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By Bryan Durocher, Durocher Enterprises

I just opened my mail last night and was pleasantly surprised to see my Marriott’s Gold Elite card enclosed in the envelope. In 2009 I had not stayed the required 50 nights to maintain that status and they gave it to me for 2010 anyway. That is great customer service. The company is going the extra mile with something that will keep my loyalty and at very little cost to their organization.

We all have lost clients due to the economy, yet what are we doing to keep the ones we have? Many spas and salons are losing clients without really hearing why or understanding what caused the client to defect. Strong follow-up by salon technicians and front desk staff is, of course, an imperative ongoing tool and goal. However, by identifying what drives customer loyalty and engagement, successful spas and salons can begin to develop techniques that will have a direct impact on customer retention.

Successful salons first identify and truly understand their client’s expectations. Then they create structure and protocols to ensure the staff is exceeding the base expectation consistently. Take the time to review with the staff the expectations of the clients and the general public. Be absolutely confident that the entire staff recognizes and acknowledges how your salon plans to exceed those expectations with each and every client. Then it is time to give a little more. What extra add-on or complimentary upgrade can you offer that provides the client a little “wow factor” and keeps them with you. Select a service with a high perceived value, but with little product cost associated with it.

What Is on Their Mind?

Everyone enjoys being part of something “bigger.” It is no different with the salon client. Create short surveys that are unbiased and well-structured, with questions you really want answered. Remember, much of a survey’s success has to do with how it is presented. Write the questions keeping in line with the culture of your organization. Offer the survey in a fun, light-hearted way, if that is how your salon presents itself to the public. If you are a medical spa, priding yourself in being on the cutting edge of technology, create a survey for your website that is interactive. The goal is the same: to get feedback from the end user, the salon client. Offer an incentive to fill it out. Get a vendor to give you a $100 gift basket to raffle off for all surveys collected in a given month. What gets rewarded gets done.

Review the results of the survey with the key players and decision-makers at the salon. Finally, do something with the information! Reacting to surveys in a timely manner builds additional trust and loyalty with clients by showing that you do listen and care about their needs and wants.

Now that you have started to focus on identifying what creates loyalty in the present, develop plans and ideas for building more in the future. Trends — and the needs and desires of your clients — change over time. Make good use of the feedback data and information gathered by brainstorming with the staff and decision makers to understand how client intentions and motivations are changing. Look at not just what services and products they buy, but why they buy. Insight from the practitioners, technicians, and clients is the best and most profitable way to build loyalty in the present and into the future. Perhaps long and luxurious has turned into fast and affordable for your clients now. Give them what they want and can afford.

As a salon owner, how do I balance working on my own clientele (I need the income) and managing/promoting the salon? What’s the smartest way to do this and find time for both?

Kristi Valenzuela, Crystal Focus: Many salon owners face the same challenge. Here are some tips:

First, on a practical level, it’s about time management. Plan specific days that you work on clients and specific days that you work in the office on your business. On office days, focus on things like payroll, marketing/advertising, coaching your employees, paying bills, planning promotions, etc. You may even consider having an office day at home. This prevents interruptions throughout the day from phone calls, team members, and clients demanding your time just because you are there.

Next, understand your business and true income potential. Many times we trick ourselves into thinking we make more money by working on clients. But the truth is if you understand your business and grow your employees, the potential of increased revenue and profit may really be in growing your retail sales and in service sales performed by your team rather than you. For example, if you have five employees and you can teach them how to do two more services a day, four days a week, that would be equivalent to you doing 40 services. And you didn’t even see a client yourself!

Finally, reach for help. There are great resources for you to continue your quest for successful salon ownership. Check out the Summit Library at http://www.summitsalon.com and the Jump Journal at www.michaelcoleseminars.com — and, of course, hang out with me at www.crystalfocus.com.

What are some inexpensive ways to build my clientele?

Heather Goodwin, Inspiring Champions:  Driving new traffic into the salon is something that we are all looking for ways to do. Unfortunately, direct mail, magazine advertising, and fliers can be expensive. Some great inexpensive ways to improve client count is to use your existing fans to build it for you.

Nowadays nearly all our clients are on the web. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and the like are becoming such popular ways for people to stay up on what their family and friends are doing. Access them! A great way to start is to reward your clients for being great fans.

