Unlock the secret to a thriving salon or spa with our latest episode, where we reveal how the power of customer reviews can not only enhance your online presence but also drive your business to Google's first page. Through our discussion, you'll discover innovative strategies to consistently attract glowing testimonials, and we'll introduce you to cutting-edge tools like Forest, Envision, Mevo, and BirdEye that make soliciting feedback a breeze. Learn how an exceptional client experience is your best asset and get creative with tactics like QR codes and loyalty points to keep those rave reviews rolling in.
Navigating the delicate world of feedback, we share insights on turning even the most critical comments into golden opportunities for growth. Handling negative reviews with tact and a growth mindset can transform a potential setback into a step forward, and we discuss the finesse of engaging in constructive dialogues that resonate with both clients and your team. Celebrate the positives and learn from the negatives with our tips on how to keep responses as genuine and straightforward as the feedback itself. By the end of our chat, you'll be equipped to use every review, good or bad, as a valuable learning tool that refines your services and polishes your reputation.
Do you have a question for Blondes in Business: Luxury Beauty Business Podcast? Send a text or leave a voicemail at 855.650.3445 or send us an email to hello@thephdprogram.com. We would love to hear from you. Start growing in business and leadership with powerful tools, advice and resources in your inbox every week: Learn more about The PHD Program Events:
Unlock the secret to a thriving salon or spa with our latest episode, where we reveal how the power of customer reviews can not only enhance your online presence but also drive your business to Google's first page. Through our discussion, you'll discover innovative strategies to consistently attract glowing testimonials, and we'll introduce you to cutting-edge tools like Forest, Envision, Mevo, and BirdEye that make soliciting feedback a breeze. Learn how an exceptional client experience is your best asset and get creative with tactics like QR codes and loyalty points to keep those rave reviews rolling in.
Navigating the delicate world of feedback, we share insights on turning even the most critical comments into golden opportunities for growth. Handling negative reviews with tact and a growth mindset can transform a potential setback into a step forward, and we discuss the finesse of engaging in constructive dialogues that resonate with both clients and your team. Celebrate the positives and learn from the negatives with our tips on how to keep responses as genuine and straightforward as the feedback itself. By the end of our chat, you'll be equipped to use every review, good or bad, as a valuable learning tool that refines your services and polishes your reputation.
Do you have a question for Blondes in Business: Luxury Beauty Business Podcast? Send a text or leave a voicemail at 855.650.3445 or send us an email to hello@thephdprogram.com. We would love to hear from you. Start growing in business and leadership with powerful tools, advice and resources in your inbox every week: Learn more about The PHD Program Events:
Hey, today we are going to be talking about what is arguably the number one lead source inside of any salon company, and if you can master this one area inside of your business, the attractions, the leads that you can gain from this inside of your salon, spa, beauty business really can be incredible.
Speaker 2:
So what is today all about? It's about review rendezvous. So if you're excited to get your rendezvous on with some reviews, this is going to be the podcast for you. We're really going to dive into how do reviews impact client decisions or guest decisions and business reputation. So you know, there's good reviews, there's not so great reviews, and then there's also lots of opportunities that you can take from reviews. So let's dive into what do we do with reviews and how do we ask and get reviews.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I love that. So really, that brings up a good point. That's like the first thing that we need to be thinking about, and so the song is how do we get more? How do we ask for them? How do we ensure that this is a system inside of our salon, spa, beauty business that is, you know, running on autopilot and is working all the time, just so that we can be capturing as many reviews as possible?
Speaker 1:
You know that's the algorithm is always changing for every platform, but one of Google is one of the platforms that we all rely on so much for so many different things, and that's one of the things that helps your business show up on page one, and if you don't know this, you could open up an incognito tab on a browser and Google your business or you know best salon or best spa or best barbershop, whatever you might be in, whatever your town is, and see what's actually happening. Because if you've searched for your own business, you might get a false read that you show up on page one, but if you go and use an incognito tab, there's not cookies or any sort of you know memory of what you're looking for on your computer, and so Google will give you a true read that way, and so it's a great way to see. You know, hey, who's popping up. Why do we think they're showing up there? And you know, reviews are a key part to how somebody gets on page one when you're searching for a new salon or spa.
