In larger organizations, individuals occupy defined roles and execute specific tasks according to their job descriptions and qualifications. That rarely applies in the beauty industry where so many of us work alone and fill multiple roles beyond primary service provider, including marketing manager and receptionist. With limited time and resources, how do you communicate your services to potential clients?
POTENTIAL CLIENT: Do you have time?
BEAUTY PRO: Hi, how may I help you?
POTENTIAL CLIENT: I need an appointment.
BEAUTY PRO: What would you like done?
POTENTIAL CLIENT: I want my [hair/skin/nails] done.
BEAUTY PRO: Ok, what service do you want?
POTENTIAL CLIENT: How much?
BEAUTY PRO: That depends on the service…
Sound familiar? Whether via text, direct message, email or phone, these exchanges can be exhausting.
Unless you plan to adjust your services, pricing and schedule on a client by client basis, stop negotiating and start communicating.
In the not so distant past, beauty pros and salon owners would print business cards and brochures to advertise services. When typos happened or content needed updating, we resisted knowing that would render our investment in print marketing obsolete. With websites, digital marketing overcame the limitations of print to reach a larger audience and present more complex and dynamic content at a lower cost.
Now that social media dominates digital marketing, our industry embraces these new platforms to communicate, while ignoring the fact that the essential content has never changed.
Potential clients need more than beautiful photos to make an informed decision. At minimum, they should know the following:
• The location of your business (unless that doesn’t matter)
• The services you provide, including pricing and timing
• Your days and hours of operation
• The payment methods you accept
• The process to schedule an appointment
• Your policies for cancellations, refunds, etc.
• How to contact you
The less information you provide initially and universally, the more you burden yourself to communicate reactively and individually. Who has time for that? You get paid to provide services, not talk about them.
Regardless of where you communicate, the goal remains the same: convert potential clients to actual clients with as little effort as possible.
Effective writing is crucial. If you’re not a competent writer, don’t attempt this on your own. Without the requisite ability, the results will be inferior and amateurish, and that’s certainly not the first impression you want to make. If that sounds snobbish, understand that you’ll be judged on your communication skills. A limited budget does not excuse mistakes; it doesn’t cost any more to spell words correctly and use proper grammar. Even when beauty pros spend a lot of money on marketing, the results can be disappointing and ineffective, inviting wasteful interactions and repelling clients, rather than attracting them.
As beauty pros, we like to think our work speaks for itself, but photographs and videos can’t adequately communicate the details potential clients want to know. Now that I’ve outlined the most important information you should share about your services, let’s discuss the best ways to present that information to a larger audience of potential clients.
“The best way to look at any business is from the standpoint of the clients.” – Jamie Dimon
First, consider how client perceptions differ from yours. Have you ever surveyed your clients to understand what they value most? You may be surprised to learn what you consider your strengths may not be that important to them. Spending time with your clients performing services they appreciate and compensate, you may take for granted how you earned their business in the first place. How do new clients find you? Referrals from existing clients, social media posts, online search results, prominent location, ratings and reviews, email marketing, direct mail? What appeals to your clients? Unique services, quality products, affordable prices, convenient location, flexible scheduling, training and qualifications, cleanliness and safety, salon amenities, your likability?
Your clients may have their own reasons for choosing you, but suffice to say, they learn about you somehow and what they learn convinces them to become clients, even if for only one appointment. Clients who return and remain loyal for years may have different perceptions based on their long-term experiences with you. Gathering information from your clients, especially if collected anonymously, will help identify discrepancies in how you’re perceived versus how you perceive yourself and want to be perceived.
“You define yourself by either what your clients want or what you believe they’ll need for the future. So: Define yourself by your client, not your competitor.” – Ginni Rommety
Second, communicate your priorities through primacy. Do clients choose you or do you choose them? A client-centric approach to marketing ignores the power you have to control what, how and where you communicate, and whom you accept as clients. Everything about your communication strategy should reflect your priorities. You don’t need to work harder to attract clients whose priorities align with yours. In fact, those clients will gravitate to your business when you consistently center and elevate what you both value. For example, clients primarily concerned about their health and safety will respond very positively to language and actions that demonstrate your commitment to compliance. A more specific example, when arranging the order of your service descriptions, list the service you most want clients to choose first.
“What clients are really interested in is honesty, plus a baseline of competence.” – Patrick Lencioni
Third, provide answers to questions potential clients frequently ask. Generate responses to common questions (FAQs), post on your website and provide the link everywhere. Beyond your concise writing, find innovative ways to describe the experience of your services to those who’ve never experienced them. Without disparaging other beauty pros or salon owners, explain how your services are different and better. When potential clients contact you, channel any interactions to your preferred communication method.
“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.” – Oscar Wilde
Lastly, deliver what clients expect. Meeting the expectations you establish and communicate reinforces the good judgment of your clients.
An earlier version was published by Beauty Cast Network.