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The Messy Hairstylist
Whether you are a mess literally OR figuratively we are here to help you take imperfect action to find your success as a hairstylist. Each week we deep dive in to tough topics to address the struggles we face in our industry. We push the boundaries, break the stereotypes and go hard against the "norms" that make us feel inferior.
The Messy Hairstylist
How One Simple Strategy Helped Me (and My Protégé) Book 11 New Clients
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I booked 6 new clients in 2 weeks. My Protégé Stylist booked 5.
And the best part? We didn’t spend a dime on ads.
In this solo episode, I’m breaking down the super simple email + social media strategy I’ve been using since December that’s finally paying off—and how using the same exact strategy helped Cede, a brand-new stylist, fill her books too.
I’ll walk you through:
- Why email should be your #1 marketing tool
- How to repurpose your emails into consistent social content
- Why repeating yourself is not annoying—it’s smart
- The importance of making booking ridiculously easy
If you’re stuck in a marketing rut or trying to help a new stylist grow, this is the episode to tune into.
Want the insider scoop on my emails? You can subscribe to my salon email list HERE and gain inspiration every week.
Follow Abby on Instagram and TikTok at @theabbywarther
Follow Kelsey on Instagram at @kelseymorrishair
I booked six new clients in two weeks. My brand new stylist, sadie, she booked five and we didn't spend all this money on ads. We just used one simple marketing strategy and, of course, I'm going to share it with you today. That's why I'm not telling you this to be like, oh, yay, yay for me. No, I am telling you this because I'm going to share exactly what we did and it is so freaking simple, although I will say that the reaction that I get out of this simple, simple strategy is usually a big, but it's not what you think. I'm not telling you to post on social media. What I'm doing is telling you to nurture your existing client list and start sending some emails.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Messy Hairstylist Podcast. I'm Kelsey Morris and I'm Abbey Warther. Whether you're a mess, literally or figuratively, we are here to help you take imperfect action to find your success as a hairstylist. Okay, okay, let me give you the backstory here. Back in December, I decided I well, actually, before I decided, I realized I had been severely neglecting marketing to my existing email list with my salon. I've owned my salon for gosh, probably coming up on 12 years now and 12, 13 years. So I have a email list, a client list that has accumulated over the years and I ghosted them. I ghosted my own client list. Now have I been posting on social media? Yes, ish here and there Still not perfect with that, always a work in progress but my email list I completely ghosted. I would only email my salon email list, like if I needed a model for a class or if for a training that I was doing for the stylist in the salon, if they needed a model, or if when I open up my schedule you guys know, if you listen to the podcast, that I open up my schedule every couple of months and that was the only time I was communicating with my email list and so I decided you know what let me recommit to this. Let me you know dust off the email list and start saying hi again. So, back in December, dust off the email list and start saying hi again.
Speaker 1:So back in December, I just started to test it out. I started to test out this new email strategy. I'm always studying online marketing and I love to just go right into like Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and start testing there, but I've been neglecting testing things on emails like email marketing. So what I had found was working social media wise, was mixing up my content with different types of posts not all just selling book, an appointment book, an appointment. Not all just fun, relatable things. I was really starting to mix things up in different ways.
Speaker 1:So I thought, let me take that idea because it was doing really well for me. Let me take that idea because it was doing really well for me. Let me take that idea and translate it over into sending emails to my clients, because the number one thing that I have felt myself but also I hear stylists that work with me inside my programs is but I don't know what to say. So, right, don't? I'm sure you're nodding your head right now, exactly, okay, great, I'd like to email my clients. What the heck do I say Hi, I have openings. That's not what we want to do, right?
