Let's Talk Clientele [EP:152]

Building and Retaining a Strong Clientele in the Hair Industry

In this episode, Jen and Todd discuss the importance of continually acquiring new clients in the hair industry. 

They debate the notion of closing books and highlight the pitfalls of such strategies both in hairstyling and other industries, using Todd's experience at a restaurant as an example. 

Jen and Todd emphasize the need to offer a reliable client experience, make use of SEO and Google Ads, and keep social media presence updated. 

They also explore the significance of community involvement and business-to-business relationships. 

Through personal anecdotes and advice, they offer a comprehensive guide to expanding and maintaining a loyal client base.

00:00 Introduction and Greetings
00:13 The Importance of Gaining New Clients
00:44 The Pitfalls of Exclusivity
02:03 Real-Life Example: Restaurant Experience
04:15 Managing Client Flow
04:25 The Downside of Closed Books
05:25 Consultations and Client Fit
08:44 Leveraging Existing Clients
12:48 SEO and Google Ads for Client Acquisition
17:17 Community Engagement and Marketing
18:27 The Logo Myth: What's Really Important
19:58 The Power of Online Booking
20:56 Building Business Relationships
23:16 Leveraging Social Media for Client Growth
29:27 The Pitfalls of Discount Marketing
31:27 Evaluating Client Experience and Retention
33:31 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Links and Stuff:
Our (weekly) Email List

Find more of our things:
Instagram
Hello Hair Pro Website

Transcript

152 Let's Talk Clientele
===

Todd: [00:00:00] All right. What's up, everyone? Happy Monday. What's going on, Jennifer?

Jen: Not much.

Todd: Yeah. Okay. Not much is cool.

Jen: Not much.

Todd: having my tea here.

Jen: No.

Todd: We're talking about building a clientele or getting clients or I don't know, reestablishing or whatever.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: different reasons that somebody would want to gain clients.

Jen: Absolutely.

Todd: I think. The most important point that we could probably make here, and I know some people disagree in the hair industry, but you should always be trying to get new clients. Always be advancing and progressing. You see a lot of, I, I, I don't know if it's an ego driven sort of thing, but you see a lot of, uh, like books closed, not accepting clients. And I'll

Jen: I've, I've said this many times or every time we recorded [00:01:00] anything about this, I don't understand why people do that. And I have asked like, please reach out. Cause I would, I'd love to know the mindset or what your vision is for books closed. Like what is your purpose? Like why? You know, and I, I can't see a reason.

So I would love someone to enlighten me.

Todd: maybe it's like, maybe it's as simple as people are trying to create. Scarcity? that?

Jen: Maybe if they even are thinking that far, like, or even, I don't even know if it's a thoughtful process or they're just copying someone they look up to that did it. And they're like, I'm going to do that too. Like, I don't, I feel like it's more of a copycat thing. I don't know if there's a lot of thought in it.

And I don't mean to say that, uh, I'm not talking down to anybody, but I, that's why I'm curious because is there thought behind it? Or are you just copying like someone else? I don't know.

Todd: Yeah.

Jen: I've never done that. So

Todd: why people do it. I can share a quick story of that [00:02:00] will actually hurt your business over time. So

Jen: I'd love to hear it.

Todd: I worked for a restaurant in Newburyport. It was a nice restaurant. And at the time when I was starting out, I was not in charge of anything. I started out actually as a part of the wait staff. And so I started paying more attention to the restaurant to the business side to sort of the interactions between the guests that would come in and the front desk. And I just started observing time came maybe a few months in and we were noticing that, you know, the, we weren't as busy as we were, evenings were not booked. And what happened was we were advertising that you couldn't get in with us. And And at the time the guy that was running the restaurant, he was in charge of all that stuff was like, you know, people will think we're exclusive and whatever. And I was like, that's going to backfire. Like in my head, how many times do you go somewhere and you just can't get in? How many [00:03:00] times are you going to keep going?

