How a new year hair makeover consultation can boost business

Invite your clients for a new year, new you-style hair makeover consultation to get their year going with a bang and to kick-start your business for 2019 suggests salon business consultant Penny Etheridge. The New Year can bring with it a great opportunity to offer your clients ‘New Year, New You’ consultations.  So why not introduce planned appointments of approximately 20 minutes to give you and your team time to conduct a full consultation with their clients. This appointment does not have to be added in to a client’s normal service. In fact, a lot can be said for offering it as a separate complimentary service. The average UK cut and colour client spends more than £350 per year looking after their hair so creating a free 20-minute ‘New Year, New You Consultation’ could determine whether your client keeps coming back to you for 2019 for her cut and colour transformations or deciding to start the year somewhere else. Points to remember When booking the appointments encourage clients to bring in photos of when they’ve liked their hair and when they haven’t. Make sure all of your clients feel comfortable bringing in visuals of hair looks and colours they like. It’s important that clients understand that photos are a really useful tool for hairdressers. The consultation appointment does not have to take place at a formal styling station. The real point of difference for this type of consultation is the appointment is a discussion between the hairdresser and a client, which is not followed by a physical service. Feel free to engage with one another in a different and perhaps more comfortable setting. You could even set up a specialised consultation space within your salon with a sofa so your client can feel relaxed. The personalised year planner Within the consultation appointment it is important to find out any events the client may already have in place for 2019. This could be weddings, milestone birthdays or holidays. Ask for vital information, including the dates and locations of these events to ensure you can offer the right advice and deliver appropriate hair services at key times. This is a unique opportunity to ascertain your client’s thoughts, needs and motives for the whole year. By providing the relevant advice based on your client’s information the chances of retaining client loyalty throughout the whole year becomes significantly increased. Present a personalised year planner to each ‘New Year, New You’ consultation client at the end of their appointment detailing all of the appropriate services you would recommend for the year. Record of all this information into your software system and where possible schedule the actual appointments your client has agreed to having. It would also be extremely useful to record ‘gentle reminders’ for each client when appropriate services need to be booked either using your software facility or manually recording these dates on your relevant appointment pages to ensure your client sticks to their 2019 hair transformation plan. Penny Etheridge is a business coach and lecture with over 30 years experience in the business. She runs Radiant Hair & Beauty Consultancy. For more information go to radianthairandbeautyconsultancy.com This article first appeared in the January issue of Hairdressers Journal.