Holiday Business Boost: Attracting Loyal Clients and Increasing Sales

Prepare to transform your holiday business strategy in the hair, skin, beauty, and wellness industries. What if your promotions could not only boost your holiday sales but also lay the foundation for long-lasting client relationships? Join us as hosts Adri Varga and Jodie Fielden share powerful insights on crafting promotions that are investments in your business's future. We explore creating value-based offers that attract loyal clients and highlight the significance of setting clear goals and tracking client retention as keys to measuring success.

Ever wondered why some clients bring joy and stability to your business, while others might lead to burnout and chaos? We dive into the contrasting mindsets of value-seeking versus discount-seeking clients, uncovering strategies to attract high-value clients who appreciate expertise and long-term relationships. Discover how catering to these clients can foster a sustainable work environment, with less turnover and more satisfaction for both you and your team.

And as the holiday rush winds down, learn how to keep your business thriving. We offer strategies to ensure clients keep coming back after the season ends, with practical tips on integrating rebooking into every client interaction. Find out how to introduce new year promotions effectively and maintain the momentum with genuine engagement and thorough team preparation. Let us guide you through creating a strategic, client-focused approach to grow your business beyond the busy holiday season.

 Who Should Watch: This episode is crucial for salon owners and managers looking to enhance their holiday readiness and profit strategies.

🌈 Key Takeaways:

Crafting and executing effective promotions.
Organizing your team for peak efficiency.
Strategies for sustained business momentum into the new year.
Understanding the importance of investment in promotions.

🕒 Timestamps: 
00:41 - Introduction to preparing for the busy season 
02:12 - Discussing promotion strategies for the holidays 
06:06 - How to ensure promotions bring back clients 
10:42 - The strategic management of gift vouchers 
18:24 - Targeting the right customers with your promotions

💞 Let's Connect: Join our community for more insights on optimizing your business operations during the busiest times.

💻 Explore more: focusgdt.com 🌟 Check out our Business Bootcamp: focusgdt.com/bootcamp 📸 Follow us on Instagram for daily insights: https://www.instagram.com/focusgdt 👍 Like us on Facebook for updates: https://www.facebook.com/focusgdt 🎥 Watch quick tips on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@focusgdt

Book Your FREE Salon Accelerator Program Demo!! 

If you would like more info about how we help salon owners increase their revenue in under 90days, WITHOUT hunting for new clients... book a FREE  Salon Accelerator Program Demo and we'll break down everything for you in the demo. 

Our guarantee to you...  Increase your revenue in 90 Days without hunting for more clients OR YOU DON’T PAY. 

Book Now!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:06

Welcome to Beyond the Mirror with your hosts, Adri Varga and Jodie Field. In this podcast, Adri and Jodie take you on an intriguing journey beyond the surface, deep diving into the world of business in the hair, skin, beauty and wellness industries. From business success tips and marketing hacks to industry insights and trends, it's all here. They leave no stone unturned. So get ready to unlock your full potential, evaluate your business, leave behind the limitations and embrace the endless possibilities that lie beyond the mirror.

Jodie Fielden 1:00

Hi, welcome everyone. It's great to be back. I'm Jodie Fielden, and I'm joined by my work wife, bestie and business partner, audrey Bargham. During these podcasts, we share how you can leverage your passion into profit. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur, a seasoned business owner or someone who's just thinking about starting out, you're in the right place because we've just about done it all and we're here to share with you that you can too, because it's time to believe your business can be everything you ever wanted.

Adrienne 1:25

Absolutely. Hello everyone, and welcome back to our episode 29. And I can't believe it's actually episode 29 today and for our episode 29, we will be diving into how to get ready for the busy season and also how you can take advantage of the rush.

Jodie Fielden 1:47

I can't believe we've only got a few weeks left until Christmas now. This year's gone by so fast, and this topic today is an important one that most business owners think. I think at this time every year they're like, oh, I'll be better prepared next year, because November just in sneak up and bam it's on. So let's talk about what you can do to get ready.

Adrienne 2:12

Yeah. So today we will cover three things, and number one is going to be promotions, and we will talk about the why and what and how. Number two is we're going to help you to getting yourself and your staff organized. We're going to talk about how you can get that done and also we're going to talk about how to maximize the momentum of the pre-Christmas to support your business and also how to support the Christmas downtime, like after the Christmas, post-christmas yeah, it's really important, I think, for people to remember that they need to.

Jodie Fielden 2:55

Like you can use that momentum in the lead up to keep you going on into the new year and further into the year. So let's start with. I think what we need to look at first is what is the real purpose of a promotion for Christmas or for any time you run a promotion really?

