Why Shameless Self Promotion needs to start NOW!
Grooming salon business tends to fluctuate throughout the year. Feast or famine! It used to be years ago that our main slow time was right after the holidays and kept going through the year. Now we have another time our salon business slows and that is Back to School time! Those of you who have been grooming awhile may remember that we did not have this phenomena 15-20 years ago. Being a parent of teenagers, I now know why people put off having their dogs groomed at this time. It is quite a hit to the pocketbook for new clothes, books, binders, oh, and lest not forget that $100.00 calculator! I have often wondered how people do it with more than 2 kids. So because of this we have come to expect a slowdown in our business this time of year, the same as what we expect after the holidays. Prepare for that downturn now! It will be here before you know it.
This leads me to the subject of this post, Shameless Self Promotion. In any salon which is busy most of the year, stylists come to expect that the business is just handed to them.. My opinion is that some stylists in this situation become complacent and just expect the business to keep on coming and they do not have to work hard at it. Not so, there are some situations they are not considering when they choose to ignore the fact that they should always be doing some shameless self promotion to keep new business coming in. Here is some food for thought. Pets die, sad but true, Owners die, also sad. People move away, loose their jobs. Then there are those customers who were not happy with the service you provided. It is a known fact that out of lets say, 10 unhappy customers, only 1 will call us about it. The other 9 will just not come back. It is also a fact that negative news travels faster than positive. It is just human nature. THEN....all those unhappy customers tell maybe 10 more people about their experience at your salon. Are you getting my drift? Not only do you always have to be the top of your game and provide the best customer service possible, you also have to go out and bring those new customers in. Always be looking for those new clients to keep your business growing. How? This could be a subject for another post. Advertising, giveaways, coupons, networking, websites, social media, etc. The point I am trying to make is you should not take your business for granted and expect it to just land in your lap. It appears that the economy now is recovering, but what happens when we have another down slide or something happens in your community? There may be that awesome new groomer who opens the business down the road and is doing all the right things and you could be blindsided. Get out there ! Show the world what your business has to offer. WOW, those new customers to keep them coming back. It is all in your control. Sitting back and crying about lost business will get you no where. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, make a plan, and always, always, work at growing your business. I guarantee with the effort you put in, you will reap a comparative reward. That's how the universe works. You get out of it what you give. ,
This leads me to the subject of this post, Shameless Self Promotion. In any salon which is busy most of the year, stylists come to expect that the business is just handed to them.. My opinion is that some stylists in this situation become complacent and just expect the business to keep on coming and they do not have to work hard at it. Not so, there are some situations they are not considering when they choose to ignore the fact that they should always be doing some shameless self promotion to keep new business coming in. Here is some food for thought. Pets die, sad but true, Owners die, also sad. People move away, loose their jobs. Then there are those customers who were not happy with the service you provided. It is a known fact that out of lets say, 10 unhappy customers, only 1 will call us about it. The other 9 will just not come back. It is also a fact that negative news travels faster than positive. It is just human nature. THEN....all those unhappy customers tell maybe 10 more people about their experience at your salon. Are you getting my drift? Not only do you always have to be the top of your game and provide the best customer service possible, you also have to go out and bring those new customers in. Always be looking for those new clients to keep your business growing. How? This could be a subject for another post. Advertising, giveaways, coupons, networking, websites, social media, etc. The point I am trying to make is you should not take your business for granted and expect it to just land in your lap. It appears that the economy now is recovering, but what happens when we have another down slide or something happens in your community? There may be that awesome new groomer who opens the business down the road and is doing all the right things and you could be blindsided. Get out there ! Show the world what your business has to offer. WOW, those new customers to keep them coming back. It is all in your control. Sitting back and crying about lost business will get you no where. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, make a plan, and always, always, work at growing your business. I guarantee with the effort you put in, you will reap a comparative reward. That's how the universe works. You get out of it what you give. ,
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