Some of her tips include (brief excerpts, read the full story on her blog) -

1. Let people finish what they have to say. Most interruptions are derailments, and as such, most interrupters are avoided.

2. Listen with the ear of your heart, not the pointed finger of your ego.Judgmental attitudes stop commutation before it starts.

3. Recognize employee contributions and ideas. According to Dilbert, most bosses will listen thoroughly to your input, thank you for your suggestions, and then do exactly what they planned all along.

4. Remain calm when confronted with different points of view. The word “emotion” comes from the Latin emotere, which means, “to disturb.”

This is just a quick tip, as we’re very busy building new websites for our customers - and looking at redesigning the Beauty Salon Marketing website too! As it has grown over the last year-and-a-half it has kinda outgrown its format and we need to add new sections with all the useful stuff we want to share with you.

If you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see included on this site (tips, articles, how-to’s and so on) please drop an email to martin@beauty-salon-marketing.co.uk Your feedback is always appreciated!

And remember to subscribe, using the box at the top-right of the page, so we can keep you up-to-date on all the latest news!

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Salon Management - How to keep your salon staff happy

The good news is that after 18 months of research into what makes a salon website perform well in Google and the other search engines, PLUS 6 months of testing and tweaking to find the best ways to convert more of those salon website visitors into paying customers… we now have a very successful formula that can be customised for any beauty salon website, hair salon website, or spa website. So…

Who Else Wants a Salon Website that Generates £100,000 PLUS in New Sales?

Sounds unreal doesn’t it? Let me repeat that, £100,000 in new sales over the next 12 months. That’s right £100,000 in sales to new clients over the next 12 months.

You might think that this figure is unachievable right? WRONG! We created a salon website for Diane Matthews that is forecast to do just that. £100,000 in sales to new clients over the next 12 months. WOW!

And so far it is very much on track. Over the winter months of January and February, in her own words, Diane has said that the website has generated at least £10,000 per month in new sales.

If the performance continues then £120,000 in extra sales should be easily achievable this year. No question.

Hear it for Yourself

You needn’t take my word for it either. We’ve recorded the latest teleseminar so that you can listen in. You can hear the exact tips and techniques you need to make sure your website does exactly the same.

Order your audio CD today and you’ll be able to listen to the full interview where Diane explains how she achieved this fantastic success… and our salon website creator, Jon Edwards, shares some of the techniques he used to achieve those figures.

All you have to do is to give me a call on 0114 263 1232 and I’ll ship you your own CD. And the best bit? It’s FREE. Or email martin@beauty-salon-marketing.co.uk

So grab your phone and call 0114 263 1232 today.

You’ll also be able to hear on the CD the full implications of having such a great website - apart from getting in great revenues.

Implications such as reducing other advertising expenditure. Why? Because it just isn’t necessary - making you even more profitable! Implications such as increasing the catchment area of your salon. You’re no longer confined to Yellow Pages catchment.

And much, much more. Order your CD now.

Do YOU want a similar salon website?

Would you like a similar performing website? A website that generates new clients and new revenues? Imagine what a difference this would make in your salon.

Well now you can! Using the goldmine of technical marketing prowess in the Essential Salon Owners Marketing Toolkit coupled to our own highly developed web skills you can have a killer website.

BUT …

Each website is skilfully crafted to gain maximum exposure in search engines. Each website is designed to effectively sell your treatments. (Diane Matthews experiences an 89% conversion rate from web enquiries)

As such we can only take on just 4 websites each month. The reason being is that it takes so much time to craft such highly performing salon websites.

Ensure that you secure your opportunity to have a highly performing salon or spa website. Make a no obligation call to 0114 263 1232. Or email martin@beauty-salon-marketing.co.uk

You never know you could be one of the lucky 4 salons to begin to develop a website with a £100,000 per year potential - whilst reducing spend on all other advertising. Call today on 0114 263 1232

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Salon Websites - does £100,000 extra sales sound appealing?

On Monday 6th April, 2pm to 3pm UK time (9.00am - 10.00am EST in the USA) we will be sharing some secrets! After 12 months of intensive research, we recently completed our first salon website re-design for a customer. And within 5 weeks, the number of visitors to her website increased by 825%. Her phone is ringing off the hook, and she had to bring in extra staff to cope with all the new business… and we’re going to tell you how we did it.

