Retention vs. Acquisition: Why Your Salon Needs Both [EP:210]

In this episode, Todd and Jen dive into the two pillars of salon growth: retention (keeping clients coming back) and acquisition (bringing in new ones). 

Too many salon owners focus on just one—but long-term success requires mastering both.

You’ll hear practical strategies, client experience tips, and marketing insights drawn straight from the Hello Hair Co. playbook, including how to create loyalty, inspire referrals, and consistently attract new faces without burning out.

Key Takeaways

• Retention and acquisition aren’t either/or — both are essential for lasting salon growth.
• Consultations (and re-consultations) are the secret to keeping clients loyal.
• Hospitality and personalization turn good services into unforgettable experiences.
• Building staff confidence is a leader’s job — and prevents overwhelm in new stylists.
• Smart marketing tools (Google Ads, SEO, automation, reviews, social media) keep new clients coming consistently.
• Focusing only on retention or only on acquisition will break your business model.
• Tracking the right KPIs (rebooking, client lifetime value, cost per new client, referrals) shows you what’s really working.

Episode Timestamps

• [00:00] – Intro & why Jen refused to kick things off
• [00:01:30] – Jen's opening take and quote of the week: Vidal Sassoon on why hairdressers are magical
• [00:03:00] – Todd's opening take, owner perspective: the happiness KPI
• [00:07:00] – Why retention matters: loyalty, consistency, referrals, and fun
• [00:11:00] – The consultation game changer: how to re-consult every visit
• [00:14:30] – Building relationships when your skills are still developing
• [00:15:00] – Hospitality Playbook: moving beyond snacks and water bottles
• [00:17:00] – Personalization & note-taking for unforgettable experiences
• [00:19:00] – Staff happiness and motivation = client happiness
• [00:21:00] – Helping “baby hair pros” build confidence without overwhelm
• [00:23:30] – Why acquisition matters: churn, plateaus, and growth
• [00:26:00] – Automated touchpoints: email & text marketing that works
• [00:28:30] – Google Ads, SEO, and why outsourcing marketing was a game-changer
• [00:33:00] – Social media strategy: faces > backs of heads
• [00:35:00] – Cross-promoting with local businesses & the power of reviews
• [00:37:00] – KPIs: client lifetime value, cost per client, rebooking, referrals
• [00:38:30] – Wrap-up + free Hospitality Playbook download

Resources & Links

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• Listen to more episodes: the Hello Hair Pro podcast
• Follow us on Instagram: @hellohairpro

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Transcript

Todd: [00:00:00] Right. What's up everybody? Happy Monday. Good morning, Jen.

Jen: morning.

Todd: It's brisk this morning.

Jen: yes, it is.

Todd: I love it.

Jen: too.

Todd: So today we're gonna talk about, actually, do you want to introduce the episode, Jen,

Jen: No. Why do you do that to me?

Todd: because it was your idea.

Jen: Yes, but you're better at, at

Todd: All right, fine. So today, today we're gonna talk about why. You need both retention and new clients coming into your salon. So retention versus acquisition, and I guess a lot of people focus on one or the other because it's easier to do one thing than it is to do two, but the reality is you need both.

Jen: correct?

Todd: Yes.

Jen: You see, you

Todd: And this was, this was Jen's topic idea, so I just thought she might like to introduce it, but

Jen: rehearse or something. I'm not good

Todd: rehearse.

Jen: I had to think of something,

Todd: You've never rehearsed anything for this podcast.

Jen: me to like do an [00:01:00] opening, have to like think about it a little more

Todd: No. You would've been good. I didn't think about that. I thought you were gonna do it.

Jen: oh well.

Todd: All right. Anyways. We always start with our opening takes. So opening takes. So excited for this one. Go ahead. What do you got?

Jen: Okay, so I saw a quote over the last week and it resonated a lot because I also see, often I talk about this a lot, but hairdressers just passive aggressively posting. Fairly negative things to clients. Like, if you cancel on me, you're taking money outta my family's mouth, you know, you have to follow my cancellation policy or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Lots of things that I just feel like are, they're forgetting about the customer service and it's all about the client. So when I saw this post, I thought it was just really cool. It's a quote from Vidal Sassoon to remind all of us out there of sort of like. What else we do that [00:02:00] makes this job or industry magical.

So the quote is, hairdressers are a wonderful breed. You work one-to-one with another human being, and the object is to make them feel so much better and to look at themselves with a twinkle in their eye with. I just thought like it's easy to forget all of, like you are making people feel more confident about themselves.

