Where are my salon owners?
Unlock the full potential of your salon and turn the tides on that stark 30% client return rate. Let me harness my thirty years of industry success to guide you through the intricacies of client retention, ensuring that from the moment your customers step through the door, every detail is refined to craft an experience they can't resist revisiting. With keen insight into aligning stylist incentives with retention outcomes, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for salon owners determined to flourish.
joinmya.com
Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as well!
Subscribe to our Podcast & get mentioned in an upcoming episode!
Website: www.danisekeilitz.com
YouTube: All About Hair
Shop my favorite Eufora Products.
Where are my salon owners?
Unlock the full potential of your salon and turn the tides on that stark 30% client return rate. Let me harness my thirty years of industry success to guide you through the intricacies of client retention, ensuring that from the moment your customers step through the door, every detail is refined to craft an experience they can't resist revisiting. With keen insight into aligning stylist incentives with retention outcomes, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for salon owners determined to flourish.
joinmya.com
Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as well!
Subscribe to our Podcast & get mentioned in an upcoming episode!
Website: www.danisekeilitz.com
YouTube: All About Hair
Shop my favorite Eufora Products.
What is the most important number or what you're tracking that determines the success of your salon? What is it? Welcome to. All About Hair, the go-to podcast for stylists, salon owners and anyone passionate about hairstyling. Whether you're a seasoned stylist refining your skills or a curious listener looking to enhance your hair knowledge, we've got you covered. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former stylist and salon owner with four award-winning salons under my belt. With over 30 years of experience, I've dedicated myself to helping stylists excel in foundational haircutting, color theory, client communication and more, enabling them to build six-figure careers they can be proud of. My mission is to uplift our industry by sharing valuable insights gathered along my journey. Get ready for enlightening discussions, captivating interviews and practical advice on marketing, sales and technical skills. This is the podcast all about hair. This is the podcast all about hair. In today's video, I'm going to be talking to my salon owner friends. Okay, what is the most important number that you think is important for the success of your salon? What is the most important number or what you're tracking that determines the success of your salon? What is it you want me to tell you? Client retention. Yep, I said it Client retention. That is the number one indicator If you're going to succeed as a salon owner, is your salon going to be here three years, five years, heck, next year? Because isn't it sad it's? Statistics out there right now show that only 30% of new guests come back to our salons. 30%, that means three out of 10 people. So out of 10 people, only three people will come back for that second appointment. How sad is that? I saw somewhere one time. You might as well put a sign on the front of your door that says hey, enjoy your first visit, because 70% of you won't come back. What? It's just sad. It's sad. And why do we do that? Why do we work so hard to get that first guest coming through our doors and then don't even worry about the next time? They don't? It's just not automatic, people. It is not an automatic thing. So what can you do right now to start improving client retention? Okay, we're going to talk about some things, okay, and these are the rules you have to follow. You must follow to be a successful salon.
Speaker 1:So, first of all, I want you to consider that everything that you do, everything that goes on in the salon, has to do with client retention how you greet your guest, the music you're playing, the cleanliness of the salon, the dust bunnies hiding in the corner, how they get their head shampooed, how they're talked to, how they're greeted, how the towels feel. On and on and on and on. It is everything I used to say. It's not about the little things, it's all about the little things. It's all about the little things because it is. It's all about the little things because every single little thing matters, I guarantee it. So, with that in mind, let's talk about a few things that you can do, starting today, to help.
Speaker 1:First things. First, you have to track your client retention. You have to track it. Don't track request rates, meaning it doesn't matter what stylist they request. What matters is if they walk back in your front door. You want to know if these people are coming back into your salon. It does not matter what stylist they see. Who they come back to see is irrelevant. It really is. You want them to want to come back to your salon.
Speaker 1:I remember it used to be. We used to be so afraid or, I don't know, feel small, when stylists would leave us, especially some of our more busy stylists, if they would leave for another salon or booth rent or whatever people stylists leave and we would think, wow, we're going to lose all these clients. No, it was the best thing ever when the client would come back to our salon. They would go visit that stylist in their new location or whatever, but then they would come back to us and say you know, I just really like coming here. Yeah, it's that good, I know. So now, once you've got your client retention tracked and your POS system should be able to help you with this Okay, so use your software. Then what I would do is I would base your stylist compensation or your commission rate on their ability to retain clients.
