If you’ve got clients telling you waxing seems too painful to even consider, you may need to think about how you’re marketing the treatment. Lilliane Caron, owner and director of Caronlab, tells how to get the most out of your existing clients – and how to get some new ones.
Marketing waxing treatments that are traditionally seen as ‘painful’ can sometimes be a tricky task. With waxing in particular most people judge the treatments before they have actually experienced it. The idea that waxing is too painful to bare is a common misconception by people who have never been waxed. I have heard many women say they are ‘too scared’ or ‘couldn’t handle the pain.’ I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t slightly uncomfortable, your hairs are being removed from the root instead of cut at the surface – of course that doesn’t tickle! When it comes to running a waxing salon not only do we have to think of ways to get our current customers to upgrade a service or to return, but we also need to think of ways to reach clients who currently aren’t waxing. Over the last 30 years I have picked up a few tricks on how to make sure you are getting the most from your existing customers as well as how to attract new customers.
Lines of communication
Promotional material is an important selling tool for any beauty therapist; it is made for the sole purpose of communicating information about a product or service in a quick and effective way. In a busy salon environment you don’t always have the time to tell each and every customer about a great new product, or the deals you have on each week so you need thing that prompt the customer to ask you. I have always found humour works best. Things that we find funny or cleaver will usually stand out in our memory. Posters, pamphlets, quirky emails and uniforms in particular are great! With Caronlab, we have t-shirts with the trademarked slogan ‘For a smooth, confident Brazilian down under,’ these are fun, cheeky, and almost always lead to a good conversation with a client, particularly one who may not have had a Brazilian wax before.
Display proudly
It’s often difficult to talk about your own business, and what makes you so great. Generally we don’t want to be seen as “tooting our own horn” but talking about your products and why they make you the best is a completely different thing! Explain to your clients what products you use and why you use them. Tell them why you picked that brand in particular. People like to know what is being used on their body and it shows the client that you have 100% faith in the quality of your products. You don’t want them thinking they can get the exact same treatment anywhere else – because they can’t. Why not make a display out of the products you use – you don’t have to stock all your products out in the back storeroom. Put them out where everyone can see!
On the house
With business, the key to success is to offer what the market wants. For example, right now eyebrows are the ‘in’ thing, so when a trend comes along make sure you jump on board! For eyebrows, there are two types of treatments. A ‘brow tidy;’ this should take around 15 minutes, the brows are already shaped, you are really only waxing away the stray and fluffy vellus hairs that have started to grow near the brow line. This treatment usually sits somewhere between $15-$25. A brow sculpt however can take an hour or more as this involves, waxing, shaping, trimming, tinting and using makeup at the end to fill in any gaps. This can cost anywhere between $100-$200. The aim with any treatment is to always upsell; in this case from a brow tidy, to a brow sculpt. A great way to do this is to offer your regular clients a free upgrade on the house. This goes for all treatments; a bikini line to a XXX, a half leg to a full leg. Or for clients who don’t wax at all, maybe a free wax on the house! Upgrades I find are generally a more effective, this way we are not cutting our pay, we are only giving a little of our time away. You will be surprised at how effective this is, once the client has felt the difference, they just might make that their regular treatment!
Happy hour!
Happy hour is a great way to generate bookings for less popular treatments during the quieter times of the week. Happy hour is often associated with fun and there’s a sense of urgency to get in quick. I am sure we all know a few people in our lives who rush to the bar quickly to make sure they get their first couple of wines just a tad cheaper! This is a great way to draw attention to a particular service or a particular time in the day that may generally not be very busy. Buy 1 get 1 free is also a great offer to run during a happy hour. Customers can bring a friend along and get two treatments for the price of one. Not only are you giving something to your existing clients but it’s a great way to get new customers in your door – then it’s all up to you to secure their return!
Share the facts
A misconception when it comes to waxing treatments is that they are expensive and that shaving is much quicker. If we were to base this on just one hair removal session then yes, shaving is cheaper and much faster. However, in the long run waxing takes far less time. Generally waxing will give hair free results that last up to 4-6 weeks, whereas shaving and hair removal creams generally give results that last for on average two days. Let’s do some quick maths here; going off an average of four weeks results from waxing, your client will be waxing 13 times a year. If they have to shave every third day, they’ll be shaving 121 times a year. Not only does that use up a lot more time, but it will also cost a lot more of your money! Razors and hair removal creams can be cheaper than waxing treatments initially however they will need to be use much more frequently, so they don’t end up being any cheaper at all. I like to break down these facts and share them with my clients via my social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and via email. It’s the perfect way to promote your treatments as a cost and time effective solution and really target people who don’t currently wax.
Express Waxing
As mentioned above, waxing is sometimes seen as time consuming and unfortunately we all have time restrictions these days. It’s important we get our clients in and out the door as quickly as possible, while still providing exceptional service and giving them a ‘waxperience’ they want to repeat. For clients who are strapped for time, Express Waxing is the best way to achieve the quickest results, keeping our customers happy and our business busy. This process requires two therapists working on the one client. For example; one therapist providing the facial waxing while the second therapist starts the legs or Brazilian. Other combinations include; facial waxing and pedicure/manicure, brow/lash tint and manicure, underarm waxing and leg waxing – The list is endless! Once the first therapist is finished, she simply leaves the room to leave the other therapist to finish up the treatment. Appointing just one therapist to the job of “Express Waxer” means the therapist can float around the salon, potentially take walk in clients, and pop in and out of the treatment rooms assisting the other therapists if and when needed. Existing clients are the best promoters, so make sure you make good use of it. Explain to them what Express Waxing is, if they tell their friend and family they were ‘in and out in a jiffy’ you may just gain another customer or two.
As you can see most of my marketing tricks have to do with getting the client to have a treatment and experience it for themselves. Word of mouth will always and forever be the best form of marketing for salons; our reputation is our greatest asset so the more people you can get to experience your treatments the better. Whether this be upselling an extra treatment to an existing customer or gaining a new one, the goal is the same.
Lilliane Caron is Owner & Director of Caronlab. If you’d like to ask Lilliane Caron for some advice on your own salon, email info@caronlab.com.au