You are making someone at the end of the day look at themselves and be like, wow, I look good. And that is such a cool thing to do. So rather than talk to your clients in a way of like all these things you don't want them to do, make them feel so amazing about themselves when you do their hair, and none of that other stuff will matter because they'll come in for all their appointments because they want to feel the word is, feel that amazing when they sit in your chair.

Todd: Well done.

Jen: Thanks.

Todd: Well said. So. My quote or [00:03:00] my opening take is for the owners out there. And I think when you become an owner, you start looking at things like KPIs and you start tracking retention. You start tracking rebooking, you start tracking retail sales and how utilization, how booked your staff is getting and you forget one of the most important things that you should be measuring, which is your happiness.

And I, I keep seeing all these people that are like, you know, I, I can't find renters. And then I found renters and they sucked, and they won't do this. And no one helps and my staff won't clean. And my staff sits on their phone and my staff won't do this. And I don't even know if I want to continue this anymore.

And this sucks. And I never knew being an owner would be this hard. And look, if you are not happy, leave. I'm not saying that to be a jerk. I'm saying that because I think every human being, except for the really awful ones, there's really awful human beings on the earth, right?

Jen: [00:04:00] Yes.

Todd: And those guys can suck it.

Get outta here. No, I'm joking aside. People deserve to be happy if you are stressed out constantly because owning a business you thought it was gonna be fun or you thought it was gonna be easy, and it's not either double down and. Learn how to do it or get out, you can get out of it.

There's no shame in that. I closed the business, Jen's closed the business. Sometimes it comes, it, it just, businesses run their course, they come to the end of the road as poised to men would say. Right? And I, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You've learned a ton. Maybe you need a new business.

Maybe you need a new focus. Maybe business owning is for you, but the hair industry isn't, maybe business owning isn't for you, but the hair industry is. I don't know. You have to figure it out. And I don't think going on Facebook groups and being like, I'm so miserable, blah, blah, blah, and you're, you're just looking for other people, or maybe you're not looking, but what I'll say is you're going to find [00:05:00] other people that are like, you know, totally been there, or You got this and none of that stuff's helpful.

Or, you know, you have to call this coach because they'll help you and that stuff's you. You need to figure out stuff on your own first before you start looking outside and ask yourself, why are you not happy? Are you not happy because your staff sucks? Okay. Why do they suck? You're the leader.

Jen: Right.

Todd: If they suck, it's your fault.

It's not their fault. But when I hired them, they said this and they said that. Cool. Did you hold them accountable to those things? Obviously not. So I think people need to sort of. Figure your own stuff out and then get out of your own way. You don't have to do this. I think it's an absolute privilege that we live in a country where you can just open a business.

I mean, you just can't open it. You had to get licenses and shit, right? They make it seem like it's free. It's not free, but you have the right to pursue happiness and [00:06:00] whatever that means for you. It doesn't mean that you have the right to be successful. It doesn't mean that your business is gonna thrive.

It doesn't mean that you're not gonna lose all your money. What it means is you have the right to pursue happiness. So I think that's what people should focus on first and not trying to do what everyone else thinks is relevant. That's my opening take.

Jen: it. I agree completely.

Todd: Thanks. So let's talk about this sort of retention and acquisition.

Wanna start with retention?

Jen: Sure. Pull up

Todd: We just did an episode on retention recently, I think. So we'll start with that.

Jen: I think we did. I think I have just a little bit of maybe a different perspective after seeing some of these posts last week or over the weeks. Sort of, of, of owners complaining about retention. And where the

Todd: So we're talking about client retention here. Okay, that's what I thought. I [00:07:00] just wanted to make sure. So why is retention, why does retention matter?

Jen: It becomes part of the foundation of your business, right? If your clients stay you have numbers that. Actually are real, not just people that come and go through your business, and it helps your stylist get busier. It helps them create an income that they can rely on and it really supports the business,

Todd: Facts. So loyal clients are definitely more profitable for your business than chasing new ones Constantly. Don't get it twisted. Both are important, but we'll get there. It is a lot easier to retain a client than to gain a new one. And retention does all that stuff. Like Jen, what you're saying. The loyalty a loyal client is going to grow with you.

So as you move through, do price increases or increase whatever you're increasing, those clients are gonna tend to stick around. They're loyal.