Adrienne 3:13

Yeah. So I think the most important part for us to understand the purpose of the promotion is actually an investment, is an investment in your future, for the business, and is not just a way to attract customers in the short term. It's actually something what you're going to pre-plan and make sure that those clients who you are going to attract, they are strategic, so you will know who you want to invite to your business. Because you invest money. So how you invest money? Because obviously you're going to create some specials and those specials shouldn't be really discounted services. So it needs to be something you know like which is value based specials.

Adrienne 4:00

But in the same time, you're going to invest your time and money because when you're going to promote it, you know like advertisements is going to cost for you also. So you're investing in this. So you really want to see a return on investment and you want to be smart about it, because you don't want to attract clients who are just there for a one-off and then off they go. They're never going to come back. So when we're talking about promotions, we're always talking about all right, so what is going to be the in the step into the business? And then how are we going to make sure that those clients are going to come in back and eventually they're going to stay with us for long term.

Jodie Fielden 4:44

Yeah, I think something that people need to remember when they're doing this is that they need to measure everything, and especially with any kind of promotion, because you want to know what promotion works at what time of the year.

Jodie Fielden 4:57

And I think you need to be really clear on what is the goal of this promotion that I'm running. Is it a brand awareness promotion? Is it to upsell clients for a higher ticket service? Is it to invite new clients in? Is it to try and get old clients back? You know like you need to map out all these things and then record them and measure them so that you know has it worked. And the measure of has it worked is not only have they come back, but have you actually been able to get them in for a repeat time, Because any promotion Audrey will probably talk more about this is that, from a marketing point of view, say, if we're looking for a new client promotion, then you need to make sure that you have a plan for those clients to return back to the salon or skin clinic whatever your business is or Pilates studio, at least three times, because the first time is that they're just coming in for whatever offer that you've created.

Jodie Fielden 6:06

The second time they're coming to see whether you know, like you're consistent, whether they get the same quality and they're just as happy the second time. They come in the third time. They're starting to trust you and think I actually think this business is a good fit for me. So if you don't have them coming in a plan for that number of times, you're not cementing them and grabbing them as a repeat or a client that's going to stay with you. All you're doing is just if they're only coming in for the once and you're not making sure you have that return strategy, then it's just sort of a quick cash injection. But you may. You probably depending on how you set it up. If, if you just want a quick cash injection and you don't want to keep those clients, fine, that's your business, it's your prerogative. But you need to be really aware and clear on what it is that you're trying to achieve and who it is that you want to bring into the business or invite back or whatever.

Adrienne 7:11

Yes, absolutely, and I totally agree. The measuring part is extremely important because, just knowing myself, when I was running different promotions, looking back, I had a folder for all the promotions and, looking back to promotions, sometimes I forgot about, you know like, how successful were some promotions and it really doesn't need to be. You know like, always changing things, Whatever work, it works. You know like you don't need to come up always with good things, but if you don't measure it then you will forget. So I had this folder and in the folder I had my promotions and the tracking sheets next to each of the promotions and also the introduction of the promotion to my team and I put them into the folder.

Adrienne 8:04

So when I was looking for promotions and seasonal promotions, I put them into the folder. So when I was looking for promotions and seasonal promotions, I always looked into the folder and I just had to have a look. You know like what it was it was successful, it wasn't successful and the team briefing document were already done, you know. So it's really you just need to have four or five really good promotions during the year and if that works, don't change it, because you don't need to change it. And I think that the other thing, what people are doing. They try to come up different and different promotions but they never measure, so they never really know.

Jodie Fielden 8:40

Yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly. And something that, talking about promotions and coming into this time of the year, is that a lot of businesses start promoting gift vouchers and they really focus on the gift voucher and I think this might be a good segment to. I know we didn't have it mapped out, but I think it might be a good idea to talk about the dangers of being heavily reliant on gift vouchers and making sure how you manage them and stuff. Because we have a salon Audrey will tell you the story, one of the clients that we've been coaching. They've inherited a ton of gift vouchers and people not realising the impact that the gift voucher has because they think, oh, yeah, it's this cash injection, but they're not planning, you know, like further down the line.

Adrienne 9:34

Yes, absolutely, and we already talked about this, because the gift vouchers for that business, they are very, very high in numbers, so we have to talk through a couple of things. But basically the thing what we were talking about also is that gift vultures are false economic, so that what it means you have seemingly money coming into your business when you have the promotion to selling the gift vultures, but then when the clients are coming and they are actually using their gift voucher, then those months they become very, very quiet months. And also there is a couple of things around the gift vouchers. You know, like, if your team is not trained how to do proper consultation, how to upsell, how to make money, do proper consultation, how to upsell, how to make money, then it's going to become a problem because people are going to just use the gift voucher and you're going to have really, really quiet months. Also, when you take the money for the gift voucher and you're spending that money right away, it's going to be a problem for the business.