Speaker 1:So what I did was I committed to sending two emails a week, and stay with me, because I know that might sound a lot, but I'm going to make it super simple for you. To my existing email list. My existing client list Didn't run any ads, no crazy content calendar. I did not focus at all on acquiring new email addresses of potential clients. I just nurtured what I had. You guys know that, if you listen, that I've talked about this is my year of nurturing my current business. Instead of trying to grow and get more new, I'm going to nurture it. So this is a quick little overview of it, but then I'm going to get down into the details of it. So you all listening that say, hey, I want to test this out, you're going to know exactly what to do. And no, there's no course, there's no paid anything. I am just an open book right now, sharing this because it is working so, so well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I would send two emails a week to my email list. I then would take those emails and I'd repurpose them into a few social media posts I didn't overcomplicate anything to a few social media posts. I didn't overcomplicate anything. I literally took what I said in the email and I asked ChatGPT to turn that email into a caption and then I would put either a graphic or a video or a picture to go along with it. That's another thing, but that is something that I did just to make my life easier.
Speaker 1:But back to the emails. So I started this in December and I would send two emails a week. I send emails on Tuesdays and Thursdays? The day doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Why do I choose Tuesdays and Thursdays? Because that gives me time on Mondays to write the emails for the week. Would I love to live in a world where I write a month of emails at a time? Yes, but that's not my reality. And I don't mind writing in the moment emails on Monday mornings when I have my coffee. So what I did with the content of the emails is for the two emails that week.
Speaker 1:The first email I was hard selling something. I'll explain what that means here in a minute. The second email I was hard selling something. I'll explain what that means here in a minute. The second email I was educating, nurturing, entertaining. It was something more lighthearted and fun or informative, and not so much hard selling. So what do I mean by hard sell? Much hard selling. So what do I mean by hard sell? The hard sell to me is an email that would be like we're having a special on K18 treatments. Book this service right now and you'll get this special price or for free, k18 treatment when you book a balayage or full highlight service. So that's a hard sell. Talking about here's the deal, or maybe you don't have a deal, but you're just wanting to really highlight and showcase a certain service that you offer.
Speaker 1:Another type of hard quote, unquote hard sell that I'll do is I love to talk about Kevin Murphy's glosses, our toners, because they're actually bond building treatments as well. So I won't discount those in any way, but I will highlight those and I'll talk about the gloss treatments and why they're so great and our clients love them. So I'm going to talk about any more to remind them you might not need the whole big service, but come in for a gloss and a French haircut and your hair is going to feel a million times better, and here's the reasons why. So that might be another hard sell email where I am very clearly, maybe a couple times in the email, saying book your appointment here, book your gloss here, book your highlight with your free K18 here, with that link to click to our online booking. Okay, so that is what that hard sell email will look like on Tuesdays for me.
Speaker 1:On Thursdays, I'm going to stick with the same theme. So let's say I talked about the hard sell of the K18 treatment for free, with the specific color service that we want to offer it with. So now, on Thursday, I'm going to just talk about K18 and why it's so great, the benefits of it, what we love about it, how it works, how you can add it onto your service, how you can use it at home. But I'm not actually saying, hey, book this appointment right now. I'm just saying this is the information. I'm educating you and I really like to talk about those emails.
Speaker 1:Like, healthy hair is very important in our salon and we talk that's a big talking point for us. So I will. I will focus the email on how to have your best hair, yet your healthiest hair, our tips for healthy hair, whatever. So I that's what the Thursday emails will look like. Now, at the very bottom of that email I'm still going to put 1-818-TREATMENT we're actually doing a special this month for the balayage, with a free K-18 treatment and that will be kind of like a PS at the bottom of the email. Okay, that was a mouthful. I hope you're keeping up with me. If not, you can go back and re-listen to that. This is a really good episode to take notes on.
Speaker 1:So that is kind of the backstory of what I'm doing, how many emails I'm sending and the focus on each email, and you're probably still like, okay, but how is that working? What do I actually say? And I got you, I'm going to, we're going to get there together, okay. So this strategy of what I just laid out for you those two simple emails a week that aren't long at all, maybe 200, not even, maybe 100 words. Maybe those are the emails that got me six new clients in a two-week period. And my protege, sadie, who's brand new to building, has no clientele five new clients in the last two weeks. So it's working. It's not just working for me, it's working for a brand new stylist that doesn't have a client base yet. So it's working. It's not just working for me, it's working for a brand new stylist that doesn't have a client base yet. So that's what tells me it works right. If it can work for me, amazing, but I'm long established with a reputation in our area. But if I can help a stylist who is just getting established and it works for her, then this can work, okay. So here's what I want to emphasize first on why it worked. But it didn't happen overnight. So this is a huge like. You need to stop and listen to this and really let this sink in.