Jen: Right. Eventually you just give up. You're like that place you can never get in. So you move on.

Todd: You can never get in so you move on and I think it's similar to what people do in hair or what's

Jen: Mm hmm. Mm

Todd: you keep doing that. So if you only have space for say a hundred clients, I'm just picking numbers

Jen: hmm.

Todd: and you say books closed, no one can ever get in with me. Eventually people are going to stop reaching out to you and you're fine because you have your clients and you're full, your books are

Jen: Right.

Todd: But

Jen: Until

Todd: clients move, or unfortunately, like, sometimes clients pass away, or

Jen: Right. Or they're just done with you.

Todd: yeah, they want to go somewhere else, or,

Jen: Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Todd: to do hair now, so they're going to go see them, or, or, um, things change for them economically, and they can't afford your services anymore, so, now what are you going to do, because, You're not on anybody's radar anymore. So that's where, and [00:04:00] I, by the way, I ended up becoming in charge of that restaurant, switching the way that we did our bookings and, uh, we watched the numbers go through the roof. I actually had the wait staff say, never made so much money anywhere.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: So it's about managing the flow. Yes, but not shutting it off.

Doesn't ever make sense to me.

Jen: I think also

Todd: I

Jen: from a standpoint, uh, yeah, me too, if I were to see someone's books closed and I'm following you on social media to watch your work, cause maybe like, I'm like, ah, you know, maybe I do want to book with this person. The minute I see that I'm, I'm either unfollowing you or I'm, I'm no longer interested in the work you're putting out because you're telling me.

You don't want me as a client. Like, that's how I would look at it. Like, you don't want me as the client. So why would I watch your work? Because now I'm never getting in with you. Kind of what you said about the restaurant. Like, I just see that every time that pops up, I'm like, well, I clearly I'm not for you.

So I will now follow another hairstylist that maybe see where her work [00:05:00] goes and, um, try to get in with, with that person. Yeah. I think you're just closing yourself off to so many opportunities and to what you said, like you lose clients, but also there are clients, maybe you're not. Enjoying servicing anymore.

So if you were that busy, I would say you keep your books open and you almost now get to interview what new clients you want to take to weed out some of the ones you're just not enjoying doing. There's so many really amazing ways you can innovate and pivot your mindset as to keeping your books open and.

Having consultations and then deciding which clients you want to service. If you're in that position, that's a pretty amazing place to be to curate a clientele that you want to go in every day and work with or work on.

Todd: That's something that you do,

Jen: Yeah, that's exactly what I do.

Todd: Yeah. You don't ever, I mean, so you don't have a lot of openings anywhere,

Jen: correct.

Todd: You're always willing to talk [00:06:00] to a person because you never know. And then you, you'll figure something out, fit them in, but you

Jen: I have.

Todd: advertise books closed and you're constantly, um, meeting with new people that could be great fits to like what you're saying.

Okay.

Jen: out of the year.

So I only see them now very little, um, or people that have dropped off my books or, or whatever. So I'm always open to that. And I have in the past consulted with people that I knew were not a fit for me and vice versa. It just wasn't going to be a good one. Um, and. Yeah. Either as a business owner and how we lead our salon, I can offer them to someone under our roof, or I have offered them to people that have previously worked for us that I'm like, you know what, this is just where the fit is.

Because at the end of the day, if that client's not a fit for, for me or for what I feel is under hello's [00:07:00] roof, why even try? Like, it's just going to be problematic. So. There's lots of things I've done in consultations with clients. Um, I recently just had a client want to consult with me about hair extensions.

And I had time to consult cause I had a last minute cancellation that day, but I would have not had time to install any extensions with her for over a month. This client wants to get in right away. So I quickly grabbed my other stylist and I'm like, let's consult together so that she can understand I'm not just.

Dropping her off, but at the same point, her needs, I can't meet them. Um, and we consulted together. She was happy with my, the stylist that works for us. And now that girl, that client, that stylist, hello, hair pro, whatever you want to call her, um, got a new extension client and they are happy as can be, and she's able to service all of the needs of that client.

