SUMMER TIME -Time For What?

The school is out so if your town, city or village is anything like most at this time of the year everything has gone pretty quiet into your salon.

Now let me tell you this.

It’s as good as impossible to pull people in when they are not there but that is for another post. The real question is what are you going to do or what should you do in this in the slow spell?

This is a period of the year I love and my clients that are the most successful love. I’ll tell you why in a moment but first let us start with a story. It isn’t true but it’s based on a lot of people I have met in business over the years.

There are two people in a salon business that both have a business.

The Story of Tom and John.

Neither man knows each other.

Tom loves summer. Despite his business just doing ok, he loves going away, sitting in the sunshine and doing nothing apart from a drink, a swim and all the usual things we are told we should do on holiday. During the summer he will spend up his cash reserves completely. He knows that in advance and he knows because she's been repeating the same pattern year after year since he started in business.

He goes in, hopes it's all going to be busy and places an offer or two in his advertising here and there hoping that he'll be busy when it's slow.

He has no idea how the business will be when he gets back after her holiday but he refuses to miss a holiday.

John thinks different.

John’s business opened over 7-years ago, he knows it takes effort and work. He also knows he can never afford to just hope.

John still has a holiday. He still has a drink or two on the beach with his family. He still does a lot of what most people do in the summer. There is a difference though and it is this.

When away John relaxes but he relaxes smartly. He learnt the hard way years ago that the only way HIS business will be a success is if he carefully planned that success. Planning meant he could track his progress, he could keep on track and he could put in place things that were working and things that wouldn't work he would remove.

He plans his turnover. He then plans how to reach that turnover. He plans his money, his income and all of his possible sales. For John doing this can be a little painful yet he knows the key to his business is planning and when he plans well the results always come in.

Tom does the same old thing and gets the same old thing back in return while John’s business grows every year without fail.

This should raise a question for you?

So what will you be doing this summertime in your business while it’s a little slower?

First I don’t mind sharing what I do here at OrangeBeetle.com and my other company SalonPunk.com as I think this will help you and then I will give you more tips on what you can do yourself. Stop and review

I stop everything, sit in a corner and write notes based on what my results have been so far in the year. In my business and I am sure your business is about results. Results in sales, turnover and of course success for my clients.

If the desired results are not in I want to know why and I want to know the changes I have to make. I’ve learnt in life I cannot wait for anything to happen I have to make it happen and that includes changes.

Salon Web pages and communications

I will go through all of my essential web pages. Over 93% of my own traffic now comes through a mobile phone. So are my pages fully optimised and converting for a smartphone? I feel this has made a change to the way we present certain messages. That is for another post as it is too long for this now. Web pages can be easily tracked, tested and measured for success or failure these days. I look at my analytics and make the changes I have to make. It’s always interesting for me that a lot of clients rarely change their web pages yet that is a little like never changing the shop front window.

Salon Imagery

Images go in the eye and make an impact. Now and then I get it wrong so I like to make the changes I need to change. I personally use Photoshop Elements for my own images. Images on a website that are never changed make no impact. It isn't uncommon for me to change my main images EVERY MONTH. For example, the previous header I used on OB failed miserably although I liked it. It dropped response rates dramatically. Why? Most visitors won't and don't go beyond the top of a page so you need to get it absolutely right. I changed the image 4-times in a single week. Most changes were single words. Yes single words can make a difference and sometimes a huge difference. Now it converts again.

Salon Engagement and Social Media

This is still hard for even me to get a grip of – social media. We test everything time and time again. The past few months we ramped up the tests on Facebook with what I can call huge turnaround results compared to what we did in the past.

The past few weeks I have been running tests on something I have never been able to get a grip of – Twitter. I have to say the results are impressive so far but not complete so maybe I will share more again. Finally Instagram. Again I used to simply put photos up there but the past 4-weeks I have been testing a few things with some pretty cool results but I am still not 100% happy to go full out on this one yet

And of course, I learnt a long time ago social media is NOT about likes and shares it is about converting and engaging them into clients.

I do more things and this stuff can take 2-4 weeks easily. The difference after the tweaks can be dramatic.

How about you - what will you be doing over the summer in your salon business?

Let me ask you this before you answer. It’s almost like a short questionnaire.

1. Simply say yes or no to yourself.
2. Are your results what you want them to be?
3. Do you have a proven strategy in place?
4. Do you stop, think and review or do you simply keep on hoping things will change?
5. Do you have a test and refine system built into your business?
6. Do you have a 12-month plan in place?
7. Do you try and do everything yourself?
8. Do you advertise like crazy when it’s slow in the summertime?
9. Have you asked for expert advice over the last 12-months?
10. Are you in fear for the future of your business?

If you answered yes to most you need to make some changes and make them fast.

Summertime is that time where you should make the effort to install changes if they are needed. You have the time so do it.

Recently I dealt with a client that had hired a team to post endless posts on social media. The crazy thing about was this.

He had agreed to pay £2,000 each month.

His results halfway through his 12-month contract were absolutely zero in terms of converting to clients.

He had tonnes of likes

Lots of shares

Most of his fans were paid for fans (fake likes).

I asked him why and he replied that he was getting a tonne of likes that he felt would turn into sales at some point yet ... He also realised his business wasn't a business because his sales were so low at this point. Sometimes talking to some clients makes no sense!

That just makes no sense when you are in business.

So it’s your choice and you do have a choice.

Summertime is a good time to sit and make changes to your salon strategy. Is it a good time to review and ask yourself many questions about the direction your business is really going in?

And please do this even if we never ever speak to each other – go hire an expert and get expert advice. You wouldn’t do your own heart operation so why play with your businesses life.

There are a tonne of options for you to work with myself of course.

You can hire me for any set period of time. I can review, critique and reveal any potential flaws in your marketing and business very quickly. I can install testing and tracking to maximise any future results. And more…

I have appointments racing towards me in London and Scotland. I could come to you then or you can come to meet me? Please ask but be quick when you respond.

I also have our new space here.

You can bring your team, your campaign and I can mastermind, critique, review and fine tune it with your guys. I can even train your team. You send them to me as marketers and I will send them back as higher response direct marketing people that understand results, tracking, measuring and more.

Call me and let's see what we can do.

00 44 (0) 161 928 8328 00 44 (0) 7793 069 486 alan@salonpunk.com orangebeetle

Iconoclast Collective 213 Ashley Road 2nd Floor Hale Cheshire WA159TB

I hope what you read helps you.

Summertime can be your most powerful and productive time ever deep inside your business.

What will you be doing and really making time for this summer?

Let's talk very soon.

Enjoy your summer.

Alan Forrest Smith