Speaker 1:I started this new email strategy for myself in December 2024. Okay, right now this recording, it is March, end of March, and I just started getting these new six new clients about two, three weeks ago, so in the month of March. So I was consistently emailing my clients twice a week, every week since December. I took like a two-week break when I was on vacation in February. So there was still. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't until March that I started to get these bookings.
Speaker 1:Now what I did see, the metrics that I did look for that kept me going was my open rates, how my click rates, how many people were clicking on the emails, how many people were clicking on the online booking. So I knew people were looking. If people are opening online and then if they aren't clicking, then you're not getting their interest at all. So I knew at least I was on top of mind for people. So I thought just keep going, because one it's not hurting. It's taking me like an hour, if that a week, to write these emails. Only good will come from this. Nothing bad will come from it. Okay, so I really want you to hear that. Even for me, with a business that I've had for 12, 13 years now that's very well established and has a good reputation.
Speaker 1:It still took me from December, january, february, three months, march to start getting new clients in. And you might be asking how are you getting new clients if this is your existing email list? Okay, so people look at it differently, but I look at a client. I consider a lost client, someone who's I've lost. If it's been a year or more since they've been in my salon, so they could have gone to another stylist in my salon. They could have gone to another stylist in my salon no longer works at my salon, or they could have gone to me and they don't come to me anymore and it's been a year or more, that's a lost client. So if that person books an appointment with me, that's a new client to me. Majority of these people have maybe had one appointment with somebody else in my salon five years ago and then they never came back. But they're on my email list and they've been opening my emails and they're clicking on them, so they've always been interested in AW Salon, but they've never had anything entice them to want to book an appointment with us until I started this strategy.
Speaker 1:So for any of you that have been in business for more than a year, email your email list. And if you're not collecting emails, today's the day we start. Because I would not have a long running successful business without the stability, the foundation of my email list, and I'm going to share with you why that matters so much. Okay, so why does this work? Why does just simply emailing our clients, our email list, twice a week work? One email is reliable. If your subject line is solid, people will see it and open it. Okay, so when we are sending emails to our email list, we're so lucky.
Speaker 1:The term that we use in the email world is deliverability. Deliverability is amazing when we compare that to our social media reach. Did you guys know that only less less than 3% of your followers will see your posts? Less. So even the big, huge followers with all the engage, or like social media people, influencers, with all the followers and all the engagement they have, they're lucky to get 3% of their followers to see their posts. That's real. Those are facts. You can look up those facts, that data, online. So only 3% of your followers will actually see your post, but your email will get delivered to your people on your list Because one, they've signed up for your list at some point Two, it's full of people who already know you, like you and trust you. And three, it's so simple. It's right in front of them, it is getting delivered to them, unlike social media, and if you have a great subject line, people will see it and they will open it.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so here's the third reason on why this works and this is something that I've been really focusing on with my year of nurturing my businesses is this Repetition equals, top of mind equals. They book when the timing is right. Okay, so here, what does that mean? So think about yourself when you are going to book an appointment. I don't care if it's a doctor's appointment or you want to make that reservation at that restaurant. You've been wanting to go to this weekend your nail appointment, facial, whatever it is and you've been. Oh, I need to make that appointment, oh, I need to make that reservation.
Speaker 1:And you think of it at the times when you can't do it. For me, it's like when I'm driving in my car. I'm like, shoot, I need to do that. I need to remember when I'm sitting down next, or when I get to the salon, the second I do. My day is off and I totally forget, and I only remember at the times that are the least convenient. So, okay, let's see what's a good example here of something that I will get emails from that, oh, okay, okay, okay, all right.
Speaker 1:So the skincare that I use, the skincare that I use yes, I can go run, maybe, to like Ulta or something to go grab it, but I also get emails from the company that tell me this is a great example. Okay, that tell me that, that remind me that they exist. Okay, so, like right now, I am out of the moisturizer that I love from this company and I'm on their email list. I know I can run over to Ulta today, but that takes another trip. I'm busy. I don't want to go right into Ulta and then spend a lot more money on things that I'm not planning on.