Speaker 2:
I love that, lens, and you know, I think before you even create some strategies for encouraging guests to leave great reviews is to really view how is your guest experience? Because you want it to be so extraordinary that when you go to asking or creating these strategies, it's going to be really simple for a guest to leave that amazing review. So you know we talk a lot about the goal promise. So what are your little points of difference that you can really teach and connect your team with that are going to make it really super easy and compatible for somebody to leave you that great review.
Speaker 1:
Yes, and once you have that really implemented and you're feeling strong and like a shining star, it's great to then put in some automated ways to do that. So, depending upon the platform that you use maybe you're with Forest and Vision, mevo there's tons of great software systems out there that can automate asking for a review for your guest. There's also BirdEye and some additional ones that you can layer on top of your system to use to ask for those reviews. But making it easy, giving somebody a link that goes directly towards that Google review or maybe you're trying to build Yelp or whatever it is. For us, we've found that Google is the number one lead source inside of our salon company, along with many of the other salon companies that we work with.
Speaker 1:
We see that Google is number one, and so, asking for that Google review and letting them know, hey, if for some reason your service wasn't exceptional, we also want to make that right. So you want to give them two options when you're asking for a review, you first want to say, hey, was your experience exceptional? And if they click yes, it was. That could send them to write a Google review, you could say thank you so much. We'd love to meet more people just like you.
Speaker 1:
Would you mind filling out a Google review for us? Or, if it was less than exceptional, that could click to give you feedback to where they could reach out to you and you would have the opportunity to reach out to them before they went straight to a Google review. I love giving them that option of both ways. That way, if for some reason we did miss the mark, we want to know and we want to make it right and I'm sure if you're listening to this podcast, you do as well, and so I think having those two options really easy and handy make it a win-win situation for everybody involved when it comes to asking for a review or seeing if the service was exceptional.
Speaker 2:
I love that, and you can also take a reflection time to look back and say, hey, here was the time we really needed to drive new guests in or really attract new guests. Maybe it's May of this year. So when your marketing plan is like what is a review strategy that you could put into place? Maybe it's a QR code at the styling station or in the facial room, where a guest could easily scan the QR code and say we love serving you, tell us about your experience. Very simple, you could do things like that. You could also offer extra loyalty points if they do leave a review, if that's one of your intentions for the month. So I think there's all kinds of different ways to look at it and view it is you just want to make sure, whatever strategy you create, like, the guest win and the salon or the stylist win as well.
Speaker 1:
I think that's brilliant, jen, and when you're setting up a strategy like that, a six to eight week cycle is the perfect amount of time for that, and usually when we're building that into a marketing strategy, it's just one time a year.
Speaker 1:
If you're asking for reviews, like of course, we've got a system in place to where, after their first visit, we want to ask for a great review during that and if we notice, hey, we haven't gotten any feedback from them, we can ask again in the future after, let's say, their third visit.
Speaker 1:
But in the meantime, if you want to just gather like you were talking about Jen a whole bunch of great reviews at one time, I love the idea of adding some loyalty points or something fun. That way you feel kind of an exchange, because when people give great reviews like I love to give a great review to a business just because I know how powerful it is to a business, but a lot of people don't realize the power that that has, and so you could say something like hey, as a big thank you for being such an amazing guest of ours, for any review will give you a complimentary travel size product or, you know, maybe you could find some sort of a special savings or, you know, a little coveted gift or prize that you could give to the guest in order to feel an exchange for asking for that. You know, obviously giving them incredible service is a gift in itself, but then having that little bit of icing on the cake, I think, just feels amazing when you're getting that great review.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's perfect, and you know your part of thinking. Well, when do you ask for review? What is the perfect time to ask review? I remember being in a store one time, a little higher in boutique, and I walked in there like how can I help you Be sure to leave us a review? And I was like what is happening here? I haven't even got to fully experience your store. So you know, in my opinion, the key time to ask for review is after you've actually performed an exceptional experience and at that time, like giving your team the script that's authentic for them to say hey, you know what, jen, I loved working with you today. You know, I'd love to work with more people like you, just like you. So if you have a few minutes of your time, I'd love for you just to share what your experience was like with us.
