A Suite Salon Blog

As salon suite owners, we often know what our clients like and why they continue to make appointment after appointment. You have been in the industry for years and are very good at what you do. However, unless you are booked solid for months in advance, it might be worth taking a quick refresher and hear from clients on reasons why they stay loyal and book that next appointment. 

It always starts with a sudden flash of inspiration. Something you see, do, or hear, and the next thing you know you dive head first into the waters of business ownership. Sometimes the water is warm and you enjoy the fruits of your labor. Other times it can be a cold hard venture that either makes you stronger and ready to try again or seemingly scares you to the point of immobility. Either way it can be scary.

These days all the talk is about advertising online or through social media.  And while it is true those are very powerful tools, there are other ways to get your name and your service offerings out to potential clients. Discovering these ways will take some creativity and a bit of time, but then again anything good for your business usually does.  To get your wheels turning, we have listed a few ‘outside the box’ ideas to get you started:

As you move into your new suite there are many opportunities that are now open to you; flexibility of schedule, offering of services, selling product, and more profit.  Even if you have been at A Suite Salon for several years you may be ready for a bit of a refresh.  Whatever your tenure as a suite owner your brand and branding is a major part of your business and the set up of this branding can be a very exciting process.  A big key is to remember that this process should be fun.  So in an effort to save you some stress, we broke down the branding process into some simple steps.

We’ll let you in on a little secret the retail industry has known for decades – gift cards are an important source of profit for three reasons. 1. Clients with gift cards spend more. Studies show they spend an average of $20 dollars beyond the value of the gift card. 2. They are more likely to choose your salon for a service because they have a gift card. 3. Many gift cards go unredeemed. The statistics vary widely business to business, but it’s safe to say that a significant portion of purchased gift cards are never redeemed which means “free money” for the business.

So if you’re not selling gift cards in your salon suite, you should be. Here are five ways to merchandise and sell gift cards to maximize revenue for your business:

There are two things all salon suite owners have in common, they all have an entrepreneurs spirit and are undoubtedly great at their craft. It is key to remember…. You’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself. Working in an environment where there are many other salon owners, it is key to soak up the wisdom of a salon mentor. Identify someone who is successful and inspiring to you. Ask outright if they’ll mentor you. Finding a mentor is one of the best investments you can make in yourself and your career. Along your entrepreneurial journey you will need advice from someone who has been where you are headed and can challenge and inspire you.

You likely send and receive text messages all day long to communicate with family and friends, but texting can be a powerful tool for business communication as well. When you’re thinking about marketing your salon suite business, one of the easiest AND most effective ways to directly reach established and prospective clients is through text message. 

Now that you are making money at A Suite Salon, it is time to start thinking about putting some money away for a rainy day.  You hear commercials every day from any number of companies promoting hundreds of different products to save for retirement, college, or medical emergencies.  Very quickly this process of saving for you and your family’s future can become so daunting, that inevitably you throw up your hands and go another several years without saving a dime.

When we ask current professionals how being their own Boss has changed their careers, almost every answer carries themes of freedom, making more money, being happy, and spending more time with family.

Summer can bring a slow down for a stylist’s schedule. With holidays, vacation plans and kids out of school, you may find that your salon suite isn’t earning the income you want during June, July and August. Here are a few ideas to bring in clients and revenue if you see sales slow down for summer:

Most salon suite clients and potential customers likely live or work within a 10-mile radius of your business location, maybe a little further in less populated areas. Going local with your marketing gives you two advantages: 1. A specific target area for your marketing efforts makes them manageable and efficient 2. It’s likely an area that you know very well so you can be really smart about it.

The excitement of operating your own salon suite can be so exciting it is hard to think of anything else.  The idea of owning a salon, making your own schedule, offering the services you want, selling product you like to use, being the boss, and the best part, keeping the profits are all thoughts swirling around in your head and most likely keeping you awake at night. 

Groupon and Living Social type sites are a popular way for salon owners and other service providers to market their businesses and attract new customers. The idea is a good one – give people who are looking for your service a reason to try your business. They’ll love it and you’ll have a bunch of new customers. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Let’s run through the pros and cons to help you make a decision on whether or not a discount site is right for your salon suite business.

Most of our Suite Salon professionals tell us they dreamed of owning their own businesses for a long time before they acted. So, how do you know when it’s the right time to make the leap? Here are 6 signs that you’re ready to be your own boss:

Warm weather is here, and that means for many families a quick jaunt to the beach.  For estheticians, it means the season’s first sunburns. Here are a few packing tips that will help you keep your skin looking great until your next facial appointment:

 1. Get a new sunscreen.  If you’re pulling last year’s sunscreen out of the Ziploc, to take to the pool, it’s important to remember that Chemical Sunscreens degrade by up to 50% of its SPF in just six months of manufacture… Crazy right?  And who knows how long it sits in the warehouse or the shelf before you buy it too!!!  So make sure you have a new bottle, and it has a hefty dose of mineral sunscreen in it as well (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) because those are the long lasting UVA/UVB and UVC protectors.  The proper dosage is also a shot glass full per adult every 80 minutes or after sweating or being in the water.  So keep your family safe because nothing ruins a vacation like a bad sunburn.

Social media can be fun, but if you’re spending a lot of time and money on social media marketing – you need it to be successful. Is it helping you keep your current customers and attract new ones? Read on for tips to turn followers into clients:

Facebook Live is a way to stream live video through your Facebook Page. There is one very good reason to try Facebook Live - It’s a great way to get attention on social for free. Because while most of your social posts are never shown to your followers if you don’t turn them into ads, the Facebook algorithm favors Live Events. Video is also the most engaging content option and your fans will get a personal notification when you go live.

When you log on to Instagram now, the first thing you see is a row of profile photos of friends and businesses you follow with colorful circles around them, right there front and center. These are “Stories” and offer a great opportunity to connect with your followers on social. Stories are essentially a slideshow of photos, videos and graphics that auto-play when you click on them. You can add to them all day long with no limit, but they disappear after 24 hours. Making your social posts into Stories keeps your business in front of followers on social media and offers a better chance they’ll actually see your content. If Stories are new to you, here’s a quick how to:

Advertising your Suite business on social media can pay off big time when your ads attract new clients or encourage current clients to come in again and again for services. So how do you make sure your ads are a success? Here are the top 10 dos and don’ts for advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

Now that you have the steps to creating ads on Facebook and Instagram and ideas and best practices for creating content and images that capture attention and customers, the final step in social advertising is monitoring and managing your advertising to make sure your ads are a smart spend for your marketing budget. There are three keys to managing social ads: testing, engaging, and knowing the numbers.