Adrienne 10:42

If you're saving that money and if you are managing the gift voucher money at the back end smartly, then it shouldn't be a problem. But you still need to have a plan. You know, like whoever using gift voucher or whoever it's not even just gift vouchers, but especially with gift vouchers you need to have a plan. You're going to actually do your consultation and how you're going to make money the time when the clients are coming to visit, too. The good thing about is that they already spent money on the gift voucher long time ago, so that cost yeah, they already forgot about that cost or someone gifted. So right now, you know like whatever you're going to be offering as an extra is actually going to be, you know, like a lower cost, what they're going to pay and they're more willing be going to upgrade services or purchasing products. It is because the big chunk of the service already was paid.

Jodie Fielden 11:48

Yeah, look that is the really good thing If you're smart with your gift vouchers and then you have a plan for what you can offer. I always found it was tricky if I sold a gift voucher as a dollar amount instead of saying like for my gift for clients, if they want to purchase something, that they purchase like a special service, you know, like that we might put together for them because, um, the when something is when they're redeeming it and all that kind of stuff. So I always found that I would make a special package for the gift vouchers and then it was easier to upgrade to another package or add something on, rather than because I always find I don't know about you. But I always find if people say you know like $50 or $100 and they're just money conscious about it and what they're going to get for it, whereas if it's an experience, then it kind of changes the dynamics a little bit.

Adrienne 12:47

Yeah, I totally agree. And also, you know, like many times, what the mistakes you know like, business owners make with gift vouchers, that what they say. You know like, oh, you know like, if you purchase $100 gift voucher, you're going to receive $130, yeah, so not realizing that basically that's 30%. Yeah, so that's discounting without saying we are discounting. Yeah, so I always say you know like, if you want to add something extra, you need to think very, very differently, adding value in a different way, lowering your price because you know it sounds good. You know like, oh, you know like they, they pay hundred dollars, I give them 130. You know like the math, you know it's 30 percent, so it's a.

Jodie Fielden 13:38

It's a lot of money, but you are giving away yeah, and I just feel like that the mindset around when they're seeing like those numbers, and that it just sort of changes the way they think about the gift voucher too and about your business, whereas if it's some beautiful experience you know, valued, at such and such you know, like they don't have to know how much the person paid for it, it's just the experience, right. So there's different ways that you can do it. So it's just about sitting down and just being strategic about it, you know, and just thinking outside the box and a little bit of creative, because that means you can sell the gift voucher a lot easily too, because it's something different than the average gift voucher that everyone says, oh, they can just see that I got them 50 bucks you know, yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Adrienne 14:27

Yeah, that was a little bit of you know, like a good idea to talk about. We didn't even put it in our notes, but I think it's that time of the year, it's definitely that time of the year.

Jodie Fielden 14:42

Yeah, and I think so. One of the other things about the promotions is that we want to think about who you mentioned it before in the topic and be very aware of the who's that we want to attract with that promotion.

Attracting and Retaining High-Value Clients

Adrienne 15:00

Yeah, and the way we are always explaining it is that the market has two different mindsets. Yeah, the whole market and the bigger market is always focused on price or you know, trying to find discounted affairs or specials or you know, like, what is it in for me? And those people are really focused on discount and discount. People are really focused on discount and discount. So when you do discounts, you really need to be aware of who you're going to attract the business the clients, customers who are focusing on discounted services. They never have a strategic plan how they're going to make sure that the client who comes with the discount they're going to come back. And the sad part about it when someone comes with a heavily discounted services, unless you offer the same, they never going to come back. And many times when people are doing discounted offers, they don't do the the numbers behind. And what happens when we do the numbers behind? It's a really big wake-up call, because then they then they realize that they are actually not even breaking even. So if you don't have a plan, then what will happen? You are actually going to lose out money. So you're going to invest your money, time and everything. You still have to pay your team or you still have to work very hard, but then you won't have a strategy how to attract those clients back, and not necessarily with the same discount, when you are still not breaking even so.

Adrienne 16:56

The second part of the market is the market who is looking for value for their money. And this is when we always teach the smart promotions, because our smart promotions are targeting those clients who are looking for great services and they are willing to stay if we can show the value and showing value for clients is not in the discount and I always teach. You know like these two markets actually doesn't mix because the mindset is so different. You know, like people who are looking for high-value services or providers, what will happen they're never going to look for the very cheap offers because they would think I'm not quite sure about that service. And people who are constantly looking for discounted services, they don't even understand. You know, like how someone would pay $500 for a complete, you know, hairdo or some skincare routine. So this is very, very important for us to understand before we start to map out a promotion or a special, who we want to attract and what is going to be the journey from there. You are muted, jody I muted myself.

