With a lot of clients strapped for cash after the recent festivities, January is often a quiet month in salon. We understand how stressful it feels to have an empty appointment book. If you’re looking for ideas to help pick things up during quiet periods, here are some of our top tips.
Re-booking is key
Year round, re-bookings are important to maintain business stability but it’s never more crucial than during a quiet spell.
A great booking system is perfect for managing this. Most will send out an automatic reminder to your client prior to their appointment, helping to minimise no-shows. We know a lots of salons love tools such as Schedul (this one is free) or Booksy to make appointment bookings a breeze for both and your clients.
Have a cancellation policy
You’ve managed to re-book your clients and your January isn’t looking so quiet, but how do you prevent them from dropping out? Be sure to set up a cancellation policy that can come into action during both quiet and busy periods when you need to keep those spaces filled.
Taking a partial or even full payment upfront reduces no-shows and leaves you with something in the bank if they do. Plus, with cash tight in January, it might actually help out some of your clients to pay in advance.
Take advantage of retailing
When your days aren’t as full as usual, you need to make the most of the clients you get in. That’s why retail sales are super helpful. When performing an HD Brows treatment, take an extra few minutes to show your clients the products you’re using and give them your top tips for filling in regrowth areas. They’ll appreciate your advice and will trust your product recommendations.
Reconnect with old clients
This is the perfect time to reconnect with some of those clients you haven’t seen in a while. Take a look at your booking system or flick through your appointment book to see who’s not booked in within the last 6 months. Drop them a text or send an email with a tempting personalised offer to turn them back into a regular.
Run January promotions
Run flash offers that encourage clients to book in before missing out, e.g. the first five people to call and book an appointment today receive a free product.
A promotion we’ve seen work really well in salons is to redeem part of the cost of a retail purchase off their next treatment. For example, purchase a Browtec and receive £5 off your next treatment. It’s great as this month’s treatment is paid in full, you get an additional retail sale and your client still gets the benefit of a discount.
Use social media
Social media is a great way of driving appointments when things are on the quiet side. Fill your feed with lots of your most beautiful before and after photos, encouraging clients to start the new year with fresh new brows.
If you’re an HD Brows stylist, don’t forget that our Marketing Hub is filled with images and videos for you to share to keep your pages fun and engaging.
Do you have any top tips for dealing with quiet spells in salon? Share them in the comments below. If you’re an HD Brows stylist, head over to the #BrowBoss Collective on Facebook to share tips with your fellow stylists.
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