Todd: Very cool. So the point of our opening here is that you should always be looking to gain more clients or exposure. You never know what sort

Jen: Yeah,

Todd: are going to come. Like you said, it's helping. So by [00:08:00] you doing consultations with people that you definitely don't have time for, you're opening your team up for opportunities.

Jen: absolutely.

Todd: So if you're listening and you're like, I don't need any more clients, I'm too busy. Couple things. Yes, you do. You always want more

Jen: Yeah, you always do it. It's a revolving door. That's our business. So you, you're

Todd: you should

Jen: always

Todd: probably be considering some sort of price increase because if you're to the point where you're like books closed and maybe you are, I don't know what people are doing out there.

I know what people post on social media. So that's what we talk about.

Jen: right. We don't know what's real. What's not. Yeah.

Todd: What people tell us or email us or whatever. So what are some ways now that we can get some clients? would start with the easiest people to sell to are the people that you already have. So would look at the clients that you already have coming in. I would probably make a list. And you can do this, like there's [00:09:00] the pumpkin plan,

Jen: Yeah,

Todd: which is an excellent book. If you haven't read it, check

Jen: it is good.

Todd: but you can make a list. And on one side, you put down your favorite clients. And maybe it's your top three to five, 10, whatever clients. Um, and on another list, you put in your top paying clients. And these are the people that pay, they're not complaining about price or anything like that. They're not looking for deals. then you take those two lists and you cross identify which people are on both lists and those are your seed clients. And now you just talk to those clients and you say, hey, I like you, you like me, I would like more people like you to like me, or something like that,

Jen: Send me your friends.

Todd: people love to help, so that's a, that's a quick way

Jen: People do love to help. I agree with what you're saying. And I think,

Todd: yeah, yeah, yeah,

Jen: think

Todd: let

Jen: sometimes you are so afraid of rejection or somebody saying like, no, thank you, um, that you don't offer up that, but.

Todd: [00:10:00] people are afraid of rejection,

Jen: Totally. So I think instead of like looking at to what you said that this, um, this strategy really does work.

Like if, if you're looking for clients, this is a great way to do it. And you want more clients like the ones you already enjoy doing their hair. So yes, you have to put yourself out there, but that's part of any industry and definitely part of this one. So I always look at when it comes to rejection, no matter what the person says, I always say in my head, it's just not today.

So it's not there. No one's going to just be like, no way. I'm never referring my friends to you. Um, but you might feel that they might look at you weird or whatever. But the idea is, is that though, like you said, most people want to help you. So rather than focus on the rejection of what you think you might get, which whatever you think is never going to happen, it's going in with like, it may not be today that they send you people, but they might in the future, like, Hey, you know, I'm trying to build my, my clientele.

And I really love doing your hair automatically. They just feel special. Like, okay, they're probably in there. My, what can I do to help? Like I want more of you, I want [00:11:00] more people like you to sit in my chair and do their hair. So if you know anybody that's looking for a new stylist or barber or whatever, um, send them my way and then you can just stop talking and they'll be like, sure, I'll let me see what I can do.

Like it's, that's just how it goes. And rather than think about all the negative things that could come, think about focus on the positives, focus on that people do truly want to help other people.

Todd: Yeah, and people, something you can use to your advantage when you're talking to people The fact that people want to be in tribes, people want to be in groups.

Jen: So true.

Todd: the barbershop, to go to the salon, you do this a lot. You have cousins that you pair up that come in together and. Like we don't even really double book, but it's something that you create because it's creating something for them and enhances their experience.

They like to be there and chit chat and gossip and talk to everybody in the salon and

Jen: That's.

Todd: on

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: together. It's what they like to

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: Families, you have moms and daughters [00:12:00] that come in, you know, we have, um, fathers and sons and and daughters and whatever, you know, we have groups of people.