Jodie Fielden 18:24

Um, I think it's really important that we just dive in here for a second, a little bit deeper about. You know, um, when we say the two the, the value versus discounted like a higher value repeat client is someone that, like you said, is willing to pay $500, but it's also someone that is focused on the outcome and the solution that you can provide. So, whether it's skin, body or hair, it does. It's someone that is going to be there for with you for a journey, because they trust your expertise to get them to where they want to be and for you to be able to support them with their home routine so that they can maintain it, because they value their hair, they value their body, they value their skin and they want the results. Whereas someone that is there for the discount they like it, but they don't value it. They just want the cheapest that they can get so that they can just get a quick result.

Jodie Fielden 19:27

And then the ones that do uh, they're the ones that are in and out, um, and they're the kind of ones that you want if you're having a high turnover business. You want those ones that are like yep, I'm just here because it's cheap, it's quick, I don't care about it. Then the other side of the um-value ones are the ones that try and bleed you for everything and complain about everything and take up all your time so that because you only have a short amount of time for a cheap service, then they're taking up everyone else's space and stuff. So it's really that when we talk about a high ticket, high value client, it's about someone that's just really focused on the um solution that you can give them and and your expertise. They want an expert, they want the best yes, yes, yes, I, I totally agree.

Adrienne 20:21

And then the mindset is so different. You know, it's just amazing.

Jodie Fielden 20:27

Yeah, yeah, and you get to work you both. You have to provide, like you have to work your backside off for the quick, quiet turnover cheapies and you still have to work your tushy off to make sure that you meet expectations with your high-value clients. But it's not so labour-intensive, it's not so emotionally draining, you know, it's a lot more pleasant than having to just go, go, go, in my opinion anyway.

Adrienne 21:02

Yeah, look, the biggest difference from a business owner's point of view really between the two business models is when you serve clients who are very focused on pricing we already talked about it before that can you make that business model to be profitable? Yes, you can be so many times happening, but it's a hell lot of work, very stressful, very overwhelming. Normally those business owners they don't have life. They not even talking about work-life balance or anything like that. You know they think twice if they can have a sick day or if they can go for a holiday and obviously they work a lot because the price doesn't, doesn't support to have many team members. So whenever it's anything happening, those salon owners, they work anywhere between 40 to 40 to 60 hours on the floor in their business.

Adrienne 22:05

And when we are talking about the other business model, with the other business model, it's a very, very different setup because then as a business owner, you have time to breathe and you are making more money, normally with less clients, and you are taking your time and you're enjoying your trade because you have time. It's not like next please, next please, next please, and very stressful, and if someone is running late, the whole salon is, you know, the, everything goes pear-shaped. So when you have the value-based clientele, it's a very, very different energy, very different environment.

Jodie Fielden 22:47

And also you don't have such a high staff turnover. If you're in that high ticket, high value, the staff don't get so stressed. And usually and don't get me wrong like I used to enjoy when I was working in one of those go go go places and barber shops and stuff years ago, I enjoyed it and I had fun with it, but I didn't stay there for a long time because I'd get burnt out really quickly. So you know, some people, it suits them in that way. But I have found what is consistent in all those business is that there's a high staff turnover and generally the business owner is pretty burnt out themselves too, like you said, yes, absolutely sorry.

Adrienne 23:40

I want that.

Jodie Fielden 23:41

Can you tell I'm driving, if it goes fine, and all of a sudden it's just Adriana's face there in the middle of it, or mine, where I'm like picking my nose or something. I'm like what am I doing? Because I do the driving and there's a piece of my hair that was blocking me in the camera.

Adrienne 23:57

So I'm being tried and wasted. Here we go. I think the next thing what we wanted to talk about is you know like, all right, it's all this really really good what we were talking about. You know like we talked about who you want to attract to your business, but now let's talk about you know like, how will I ensure that, uh, all those clients we are inviting in, they are going to return at least three times to the business?

Jodie Fielden 24:26

yeah, let's, let's jump into that, yeah yeah, okay, number one so.

Adrienne 24:34

So number one is, basically, it's all comes back to planning and being strategic about it. Yeah, it's, it's very, very important that you know like normally when you just put out a promotion and those clients are, they start to coming in. If you don't have a plan, then more than likely it's going to be very difficult, you know, to book those clients back because you didn't build a report just yet, you don't know them, they't know you and you more than likely did a good job with the promotion. But if you don't have a plan, then those clients are not going to, more than likely not going to come back if they don't book right on the day when they had the service. So planning ahead is very, very important and we always say, you know, like you need to have three visits planned ahead in order to make sure that those clients are going to stay with you for long.