Studies consistently show that more and more people are turning to the internet as their first source of information for local products and services. Potential customers are searching every day for services like yours - are they finding your website, or your competitors’ sites? As the recession bites, the big companies are switching more of their marketing budget online, to get more “bang for their buck”. But you don’t have to have millions of dollars to create an effective salon website, we’ll tell you how to use free and low-cost methods to make your phone ring.

In an average month, Google reports that -

• 201,000 people search online for “beauty salon” in the UK, 673,000 in the USA
• 201,000 people search for “hair salon” in the UK, 1,220,000 in the USA
• 2,740,000 people search for “spa” in the UK, 7,480,000 in the USA
• And then there are all the people who use other search engines, or directory-websites

And in this difficult economy, studies show that more people are researching online before deciding where to spend their hard-earned cash.

Whether you have a website already and want to know how to get better results from your investment, or whether you are just thinking about creating a salon website, this free teleseminar will help you to understand what makes a successful salon website, and what you can do (without needing to be a super-geek!) to get there.

To book your slot, please call Martin Smith on 0114 263 1232 and he’ll tell you the phone number to call on the day, and instructions. Alternatively (or if you are outside the UK) send him an email at martin@beauty-salon-marketing.co.uk Spaces on the teleseminar are limited, so please book early!

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Free Teleseminar - Make more money from your Salon Website!

Along similar lines, CosmeticsDesign-Europe recently quoted a forecast from Mintel - “Anti-aging tipped to survive the recession unscathed” -

Mintel expects anti-aging creams to remain unblemished by the recession following years of market leading growth.

Anti-aging skincare sales in the US rose 13 percent to $1.6bn between 2006 and 2008, outpacing the general facial skincare, which was up 11 percent over the same period, according to Mintel.

This trend is expected to remain on track even as the economy struggles.

“Anti-aging won’t fall to the recession,” said Kat Fay, senior beauty and personal care product analyst at Mintel.

“Looking young is extremely important to many women, especially Baby Boomers, and it’s not an issue they’re willing to compromise on because of tightened budgets. Many women see anti-aging skincare as a reasonably priced investment in their appearance and well-being.”

Strong growth forecast despite recession

So even as income drops Mintel expects the anti-aging skincare market to grow some 20 percent at inflation-adjusted prices over the next five years….

Not only are new products coming onto the market but new more advanced ingredients are being incorporated into the latest launches.

“The latest launches are more detailed and scientific in their claims, ingredients and projected benefits,” added Fay.

Mintel highlighted sirtuins as one of the newest and most promising innovations in anti-aging.

Sirtuins are naturally occurring enzymes that are thought to boost cell longevity and therefore, provide anti-aging benefits.

Two new sirtuin-based products to find their way onto shelves include Natura Bissé’s premium skincare product, The Cure, and Estee Lauder’s new Time Zone Line and Wrinkle Reducing Crème.

It is often said that, in a recession, the top end of the market and the bottom end tend to be relatively un-affected. It’s the people in the middle who are worst hit!

Related Articles on Salon Marketing -

• Getting through the Credit Crunch - How to “Recession-Proof” your salon
• Salon Management - Recession proofing tips
• Credit Crunch Marketing - Recession beating strategies
• Salon retail products - predictions for 2009
• Salon Retail - Beauty Foods a growing market in 2009?
• Recession-Proof Marketing - test and measure

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Recession Marketing - Anti-aging recession-proof?

Docmail is a service we started using recently to send out our monthly newsletter to our Salon Marketing clients. You supply them with your mailing list and the document you want posting to that list (as a Word doc) and they do everything else for you… for less than the cost of a second-class stamp!

As they say on their website, it is saving us -

• Long periods of laser or ink jet printing
• Manually stuffing envelopes
• Franking or sticking on stamps
• Queuing at the local post office
• Buying and managing stocks of toner, stationery and envelopes

We’ve tested their service and found it very reliable (it is also used by several major banks). So, if you’re sending out lots of salon leaflets every month, we recommend trying out their service. Check out the Docmail website, and give them a try!

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Salon Marketing - save money on salon mailings

Mobile phone firm O2 has quizzed some of its customer base and found that long-established firms agree on the importance of nine key areas:

1 - Get the basics right…

2 - Cut costs…

3 - Careful cash flow management…

4 - Spend on marketing

Despite recommending cost-cutting across most areas of the business, a need to remain competitive and visible is important. Marketing was one area seen as crucial to generating business during a period of downturn. Take advantage of the recession by negotiating better deals in areas such as advertising where cost of space has dropped or allocate spend to setting up or improving a website which is another cost-effective way of marketing your company. In an increasingly competitive arena, customers need to hear about your product so maintaining marketing spend is a must.