So if you think about it, like when you go. to grab a drink or when you go out to grab a snack or whatever to see a movie, you probably have your go to people. Maybe you have a brother or sister that you bring along. Maybe you have

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: or a cousin or whatever that you always hook up with. That's the type of relationship that you want to form with people, creating sort of that atmosphere where you They want to hang out with their friend or their cousin

Jen: Right.

Todd: is.

Jen: Right.

Todd: that's just an easy win there. I think looking for me, I like to, because it, I think it what works best. Sorry, that was such an odd sentence, looking at the long game plays things like SEO and your

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: and Google ads and those sorts of things.

Because. [00:13:00] It's so powerful to

Jen: extremely.

Todd: I shut my mic off. Yeah. So you have to have the ability. Well, first, you have to understand that it's a long game. And when I say long

Jen: Yes.

Todd: us a couple years to really get cranking on it.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: There was initially some progress, like you'll notice an uptick within a few

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: Um, but it won't be like what happens two or

Jen: It's not overnight. Yeah.

Todd: and what we notice is there'll be days that are empty and we'll look, say, on Saturday and say our Sunday is wide open.

This doesn't really happen anymore because it fills in quicker, but.

Jen: Yes.

Todd: There have been times in the past where we had newer staff on a Sunday because that was our, our day that we looked at and we were like, these days kind of fill in last minute, you know, for people.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: And so we would go to sleep and the books would be wide [00:14:00] open and we'd wake up and the days would be full. And again, that didn't happen straight away, but over the course of a couple of years, you can pretty much bank on it. There are times throughout the year that just due to like, we're going through summer. So like July 4th week, like

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: you know, that that's not going to magically fill it. Like people aren't going to magically cancel their vacations because you ran some ads on Google.

Jen: Yeah. July is always just a crap shoot,

Todd: yeah. like that. Um,

Jen: I think, to what you're saying. Cause I didn't really understand SEO and Google ads and optimizing Google through your website. All of these things were just like kind of foreign words to me that I'm like, Oh, you're you're it's, that sounded like a different language.

Um, But what I have seen, cause I think this was maybe two or so years ago. Um, we decided to shift sort of how we market and how we're going to build a clientele for our staff. Right. And, and kind of almost want people to come work [00:15:00] with us because they know they're going to get busy. Right. So we see a lot in these like, kind of different salon, Facebook type things are different groups where they're like, how do you get clients to come through?

I don't know how. And majority of those people are still working off of. Not optimizing their SEO, their Google, their website to be Google friendly. And so the problem becomes is they're like, I need clients like yesterday, which you're already behind. This isn't something that you're going to gain overnight, but once you go all in and you have a financial responsibility with that, it's going to be expensive.

But the win is, is that you're going.

Todd: you can do it on yourself, it's going to take you a lot longer

Jen: Right. Again, how quick do you want to get there?

Todd: takes a while,

Jen: Right. So we knew when we were going into it, like this is sort of where our cost was, but we felt there was a risk reward that we knew was going to take a few years. And this was an investment for us. Um, we even sat down with the accountant. He was kind of questioning some things like [00:16:00] you're spending a lot of money here.

Are you sure this is worth it? And then when we started to show the returns, it was like, Oh, okay. But so we are two or so years in into what Todd saying is now, even our staff that is with us, they have an open day. They're not like, can I take it off? They're like, I'm hanging out. Something's coming in and it always does.

But that's because we have played with like now in the world of the internet is going to be how we bring in new clients. And that face for us is really important and has proved to be a really great marketing tool.

Todd: hmm. Yeah, I don't know what else we could say about SEO. We don't, it's, it's a long game, but it's so worth it. I, that's

Jen: So worth it.

Todd: you should take out of it because I don't know that a day by that I'm not in the salon where I would ask someone, how'd you find us? And they're like, I just searched online.

And there you were, you know,

Jen: If you're looking for it.

Todd: the best reviews.

Jen: Yes.

