Promoting colour services in your salon

Steven Gunnip, director of Salon Evolution, discusses how promoting colour services can boost your salon business. We have found through working with hundreds of partner salons across the UK that the biggest boost to any salon business is colour services. These are the offerings that can command some of the highest charges on your treatment menu so, put simply, an increase in the number of colour clients to your salon will automatically lead to a significant leap in income. Use your salon software If your hairdressing business has a salon software system, use this to determine the clients who haven’t visited in a long time, or who usually only make appointments for cutting or styling, and entice them to book in for a colour service. If you can see that 50% of your client base comes to you for colour, aim to grow the number of colour clients to 60 or 70% in order to generate an increase in salon revenue. So how can you convince clients that don’t colour their hair, or use at-home dyes or treatments, that coming to the salon for this service is worthwhile? As with all other aspects of the salon experience, colour services are all about the little details that really do make the difference, so concentrate on providing a first-class experience from beginning to end. Before anything else, make sure to complete a thorough consultation, as this is a sure-fire way to make the client feel trusting of your skills. Use an iPad or gather together a selection of hair magazines and look for images to really get a feel for what the client is looking for, and ask them about their lifestyle and haircare routine to ensure you can offer expert advice on keeping their new colour looking fresh until their next visit. Repeat everything that you have discussed back to them, and show them in-salon colour books while explaining how you are going to achieve what it is they desire. They will then feel confident in your abilities as a colour technician and assured that they will receive exactly what they asked for, making it more likely that they will re-book again and again. Talk colour While a client is waiting for the colour to develop, talk to them about the product ranges in stock to protect and preserve coloured hair and consider creating an introductory promotion on specific products for first-time colour clients, or a product loyalty scheme for existing customers. Think about offering a complimentary arm and hand massage while clients are waiting, make sure that there are copies of the latest high-fashion magazines for them to read, or offer a complimentary glass of wine or cupcake – any luxurious touches that make the client feel that they have been pampered and, most importantly, have been given a memorable experience. Many salons do not offer blow-dries with their colour services, so to set yourself apart from competitors, why not include a complimentary or heavily discounted blow-dry for first time colour clients. All customers love added value, so providing incentives on top of the standard colour service will certainly tempt them to book in again. Create colour packages  You could even couple a colour service and blow-dry with an intensive treatment to form an ultimate colour care package at a special rate to give clients the feeling of real value for money. Not only will they then walk away happy with the colour of their hair, but with the condition and appearance of it, too. The treatment will put shine and health back into the hair and a great, bouncy blow-dry will really highlight their new shade, showing off your colouring expertise, and giving the customer the wow factor that they will remember. Never underestimate the value of continual colour training either – it’s a valid investment to send your staff on education courses to keep up-to-date with the latest trends and ensure you can expand your offerings. If your stylists and colourists receive a certificate or other accreditation at the end of their training, make sure it’s displayed in-salon and on the company website to showcase their credentials to your clients, reaffirming to them that they are visiting experts in their field. Putting in a little extra work to further increase the number of clients that visit your salon for colour services, through strengthening your offerings, treatments and skills in this arena, will ensure that your salon reaps the benefits and the tills continue ringing. Salon Evolution’s specialists use their expert business development and marketing knowledge and strategies to eradicate salon down times, increase client visits and future-proof hair and beauty businesses. For more information visit salonevolution.co.uk