Maximizing Client Rebookings After the Holidays

Jodie Fielden 25:41

Yeah, we're speaking back there about those three levels of trust. So the thing is that you need to, like Adriana said, you need to have a plan like what your offers are going to be, but how to present that offer when you're talking to them about it. So the biggest thing for making sure that your post-Christmas quiet time is not crickets is to be rebooking everyone in, and that way, for people that you haven't historically rebooked, you can just get them in the habit of rebooking, because you turn around and you say people don't know what to say, right, so I'll give you the throwaway, for what I used to say is that, look, I'm flat out busy. There's only limited spots in the new year. So I will get you into one of those spots and if you need to change, then you can call me and we can work something out. But let's book it in now so that you have your spot right. So very simple. It's the truth, because you're probably either going to go away, there's other people on holiday, things like that. Get them in and then you can keep that habit going on throughout the year.

Jodie Fielden 26:46

If you don't already naturally do that with every client and you should, every single client you should be rebooking them and assume. Do not ask them, assume that they've already agreed to it. That's the trick to rebooking. I'll give it to you for free, the trick to rebooking. I'll give it to you for free.

Jodie Fielden 27:02

The trick to rebooking someone is assume they are going to, and the way people's mindset works, they generally will just go along with it. There's a small number that will go oh no, no, no, no. And then you can make a plan and still plant the seed, but assume that they will. Don't ask them if they would like to, because if you ask someone if they want to do something and it's new to them, they're going to say no. It's like when you're walking on the street and somebody hands you a pamphlet. Now it could be a pamphlet for some amazing offer, but if you don't think that you want it and it comes out of the blue, we're naturally programmed to say no, no matter what it is. They say no, no matter what it is. They say no thanks. So don't give, don't ask them, just assume that they are, go through the process and then, if they say no, cool, I'll write it down, you know yeah, absolutely, I, I totally agree.

Adrienne 27:59

uh, this, uh, uh, this is. This is the best way basically to not to assume that you know like, oh, they're going to say no, because your job or our job as professionals is to tell them you know, like, what is the next step and then they can make a decision. You know, like, if they want to take on it, but normally if you give a good reason for someone to rebook, they will, they will. And you know like, many times when I do team training, you know, team members are saying they're saying you know, but, oh, but my clients, they always say, you know, like they don't know their roster or they need the calendar or whatever.

Adrienne 28:37

It is very, very easy to go through that Because, basically, I would like to see you back in eight weeks time. Let's have a look at the calendar, let's book in a day and a time and you can let me know, you know, a week later or a week earlier or two weeks earlier, when your calendar changes. And it's going to be very easy for us to call a couple of clients to ask them if they can, you know, change appointment with you, but when our calendar is fully booked, then there is no room for you to get there. Changing appointments so much more easier than you wake up in the morning giving us a call because your hair looks terrible or you need vaccine or whatever it is, and then we say well, our book is closed for three weeks because we don't have an appointment. We can put you on a waiting list, but there is no guarantee me driving again the pause.

Jodie Fielden 29:39

Um look, there is no um guarantee and it makes sense that you can be more flexible that way with your calendar and then you get to plan as well. The biggest benefit for um rebooking your clients is that one your calendar, your book's full right. You know who you've got coming in, when you've got coming in and whether you need more staff. You know, like, when it's time to put on more staff. Like, the most important thing for any service-based business is to be rebooking their clients, and Christmas time is the perfect time, if you haven't done it before, to start doing it, because everyone knows, especially now, we've only got a certain amount of time coming up and they're more willing to, for their first time, go. Oh yeah, get me in before so I don't miss out on my spot.

Adrienne 30:33

Yeah, and you know like we're going to create promotions for January and February, when we generally much more quieter, but we need to sell those promotions in December. So this is why we need to get ready in advance and in December, when your client visits, you can actually introduce them in your consultation session the first five to 10 minutes. What you're going to spend with your clients to let them know that in January and February you have this special offer which will be perfectly suitable for them, and obviously you're going to recommend whatever is suitable for them. It's not you recommending something that they don't need and it's very, very easy in that way, because you can say look, we have a limited offer for a limited time and it would be perfectly suitable for you. Why don't we just rebook you for January?

Jodie Fielden 31:35

Yeah, perfect statement. Just play back what Adriana said, write it down, use it. People pay us a lot of money to help them do this. So this podcast there's quite a few nuggets that like we've slipped in here that we usually wouldn't slip into the podcast.