Todd: online haircut near me, whatever. And you guys popped up first, [00:17:00] or I like the. Look of the place or whatever, you know, but they found us easily online and we don't really have to Worry too much about where clients are coming from anymore. Now. Do we do some other stuff which we'll get into? Yeah, definitely. We do community events, which is

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: Um, you know, the father daughter dances, the PTO stuff with schools.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: And it's funny because it'll start out like they'll send their kid in to

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: And then all of a sudden they're like, you know what?

I'm ready for a new, a new style.

Jen: Yeah,

Todd: Come and see

Jen: there's a, there's a physical presence that we put out into the community where we see fit for our business. And, and that all comes together as this like kind of perfect relationship. I think if you're hearing us say like SEO and all of these things, and you're like, what, what is even happening here?

And if you're listening, cause you're like, I need to build a clientele, you should reach out because we can quickly break down some stuff that we've done and it will maximize your growing your clientele. [00:18:00] It's like I said, we set a slow process, but it's as fast as you're going to get there and you will build.

Todd: Yeah. Unfortunately I see a lot of people who will open a salon or open their suite or go rent their chair or whatever. And they don't put marketing on.

Jen: Right.

Todd: even worse, I've seen people that go to rent chairs that don't even have a game plan. They don't have a

Jen: Right.

Todd: They just show up like, I am. Um,

Jen: my logo.

Todd: yeah, here's, yeah, here's

Jen: Sorry.

Todd: No, it's so true. It's,

Jen: Cause. Yeah.

Todd: the things that we've been sort of, um, misinformed about mattering. Like you're

Jen: Right.

Todd: really need a logo if you're renting a chair, like it's, you just don't need it. I get it. It's fun or whatever, but not important. No,

Jen: time.

Todd: you're wasting your time

Jen: That's not going to build your business.

Todd: yeah, I've seen people who make the mistake of saying like I've actually heard this sentence like I have 50 clients. [00:19:00] So if I go rent a chair, I'll have 50 clients, and they think that's just how it works. And, you know, they are not renting a chair anymore, because they're not planning. So if you're on your own, it might look a little bit different. you should definitely be leveraging Google and things like that.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: hammering some sort of a blog or something that is going to be content that lives on the internet solidifies your position as like an authority

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: and people again that's more of a medium to long game too but people are going to find you that stuff is on there we've had blog posts that every month over month over month just I put them up two years ago I have to go through and add more to our blog but I put them up years ago and they're still generating you

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: Interest and getting page hits every week, you know, so that stuff lives out there forever. I would probably, [00:20:00] recommend or another thing that helps to if you're a business owner, I don't know what it looks like for individuals, but you could talk about that because you've rented chairs before, but, uh, your online booking. I still

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: like, I don't have online booking because people are going to book the wrong thing. well, without it, people aren't going to book anything. And here you are wanting clients. So let them book the wrong thing and then, I don't know, maybe have a consultation with them.

Jen: Absolutely. It's not hard to reach out to someone and just make sure it's booked correctly. To not have online booking is devastating to your business.

Todd: Detrimental. Night, night and day difference. And

Jen: Um, I always had it, even when I was on my own, the minute I went on my own, I had software, but I am a different breed with that stuff. I treated it like a business.

Todd: yeah, I've never really looked at them.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: uh, what are some other things people could do to get clients?

Jen: Um, you mentioned the community. I think getting out is really important. Uh, we've done [00:21:00] some kind of business to business, like not going in coffee shops and putting your business card on their corkboard, like going and being like, you know, how can we help you? How can we have a working relationship? You know, like how, like, let's both help each other's business.

Not just like, here's my business card on your corkboard. Uh, have a great day.

Todd: How do I

Jen: Yeah. Maybe you.

Todd: How would I help

Jen: Yeah. Like maybe you do get someone from there, but if you're truly looking to build a business and be a brand, um, relationships are going to be extremely important. So like literally sitting down with people and how do you market some, maybe a networking event or something where you both can like help each other build all businesses need to build all of them, no matter how big they are, no matter how small they are, they need to grow.