Jen: Yes. The clients that are already sitting in your chair have already [00:08:00] picked you. Now you just have to wow them or show them why they should pick you again and again and again. Where a new client, you know, they're just. Out there kind of figuring out what they wanna do. But the ones that are in your salon really focus on what their needs are, what brought them in.

Tado, you always say like, what problems can you solve for that client? Talk about next appointments, things that you look for, or things that you can offer them for their hair in the future. All of these things will get them thinking about how much they want to be in that salon and how they can't wait to come back to that salon.

Todd: Yeah, so I had one more point for why retention matters. And I guess it's a few points, but when you start retaining clients, you're creating consistency, like you said, Jen, so then you have a more consistent paycheck. You start creating consistency for them because you get better, you know their hair, you're getting better at their hair.

You're constantly learning, hopefully, so you can service them better. You're going to tend to get more referrals [00:09:00] for people that are excited for you and excited to be around you. They want to, everybody loves to show off their stylist. Everybody loves to talk about what they love. How many times have you gone on like social media and somebody will ask, Hey, where's a good place for lunch?

You see like 2,700 comments that are like, this place is the best. No, you have to go here. This place is the best. No, my guy over here is the best. Well, if you want a fun bartender, you have to go over here. They're the best People want to

Jen: you.

Todd: spread the best. And it doesn't matter that it's, it doesn't matter that the fact is you're not the best.

There's always gonna be someone better than you, but that's irrelevant. 'cause you have built-in cheerleaders, which then. Build your brand. So now you have somebody out there advocating for your brand because they love it and they feel connected to it. And that's the trick there.

Jen: I think also if you wanna look at retention on a on the hair pro side, if you can start retaining clients [00:10:00] that you enjoy doing their hair, your job. Becomes way more fun. You will look forward to seeing those people again because now you're getting to know their hair, so you're going to do it better just because now you, you guys are creating a relationship.

That relationship or those relationships really make it so fun to go into your job every day and allow you to be more creative. Because once you get to know more of like, what, what they're asking for and you can picture it and you, form that relationship, the the next steps you do just always become better and better. it, I mean, I look forward to my clients, like I wanna do their hair, but I also wanna catch up with them and it's way fun.

Todd: So what are give, give some people some stuff they can do to retain clients.

Jen: So off, the consultation is really important. It's something that gets missed, I would

Todd: That's a big one.

Jen: More often than not. So a new client that sits in your chair, if you even just consult, Hey, what are you liking about your hair? What don't you like about your hair? When was your last hair visit? You ask them a few, even just a few things, right?

Say [00:11:00] you narrow it down to three questions. That's probably more than they've ever been asked at, at any other salon. It's just a rare thing. And they'll right from the bat be like, wow, this person actually cares. You can take that consultation even further, but I think if you first think about how do I do this?

Customize your consultation, what questions would work for you? What if you were sitting in your own chair, what would you want someone to ask you? Then you'll start attracting people that you wanna be around, but really come up with a script for your consultation so every single client gets that consultation. Now, more important, when that client does return retention, remember? Don't say to them, same thing as last time. have to reconsult. Hey, glad you're back. This is so awesome. Let's talk about your hair. What did you like about it? What didn't? What can I approve on? These same questions have to be every single appointment because if you start doing same as last time. If they're not feeling important anymore, and they will leave you and they will go somewhere else and they may not get that consultation, but they'll get the [00:12:00] surprise and delight of just something new. So it's really important that initial consultation, but that you also have a script for your consultations down the road with that same client.

So they feel like they're just as important as they were on day one.

Todd: I'm so glad you brought that up because that's, that was gonna be my follow up question. Was gonna be, let's talk about the second or the third appointment because we, we've seen it and we see it sometimes in our salon where people just get a little too comfortable and they say, same as last time, or, we're just doing a few highlights today.

Like, that is just language that you shouldn't use because what you're doing is you're, you're creating a situation. If you think of it from the client, the client's view, you're creating a scenario where they're al, they're almost feeling rushed now. You don't want to have that conversation, which is why they came back.

Now what you're doing is you're making it about just the hair. And let me tell you this, they can get just the hair anywhere else. The hair is the prerequisite. The people out there, there, there's so many people [00:13:00] out there that can do fantastic, amazing hair. It's the relationship that you build with the person and the trust that's gonna create the loyalty.

I can't hear you.

Jen: Sorry, the hair is expected if I had it on mute.