Jodie Fielden 31:54

But I think something we need to highlight for especially for hairdressers more so than beautician is time, real estate. So 90% of people that when we first start working with them, they're all chatting with their clients about their personal life, about what's going on in their life, letting the client download on them. There's very little time, very little conversation dedicated to finding out what your client's problems are, coming up with a solution and then a plan to implement that solution. So I think that just speaking about it now is that you need to make sure that you control your conversations and not lose that opportunity, because Adriana just mentioned you know, like in the first five minutes of the consultation, that first five to ten minutes of someone sitting in your chair or on the treatment bed, wherever is the most valuable 10 minutes of their whole visit. Do you want to explain a bit more about that?

Adrienne 33:08

Yes, absolutely. I totally agree about it. This is how we teach it. You know like, many times when we have low rebooking or low retail and we dig into it, you know like, why is it? The team comes up and they say you know like, oh, I don't have time for it, and you essentially spend 60 minutes. The best step for your client. If you spend five or 10 minutes out of that 60 minutes, 90 minutes visit just to do that, then after that you can talk about whatever professionally.

Adrienne 34:00

Obviously we have limitations how far we go with conversations, but then you are done and then you don't need to worry about during the whole service. You know, like, how am I going to rebook Julie? You know like, I know she needs a hair oil, but I'm not quite sure if she can afford it or if she's going to say no to me. So the first five to ten minutes you're going to sort everything out. You're going to sort out what they are, what they are challenges, what is the solution for that. And also, you know, like, pre-plan the next two to three visits because that will ensure that they are going to come back on time, because many times happens when they rebook.

Adrienne 34:43

You know, when they don't rebook. Then people are saying to me oh, but they will come back and maybe they will. But the thing is I call them. You know they become free range chickens because they will just, you know, going around, you know they do their whole day things and then one day, you know, like in the morning, they wake up and they said, oh, my feathers are looking terrible, so I need to call and I need to get in. And the thing is, this is, when they come, when it's already looking terrible, it's not a maintenance and us, as professionals, we actually need to tell them, in order to do this or that, I need to see you back in eight weeks time, six weeks time, four weeks time, whatever it is because we have the knowledge as professionals and we assume that our clients know you know, they know they need to come back, and that's not true Because they are not professionals. How would they know?

Jodie Fielden 35:49

And look, the thing is that you know your client is going to trust you more if you make up a plan for them. You know, like you said in the first 10 minutes, if you've already said, okay, this is what we're going to do, all right, we're going to need to do this, this and this now, and then the next visit will be that, and then that you've already planted the seed for them rebooking two more times. So you're going to be able to. You don't even, like I said, by the time you get to the desk, you won't even have to say would you like me to book you in for that? You can say I'm going to book you in for that one. Does this date suit you or what time you know like?

Jodie Fielden 36:27

And you can reach out to us because we actually have a whole program and a philosophy about how to do this and Audrey has word-for-word scripts for you to be able and the psychology behind it, because, um, in the um, it's our three keys, um training that, uh, adri teaches, and it teaches you not only just the hows but and not only the why's, but the psychology around how you get there. And once you understand that, then it just makes your life so much easier and you're able to train your team to do it. You're able to carry it on for years. People that know how to do these things are the highest earners in the business. They're the ones that sell, you know, $500 to $800 worth of retail each visit. They're the ones that have their books completely booked out.

Jodie Fielden 37:20

You know like it's the most valuable education that you can give someone. I think it's actually even more important when it comes to making money than skill education, because you can be an average clinician or an average hairdresser. But if you have the right sales like if you have the right skills, um, from the business side, like the sales side of it, where rebooking, consultation and retail, which are all things you need to do to provide your client with the best service you're going to be the highest earner and the clients trust you because you're talking to them, about them and about their hair and or about their skin and what they want to achieve. So they actually trust you better than you know. Um, sadie over there, that's like doing your instagram posts and and all the rest of it and wondering why her books aren't filled. It's because she, they don't have this side of it and there are plenty of stylists out there that were better than me. But because I knew those foundations, I always made more money, even from when I was an apprentice.

Adrienne 38:28

You know like it was just because of those key foundations and it's the separation of understanding what's the difference between us and our clients? And that's basically the professional knowledge. So what we have they don't have. So we need to give that knowledge away.

Adrienne 38:47

Just think about your doctors. You know, like, when you go to a doctor and you go there and you say, well, I'm not feeling well, then the doctor is not just going to say all right, so you are not feeling well and is not asking any other questions. Just, you know, well, I'm not feeling well, then the doctor is not just going to say all right, so you are not feeling well, and is not asking any other questions. Just you know, do a script for you and off you go. It's actually a couple of questions what the doctor has to ask in order to establish.

Adrienne 39:11

You know like all right, so how can I help? What would be the best way for you to overcome whatever you have? And it's not like the doctor going to ever to think you know like, oh, you know, like she will know when to come back, like no, like the doctor going to tell you when you need to come back for another visit, for a checkup or whatever it is, because the doctor is not going to assume that you will know that maybe after seven days, when you finish taking your antibiotics, it's just a common sense that you are going to come back, isn't it?