Speaker 1:
Yes, and that would create such a beautifully authentic review and truly targeting those people that you would love to see more of, helps create that brand voice for you inside of those Google reviews. Because you know, as a consumer, when you're going and reading reviews, you're going to see mixed reviews anywhere you go and if you don't see a single bad review, that's probably a red flag of some sort. You know, or that means you know there could be an owner that's held hostage in some way to something, because you know people were all human beings. Every once in a while somebody's going to miss the mark, you know, and so it's okay, it's. You know how do we handle it, how do we learn from it, how do we move forward. And so when you're when you're reading those as a consumer, it's like you can tell right away if somebody's written a review that they're just, you know, not being a kind person and you know digging in deeper than what it actually is. You can read through the lines. As a consumer, you can see you don't have to see a rebuttal back from you know, whether it's a restaurant or a salon or any any kind of a business. It seems like service oriented businesses have the opportunity to get the most feedback in those situations. But but if that does happen to you, and when it happens to you, you know re finding the way to respond is is one of the keys to really moving forward in that situation. And so if that happens, you know it would never be our recommendation to explain anything online just because you don't want to negate anything that the customer saying and you know it's just there's too many, too many things that could go wrong, and so it's always best to just be more simple and then deal direct with that consumer. And so, you know, having a way to respond online, like thanking them for taking the time to write a review, because they still did, you know, give up their time and they still did feel let down in some way or another, and you know, honoring their feelings, you know, like thank you so much for taking the time to write this review. We're so sorry if we let you down in any way. That was not our intention. We would love to connect with you to learn about, you know, your, your experience or how we could better serve in the future, whatever that might look like. And then, you know, give them way to contact you, but then also contact them right away.
Speaker 1:
So anytime we get a bad review, we want to make sure that we are trying to reach out right away. Of course we want to know before it even happens. You know, we, we have a way. You know inside of our salon hey, if you think you're going to get a bad review, just let somebody know.
Speaker 1:
Or if you think that you let somebody down in any way, let somebody else know right away who can make a difference with it. Because if we can catch it before it gets to that situation, of course we want to do that. If it reaches that situation first, of course we want to make it right. You know, because part of our brand promise is, you know that everybody leaves feeling beautiful inside and out, and so we want to deliver on that in any way. So making it right or wrong in inside of a response to a review is just not the place to do it. You know, because if your intention is to truly deliver an amazing experience, it's okay if you let somebody down. It's just how do we move forward, move past it and not create a tornado of chaos on the internet in the process.
Speaker 2:
And you know I love that you said that lens, because the number one need for people is to feel important. So, like responding in a positive way, I think it really can help dial in to bringing that guest back and making you know, making them feel beautiful inside and out. Because If you go to war with someone on a negative review, it can go back and forth and at the end of the day, nobody wins when it goes that way because you both lose, like it just it doesn't work out. So like really is like I love to just make that person feel heard. You know that's, I think that's People love to know that they're heard and that you know when you're really clear about your mission. And if your mission is, for example, making someone feel beautiful inside and out and they don't, you didn't deliver on that. It's just an opportunity and you know, I think a lot of times.