So if you go in with a business mindset of like, how can I help? Or how can we work together? You'll find those businesses that align with what you, what your mission is. If you have one, um, and you by networking, you both will grow and it creates a really cool relationship and it's great to have relationships that are not just in your business or in your field.

Um, it'll [00:22:00] help you open your eyes up to. Different ways to market that you might only be thinking just hair, hair, hair. If that's where you live in the minute, you go outside the hair world. It really does help you build in all different ways because you're creating in a new way that's just not about hair.

I think those types of relationships were really important or that's something you kind of, I think, introduced me to, uh, when we started building hello, just like kind of this, how can you help? And not just exactly like you're saying, utilizing someone else's clients and just like, here you go. I'm just going to take, take, take.

Like, try to like. get a relationship so they remember you. Um, I even like with our,

Todd: to the old school that it's just like a law of large numbers. Uh, you'd go like around, when you started, you were in a location that was inside of a mall. And you

Jen: yeah. My first salon. Yeah.

Todd: back in the day, so you could go around and hand out business cards and you

Jen: easy.

Todd: had access to like several hundred people a day

Jen: Mm-Hmm.

Todd: through a mall.

You can hand a business [00:23:00] card to anyone that will take one. And that approach might work. I, I don't, I don't know if that sort of is part of our culture anymore, like

Jen: Yeah. It has changed a lot. Mm-Hmm.

Todd: What I will say is you can leverage something like your social media. Say you have your work on your Instagram, maybe you write that on a card for somebody, or maybe you, uh, what I was going to say first is even before you get to that part, you're going out and you're actually trying to form some sort of a relationship with somewhere first.

Jen: Mm-Hmm.

Todd: have, or you have a girl that works at a restaurant that we go to a lot with the kids and you always mentioned to her, Hey, we're always looking for models. That's a song. You know what I mean? So it's

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: stuff like that. And maybe eventually she takes you up on it or maybe someone else overhears that or whatever. You should be out there forming relationships. Like, where do you, I, I had our team go out [00:24:00] one day and tell 10 people they wanted to do their hair. And they got like two or three numbers to call like out of

Jen: Yeah. Mm-Hmm.

Todd: that was as simple as like, Hey, go, here's five bucks. Go buy yourself a coffee. I want you to tell the person that you cut hair and they would do that.

And they were like, wow, people

Jen: And it was successful

Todd: me on my Instagram. Yeah. It's, and you're just sort of laying down, um, just the fact that you exist. I know that sounds weird, but we love to think because we have a couple thousand followers on

Jen: and you get a few likes every day, but.

Todd: that people know who we are. Like you can

Jen: But they don't

Todd: on a, on a photo, but none of those turned into any business for you.

Jen: write

Todd: does that do for you? know, if the goal is to get likes on Instagram, then I guess you are winning. But goal is at the end

Jen: generally to get clients in your chair.

Todd: Clients in your chair. So that's

Jen: I think to,

Todd: stuff on.

Jen: to what you're saying, I think another [00:25:00] thing that I find works really well, um, is because to what you said, like the day of kind of going through the mall and giving out your business card is probably done, but. You know, maybe you get one, but to work on models.

So maybe you've learned some new techniques and you find some people that

Todd: I just think that that sort of like there's a better return for your time. Like you could go to the mall and hand out 250 business cards. Great. How many are coming in? I feel like if you

Jen: right.

Todd: card, I toss it. It's

Jen: Because there's no relationship.

Todd: re the

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: a relationship.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: Go ahead. So

Jen: So

Todd: about techniques. Um,

Jen: in a, in a restaurant situation, cause they really do see a lot of people and they want to know. They're making relationships and take these [00:26:00] techniques that you've watched, ask them to be your model, however you want to do that. Um, if you need help figuring out model pricing, reach out and do their hair, try some of these new techniques on them and ask them, you know, when someone's like, I love your hair.

