I read something recently that I wanted to share. It said that an improvement by 2% in the number of clients that you retain is equal to a 10% decrease in costs. Everyone knows how difficult it is to cut costs, so does it not make sense to really put effort in every day to make sure that every client who comes into your salon comes back?
As a salon owner think about how much effort and focus you put into the retention of your clients?
- Do you talk to your team on a regular basis about the value of retention
- Do you address with a team member when you see something that is not ‘client winning’ if not why not
- Do you have a good loyalty programme that says: thank you to your regular clients
- Do you have promotions that regular clients can see value in
- Is every visit to your salon a great experience
- Do you clients leave your salon with a reason to return
- Do you look at your salon retention report
- Do you look at and discuss with each team member their individual retention report
- Do you have in place clear goal for retention
It should be understood that re-booking is a service that you offer your clients in order to have them return to you when they are due and not when they ‘get around to it’. Re-booking and retention are not the same. They link together but you need to manage both separately and with separate focus. When no rebooking is offered and clients stretch a 6-week appointment to 8 weeks, you need 30% more clients to keep your appointment book full.
Some tips for re-booking
- Plan the next visit during the service or treatment and give the client reasons to return
- Offer this service to every client. Don’t pick and choose
- Don’t have a one size fits all for the time frame. Make it personal, as to when the client should return based on their needs
- Be sure to have a good confirmation and service to ensure you manage ‘NO shows”
- Have clear goals for re-booking
Your Coach Faye Murray