Speaker 2:
I think Lindsay said this before. But feedback can. A lot of people see feedback as a place of blame or shame or grew up in a household where feedback came from a place of blame or shame. But feedback is really can be a form of love. As long as it's not done in an abusive way Feedback really can help you grow and I'm sure as human beings We've gotten feedback before that's helped us get to the next level. So I think just always Reminding ourselves to the feedback doesn't always have to be negative. It can really help us thoroughly view what we're truly capable of.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I love that you said that because it really does, you know, present the opportunity for a beautiful conversation with the service provider. That was a part of that experience as well, you know. So if it was maybe another teammate inside of your salon spa, you know you can really sit down and have a heart-to-heart with them and say, you know, it doesn't matter what the the consumer said, if they delivered it in an abusive way, we're just gonna, you know, forgive them, wish them well. You know that they probably don't know any better of how to deliver feedback in a loving way, but we do. As the leader, the owner, we know how to really pull those lessons out of it and see like, hey, was there something that was off in the consultation? You know, did we maybe not get crystal clear on the link through the color? Or you know the results they'll get from the facial? Or what to expect with their lashes today. You know what was that consultation like. And so when we can have those, those conversations with our teammates, they get the opportunity to grow as well, and so it really can be an amazing gift, because a lot of times those lessons will keep showing up until you're ready to sit in that classroom.
Speaker 1:
And when you finally get to sit in that classroom, especially with another service provider, you know, and harvest those lessons. Generally, that problem quits persisting in their life, and so it really can be an amazing gift when you get a review that is less than five stars, to say, hey, where are opportunities? You know, how can we serve this guest bigger, how can I serve this service provider bigger and how can we grow? And then also, how can we, you know, learn these lessons and just squash this review and move on, because the last thing we want is a service provider to be Stealing over it or thinking about it forever. You know, just harvest the lessons like, hey, you know, we dropped the ball on the consultation. We learned what we were supposed to learn. Now we want to make this right with this guest. So we're gonna do that, and then we're gonna become even bigger, brighter, better. You know service providers on the other side of it, and so it really can end up being a gift for everybody involved in what seems like an unfortunate situation at the time.
Speaker 2:
Mm-hmm, and I love that you said that lens, because it can also always, always love the kiss message, kiss method. Keep it simple, superstar. So when you're referring to our Read you know, replying back to a review on Google, like just to keep it so simple Understand that that person was heard, maybe even duplicate what they say, and I think that is the most beautiful place that you can come from, because you don't over complicated as well. You can get a little to a little bit more details, I think, just like you were saying earlier, when you actually have that conversation. So kiss it out.
Speaker 1:
It's totally. I love that. That's great advice, you know. And then also, you want to make sure that you're responding to positive reviews as well, because those could be incredible marketing tools for you. And so when you're responding to a positive review, you know, Making it simple, because if somebody is, you know, because Windows shopping these days is via Google, you know reviews a lot.
Speaker 1:
Now they're not Windows shopping like they were in the 70s anymore Traditionally.
Speaker 1:
And so if you make it really easy for them to book, so when you're responding to a positive review, like, hey, thank you so much, jen, we appreciate the kind words, you know, we look forward to seeing you again next time.
Speaker 1:
Here is an easy link for you to book your next appointment at our whatever location, you know, so that that way, when someone is reading the reviews, they can actually just go ahead and click that link and Book based off of the review that they read. And you know, you'd probably be surprised. You know, even the people who are seeing whether they're positive or negative, like when they see who you show up. As you know, if they have that same energy and vibration in life, they're gonna be attracted to that, you know. And if they are somebody who's super negative and you know wants to see the fighting, you know, on a review, then they're probably gonna be repelled from that and that's okay, you know they're. I'm sure they're wonderful people too. But if that's not what you're trying to attract, then you know, thinking about that, I think has a powerful presence and really Can be utilized as a great marketing tool.
Speaker 2:
And so, now that you've collected all these Fabulous reviews, you've responded to them in a beautiful way, like what can you do with reviews? And I think there's so many verticals to look at. A lot of it can be used for great advertising, because I know they say that I think it's 90%. As I said, I read not so long ago that 90% of consumers will read reviews before they actually make their first visit into your space and, like I truly believe that, because this is a consumer myself, like I'm going to read what people are saying.