Great. Have them give out your card or have them give out your name. But the next part that I think is really crucial in today's world is you need to have your social media somewhat up to date because people People are taking that and since they're seeing hair everywhere, they're going to turn to your Instagram and they're going to try to see your work.

And if your work is from five years ago, you're dead in the water. It's just where it's at. So these models to me is where you're curating new information, new, new pictures, new, Curating content for your social media. So now that will be up to date and when they're in their business and they're working and someone's like, I love your hair, where do you go?

They can say, I go here, this is who I see. And they're going to go on the social media and see that person's hair. And now they've like, kind of got to know you a little bit on a few points and they're most likely going to reach out and book an appointment with you, but it has [00:27:00] to be like, that's a great way to keep your social media up to date and get someone out there that's talking for you.

Like that's how you become like known, right? That's how your name gets out there over and over again. Right,

Todd: and you're an employee and you're like, well, the salon brings in clients for me, I'll tell you a quick story. We have had people that have been on our team for say more than two years, like a few years, we'll say. Okay. And then we have people that come in and have been on our team for, I'll say less than a year. And we're constantly. using Google, getting reviews, things like that. And the people that are upfront and current with their social media, and I'm not saying that it has to be every day that you're pouring stuff into are now busier than the people that have been here for a few years, because they're on two different, Modes one is on go and one is on not so go right and I it's it is what it is We allow [00:28:00] people in our business like I'm not gonna we don't like fire somebody because they're building slower We just explain to them that here's why and this is the process and so by getting reviews and all these things You can actually Uh, potential client is going to look at that stuff and then they're going to look at the social media.

And this is true because people, clients tell me, because I ask them, how'd you find us? How'd you find this

Jen: right.

Todd: What made you pick Jen? What made you pick me? Whatever, like stuff like that. Um, and clients will tell you, like, I looked around, you guys had good reviews. And then I poked around and I found some of your staff on Instagram.

And I just, you know, this one had up to date stuff or whatever. It's really that simple. your Instagram does not need to be your sole driver of clients. It could be like that business card. It can be like that thing that just reminds people that you're there when the salon itself is doing the heavy lifting with the SEO and all that stuff.

But it does work well together. One of the things I want to point [00:29:00] out. Or a couple of things I want to point out is we don't, we're not talking about discounts, even with models that your models can have a pricing. I don't even like the word discount for that. And we've talked about this recently.

Jen: Yeah. I call it model pricing.

Todd: Yeah, you don't need to discount stuff.

People get used to discounts. People that want discounts want discounts. So what are you going to do or what are they going to do rather when you don't have one? For example, when I owned my gym, worked with a popular like sort of coupon company in the area. I forget the name of it because there's a couple, but got people in and they got people in at like a severely discounted rate. And so I had a whole bunch of people come into my gym. And you know what happened when the gym down the street ran a coupon deal? They all

Jen: They're going there.

Todd: street

Jen: Right.

Todd: coupon chasers.

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: wrong with that. But if that's not the sort of archetype of client that you want in your business, then why are you marketing to them?[00:30:00] 

Jen: Right.

Todd: Discount shoppers are discount shoppers. There's

Jen: a good point.

Todd: wrong with that.

Jen: Right.

Todd: But unless you're prepared to battle places like, you know, the quickie cuts and whatever of the worlds, you're probably not going to beat them on price. You know what I mean? So then you have this like race to the bottom. What are you going to do?

2 haircuts, like

Jen: Oof.

Todd: be realistic, you know, with your marketing. The other thing I want you to think about when you're looking for clients is what have you done already? And if you say nothing, cause I don't know what to do. Try something. I don't care.

Jen: Right.

Todd: you're

Jen: Something's better than nothing. Right.

Todd: if it works great, figure out why it's worked now.

Don't just be like, Oh, that works. Cool. Because you want to be able to replicate it or you want to be able to fix it if it ever breaks if it didn't work Great. Why didn't it work? And what can you fix or should you just move on? And my last point on this is Did you give it an honest effort because doing something a

Jen: That's the key.

