May 15, 2013

Ask Salon Plaza: 5 Reasons Why Most Salon Referral Systems DON’T WORK

salon plaza referral programWant To TRIPLE Your Number Of Referrals?

Why Most Salons Don’t Get Enough Referrals – And What You Can Do About It!

On this Salon Plaza Success Blog, we’ve shown you how to leverage your reputation ONLINE.

But there is another way to use your established reputation that doesn’t involve the search engines or social media. 

Leveraging your reputation can also mean…

GETTING REFERRALS

  • If you see a good movie and tell a friend, that friend is a lot more likely to go see it.
  • If you tell them the food is great at a particular restaurant, they are more likely to try it out.

Obviously, a recommendation from someone you trust matters. 

Speaking of which, if your curious about the “7 Secrets of Salon Ownership”, you can watch our live video in one click:

Salon Owner Secrets To Success - 7 Things You Absolutely Must Know Before Getting Started

You know it without me saying it – the best way for you as a salon professional to build your client base is to…

Leverage Your Reputation With Referrals

Even so, if you are like most salon owners or booth renters, you don’t have a referral program that consistently works to bring in new business. You may get a few referrals from time to time… and are THANKFUL for that!

But think of how many of your clients “forget” to refer you. And, honestly, how many times do you hesitate to ask? That’s a lot of business that goes untapped.

The 5 reasons why salon referral programs don’t work… and what you can do to TRIPLE the number of referrals YOU receive:

  1. describe the imageYou hesitate or forget to ask
  2. You don’t have a well-thought out referral plan
  3. You haven’t given your clients a reminder to bring with them
  4. You don’t have an easy, reliable system for tracking referrals and giving credit where credit is due
  5. Your reward is too small

Let’s look at the last one more closely – a reward that’s too small

The problem, quite simply, is that your clients will not feel motivated to promote your salon unless a worthwhile reward is offered. For instance, lets say you offered a client a 10% discount after 5 referrals.

If your haircut price is $50, this would mean a reward of only $5, or a dollar per referral!

Your clients lead busy and active lives and may not consider a savings of $5 a worthwhile incentive. A referral program like this will never help you to grow.

To get the most out of a referral program, you must create an incentive that will motivate your clients to recruit new customers for you.

What if you gave the referring client a free service after 3 referrals?

Is this wise – or too generous?

If you hesitant to offer such a steep reward, let’s look at the numbers.

Let’s say you charge $50 for a haircut. If you reward a client with a free cut after 3 referrals, you will get $150 in additional sales – plus repeat business when the referral comes back. 

What Happens Next?

describe the imageClients who participate in your referral program will have the incentive to refer new clients. These new clients may also want to get a free haircut for referring 3 new customers! That could really begin to snowball. If your service is excellent and you connect well with your new clients, you can only come out ahead.

Once you reach a point where you have enough regular clients, you could stop promoting your program or scale down the reward.  But…

For a new salon, the most important thing is to build a clientele.

Your best strategy is to offer a reward large enough to make a difference for your clients.

Take Your Best Strategies – Improve Them – And Grow! 

Did You Know?

Our Salon Owner Members made a FREE Video just for aspiring beauty pros like you –

“Discover What How to Be Super Successful – Watch these 7 Secrets Of Our Most Prosperous Owners“…

Salon Owner Secrets To Success - 7 Things You Absolutely Must Know Before Getting Started

Whether you are a booth renter or salon owner, everything about prospering in our beauty industry will be revealed. If you are ready to design your life on your own terms, find out how to create your own

“Space for Prosperity”

Get our new book, hot off the press… Stories About Our Most Prosperous Owners – Get it now… it’s FREE!

Salon Plaza

Your Space for Prosperity

P.S. To find out more about owning a salon with Salon Plaza, call 1-800-877-3689 or inquire at SalonPlaza.com.

We are dedicated to our Salon Owner Members’ success!

© 2013 Salon Plaza, Inc.

 


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