen are the “First Cut a Penny”. One salon owner has jars of pennies sitting around the the store full of pennies. The hope is if customers get friendly, curteous service, they will return..plus the jars of pennies are a great novelty. You can expand this idea to children, veterans, over the age of 65, or limit the offer to slow or off days when business is weak.
- Partner - Many successful reataurants and salons partner with local elementary, middle and high schools. Contant local administration offices to see how you can participate. This make require a small investment, but schools often have programs whereby partners are allowed to participate, advertising and promote their business. Chic-fil-a is a master at this and have lead to great success for many of their stores located near schools.
- Use discount coupons - I continue to be amazed how many folks look for and use coupons. Give all customers coupons for discounts on future services. We have seen quite a bit of success when coupons also include 2 for 1 or 50% discounts for hair products. It’s a great way to move shampoos, conditioners or styling aids off the shelves that might not be selling anyway.
- E-mail campaign - Though more of a long-term consideration, ask customers for email addresses when the registered for a cut or have them register online for promotions. Periodically use this campaign to announce discounts, holiday specials or servie specials - coloring, perms, products sales, etc. Be cautious not to use emails for other purposes (or sell them), and make sure propsects “opt-in” to your program to avoid violating spam laws.
- Website optimization - Make sure you have a website that is optimized for your location. We looked at a local salon’s site recently and found their meta data had not information that described their services or location. For those of you who don’t know what meta data is, it is the information search engines use to identify and classify your site. If you service downtown Atlanta or north Jacksonville, your meta data needs to say that…or, your site will be thrown in with the rest and you’ll have little chance you will be found for local products or services.
- Participate in local chambers of commerce - personally I have found this to be a bit of a drag, but for many, getting out there, mingling and getting to know local business people can be hugely helpful - especially in the long run. Many meetings allow you to do a “3 minute pitch” on your company, and announcing some sort of promotion can get you some pretty good free press. It’s all about networking.
I’ll talk about several other ideas (including buying wholesale hair products) in a couple of weeks or when we see things that really work. If you have ideas for increasing traffic, revenue or profits, please post a comment to help everyone. We would love to hear what has worked for you and we’ll happily refer to your information. Good luck.