Todd: [00:31:00] week is not gonna help you It's the consistency and I'm not talking about if it doesn't work But you know, you should be signing up for three months six months In some cases, maybe it's a month.

I don't know, but a year, whatever you should be trying with an honest effort, you know, putting effort in and analyzing stuff, looking at its metrics, looking at what you're getting for feedback or hits. Um, I mentioned the discounts. What was the other thing I wanted to? Oh, uh, what does your client experience look like? You know, so if

Jen: Yes. That's a big one.

Todd: ask yourself why you need clients. And if you've already had clients and they're not coming back, there could be something broken, broken, broken. There could be something broken there. So you

Jen: Cause client retention is equally as important as getting the clients in. If you don't retain them, you don't have a foundation for your business. Yeah.

Todd: And so evaluate your client experience and you've got to be honest [00:32:00] with yourself. I know every salon out there is like, we're luxury. We're luxury. Are you, are you really? Because I know some luxury salons that people have gone to that just have complained about it and they said the service absolutely sucked.

Like it was abysmal, non existent. Um, you know, the client or the hair pro comes out and you know, what are we doing today? Starts it and goes out back. Like, that's not a luxury experience. You're not, you're not being guided through an experience. You're almost like, I don't know. It's I've seen it in a bunch of salons where people are like, are you okay? I'm just going to leave you sitting here for like an hour they leave and they leave the people just fucking sitting there and they go hide out back and play video games or whatever the fuck they do. Like I've seen that at salons and I don't understand like how you're saying that you're a luxury. experience or that you go beyond hair or what? No, you don't. You literally

Jen: No.

Todd: just do the hair and then that's it. So

Jen: Which is fine. If that's what you are, but don't say, don't claim to be something else.

Todd: Yeah, I think your actions have to match and that [00:33:00] goes to your branding. Like you can say how luxury you are on social media and then when people get there and they're like, uh, your bathroom's disgusting and this hallway is nasty and all this stuff.

Like if

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: actively complaining about that, like, or if it doesn't match what they

Jen: You've got to check yourself.

Todd: that's

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: Now you're like, You're deceiving people. So

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: I think you just have to take an honest look at what you're doing, what you're not doing and, um, make changes, you know, that's uncomfortable, but it is what it is.

And

Jen: That's real life.

Todd: I think you should start in today on some sort of SEO stuff, create a Google my business listing if you haven't, or, uh, claim your own if it's out there and you haven't, and just start using that. That's an easy one right there. Anything else?

Jen: I would just say, reach out for help. If any of that sounds overwhelming, but you know, you need to do it. Then you have people like us who we don't judge. We just want to help you. I'm going to help you be successful.

Todd: Oh, yeah. I was on a phone call the other day and [00:34:00] I, yeah, I don't judge. It's, it's, um, this person I was helping with something was going to do it one way. And then they were like, the more I hear you talk about it that way, the tackier it seems to me. And I

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: it does seem tacky now. And I'm, I'm not judging.

I was just working through this is what this person told me. And I was like, all right, so this is what you're saying to me. So this is how that's going to look, right?

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: if you saw that? Because I just, yeah. Thought how I would think if I saw that, you know what I

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: yeah, that's not going to work. So

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: being honest with yourself and okay. And my point was that we don't, we don't judge. looking to learn from whoever I talked to just as much as

Jen: All the time.

Todd: to learn from us. So, all right, cool. Well, that's it, Jennifer. All right,

Jen: Peace out.

Todd: hit us up, get on our email list and stay tuned for those blogs that I keep promising, but never do because. I'm a procrastinator.

Jen: Stop [00:35:00] it.

Todd: I am.

Jen: Well, kids go back to school soon, so you'll have time to do it all.

Todd: Plenty of

Jen: It's been crazy summer. Yeah.

Todd: It has been. All right. Thank you people. Bye.

​