How to Build Clientele in Cosmetology

As the owner or the manager of a salon business, it is vital you know how to build clientele in cosmetology in order for your business or career to flourish. Admittedly, the process of building clientele can be both time consuming and costly. However, if you do not make an effort to get more clients, you may have to sit around for hours waiting for a client to walk in and this is likely to affect your income.

On the other hand, if you have reliable repeat customers, you can make sure that you have a steady stream of income throughout the year. The key to growing clientele in cosmetology businesses such as a salon is to take a proactive approach and take steps that will enable you to not only attract new customers but also to retain them. Here are some great ways to get you started.

Create a Referral Program

The success of a referral program hinges of two key factors: one is customer satisfaction and the other one is incentives. As such, if you want your customers to refer more potential clients to your business, give them an incentive such as providing complimentary services to anyone who introduces multiple new clients to your business. Furthermore, ensure that you give each of your customers the best possible level of service since unsatisfied customers are likely to hurt your business, particularly in this age of social media and Internet forums.

Market Yourself Incessantly

To attract more clients, you need to market yourself continuously. Even if you notice a significant increase in the number of new clients, remember that in cosmetology, you can never have too many customers since different clients require different types of services at different times of the year. Some of the marketing tactics you can use to attract more clients include:

Free Giveaways

The idea of providing free services may not seem like a good way of increasing your income. However, by offering free relatively low cost but high quality services such as free haircuts or facial massages, you can grow your clientele significantly. Nevertheless, you have to be very specific about which clients you give free services. If possible, target professionals who work in a highly populated environment or those who work in sectors where people need cosmetology services regularly such as modeling since they can refer more clients to you.

Create a Website

A well-designed website that has good content is one of the best ways to create an online presence and ultimately attract more clients. You current customers can also post reviews about your businesses services. Such reviews will help you to improve your services an appeal to new clients.

Use a Newsletter to Advertise Your Promotions

Regular newsletters, whether biweekly or monthly, are a great marketing medium to promote your services. Better yet, you do not have to use the traditional printed version of the same, especially if your marketing budget is small. Instead, email your leads digital newsletters. However, make sure you send out your newsletters only to people who agree to receive them.

Foster a Mutually Beneficial Relationship Other Beauty Professionals

If the conventional methods of marketing do not generate sufficient client traffic for you, you can try cross promoting your services by teaming up with other cosmetology specialists. For instance, if you only offer hair styling services in your salon, you can team up with a makeup artist who can refer his/her clients to you for their hair care needs. In return, you can also recommend the services of the make artist to your loyal customers who trust your judgment.

Make Sure Your Schedule System is Flexible

In a cosmetology business, it may be important to ask your clients to make appointments in advance in order to improve service delivery. However, if you want to build clientele, you should consider allowing customers to make walk-in appointments at least once a week. You may discourage new customers who decide to seek your services on impulse if your ‘appointment only’ policy is too strict.

Build Trust and Friendships with Your New Clients

One of the most effective ways of growing your clientele is by ensuring that any new clients look forward to visiting your salon again after their first visit. By showing a genuine interest in your clients’ lives and beauty/hair care needs, you can ensure that such clients come back and even refer their friends to you. However, avoid being too inquisitive about your new clients’ personal lives since this might annoy them.

Conclusion

If you have tried growing your clientele unsuccessfully, you should consider enrolling in a cosmetology school that offers effective business building methods. At Evergreen Beauty College, our instructors ensure that our students learn creative and effective methods of building clientele in order to be able to use the cosmetology skills they acquire profitably.

Author
Frank Trieu
Vice President of Business Development & Industry Relations

Frank Trieu is a cosmetology industry leader, and despite his accomplishments and accolades, he still prioritizes students on the Evergreen campus. Through building relationships within the community and local salons, retail stores, and spas, he helps facilitate job placements for aspiring beauty professionals using his expansive network.

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Abhay Sen
Abhay Sen
2 years ago

Too good information