Marketing Promotions for Business Success

Jodie Fielden 39:51

Yeah, exactly Like you need to be asking questions and people that ask, like you trust the when you go to the specialist and I can't remember it might be you were saying this after watching someone's could have been, I'm not sure who it was that you watched and you will remind me in a moment but you go into the specialist and you sit down and the specialist just has a look and goes right um okay, this is wrong with your leg, right here here. This is who I want you to go to see. It's going to cost you eight thousand dollars to have your leg fixed off. You go and you walk out of there going yeah he, I'm gonna get a second opinion. You go and see someone else and they sit you down and they go through a list of questions you know, like how did you hurt your leg? What was the history? What you know, how do you? How would your normal life look like?

Jodie Fielden 40:47

And then they go okay, how's it impacting you? And then they say, okay, these are the things that we need to do to fix it and for the rehabilitation and for you to get back to where you were and for you to get to the place that you want to be at. Now that's going to cost you $10,000. And you're like yeah, sure, when do you want to sign me up? Because, like, they've gone through everything, it shows that they've listened to you and you don't even care that you're paying the extra $2,000. This doctor has said, like they know everything and they know where I need to get back to and how it's impacted my life and what I need to be able to do in the future, whereas the other doctor might be a brilliantly skilled surgeon and because he's just looked at the x-ray and gone, okay, yep, I know what we've got to do, I'll book you in. You don't feel confident because they haven't shown that they're you, your needs and you know what you want to achieve. So yeah.

Adrienne 41:43

So that's the difference between someone being interested or being interesting, because when you are interested in your clients, this is when you come from the specialist point of view. I'm really interested. I really want to understand what is your concern. I want to know what are you doing right now so I can determine what is the missing part, what is work, what doesn't work and whatever doesn't work. I can advise you on that and then we can come up with a plan.

Adrienne 42:14

So this is always much, much better when someone just comes to your chair and you just assume a couple of things. You ask the client so what would you like to have done today? And the client say, well, I just want to cover my grace. And you say, ok, that's fine, let me bring the color chart and I'm just going to match your color and off I go. You can do that way, or you can actually start to talk about everything which is relating to a possible service and also what will be an outcome that you can expect as a client, and also the next steps.

Adrienne 42:55

So these are very, very important and I think the biggest part is that we don't understand that we are a specialist. So the last thing that I think what we wanted to talk about. We just don't want to make sure. We just want to make sure you know like this episode is what we really get a couple of, quite lots of times. You know, like what will I do to prepare my team for the promotion, to ensure that you know like I will get a return on my investment.

Jodie Fielden 43:32

Yeah, well, I think the first thing we'll cover before was like have a plan, have an outcome that you want to achieve, um, and then train. The thing that I never did for my team and adriana laughs about we've mentioned it many times in the podcast is that I would have a promotion. I would know exactly what it is. It was brilliant, it was perfect for the season, it was. Everything was fantastic. There was the return, there was the products that went with it and the upsells and all the rest of it, and clients would turn up and none of my team would know what promotion I had just launched. They would have absolutely no idea on how much it is, what they get with it or how to rebook the clients for it. It was like this is just something Jodie's thrown together and hasn't bothered to tell the rest of us.

Adrienne 44:29

Yeah, so that's a creative business owner. Yeah, so lots of hairdressers are very creative and lots of people they are actually doing things in their mind that they don't realize, that they don't communicate. So that's the worst scenario you ever can have. What jody just you know, like that was her habit. You know, like people show up for promotions and no one knew, like we didn't know what was going on whatsoever, you know, and because I was managing the salon for her, the girls came to me and I said, like what kind of promotions we have? And I was like I have no idea, so let me call her. And then I called her and then we find out, you know, like there are a couple of promotions going on. So then we run promotions properly.

Adrienne 45:14

We actually, before the promotion starts, before the start date, we map out everything. We map out, you know, like the in how we're going to invite them in, what is going to be the next couple of meetings, the products and everything. And we're going to have a team meeting and we're going to prepare a document and in the document we're going to explain everything, whatever questions our team or our clients can have. We're going to map out everything. Everyone going to get a copy. We're going to keep a copy of the promotion at the front desk to make sure that is not going to be any question unanswered before we start the promotion.

Adrienne 45:58

So it's very, very important and when we map out smart promotions, we have actually a way, uh, like a checklist, and we teach everything how to do it, because it takes a little bit of a time to get used to it, to understand how you're going to value and what you're going to, how you're going to help your team to put a focus on just the important things, so they are not going to get confused and overwhelmed. It's very, very easy to overwhelm our team. Also, it's very difficult to run three or four promotions in the same time because it becomes very confusing. So the control and the strategy becomes extremely important.