Speaker 1:So I get their emails and then their emails are doing two things for me now that I think about it, exactly what I just explained to you. They are either telling me about a sale or special promotion that they have going on, or they're educating and informing me on some of the benefits of some of their other products. So when I'm like in my head this morning, I'm like I'm out of moisturizer. I had to use this other brand I don't love. I need to get this and I need to stop forgetting. I guarantee you the second I see that email pop up into my email list, into my emails, I'm going to click it and I'm going to buy my moisturizer and have it sent to me to my house. Okay, so that's what we mean by repetition equals, top of mind equals. They book when the timing is right.
Speaker 1:So if we're consistently emailing people and reminding them that we exist, reminding them of what we offer, who we are, what's so special about us, maybe any promos that we're having and then also the benefits of getting their hair done or using the products that are in our salon, and so if we are emailing them and they're scrolling in bed because that's like my reality, scrolling in bed at night, so I hope that I get an email which I know I will from First Aid Beauty, I will be buying my moisturizer tonight. So if you are sending your emails to these clients and they are scrolling their phone at night or early in the morning over their coffee, oh my gosh and then they click and then they will book that appointment eventually. But remember, it took me from December to March to finally start getting traction on this. So here's a quote that I don't know who it's by, but it is.
Speaker 1:Marketing isn't about convincing people, it's about reminding them, and I love that. And if you start to really think about that, I'm not convincing somebody to come into me, I'm not convincing somebody that I would do a great job on their hair. I'm just reminding them like I'm here. I'm here and this is what I offer and this is what I can do for you. And if you start approaching your marketing, your email marketing, like that, I think you'll start seeing a different result instead of feeling oh my God, I feel like I'm bothering them. Oh my gosh, I'm probably so annoying. Because guess what? If you feel like you're annoying, you're probably doing it just right, just enough, and that is what I tell stylists all the time. If you feel like you're annoying people with your emails or your social media posts, perfect, because you're not annoying them. But if you think you are, then you are probably at the right frequency. So why else does this work? It's because we're making booking easy. Just like I said, it would be so easy for me to go run over and grab my moisturizer today, but I don't want to make time for that, so it needs to be made even easier for me by having it sent to my email inbox so I can just click a button right here and right there. So you didn't just tell people you had openings, you made it look ridiculously easy to book. We're talking exactly about what service we're offering and we're giving the link to the exact service for them to book that, and that's something that's worked really, really well for the shift that I made.
Speaker 1:When I started marketing Sadie in the emails just two weeks ago marketing Sadie in the emails just two weeks ago For myself, I was for the other emails that got me the what I say six, six new bookings. I was pushing it to our online booking page. That and I wasn't saying for me specifically and I was putting it to our online booking page on our website. That goes to the page that houses every single stylist that works at my salon Everyone's independent except for Sadie, but every single stylist. So everyone had that fair chance to get new bookings. And from there I did get the six new bookings, and they might have gotten some too. I'll actually need to check in with them on that.
Speaker 1:But with Sadie, the biggest change that I made with hers is I use Figaro. I went on Figaro and I am able to get a unique link to a specific service. So for her we're promoting this get a balayage or a custom foil and get a free K-18 treatment special with a French haircut, and I made a special service for that on our booking page and so I linked specifically to that. So for that specific special, it says the special word for word in the service itself on Vegaro and it links to Sadie's specific booking page for that specific link or that specific I'm saying the word specific too much service. So I made it ridiculously easy for them to book. What you don't want to do is send them to. If you're really honed in on a certain special that you want to highlight or a service, you don't want to just send them to a general booking page because the more people have to click, the more they're going to click away. So not only was I making it easy with the links in the emails, I also was putting the booking links on our website. It's on our Vegaro page and it's also I use Linktree for our link and bio on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Also repeat your schedule. Repeat your schedule over and over and over again, I did just open up some Thursdays, so that's what allowed me to have some time for new clients, but that's the key part. Over and over again. So what I've been doing since December, I've repeatedly been saying that I've now opened up Thursday evenings. I have not every single Thursday, but some, and that's not just when people are booking, they're booking all different hours with me. I've been repeating that Sadie is on Thursdays Soon she'll be on some Saturdays and I've also been repeating the other stylists in my salon that they have Saturdays, they have nights, they have very flexible availability. So I've been making our services feel really accessible and ridiculously easy to book.