Offer clients 10% off their next visit if they post their latest gel toes or nail art on their page! Set up a fan site for your business — even if you don’t own the salon — and give rewards to those who become fans.

Use technology like mobile advertising to send out specials via text messaging or send e-mail blasts through Constant Contact or other such companies. Make the blast incentive time-specific. For example: 20% off a Pedicure and Manicure Combo between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. today only! Fill up the slowest times first.

Always remember to track your efforts. You’d hate to have a great month and not be clear what ideas were bringing in the best results.

By Lisa Marie Arnold, Salon & Spa Solutions

Are you ready for 2010?

The hectic holiday season is behind us now and it is time to plan for 2010! What will you do differently, what will you do the same, and what will motivate you to do so?

A written goal-setting plan is in order. When you write it, you win it! January is a great time to set goals for the upcoming year.

Get the goal-setting started by asking yourself the following questions:

• What did I accomplish that I wanted to in 2009?

• What was my biggest disappointment for the year?

• What staff members need my attention (or do you need attention yourself)?

• What services need attention?

• What is my retail game plan?

• What was my percentage growth over 2009? What is my goal for 2010?

• What was my biggest expense? Does it need tweaking?

• Do I have any budgets or do I spend on impulse?

• When was the last time I attended an education class? Is it time now?

You need a strategy — a plan of action. Things don’t magically happen. As 2010 promises to be a challenging year for our industry, it is important that we grasp this concept of goal-setting and stick to our guns. Time has proven that those with a plan succeed. Are you ready?

By Kristi Valenzuela, Crystal Focus

There is a great book I would like to suggest you read. It’s called YOU, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself, by Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith. This would be a great investment in your education as a nail technician. It describes how to do what you love, love what you do, and discover that the ultimate power is in YOU. Who do you need to be to capture the client, get her to return, and gain her full loyalty as a customer?

It starts with you — how you look, how you act, and how you are “being.” Let’s take a look at a few things that should always stay on your checklist of professionalism.

How do you look today? Trust me, every new client — and every returning client — is going to notice what you are wearing today and rate you on how well you put yourself together. People are just human, and whether this is a conscious act of judging or an unconscious scan and decision, people can’t help it.

Did you take the time to put yourself together in a way that looks like you planned your outfit, spent time on finishing your hairstyle, and put your makeup on before you left your house rather than in the rearview mirror as you were driving to work? Even if you wear a smock to protect your clothing from messy pedicures, your makeup, jewelry, and shoes say a lot. Plus, you have to take your smock off sometime; are you following the professional dress code of the salon?

I believe if you spent an extra 15 minutes every day this year getting ready — preplanning your outfit, hair, and makeup — you could increase your income by at least 15%. Why? Because you were focused in the morning and you will feel better all day long. Being more confident and more professional will only lead you to more money!

How are you acting? Think of an actor on stage or in a movie. He has a script, a costume/wardrobe, and “stage presence.” You owe it to your clients, your coworkers, and the salon owner to be your best today, or fake it! I realize that sometimes you feel only 50%, due to feeling sick, or tired, or stressed. But your clients don’t have a choice to pay you 50% of your service fee … so give them 100%! In other words, “fake it till you make it.”

How are you being? My mom once told me when you go on a date, watch how the guy treats the waitress, and listen to how he talks about his mom. This is how he treats everyone, and could be a sign of how he would treat you. Thanks Mom! Good advice.

People are paying attention to how you treat and talk about others. Are you positive, professional, and polite? This is an important life discipline, whether you are at work or on your day off.

How did you treat the front desk person when she accidentally made a mistake in your appointment book? Are you supportive or psycho? How about when the stylist ran behind on your client’s haircut and color appointment and delivered your client to your table 15 minutes late? Did you complain, or did you agree with your client’s complaint? Even if your client complains, reassure her that everything is OK. Never speak badly about the other team member in front of your client, even if this is the fifth time this has happened. After the appointment have a pleasant and professional talk with the service provider, or talk to your salon manager to help you with this ongoing challenge.

The focus is on YOU! Create your checklist of how you want people view you, and what you need to do to accomplish this. The power is in your hands. Get started today!

Up next: Challenge #7 — Treat Others as You Want to Be Treated, Cross-Marketing Your Friends

By Bryan Durocher, Durocher Enterprises

Salon and spa clients have hundreds of choices for beauty services, so the goal is to provide them with the best complete salon and spa experience they have ever had. That experience begins and ends with the salon coordinators at the front desk. The salon coordinators’ vital role involves more than making client appointments and handling cash. They are projecting the image of the salon and spa to your clients and that has to be 100% positive. This can be enhanced by measuring their productivity and offering incentives.

