‘tis the season to reward your clients!

As we enter the christmas period, salons across the country will be packed to the rafters with festive revellers wanting the perfect up-do or the best blow wave. But how do you turn these one-off wonders into full time clients? And how do you ensure you’ll remain the 2012 stylist of choice with your regular clients?   
A recent Forbes Magazine article entitled; Thank You Etiquette: The Gift of Gratitude, highlighted the importance of saying thank you to your clients and now with Christmas rapidly approaching we certainly agree with this method of building a long term relationship with your clients and in turn enhance your customer loyalty. But how can you achieve this?

Learning how to ‘Surprise and Delight’ when it comes to communicating with your clients will ensure long term customer loyalty. This can be done in a number of ways, stretching from grand gestures used by larger organisations to those that cost nothing but both of which can have a huge impact on your clients.
Can you remember the last time you got an actual handwritten note to thank you totally out of the blue? If you can’t that is a real shame but as it is such a rarity, in this day and age, the great thing is you can use this method to great effect in the lead up to the festive period.
Here are a couple of key points I tell my clients to remember...

The Importance of Being Earnest!
Not just a classic play,  it is also the most important point to remember when communicating with your clients and as the classic dance tune also says ‘Be Sincere!’
Use charity cards from a local charity or write a short hand written note on good quality paper. This will demonstrate how important they are to you. Try and include a personal note wishing their family a Happy New Year, include their names but use something that shows you have taken notice. OK so it may take a bit of time but we can assure you it will be worth it!

Don’t Just Say it Display it!
We all know January is notoriously a quiet month, so encourage clients to visit the salon by rewarding them with vouchers. Promote the age old moto of, ‘New Year, New You’ by encouraging clients to have a free consultation and start 2012 as they mean to go on!
Thank your existing clients by rewarding them with a voucher for the salon in the New Year! Offers will depend on each salon, but deals such as bring a friend and you get a free hair cut or 50% off for you and a friend in the New Year encourage bookings and ensure stylists won’t be twiddling their thumbs.
A ‘Book Now, Save Later’ offer is a great way of filling up the order book. Reward both new and existing clients by offering them a discount or free treatment on their next visit by booking now. Not only will this encourage repeat business, but it will fill up your diary!  
My advice is, that if you celebrate this year by thanking and rewarding your existing and potential future clients, you will kick start your 2012 and put a motivated spring in your stylists step!