Jodie Fielden 46:47

Exactly, and the one thing you need to do is make it fun.

Jodie Fielden 46:51

If your team get overwhelmed because the communication is not simple, it's not clear and it doesn't have a clear purpose for the team, then they're going to be resistant to offer it.

Jodie Fielden 47:06

So I always found making a game out of it in some way which is one of the things Audrey teaches in the Three Keys and also the most important thing out of all audrey said is track it, track it, track it. Make sure you know how many people have purchased it, how many people have turned up, um, and you know games, for the team is like who's selling the most. You know that kind of thing. So it just needs to be made into a game, essentially so that everyone gets behind it and is excited by it, because if it's too convoluted, or the team don't understand it or they don't think it's a benefit for their client. If the team just thinks it's a money grab, they're not going to do it because they're not going to want to present it to their clients. So you need to make sure that the promotion is in the best interest of the client that it's being offered to.

Adrienne 48:06

Yes, yes, yes, I totally agree, and I just wanted to say something, but I was listening to you and I totally forgot what I wanted to talk about regarding the treatments. Forgot what I wanted to talk about regarding the treatments tracking it for the team understanding yeah, thank you.

Adrienne 48:28

so what I wanted to mention if you don't follow the right steps, the promotions which has the ability to become really good promotions going to fail because the back end is failing. So sometimes when we put promotions out they don't work, not because the promotion is not good or what you are offering is not good. It is because the back end, your team, doesn't know about it, or they know, but they are unsure. They have questions, but they don't ask those questions and it just all becomes at the back end very, very overwhelming, very convoluted. So the whole thing, what you built at the front end, it's falling apart.

Jodie Fielden 49:18

Yeah, that's exactly right and that's for any kind of marketing that you're doing. So whether it's, you know, just a special promotion for Christmas or anything, or just you know you've got ads running on Facebook or you've got an ad in the paper or wherever they put ads nowadays, if your team and the back end isn't solid, it doesn't matter how good it is at the front end, it's not going to work, and if you don't track it, then you don't know whether it's working anyway.

Adrienne 49:45

Yes, absolutely, I totally agree. All right. So I think, at last, what we can do, just like a dot points you know, like how to prepare for the busy season. So let's talk about what steps can you take to get your business promotion ready, and that's just the dot points.

Jodie Fielden 50:07

Alrighty. So the first will be knowing who, what, where and why. The second will be organize yourself and your team. And the third would be make sure you've got a return strategy. What else?

Adrienne 50:31

And just monitor everything, monitor everything.

Jodie Fielden 50:34

I think that's very, very important Measuring, measure it and report it, because the data is your best friend. Oh, and the real estate, the time. Real estate where you spend your time talking to clients.

Adrienne 50:49

Yes, absolutely All right. I think that's us for today.

Jodie Fielden 50:55

We ended up being a little bit of free-range chickens ourselves. Yes, we ended up being a little bit of free-range chickens ourselves, but we all saved it in the end. Our next episode is going to be all about strategic planning. It's coming up to Christmas, so our guests we're still waiting for our HR guru to finish getting all her info from the new changes, so as soon as she has that, we'll be having Sam on. But yeah, it'll be to getting ready for your strategic planning for the year. So that's going to be a really good one.

Adrienne 51:31

Yeah, perfect time to actually put your thinking hat on and planning ahead. So we will talk about in details.

Jodie Fielden 51:43

Yep. And if you want to know anything about, like the team training courses that Adri does, or you want to find out about our programs that we have the Salon Accelerator programs that you've probably seen ads for, just feel free, book a free demo. Focusgdtcom. Backslash our links. It's on the bottom of the screen. There it goes. Or you can reach out to us with a DM, audrey.

Adrienne 52:14

DM the handles. Oh, you can see they are not scripted for everything. So, yeah, so you can reach out to us on Facebook and Instagram, and also you can follow us on TikTok, and our handle is always the same FocusGDT. And I think that's it for now and thank you very much for staying with us and listening to our podcast. We are forever grateful for you, guys, and we will see you at our next podcast. See you later, guys. Bye.

Jodie Fielden 52:49

Bye.

Speaker 1 52:52

Well, that was Beyond the Mirror. Thank you for being a part of this exhilarating adventure. Join Adri and Jodi next week as they continue to help you unlock the true potential of your business so you can leave your limitations behind and embrace the endless possibilities that lie beyond the mirror. And if you have a burning question that you'd like to feature as a guest on this podcast, just leave us a message at the podcast page at focusgdtcom. So until next time, keep pushing boundaries, keep thriving and always remember that your success is right here, right now, beyond the mirror.