Speaker 1:See, what happens in the salon is we usually give the new clients to the stylists who aren't busy. That is so, so messed up. And here's the reason why your brand new stylists are trying to build a clientele and, yes, they need clients in their chair. Of course they do. But your newbies, they don't know your culture yet. They don't know your hair color system. They don't know the things that it takes to bring back a client. So what happens is you're giving your brand new clients to brand new stylists and they're not getting the experience that you want them to experience when they come to your salon, no fault of anybody. It's just that the newbie is too new to even know what that experience is supposed to be looking like, and so then the client doesn't get the experience that you had wanted them to receive, so they don't come back. It might've been an okay haircut, it might've been an okay color, but it's the overall experience. Remember, it's all those little things they didn't receive Maybe the consultation, maybe the confidence in the new stylist voice, I don't know.
Speaker 1:You need to be having monthly one-on-ones with every single stylist, and the number one benchmark you should be looking at is client retention, because if that starts to decline, you need to have a conversation. What is going on, you know, is the skillset. Do you need to practice a little bit on skillset? You need to coach them, you need to train them, you need to ask them is there something on a personal level happening that you're just not up to par right now? But the client retention rates are so imperative.
Speaker 1:So what do you do, denise, if you've got brand new stylists that aren't busy and you have new guests wanting to come in and the new guests coming in? Maybe they walk in and they see stylists that aren't busy and you say sorry, we don't have anything available because you want to give the new guests to your, your star players, right, then your star players can then say, hey, maybe next time you might want to try this person because maybe your star players don't have the time to take on new guests. Maybe, or maybe, as an owner, here's something that you might be able to do. Maybe, as an owner, you take the new guests and divvy them up. I don't know if that's not a hundred percent wonderful game plan. First of all, because if you're a salon owner and you want to be successful, you want to be working on your business and not in your business. That is the goal. You don't really want to be working behind the chair, to have to work behind the chair. Okay, if you enjoy working behind the chair, there's another story. Do it Base your stylist's compensation on their retention rates. Maybe, if they hit a certain retention rate Okay, I said that retention rates on the average are 30%. Maybe if you have a goal of we used to have 70%, to tell you the truth, but if they hit something, make it a make it, make it a hard stretch. So that really makes them play their game, okay, or be on their game. Maybe you make it 70% and if they reach 70%, maybe their commission goes out up 5% that month, I don't know. Put the carrot in front of their face, whatever it takes, because you can afford to pay them a little bit more If you have your retention rates up. Makes sense, right?
Speaker 1:A third tip have some kind of promotional program, marketing program to get people back in after their first visit. That could be send them a thank you email, write out snail mail a thank you card. Thank you so much for coming into our salon. We value you. Hey, by the way, here's maybe a gift card for $10 off your next visit. You know we get so busy and we get emails all the time. Maybe we don't even. I mean email's fine, but gosh, can you imagine actually writing out a handwritten card? Maybe do it yourself as an owner. That goes a long way. Or have your stylist write out a card. We used to do. Stylists do it. And if you have time, put in a, a little card in there that says hey, we can't wait to see you next time. Here's a little gift for your next visit. It could be bring this in on your next visit for a free travel size shampoo, hairspray, something like that. Or you could give them a free eyebrow wax or a free conditioner. Don't say free, say complimentary, it's just luxury language. Give them something to come back in for, entice them to come back in, because it really does take about three times before somebody starts going. Okay, I kind of like this, I like it, it's my place. Okay, if you hit a home run on the first time, kudos to you, my friend, kudos to you. Time, kudos to you, my friend, kudos to you. Second, visit discount cards.
Speaker 1:Um, maybe start a some kind of club, a color club, a haircut club. What does that mean? It means signing them up. You, you can either give them a punch card and then, like, after like six haircuts, they get a free haircut or something like that. You can do that If you want to keep track of that haircut or something like that. You can do that If you want to keep track of that, that's fine. That, that, that that's fine.
Speaker 1:Or you could, they could, pay to become a member of, like a color club, and what that is is, once a month they could either get a touch up, a face framing highlight or a all over toner. Those three things, nothing else for a certain price. So say, your average price for one of those is $50. I'm making this up. I don't know what your prices are, but I'm just saying $50. Maybe they join the club for $50 and that gets them one of these three services once a month, but if they miss the month they can't have two next month. So you have a monthly service and then maybe, because they're part of this club, they receive 10% off of retail when they buy retail. You see how this can work. What you're building is a loyalty club. What you're building is a membership. People want to belong to things.