5 - Determination…

6 - Hold onto existing customers

As spending power diminishes existing customers were highlighted as the most common source of revenue growth during the last recession. Rather than putting all efforts behind winning new business, which is more cost and time heavy, identifying new business opportunities among existing customers led to successful organic growth and new revenue.

7 - Diversify your product and customer base

Looking at ways to adapt or broaden the appeal of a product may be a way of maintaining and growing your business. This may be through opportunities arising as a direct result of the economic climate or it could be re-looking at your business and adapting it for a different market. Firms should be alert and on the lookout for new ways to market their product in order to grow their customer base.

8 - Delivering excellent customer service

With existing customers recognised as the lifeblood for small businesses during a period of downturn, delivering excellent customer service was identified as essential by 9 out of 10 of the small businesses questioned. Being flexible and reliable to meet their requirements were cited as common methods to help keep current customers loyal as they tighten belts.

9 - Credit check customers…

You can find much more information, and detailed examples, of how to apply these strategies to your hair salon or beauty salon’s marketing in our new product - Crack the Credit Crunch, Ride Out the Recession.

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Salon Management - Recession proofing tips

• Create extra value

• Give them another service free for booking a service
• A how-to night on make-up application
• A champagne social night

• Focus on retention

• Reward repeat client with discounts on additional products or services
• Thank your customers with an email post visit

• Be Positive

• Create an oasis from stress

• Survey your clients

• Use data to improve your service

• Market aggressively-and efficiently!

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Credit Crunch Marketing - Recession beating strategies

On the BizEquity blog recently they had an article - How to Value a Beauty Salon - which is worth a read if you are thinking of buying a beauty salon or buying a hair salon. From the article -

As for valuing a beauty salon, there are different approaches. For example, you can look at recent sales of similar businesses. This is known as the market approach. Although, it can be difficult to obtain this information, unless you visit a local business broker or have access to a database like BizComps (which can cost $400 per year).

Instead, you can rely on rules of thumb. Essentially, these are generally agreed-upon valuation metrics (usually based on the transactions from business brokers). So, for a beauty salon, the rules of thumb would include:

• 25%-35% of sales
• 1 to 1.5 times cash flows

Finally, if a beauty salon is break-even or losing money, the value could be virtually zero. In this scenario, a potential buyer would simply takeover the lease - and hopefully try to improve things. Yet, this can take some time because it requires building a strong team of stylists.

Related articles on Beauty Salon Marketing -

• Setting Up A Salon - Is now a good time to start a salon?
• Starting a salon - What to name your salon
• Salon Business Plan - Free business plan templates
• Salons for Sale - Business for sale websites

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Salon Management - How to value a Beauty Salon

You’ll need to join the site to be able to download the free images and free photos, but the membership is free as well so you can then browse to your heart’s content.

Check for any restrictions before using an image. Most of the images and photos can be used royalty-free, but some of them require the permission of the person who created them, or a link to their website if you’re using the image online.

We’ve included a couple of example images on this page (we’ve reduced the size to fit our website) - just go to the site and type “valentine” in the search box at the top-left of the page to find lots of images and photos related to the Valentine’s Day theme.

Happy browsing, and Happy Valentine’s Day marketing!

Related articles on Salon Marketing -

• Beauty Salon Logos, Hair Salon Logos - free logo design templates
• Beauty Salon Logos - find design ideas for your salon logos
• Recommended site - Online colour scheme generator
• Salon Business Plan - Free business plan templates
• Starting a salon - What to name your salon

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Salon Promotions - free Valentine’s Day images

We have recommended before that as part of your online salon marketing plan, you should add your salon business details to as many reputable directories as possible. Research by Search Engine Optimization experts suggests that if you want to appear high up the rankings in Google local searches, it helps to have as many sites as possible referencing your business details. If they are as successful in the UK as they have been in the USA, Yelp is likely to become an important source of information for your potential salon customers.

Read Yelp’s Business Owner’s Guide first, then add your business using their Claim Your Business pages.

If you have internet-savvy customers, why not ask them to review your salon on Yelp - the more positive reviews you get, the better!

Related articles on Salon Marketing -

• Your Salon Website - Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) basics
• Salon Internet Marketing - Where does Google find reviews?
• Salon Websites - ranking factors for Google UK

Post from: Beauty Salon Marketing UK

Internet Salon Marketing - Yelp launches in UK