Todd: I was like, she's talking but I'm not hearing anything.

Jen: The hair is expected, so if I book a haircut, I'm expecting to come in and get a haircut, like why wouldn't I? That's the service I booked. The relationship, the conversation, the consultation the tour you give me, the cleanliness of your salon.

Those are all the things that I would be surprised and delighted about. Like the, like you said, the hair is, is just. That's what they're coming in for. The relationship. Like my clients that I've been with me for, I've been doing hair in my 26th year, I think coming into I have clients that have been with me from, for 26 years, literally my whole career.

Do you think I knew how to cut hair when I first started? I did not, but again. The hair didn't matter. We created relationships, we had great conversations. I've had clean clients leave and come back. All [00:14:00] because of my skills, but also it's that relationship. They missed that. Like, Hey, how are your kids?

What are they doing? Like that's fun for me. I, I love to have conversations. So that is something that, is in my wheelhouse, I guess. And then on top of that, I now can do really great hair, but in the beginning, my hair skillset was poor, so my communication skillset needed to be a 10 or more, right. And if I could get that up and then work on my skillset, then I could have that perfect kind of relationship happening.

Todd: It's putting all the things together if you realize that. So when you get outta school, you're in your first year of doing hair behind a chair somewhere. You're not as good as you're gonna be in three to five years. That's just a fact. So what can you elevate to increase your retention?

Jen: Client experience.

Todd: Client experience is a great one.

I would aim for hospitality. Learn a little bit about hospitality. Here's a plug if you get in our newsletter, I will send you, I just published our hospitality playbook. [00:15:00] It will walk you through scoring your your client experience. From them booking to them being checked out. And it will give you a bunch of tips, tricks, pro tips things you that you can upgrade with your service and go beyond what people think is hospitality, which is like offering a water and a snack.

That's not hospitality, that's offering somebody a snack. Nothing about that is authentic or. Different or customized,

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Todd: right. Retaining clients. I would take a look at your systems too. Your rebooking at checkout or during the service, which we prefer your follow up, whether that's a text or a newsletter or a blog post or something that goes out to clients so that they know that you're thinking of them in the hospitality playbook.

I think I break down. How to go about following up with the text with [00:16:00] your clients. When's the last time you did that? Everybody wants to confirm the appointment. Nobody wants to follow up after 0% of people wanna go out and text their clients and say, Hey, here's a link to that product I was telling you about yesterday.

No pressure. And don't forget, I said, to turn the brush this way or do whatever, like follow up with them. That's a connection. That's retention. How many other salons are doing that? None. So if you did that, it would set you apart. Personalization. So I use our software constantly for notes. I add in notes all the time.

This I cut someone's hair and it's, this person was in the Marines. They moved here this year. They are married, they don't have kids. They're going to a wedding this weekend, whatever. I add notes so that I can make it about them. Next time they come in, it takes me. 10 seconds and I had notes about their haircut too, so that I don't have to go.

Same as last [00:17:00] time, I can still run through a consultation with them, but I know it. 'cause for guys, 99% of the time I get Can you just do what you did last time? I really liked that and I'm like, I don't even remember anything about what we did last time.

Jen: story.

Todd: need check my notes. Yeah.

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Todd: I've met you one time, two times.

I, I didn't even remember your face when you walked in.

Jen: But I'm not

Todd: It's no offense. No, of course not. I'm gonna make it about them. I'm gonna ask them how their kids are doing or how their new puppy, I have a client that is getting a new dog and I don't remember what client it is, but I remember creating the note a couple weeks ago, asked them about that new dog they got.

Yeah, that's true. Now I have to figure out who it is 'cause I have a giant bag of dog food to donate. If you remember details about people, think of how that would make you feel when you walk in.

Jen: super special like you actually care.

Todd: Think about when you, so think about other hospitality industries. Think about service industries that rely on hospitality like a [00:18:00] restaurant.

How cool is it when you walk into a bar and they know your order, they know your name. How cool is it? Jen and I, we used to go to dinner quite a bit out in Boston, and I worked in the industry down there, so people knew who I was. How cool was it when we walked in and they were like. You're having this Kona crusted sirloin medium is how you like it.

Right? What sides are you picking? They remembered my order. They remembered how I liked my steak cooked.

Jen: gave us seats over the Patriots players.

Todd: Yeah. True story. That that was a true story.

Jen: we were

Felt like that. Anyway, there you

Todd: yeah.