Speaker 1:Another simple program is well, like I said, there's punch cards. That's really really easy way to do it and your POS system, what you're using, your software, should be able to help you with this. We used to use software. We used to use forest and forest used to actually have on there. I can't remember what the name of it is, but it would show you you could do.
Speaker 1:Every morning We'd have the front desk come in and they'd pull this little report and it shows you who hasn't returned within like eight, 10 weeks, I don't know. You could set the parameters and then you could select them and it would send them an email or a text saying hey, haven't seen you in a while, we'd love to see you. We happen to have an opportunity this week If you'd like to make an appointment. It just says, like this gentle reminder, because a lot of times people just forget and they get busy. I know I do myself. I mean I might need a haircut, I might need something, but I put it off, put it off, put it off, and by then it's like by then, if I call my, my person person and I'm like desperate, I need in, and then they don't have space, then I might go somewhere else and see then you just lost me If you didn't pre-book. That's a whole other conversation pre-booking, but you should be pre-booking.
Speaker 1:My fourth rule you have to follow is you need to pre-profile, or at least profile, your new guests and then guide them to what stylist they need to go to. And what do I mean by that? How do you do that If somebody just goes on your website and they want to book a new appointment? Well, there is this software created by my dear friend, katie Whitledge. It's called Maya. It used to be called Meet your Stylist. We used to use it and what it is is a software that you plug into your website and when people go to your website and it's their first visit, it pops up and says let's get you with the best stylist suited for you and it matches. It's kind of like a matchmaker for your clients. It matches with their budget, with their timeframe, what skillset they prefer, because some people they don't mind if it's a new stylist, but some people really want that seasoned master stylist. And it also takes into account personality. Maybe you're a quiet person, an introvert, and you don't want this stylist who talks all the time. It'll ask questions like that. It'll give a selection of three stylists that the client can choose and then there's their schedule. Odds are they're going to like the stylist they get with due to the personality and the matchmaking capabilities. Look, if you want more information on this, please go to join Maya I think it's join underscore Maya on Instagram or on their website and you can get some more information. We love this.
Speaker 1:And to talk about standing apart from other salons in your area, it makes you look really professional. Now, I don't know if it's still the same now, but it used to be. You had to have at least five people on your staff. If it's still the same now, but it used to be, you had to have at least five people on your staff five employees for this to work. I don't know, it might be different now because you know I haven't been in the game for a while. Game changer, that's all I'm going to say. Game changer, just go get some more information on it and tell Katie I sent you. I don't have a discount code or anything like that, because she doesn't even know I'm doing this, but I just thought it was a game changer for us and it really elevated our community reach, made us look like we were. We were the salon.
Speaker 1:Now, every month, like I said, you need to evaluate the each employee's retention rates Every time when you're sitting down one one-on-one. That's like the number one benchmark you need to be looking at, yeah, the retail sales or service sales, but the retention rate, because it really truly is going to determine not only their success but the salon success, and you want to be in business for a long time. You do not invest in this and put all this weight on your shoulders to just be around and play games, right. So you need to be aware of this. You know what really used to work for us is and it might work for you too is post the retention rates in your break room. Make it a game. Let the other stylists and the team members see who's doing what. Maybe there can be some healthy competition. Maybe they might have conversations in the break room. How, what are you doing? Maybe they'll just not have a conversation and just start watching the stylist who has higher retention rates and seeing what they're doing and learning. Everybody's different. Anyway, you want to just encourage the stylist to do their best, and sometimes healthy competition does that Make it a game.
Speaker 1:Give a prize at your your huddles each month to the person who has the highest retention rates. Make it a good prize. Maybe a Starbucks card, maybe a gift card to your local beauty supply. Maybe you take them to lunch If, if you do that, if they want to go to lunch with the owner. I'm kidding.
Speaker 1:You also want to develop some kind of marketing program to introduce clients to other stylists in your salon. You don't want your clients to just think they can only go to one stylist in your salon because, guess what? What if that stylist is busy and they feel like they can't see another stylist because they don't want to cheat on their stylist and that would feel awkward, god forbid. No, no. You need to have that open conversation every time and put it on your social media, put it on your website, talk about how it doesn't matter who you see in the salon, as long as they're walking in the salon. If they're a client walking in your four walls, they could see anybody in there and nobody's going to take offense. So how do you accomplish that? You just let it be known and just say that you're a total concept salon. Everybody's here for their experience, everybody's there for the client and it doesn't matter who they see.