Customer service is the bottom-line valuation every client uses to determine where they choose to do business. Frontline personnel are a critical component to the Extraordinary Client Experience. Hire the right person and the business flows beautifully, hire the wrong person and the business can be thrown into dissent and chaos. Frontline staff have more contact with the overall client base than anyone else within the work environment.

First Impressions

The first few seconds of contact between two people is crucial. The saying goes that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. People make up to 10 different judgments about you just based on how you look. So a professional image is of the utmost importance. The way you handle your first contact with people is one of the keys to the door of social success and overall business achievement.

Why someone truly chooses your business is the personality and image established in the first interaction. Your salon or spa’s image is projected through your personality and attitude. You have a limited amount of time to create an outstanding impression, and by telephone that amount of time is even less because there is nothing for the other person to look at and absorb. Everything depends on what the client hears:

> Your tone of voice

> What you say

> What the client hears in the background

This is an opportunity for creating an extraordinary impression.

A positive first impression can translate over into other interactions. When people project a positive image it creates an environment where people look for the best from you and others within the salon and spa.

Reward Them

The old saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” This shows up loud and clear in many salons and spas when clients meet the front line. It is important to invest in the best you can afford. Offer innovative ways to compensate the front desk, creating the opportunity for unlimited income potential. The right front desk incentives and education will produce extraordinary results. There are several ways coordinators can earn above their base salary:

Retail recommendation: They are there to facilitate the close of the sale with the client. In order for them to be compelled to follow through and make sure retail recommendation is a priority there needs to be an incentive in place for closing the sales with each and every client. All incentives should be paid as an override and not cause the front desk to compete amongst themselves or the technicians.

Gift Certificate Sales: Look at the sales for the year prior. You can calculate this on a monthly basis. Put an incentive in place that offers a percentage of the sales to the front desk for their recommendation. This figure should be based upon reaching dollar figures above last year’s totals for the business and split accordingly using the same mathematical formula used for retail compensations.

Pre-Booking: Pre-booking is a critical part of closing the client’s visit with your business. Offer an incentive for the desk to split. Take the total incentive earned and divide by the individual hours worked. The dollar incentive can be adjusted to the size of the business and the number of staff.

If you find missing gaps in your training program look to the Frontline Service Mastery CD and the Success Circle.

By Bryan Durocher, Durocher Enterprises

We all know the location of a salon is absolutely essential to the success of the business. The same theory applies when selecting where a product is going to be placed within the retail space. Proper location and placement of product can be the difference between high sales and product languishing on the shelf. An important concept for effective merchandising is to always have a major focal point for every display. The easiest way to produce a focal point is to start by placing the main product you are featuring directly in the line of vision, and then surround it with complementary products. The products on the periphery will not only frame the featured product but create a natural opportunity for an up-sell of the featured product. Be conscious of the height of the majority of your clients. If you are shorter or taller than the average client, be sure to create the focal point at the client’s average height, not yours. This may sound silly, but it can make a dramatic difference in the total sales.

Always keep in mind the goal of creating a balanced display. Asymmetrical displays can be stunning, as long as the balance and perspective is appropriate. The goal should always be to create an atmosphere of organization and harmony. Before beginning to shift everything around, think about whether you want to organize product from front to back, right to left, in a curved pattern or triangular shape. Taking the time to map out a plan for product placement is a great time-saver and it will be easier for additional staff members to help with the process.

When introducing a new product to your clients, prime placement within the space is always a great idea. By placing the new product with shelf-talkers explaining what the unique selling point is and featuring an attractive price-point display, sales can be maximized. Prime placement should not always go to the new featured product, though. It is equally important to keep the best sellers and heavy-hitters front and center in the ideal real estate of your salon. Understanding which products are the top five drivers of the retail sales and keeping them near the number one location in the spa makes good merchandising sense.

Point of sale is another location that should not be overlooked. While it is important to keep the reception area free and clear of clutter, there are many ways to create an opportunity for an “impulse” buy. Small products such as a lip plumper or a travel size cream can be tempting add-on purchases. If you pay attention to the merchandising of the product and space, the little sales will add up to a big number by the end of the year. Remember, the placement of every single product should have a reason, and that reason is to increase the business’s profit.