Jen: It felt like we were famous. It felt like we were important. And when the older you get, you don't always get those feelings. So when someone can make you feel important, like it, it resonates.

Todd: For sure, and if you're a salon owner out there, the the next thing I'll say for how to retain clients is to work with your staff. You gotta motivate them. You gotta make them happy. So when, when your staff is excited to provide services and take care of people, and they're not just going through the [00:19:00] motions.

That is going to reflect in your clientele. Your clients are gonna be happier. Your clients are gonna want to come in. Your clients are gonna want that vibe, that energy,

Jen: Yes.

Todd: but you have to build that. That's on you.

Jen: this is where this

Todd: That goes back to my opening take too, because if you are not happy, your staff's not gonna be happy.

Your clients are gonna be happy. You're just gonna be miserable on a hamster wheel.

Jen: your vibe is, is definitely gonna set the tone right. But this is what really inspired this topic. And I know we talk about it a lot, but I was, it was coming from a place where I was seeing these owners just complaining, like these newer, like, I call them baby hair pros, newer hair pros they're not retaining and. why they may not be retaining, I'm sure they're retaining some, but at whatever numbers you were expecting them to is because you're asking them to do all the things. They're coming out of school. You're asking 'em to have a solid consultation. You're asking 'em to create a relationship. You're also asking them for their technical skills to be worked on.

I would imagine [00:20:00] daily we, that's what we do or weekly. And it's a lot. They're so stressed out that when that client sits in the chair, it's like a deer in headlights. They almost forget everything they're supposed to do, and then as they're at the sink, shampooing them for their haircut, they're like, oh my God, I'm gonna get in trouble.

Because I didn't consult, I didn't do this. I didn't give a tour. I didn't show them where their bathroom was, but everything just went out the window because they're so overwhelmed. So if you have. These new hair pros that aren't doing all of these things for client retention, you may need to make them or, or have them or help them focus on one thing to start, like I said, the consultation and give them a script.

Have them start with that, have that be their main focus of the beginning of the service. Also walk them through that role play with them. I know it sounds silly, but this will help them like, Hey, a new client, your client walks in, what do you do? They'll look at you like, what? Like let's walk through it.

And this creates a muscle memory. The more they do it with you or the more they do it with the other staff in your salon. Like if, if girls, if our staff has downtime, I have them work on each other and [00:21:00] treat them like a client and go through these roles so that when a real client sits down. done it so many times that it, the repetition gets 'em stronger and stronger and they don't miss as much.

And I understand in the beginning, there's going to be misses. That's just how it goes. We're growing with them, right? We're coaching them, we're not yelling at them. They're not in trouble. It's just a friendly reminder, Hey, we've gotta hit these points. Why are we missing them? How do I slow you down? One of our staff members last year, I bought them a rainbow fidget. 'cause I'm like, you are too speedy in your head and I gotta get you to slow down. So we put this on her station, so every time she works, she puts it on her station and it's her reminder to take a breath and slow down. And it's worked very well.

Todd: Yeah, people get nervous. So they go into that. We were talking about it this morning with their, that fight or fright and they tend to hairdressers, what are you gonna do? Go hide from your client. I mean. A lot of 'em do during processing, right? Remember your last salon, people would hide out back and peek through the door.

It was like kind of creepy. [00:22:00] That's just self-confidence. That's just somebody that lacks confidence in themselves and their ability, and that's okay. But it's your responsible as a, your responsibility as the leader to figure out ways to build their confidence. And I keep calling them nudges, but they should be these tiny little things because anything else can be overwhelming.

Don't have to be, you don't have to create this thing where you're coming in with balloons and confetti and stuff, and you're going crazy and Oh my God, you had the best day. Yeah, girl. No, don't do that. That's overwhelming too. You're just creating a situation now where they think they're the best

Jen: And they

Todd: and that's not helpful to anybody.

Yeah. You've gotta do these little tiny steps and improve on them. It's the 1% rule. Right. If you increase by 1%, where will you be at the end of the week, the end of the month. The end of the year.

Jen: Also if you want, totally, and if you want them to be a professional, you treat them like a professional, no offense to those that that do the balloons and the confetti, but you're treating them like a kindergartner. So if you expect them to show up [00:23:00] as this professional, mature adult, then that doesn't really correlate, right?

So maybe you celebrate things, but in a way that's more professional and mature.

Todd: I agree.

Jen: Again, not knocking you, do you? But that's just my opinion.

