July 9, 2008 at 6:20 pm
· Filed under WOM ·Tagged womm, Word of Mouth
I ordered Finazzle - which is an amazing tile grout product - and on the inside flap of the shipping box was a word of mouth sticker (see below), asking for me to refer my friends, family and neighbors to buy their products. It worked because I’m blogging the idea!
So - what is your salon doing to create word of mouth business? Do you have a creative WOMM plan for your salon?! YOU SHOULD! As a matter of fact, it needs to be the core of your advertising budget.
I’d love to hear your ideas.
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June 22, 2008 at 3:31 pm
· Filed under Customer Experience ·Tagged Customer Experience, customer service
I’ll continue with more WOM ideas in a later post, but I’ve got to get this off my chest…
I’ve spoken (and written) about creating a positive, memborable customer experience, so I just don’t understand this and maybe it’s just a pet peeve of mine. Me and a family visitor (from out of town) drove to a salon so she could tan before heading back home and we get the dreaded, “I’m sorry, we’re closing at 9″. OK - it’s 841pm on my watch, so what’s the problem?! We were refused a tanning session because of a 30 minute rule.
Here’s the deal - if you close at 9, then allow people to tan until 9, not 830 (otherwise, close at 830)! That’s the most rediculous “tanning rule” I’ve ever heard of and creates a VERY POOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE!
Just a follow-up to this topic:
I called the 5 salons closest to my home and asked what time they close and they all gave me the “last tan is 30 minutes before XXpm”. My suggestion - create some buzz and stand out in the crowded industry by accepting customers until you close. Be different. Break away from the ”cookie cutter” mold.
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June 12, 2008 at 7:37 am
· Filed under WOM ·Tagged Marketing, red lime, salon ideas, WOM
Still continuing from our list of WOM ideas for salons…
#4. Give your lunch tanners something to take back to the office to share with co-workers. A few days during the month when I owned salons, I would have “Lunch Sack” giveaways to every customer who was tanning on their lunch break and was returning to the office. The intent of the “Lunch Sacks” were to get my customers to talk about my salons, but I never said, “Tell your co-workers to come on down and see us” (the lunch sack is suppose to speak for me). I’d change the contents every month to ensure the idea stayed fresh and interesting for those handing out the Lunch Sacks. Keep it very inexpensive, but very memorable.
Add your spin to it, but mine consisted of:
1. The “sack” was a colored tulle with a ribbon
2. Contents were:
a. One of the following: Pad of Sticky Notes with my salon info printed on it, salon calendar magnet or business card magnet
b. One of the following: Pack of gum, mints, chocolate, hand sanitizer, etc, etc. Think of anything an office worker would appreciate having during the day.
Have a WOM idea that got your “talkers” to talk? Share it!
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June 11, 2008 at 8:58 am
· Filed under WOM ·Tagged red lime, WOM, Word of Mouth
Continuing our word-of-mouth post from yesterday (http://redlime.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/word-of-mouthpart-1/).
#2. Host (or have a presence at) an outdoor event where your “talkers” are present and giveaway bottles of SPF, stylish t-shirts/tops, visors, water bottles - all with your logo on it.
#3. If you have customers waiting to tan (especially during busy season), pass out something memorable, i.e., a box of Sugar Daddy candy! Do something whacky & out of the ordinary that naturally makes them talk to their friends and office workers. The “Hey, you aren’t going to believe what happened at the tanning salon today!” kinda talk!
More to come, but feel free to jump in on the conversation!
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June 10, 2008 at 9:59 am
· Filed under Vitamin "D"elicious ·Tagged Men, vitamin d
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June 10, 2008 at 8:22 am
· Filed under WOM ·Tagged red lime, Word of Mouth
The next several blog articles will contain ideas that are inexpensive word of mouth marketing tips for salons because I believe you should strongly consider word of mouth marketing FIRST instead of the traditional marketing you’re accustomed to. Why? One reason: Your customers will believe a friend and a stranger’s opinion of a merchant a lot more than what YOU tell them in an ad!