By Kristi Valenzuela, Crystal Focus

So, what makes you so special? There is a lot of competition in the nail industry, and unless you can “earn the right” in the first impression — from the first inquiring phone call and throughout the guest’s experience — you could lose business and struggle in 2010.

Today’s client is customer-service savvy and conscious of their checkbook. They want a unique experience with a talented professional. They want to be treated like a V-I-P, given T-L-C, and lots of R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Most of all they want value. Value is the perception that you got more than you paid for.” If you accomplish this, your retention rates will skyrocket, you will have a full book, and are guaranteed not to sing the “back room blues.”

Ask yourself, are you “one in a million” or are you just “one of many.” If you can walk into competing salons and see many similarities, it’s time to change! Here are some hot tips on how to expand your menu and analyze your business:

1. Analyze your menu: Does it sizzle or does it snooze? You know what they say, if you snooze, you lose! Add interesting descriptions to your services and sell the sizzle with the steak! Come up with “signature services” and rename the ordinary and make your services sound extraordinary.

Don’t just write: “Full Set - Acrylics - $55.” Have some fun with your service names and descriptions, in keeping with your style, your theme, and your brand. Some examples:

“Fake It Till You Make It” - Full Set – Natural-Looking Nail Enhancements - Full Set $55

“Uptown Nails” - Full Set – Natural-Looking Nail Enhancements- Full Set $55

2. Expand your menu. Offer unique services such as Elbow Exfoliation, Pampering Paraffin, French Twist (classic French with alternative colors), or Man’s Man Manicure (use a shop towel from Home Depot instead of a fluffy towel). Add value with promotions such as:

• a full hand and arm/elbow massage with every service.

• choice of a paraffin dip or French Twist for no extra charge.

• complimentary mini-size cuticle oil with every full set.

• printed home-care instructions for natural nails and enhancements.

There is so much more; you are only limited by your own imagination.

3. Analyze your front desk. Do they know how to professionally and accurately offer your services with authenticity and excitement? If not, you have some training to do. Start by pampering the front desk and teaching them to use million-dollar words that work.

4. Analyze your greeting. The top two things that determine a great first impression are energy and enthusiasm. What do you look like when you meet your guests? Are you stylish, smiling, and professional? Do you have a spring in your step and zip in your words when you first meet your clients or greet your repeat guests?

5. Analyze your consultation. Do you have a focused list of unique questions to discover your client’s wishes, expectations, past history, and current home care? Or are you skipping over a very important part of a professional service? Does your consultation sound the same as your competition’s, or are you new, better, bigger, different?

6. Analyze your education. Are you educating your guests on how to take care of their hands, skin, nails, and feet? They want to know!

7. Lastly, analyze your closing. Are you completing the end of the service with an effective recommendation on what your client needs to do at home to maintain her nails, and are you telling her that you appreciate her business?

Hope this helps! Come visit us at www.crystalfocus.com and sign up for our newsletter. Also, check out our audio CD “It’s a Jungle Out There: Secrets to Survival and Salon Success for Nail Technicians.”

I’m starting over again because the spa I worked for shut down. I’m great at what I do and it bothers me to start charging a cheaper fee on services, but it’s a whole new area and I don’t think I have a choice. What do you think?

Kristi Valenzuela, Crystal Focus: This is a great question, and I understand your concern. Today, clients are looking for value (not price). People are customer-service savvy and conscious of their checkbook. They are measuring the end result and “beautification” of the service, and the feeling they had of the customer service. If they write a check for $40 and they think they could have gone somewhere and paid $38 for the same treatment, they will not come back.

Instead of discounting your fee, try adding more value in both your service and your customer service.

Here are some ideas.

Service: Offer a complimentary upgrade with every service. This could be:

• a paraffin dip with every manicure

• a polish change for the hands with every spa pedicure

• an elbow exfoliation with every mani/pedi combo service

On your menu, announce that every service gets a complimentary upgrade valued at $15.

Customer Service: Be sure to include the following:

• a salon tour

• a specialty menu (that you talk them through)

• a chocolate kiss with every service

• a take-home “home care” instruction sheet

• prebook-and-win contests

• retail specials

Remember, it is about value, not price. A client's perception has to be that she paid $40, but received $50 in value.