Todd: Always, that's always been our stance. I think people, so if you're new here listening. Thanks. Welcome. You do you, this is just what works for us in our salon. So why does acquisition matter? Let's jump into acquisition. I think that there's just gonna be. There's gonna be churn naturally, right?

Clients move. Budgets change. People lose jobs. People have life changes, people have kids. You become not as important when you are in your twenties and thirties. It's really easy to get to the hairstylist. It's really easy to go to the barber as you get a little bit older if you choose to have kids and a family and responsibilities and maybe your own business.

All these things going on. Getting your haircut is, is not really [00:24:00] always the priority for people. We go through fa different phases of our lives, so we're gonna wanna acquire clients. Also, we want to combat plateaus. Plateaus equal complacency. You've, if you are hitting plateaus, it's because you were complacent somewhere and you didn't maintain forward progress.

We talk about that all the time as well. You have to be making forward progress. You have to actively be in pursuit of something, and that's why we say make these little things for people. It's easy to look at a year goal and be like, I want to have a hundred clients and a $350 haircut. Cool. There's a lot of steps in between though, where you are now and where that is.

So what do those little steps look like? Let's be realistic with people. I think if you do this sort of the approach we take, you build people a lot faster [00:25:00] than trying to do everything at once or by holding them back for 10 years as an assistant.

Jen: And it creates consistency too, which is extremely important, right? If you're making, like you said, little nudges, then you are constantly working on your business. You are constantly doing these things, which all of that it, it just snowballs on both sides. You do something big and then

Todd: So,

Jen: anything ever again.

Right. That's, that's not gonna work.

Todd: right. Yeah. No, not at all. So we talked about why acquisition matters. How, how do we acquire new clients? How do we get new clients? What are some ways that we can do.

Jen: Well, we

Todd: What are some ways that we can do what an awful sentence.

Jen: didn't even phase me. I was ready to answer you. A couple of the things that we do. We use our software and they put out email blasts and text blasts if a client hasn't come in a certain amount of time just to remind them there's openings in the schedule. And that seems to be really well for us. It's actually, that's how I back an old client I hadn't seen in a few years. She kept [00:26:00] getting emails saying like, Jen has openings, Jen has openings. And finally she was just like, need to go see Jen again. So that, that program in itself does everything we

Todd: in fact that's kind of funny 'cause you were like, ah, where am I gonna put this person now?

Jen: yeah. So,

Todd: Don't really have openings, but thanks software.

Jen: So true, true story. 

Todd: An ai, that's an AI thing that we've used since we've opened that is it just combs our software and it looks, and it's like, you know Steven is usually in every six weeks, but he hasn't been in.

How come? And then it will text him or email whatever his preference is, and it'll say, Hey, you know, Jen or whoever has an opening. We'd love to see you. We haven't seen you. What's going on? Book an appointment. And it's just like a little reminder.

Jen: with that, we share that with our staff. I actually was just talking to Gianna, who works for us the other day 'cause she was talking about a new client and she's like, oh, I forgot to give her my business card. I just like to do that as a touchpoint. And so I reminded Gianna, I'm like, we use this program, don't forget it's going to reach out.

It's gonna say, it'll actually ask her if she wants to leave a review for you internally. Plus then if she [00:27:00] doesn't rebook which she didn't, but. She said she would call in this amount of time, it's going to reach out to her that you have openings and it's going to seem like it's from you and this.

And she's like, oh, I forgot about that. Oh, okay. I'm like, so we are always working with you, Gianna, to make sure these touchpoints are done with your clients. So it's important also to explain that to your staff of the things that you have going on for marketing, at least in my opinion, I think it's very important 'cause it's easy to ask your staff to do all this stuff with social media, but what are you doing to help that grow for them also? So we're always. Reminding our staff of the things that we do do behind the scenes so that they understand the marketing that goes into us always getting new clients that help build their books. Oh, go ahead.

Todd: You teach too much and they leave.

Jen: So, actually I will say this. If you do the things we do for marketing and always have new clients in, it is way less salty when someone leaves because you understand that you are not focused just on that one staff member and you have so many new clients coming in.

You're gonna build someone else and let, [00:28:00] let's just be honest. In this industry, people come and go. The quicker you can move on from that and realize that's part of doing business, the better off you will be leading your, your business.