Speaker 1:We don't want people to have to think twice about it, okay. So here are my biggest reminders to you. If you're like okay, I think I'm going to try this because, remember, there's no hurt in trying One I have three reminders. One repetition is not annoying. We need to meet people where they're at, they're busy and if they're scrolling in bed and it's the third time they've seen kind of the same message in a different way from you that's what they need because they're like oh shoot, that's right, I wanted to book an appointment. I'm so happy she sent me that email. I do hear that a lot from my clients. Oh, I'm so happy you sent that email because I kept forgetting to book with you Because people are distracted and busy.
Speaker 1:This is my second reminder for you. You are showing up enough times that they finally say, okay, now's the right time. Just had a client book on to Sadie's book that I used to do her hair. Oh, my gosh, I can't even tell you. I'd have to look back six years ago and she just poof, stopped coming to me. She's on Sadie's book at the end of next month and it's like now's the right time. Now's the right time for her. I love it.
Speaker 1:And my third reminder is you're not being pushy, you're being present. Oh, is that so good, you're not being pushy, you're being present. Oh, is that so good, you're not being pushy, you're being present. And that is what I'm focusing on. That's why I like to write those emails on Mondays, because I'm like, okay, what's happening this week? What am I excited about this week? What's going on? What do we want to talk about? What have people been feeling in the salon? Are they feeling blah about their hair Because right now it's March out and they're ready for spring and summer and being so present with my business and really connecting for what people are wanting and needing in my salon right now.
Speaker 1:So if you are struggling to book clients or you're trying to build up someone new on your team, like I am, start with your email list. Talk to the people who already know you email them. Then repurpose it to social if you want, but just start with the email and repeat it. It doesn't need to be fancy, it just needs to be seen. So here's what I am going to extend to all of you, one of the things that the members inside the Built Academy I shared this strategy with them last week and they're like can we get on your email list for your salon so we can just see your emails?
Speaker 1:And I'm going to invite you all to do the same. So I just have a very simple email signup page that I am putting in the show notes here and you can get on my email list for the salon. This is just for the salon and if you get on it, remember you're getting these emails from my salon to just see how I do it. So in real time you can see how I'm sending these emails what I'm talking about and guess what else I'm going to do? I am going to completely invite you to copy my emails, make them your own right? I don't care If you get inspired from my email and you're like, oh, I feel bad.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of like, using her wording, use my wording, use it. I want this to help you. I want it to make it easier for you and not more difficult. You know I love a chat GPT. Take this strategy, type everything I just said into chat GPT and say I want to do this strategy. This is what she said to do. This is how it's working for her. How can I do this for myself and help me write my first two emails this week? That's what I would do.
Speaker 1:So I hope that this was inspiring and exciting for you to maybe try something new that you haven't tried before. Or maybe you're like me and you ghosted your email list and you haven't you've never emailed them. Or maybe you haven't even started collecting emails. You just I know some of you still use paper books and that's okay, but let's start getting some emails, because that is security in the future of your business, because we never know what's going to happen with anything. So rely on that email list and I want you to send me a DM If you have questions.
Speaker 1:If you're like, wait a second, what do you mean? Dm me and we'll talk it out, and I really, really hope this helps and if you do, try it also let me know. Or, like, as you know, you can text us here on the podcast and our next week Kelsey's going to be back with me. I'm so excited. So thank you all for hanging out with me these last two weeks for these solo episodes. I really enjoyed putting together these really specific, actionable episodes, which Kelsey loves to do as well, but I'm so excited to get back from Kelsey and be stupid and fun and laugh with her. So we'll see you guys next week and happy emailing.