Speaker 2:
Actually, it's fun for me to just to go read reviews, as read what people are saying, so that I can make the decision based on what I read If this is going to be the perfect salon or the perfect spa for me. So you know, I think that is something to remember as well. And you can use this on your social media making really cute templates on Canva, with even having the stylist picture on them, with taking the review and making it really branded and luxurious. You could also use it in email formats, like give a guest that value about how to have a healthy Scout for the new year, and at the bottom, you could just put in the email, like don't forget to check out our Positive reviews, or we love serving people like you. Here's our positive reviews. So I think there's so many different places you can put them on your website, so so many different places and tools that you can use to make sure people get that connection and they read About what you create in your space.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I love that. And you know another way if you want to even amplify that and take it just a tad bit further is to think about, you know, maybe some of your favorite guests that you get to experience inside of your salon or spa and, you know, asked to do a video review during their next visit, you know. So give them a heads up so that they can come feeling beautiful, offer complimentary makeup, touch up, whatever that might look like, to really help put them at ease. You don't need any fancy equipment, you could just have your iPhone and some great lighting and, you know, just ask them a couple of questions like what made you choose XYZ Salon? What's your favorite part about the experience? What do you look forward to during your next visit with us?
Speaker 1:
You know, just anything that can kind of help paint that picture of what the experience is like, because people kind of want to test it out before they try it themselves, and so if they see somebody who they can, you know, kind of see themselves in, you know, I think that they love that and you know I think we sleep on the older population a lot on social media and you know, for me, like I, I loved, you know, having an avatar that was that had gray hair, and I realized, gosh, we're not showing a whole lot of gray hair on social media, which, you know, not necessarily every gray haired person is going to look on social media, but they are googling, they are on websites, they do want to see someone who looks like them and so, thinking of some clients who maybe don't look like your typical Instagram hair model, those can be some of the best reviews that you could get.
Speaker 1:
Those could be some of the best videos to have like testimonials, some some people to add on your website. You know, if you have some people who are well loved inside of your community that visit you, adding their testimonials so that people recognize that name and and want to be associated with them and with your business, you know, I think it helps create some really great synergy for sure.
Speaker 2:
And you know, remember, reviews don't have to be just for your guests. You can get reviews from your staff as well and from your team, and that's a great recruiting tool as well. To, you know, have someone paint their experience of what it's been like since they became a team member at Salon ABC and you know to ask them some questions of, like, what's the most impactful thing that's happened to you since joining our team? Like, what are some big wins that you've had since joining your team, since joining our team? So I just think you can cross promote that as well as to, when you're hiring, that people that are hiring are looking at your reviews as well. So, like, just throwing in some reviews from your team or using email marketing if you're reaching out to potential students, is throwing some success stories or reviews and an email marketing template as well can be super helpful to build that bridge as well.
Speaker 1:
Love that and you know I'm sure you're getting some really great value out of today.
Speaker 1:
If you are, we'd love for you to leave us a review on our podcast, but we can find more amazing people just like you that could really benefit from all of these resources. And so just to kind of recap a few things, make sure that you're setting up some sort of a system to be asking for reviews and, you know, empowering your service providers with the right tools to ask for that authentic review, targeting some of those people that you would love to see more of. Set up some sort of review campaign inside of your marketing plan for the year and then look for ways to automate you know, reviewing or, sorry, responding to those reviews so that you can, you know, be sure to add a booking link, your location, phone numbers and different things like that to make it really easy for a consumer when they're ready to hey, I'm ready to book make it really easy for them to do that. And then just keep giving exceptional service so that you know people want to keep leaving you those great reviews and you create that great ecosystem to move forward with.
Speaker 2:
All right guys. So that was our conclusion of review of rendezvous. Remember to kiss it out when you respond to negative reviews. Keep it simple, superstar, and we look forward to catching you next week. Have a beautiful day.