Todd: I don't know any industry that doesn't have turnover. Now there are places like you'll find, you know, restaurants that are like, we've been here in our family for 150 years, since we moved over from Sicily or whatever, and that's amazing, right? But you generally, like, that's super rare. And even what we have is kind of

Jen: yeah,

Todd: crazy.

We have people from when, from when we opened

Jen: Six

Todd: and,

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: and we're at your last salon

Jen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So they've been

Todd: as well, so it's, yeah. So. But that is more rare and that is about not what we're talking about today. Maybe we can do an episode on that coming up soon. But yeah. Anyways, let's get back to what we were talking about. How, how,

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: how people can acquire new clients.

Jen: more to this, but this was a idea Todd had to sell me on because it was a bit on the expensive side for us at the [00:29:00] time, or a financially a big undertaking. that was hiring someone to do, the optimization for the website, our SEO Google Ads, things like that.

And when I say that stuff like Google Ads that actually market to where we want it to be, not just random Google ads that you turn on and turn off. So really to help us be the best Google friendly we could be. We had to hire a company to do that, and then we pay for that company still with our Google ads. that has shown to be, I would say, the, the best thing we've done.

Todd: That's the number one driver for a business at our salon. Yeah. So when, when we meet people, a lot of times people will say, do you get a lot of walk-ins? 'cause they're, you know, they're getting outta hair school and they were taught that you need a lot of walk-ins. But we don't really get walk-ins. We get people that call last minute.

We get last minute emails. We don't get a lot of like foot traffic. And so we're in a building [00:30:00] with a big gym too. So when people are coming in, they're coming in for the gym. So we're not gonna get that. And sometimes people stop in and they're like, Hey, I want to come check your place out, or whatever.

I'll come back after my class and sometimes like last week, right? That takes two or three times for them to stop in

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Todd: before they're ready to book an appointment. They'll come in and just chat with us or whatever. That's totally cool. But yeah, so I was doing the website, SEO, Google Ads, and I discovered really quickly early on that I was just wasting time and money because I had really no clue.

And I know a lot of people out there are like, it's so easy, you can do it yourself. That's great. I wanted to focus on building a business and not focus on just the marketing. So what we did was we, like Jen said, we hired somebody to take care of that stuff and within, I don't know, six months

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: maybe, something like that, we noticed an uptick and now it's constant.

So we are constantly having [00:31:00] new clients every single day, and that's important.

Jen: It

Todd: So.

Jen: an owner, I will say once we started, once I started seeing. I'd go into the week and I'm like, wow, we're really slow on this day and that day. But then before I know it, the night before the next morning, I would check our schedule to see like, you know, what's coming in today and whatever.

And I'm like, wow, we just got four new people that booked online. Right. And I started seeing that. And so now I look at a day that looks a little slow and I, the stress that I used to carry is gone because I know the marketing that we do and, and the investments we're making in that. going to drive business into our salon. I see it all the time. Someone can even have a, I could go into next Saturday and say, someone's pretty slow. I know it's gonna be full by the time we get there. In a sense of them, we're turning people away, which is a good problem to have also. But that marketing really gave me a breath of fresh air to focus my attention on other things when it was just focused on worrying, which was getting us no clients and was [00:32:00] not good for my health. So I, it was definitely, it was the best thing we have ever done.

Todd: Correct. And there will be future iterations of that that I've been working on behind the scenes researching and stuff. Because if we don't change it, eventually we'll need to change it and we'll be behind. So you have to constantly stay on top of it. And I love it. And it like Jen said, we'll it's not uncommon that like you'll have four new clients in a day.

Super common, right? And even more. And I want to keep that going. So we've gotta figure out what's the next step for marketing, which I already have, but I'm not ready to share anyways. Social media. Social media is a great way to get new clients. It's free. You don't have to throw money at it. You can. It goes up and down as far as your exposure and how many people see your stuff.

But if you use it sort of as a living document, sort of showing off your work, showing off your personality, showing off what you can do for people, pay attention to that last one. 'cause that's the [00:33:00] biggest I would stay away from. I'll give you my quick social media. What's worked for us. I would stay away from taking a picture of the back of someone's head and putting an arbitrary caption on it because it's not gonna do anything for you.

Why? Because everybody else in the industries does that too. So it's very saturated. The, the hair industry saturated its own social media with the back of a head and a stupid caption. And what I want you to do instead, and what we've done is we focus on the client, what problems we solve for them and their happiness.

So we tend to only share pictures of people's faces. How can I tell if a person's happy? If I'm looking at the back of their head, I can't.