Speaker 1:We used to do that, like, maybe they get a haircut from one stylist, hair color from another and then maybe a Brazilian blowout from one of our newbies, because Brazilian blowout is pretty easy to do and it's a high ticket item. And if you're a seasoned stylist and you don't have time for a two hour appointment to sneak in there, don't say no, say hey. Jane over here, who's maybe a level one, has time on her books and we need to get her in. So share it, share the guest, because, remember, we're concerned with the success of the business, not just the service provider. Yes, that's a part of the puzzle, but if the business doesn't succeed, then the stylist doesn't succeed. I think you get what I'm saying. Doesn't succeed. I think you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So another thing you need to do is perfect the teamwork concept. You got to be shouting that from the rooftops. You've got to be screaming it. We are a team, we do not just play one-on-one. Everybody should be trying to hit the salon's goals, not just their individual goals. Set up team projects, set up committees, set up marketing committees, first-time client programs. Get your team involved with the success of your salon.
Speaker 1:Don't put it all on you. You're not a dictator telling how it's doing. You got to get people. You got to get your team excited about this, because when the salon wins, everybody wins. Yes, then something that's really. I think people don't take enough time.
Speaker 1:Look at the problems, the potential problems in your salon. Remember at the beginning of this I was talking about. It's not about the little things, it's all about the little things. Well, look at all the little things in your salon. Look at your retail displays. Do they scream? Hey, I'm in the business of selling retail, I am your go-to place to get your haircare products, does it? Or do you just have one or two of this and one or two of that and it's dusty? And is it care products? Does it? Or do you just have like one or two of this and one or two of that and it's dusty? And is it shoppable? Does it make people want to go up and touch and feel? And are the displays fresh? Have you monthly freshened your displays? Put out new products of the week, scooted everything to the front, with even spacing between them? Have you? Have you even thought about it? That's a whole whole thing.
Speaker 1:Retail displays Is everything clean? Have you dusted? I mean, we used to dust our retail every single day because dust settles. Is everything clean? Are the lights clean? Are there dust bunnies in the corner? Because, think about it, your guest is sitting in the chair and they have all the time in the world to look around and see where all the dust is. Even though you're busy, it's all get out and you're looking at their head. They're looking everywhere else. So look up in the corners, look down in the corners, look at your light fixtures, look at everything. Hair to us is a common thing to our guests. Hair is gross. Hair on the floor is gross. It is kind of gross. So, um, think about that. Look at the reception area.
Speaker 1:If you have magazines or the magazine's old. I just went to a nail place the other day. The magazines were four years old. I don't need four years back news. So make sure, if you have magazines, make sure they're current and make sure that they are current to our industry Something about you know beauty and to your clientele. You know your clientele. If you have fun, funky college kids, things like that, you can have have the. You might not even have magazines in because they're all on their phone scrolling. But if you have an older or more mature clientele, you might want magazines to reflect that, like, like good housekeeping or something like that. If they even have that anymore, I don't know, but mostly we used to say the higher end magazines, vogue, you get it. I don't know why I'm going on down this rabbit hole of magazines because we don't really even have magazines anymore.
Speaker 1:Okay, also, look at your telephone answering techniques. How are you answering the phone? Are you answering the phone going? First of all, can they even understand you? Are you talking or mumbling so fast that they don't even know where they called. You need to introduce yourself, maybe even say who you are, so they know who they're talking to. That drives me up the wall. So thank you for calling DK Hair Salon. This is Denise. How can I help you today? So they know they're talking to me, or whoever answers the phone. It makes a difference, don't you think? So make sure you have some kind of script for how you're going to answer the phone. And if somebody's calling you, please, if they're calling you wanting a price quote, please don't try to give them a price quote over the phone. You can either direct them to your website or have them come in for a consultation, because what you want is you want to wow them. You want them to come into your salon environment so you can wow them. Okay, you want them to get that experience. The phone doesn't tell you anything. They're just out there shopping prices. How much is a haircut? You don't know. You haven't even seen them.
Speaker 1:Signage is another thing. Make sure your signage is clean, on point. Don't have just scribbled up scribbled writing on a piece of paper and hang it on your front door. Don't do that. Make sure that your signage on your front door is current and reflects, maybe, current hours, website, phone number. If you have something from six years ago, take it down. If you have faded, faded posters, take it down. You want it current, you want it to look good, you want it to look like you care, because hopefully you do. All these things matter. You might not think it does, but it matters.