Welcome Kit WOM Tools:
1. Every new salon client (regardless if it’s 1 session or a 1 year contract) receives a “welcome kit” with their purchase.
The Welcome Kit should contain a lot of word of mouth tools. Here’s some suggestions:
- 3 referral cards. Referral card entitles both parties to a free gift. Once redeemed, the referee can be entitled to a number of different products: 1 free upgrade, 1 free tan, 1 free lotion sample, 25% off bottle of lotion, 1 free week added to their package, etc, etc, etc.
- A brochure, pricing sheet…..anything with salon information on it. You’d be surprised how often your salon tanner will take it home, leave it on their table and have friends over that pick it up to read it or, even better, they give it to a friend. When I tell salon owners to do this, 99.9% of them say, “I don’t want my competition to see my pricing!” – guess what…they already know it or they can easily find out if they wanted to. This is about promoting your salon and your services through word of mouth – getting your name/brand in front of crowds, people who are talkers, etc.
- Free lotion packet. If I need to explain this one, then….
- Business card/calendar MAGNET with salon info – constant reminder every time they open the fridge
- Pen with salon info on it – another tool to constantly remind them of your salon and to recommend your services to another friend.
P.S. – More ideas to come, but please share your ideas with the rest of our salon readers.
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June 6, 2008 at 10:21 am
· Filed under Marketing ·Tagged Marketing, red lime, sales card
Whew - those went fast and furious! Thank you for the great response on our FREE Sales Card offer!
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May 27, 2008 at 6:55 pm
· Filed under Marketing ·Tagged free offer, sales card
Sales Card…a wonderful visual, selling tool for salons and it’s proven (ok, maybe not a Harvard Business stamp of approval, but these cards worked wonders in my salons when I owned them)!
Most companies will sell these to you for $500+ PLUS printing charges, but I’ll design a Sales Card for your salon AND I’ll show you how to use it for FREE! No strings attached, no hidden fees, no fine print to read, nothing, nada, zilch - FREE is FREE!
Sales Cards are perfect for salons who offer EFT/VIP/Club Memberships but you don’t have to offer those to utilize the benefits of this card. Soooo, to take advantage of this special offer, all you have to do is (there’s only 4 hoops to jump through):
1. Be one of the first 50 salons to request your FREE Sales Card; deadline is June 7, 2008.
2. Email a picture of you and your salon staff to scott@redlimeproducts.com
3. Choose one of the 4 stock template designs. View the 4 options here: http://www.redlimeproducts.com/freesalescard.htm
4. Email your salon logo (300dpi and in .ai, .tiff, .eps or .jpg format only), tanning packages and pricing to scott@redlimeproducts.com
Please include ALL 4 items in 1 email!
Because we’re designing and explaining how to use the Sales Cards for FREE, we won’t have time to change the graphics on them, BUT we will add your salon logo, contact info and tanning packages to the card.
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May 27, 2008 at 12:54 pm
· Filed under Training ·Tagged robbery, Training
Let’s say an individual walks into your salon right now and attempts to rob it. Are you and your employees prepared? We can probably agree that tanning salons aren’t the “hot bed” (no pun intended) for robberies, but when people get desperate, they take desperate measures, so we shouldn’t rule out the possibility that it could happen to you and your employee(s) one day.
When you hire a new employee and train them on the salon software, beds, lotions….are robbery procedures part of the training? They should be.
Some ideas for training content:
A. Stay calm (oxymoron, but give it your best shot)
B. Don’t be a hero! Give them what they want.
C. Look for identifiers and write them down (hair color, height, shirt color, tattoos, etc.)
D. Call 911
E. Lock the door immediately after the robbery occurs
F. Call the Salon Owner.
Well, you say, “I’ve got security cameras in the salon if this occurs.” GREAT! But the cameras aren’t going to provide your employee with verbal instructions after the robbery occurs. Every day you strive to protect your salon assets and at the top of that list is YOU and YOUR EMPLOYEES.
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