Jen: here, guys. That's

Todd: Yeah.

Jen: That's what will get people to stop.

Todd: For sure. Social media, I would have fun with it, but I would look at it through the client's eyes. What do the, what does a client get for following you? Now, it's cool if you have a few thousand followers that you know, you went to hair school with a bunch of people and they followed you, and you [00:34:00] followed them, but that's not gonna do anything for your marketing.

That's not gonna bring you new clients. That's just you telling people that already know you do hair, that you can do hair. So if you're just doing it for the likes and to feel good, that's a completely separate thing. Then just do whatever you want. If you want to acquire new clients, you should do something to pull out some sort of an emotion.

Jen: If you wanna use it as a tool, right? If you're trying to really market to

Todd: Yes,

Jen: then there's a different way you have to play the game.

Todd: yes. Around the holiday.

Jen: the algorithm. That's not the game we're talking about.

Todd: Right around the holidays, people are into things like nostalgia. That's what they want to feel. How can you make them feel that through your posts? I don't know. Figure it out. That's how I would use social media acquiring new clients. So getting out and cross-promoting with other local businesses.

There's a ton of [00:35:00] businesses that intersect with yours. And you can even talk to ones that don't. Just get out there in your community and talk to people and build your reputation online. 'cause people are looking online. I, I have new clients all the time that come in and I'll say, how did you find us? And they say, Google.

And I say, okay, what made you choose us? 'cause just like a consultation. I don't want to just go, oh cool, Google that's working. I'll ask them instead. What made you choose us? Over the other 750 answers that you got, and nine times outta 10 they'll say, I saw your reviews. So we have a lot of positive reviews.

Getting reviews builds your reputation. Google loves it. I will say, I'll, I'll give you a couple things. Don't, don't pay people for reviews or do anything crazy because Google will notice that, and that can be a mark against you.

But what you want to do is just inspire people enough that they wanna [00:36:00] share it. Remember what we were talking about in the beginning. People like to share where, where they're going and what they're excited about. These two things I, retention and acquisition, you just have to work on them together. If you focus on one without the other, you're gonna have a breakdown somewhere in your system.

Jen: Agreed.

Todd: If you're only ever bringing new clients in, but you're not focusing on retaining them, it's gonna get expensive real quick because you're gonna have to constantly, every day, every month, every year, bringing brand new clients, and that's gonna stress your staff to the max because they're never gonna get any like headway.

If you only ever rely on retention, what's gonna happen is you're gonna post something on your Facebook that's like, or your Instagram or TikTok or whatever, not accepting new clients, I'm too busy. Guess what's gonna happen eventually? Something's gonna break, someone's gonna leave, someone's gonna move, whatever someone's gonna get

Jen: to fill

Todd: in an argument.

Yes, and now you need [00:37:00] people, but you haven't been working on it. What are some things we can look at real quick? You can look at KPIs. So for retention, you might wanna look at rebooking. Average visits, client lifetime value, that's a big one. If you start looking at people instead of a instead of your $50 haircut and taking food out people's mouths, like you were talking about Jen, and you start looking at them as tens of thousands of dollars over the course of their relationship with you, you'll look at them a little differently.

Jen: Look at the lifetime of the client, how long they've been with you, or if they did stay with you, what does that look like, rather than just the one visit.

Todd: Exactly as far as acquisitions, just look at your new clients per month. What about cost per new client? If you are somebody that's just chucking money out, you're like, oh, I pay somebody. I pay like an agency to do my social media. Okay. How much does it cost you for a client? Is it effective? What's your return on investment?

Those sort of things. And if you don't know, get find somebody else. If they can't tell you, [00:38:00] find some, fire them and find somebody else. If you run any sort of ads, you should be able to have return on investment. It's just a basic business principle acquisition. You could look at your referrals too, and if that's a strong number, then great.

There you are. Do you have anything else to add, Jen?

Jen: It was great. Hopefully it

Todd: right, cool. Yeah, definitely. And like I said, get on your, get on our email list, our newsletter list, and that's generally in the show notes. It's always in the show notes, I think. I think I programmed it to always be there.

But anyhow, if you get in there, I will send you our hospitality playbook.

Jen: Awesome.

Todd: You can go through and step your game up there,

Jen: Love it.

Todd: and if not, that's fine too. I'm just trying to help people. All right. Thanks everyone. Bye.

Jen: Bye.