Speaker 1:Take a look at your retail furniture. Is it comfortable? Is the upholstery ripped, stained? It might be time to consider some new furniture. Freshen it up, okay.
Speaker 1:And then you want to evaluate the skill level of every stylist. If the retention rate of someone maybe they're doing perms and all of a sudden their retention rate on their perms went down, well, first of all you need to look at the PERMs you're using. Maybe that something changed. But if they have a bad retention rate on PERMs, you need to take away that service from them until they get certified, or the skillset they practice and get good enough at it again to let them do that. Okay, we used to do it If they were starting as a level one. They could. They could only do certain services. So maybe a touch up, maybe hair, certain haircuts. In fact, that was a whole thing, because if people called in wanting the haircut. Our front desk um staff used to have to ask a lot of questions what kind of haircut are you going from from really long to something super like pixie, then a level one probably isn't going to be your go-to. So they really had to prejudge and and pre-screen the clients so we could set them with the right stylist. So consider that too. If you're not going to consider a program that does that for you, well, we had both. So and then what you can do is develop some kind of referral program.
Speaker 1:When we were first starting, we would say refer three, get one free. And what that meant if you refer three people, I would hand out three business cards to every single guest and with my name on it and with their name on it. Okay, there was a line. So maybe after a while we just put their name on it. Yeah, we'd have them put their name on it because, remember, you want them to come into the salon, not just to me, not just a stylist. Come back to the salon, so put their name on it. And then the card would say we refer three, get one free. And it would give um 10% off the first time guest. And when we got three of those back. We might not even done 10% off. We might've just said, hey, I know someone who does good hair, you know, made it kind of cheeky like that because you don't really want to give away anything. We might've changed it to that, but I think when we first started we had a little discount. So I know somebody who does really great hair has the client's name on there. When three of those come back to us, they get a free haircut. We put it into the system or we send them a thank you card with a free haircut coupon in there.
Speaker 1:However you want to do it. But you want to reward your guests for feeding people to your salon? Yeah, cause they're doing the work for you, and that's that's actually the best. Clients are referrals, because somebody's out there tooting your horn and you better believe it, they're. They're happy if they're doing that, because did you know that if somebody's unhappy, they just won't come back? They might not say anything to you, they just won't come back, but they'll tell about 11 or 12 people how unhappy they were. But if they're happy, okay, they will come back, but they might just tell one person. So make them happy, okay, and then coach your guests to tell people by handing them referral cards. Your guests to tell people by handing them referral cards. And then the last thing make a commitment to make sure that retention is part of your business plan. Make a commitment you can't do everything all at once but pick one of these things, work on that this week. Then pick another one, work on that. You just don't want to leave this to chance. It is too important to for the success of your salon. It really really is.
Speaker 1:When we started tracking retention rates game changer, I tell you I was having a conversation with my husband the other day and you know we were reflecting on when, um we had our salons and how, when it was really well oiled, it was really a lot of fun. It took a lot of work and the reason why we were having this conversation is because I was recently looking at an opportunity to open up another salon. And perfect location, wonderful location. But I had to look at it because I've done this four times right, four salons, and it's a lot of work to put it all together hire a staff, make the commitment. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work and it's a lot of stress that people don't see, but it's a lot of work and it's a lot of stress that people don't see. So, um, if I was a brand new salon, headed in there, retention, a retention program would be one, one of the top five things on my list to to make sure I got right. You know, up there with branding and the name and whatever, that's fun stuff, that's the fluff. But the retention coaching to that, coaching your, your staff, your employees that that is the number one benchmark to be looking at for the success of not only their career but your salon.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I hope this has helped you in some way. If it has, do me a favor share this with another salon owner that you might think would get some value out of this. Let them know that we're a community to share ideas. Join our Instagram, go over on YouTube, watch it on YouTube. We've got all kinds of stuff. We do have a program coming out and I'm still working on it. Man, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Let me just tell you. So remember until next time, when you know better, you do better. Thank you for tuning into today's episode of all about hair. Don't forget to subscribe to stay updated on future episodes and to continue your journey with us. If you have any questions, feedback or topics you'd like us to cover, feel free to reach out. You can find us on Instagram or our website at denisekeilitzcom. Until next time, remember when you know better, you do better.