Have you ever stopped and asked yourself just how your customers find their way into your chair? Figuring out the salons customer journey is the answer to this is the key to unlocking your endless stream of clients and I have great news, we are talking all about it in today’s post!
As salon studio owners we have many more hats we wear other than just doing hair. We are also in charge of doing things that we simply have never had to do. Like taxes, cleaning, building a website and being our own social media PR consultant.
In this post, we are reverse engineering how our customers find us to figure out where we need to be focusing our marketing energy. This way when someone is new to your local area and they go to look for a new hairstylist YOU actually pop into their radar!
You are probably a customer of a company yourself and what I want you to do really quick is think about why you go to a certain place to get a service done over another one. Think back to the first time you went to this business for your service and the things that made you decide to go back!
More then likely, even if you were referred to this place by a friend or stumbled upon it while you were walking down the street, you did a little research before you committed to your first appointment or purchase.
Think about this now… How do you do research?
You googled them or maybe you searched for them on social media to look for a business page or even yelp!
These are the 3 places you should have your salon business listed so that your potential customers are even able to find you. Only once you are found by a potential customer do you have the opportunity to try and wow them into booking.
One of my favorite little ironic jokes that demonstrates this is about a blonde lady who is praying and praying to win the lottery only to have God finally come down and say to her, “Geez lady, there is nothing I can do if you aren’t even buying a lottery ticket!”.
The irony is that every single one of us has the opportunity to wow your potential customers online and create a steady stream of new clients but if you don’t even have an online presence in each of these places potential customers will never find you.
So, now that we are all on the same page about needing to be in the places our clients are going to look for us that brings us to our next point…
Where do your potential salon customers go to look for an answer to their needs? Do you think you have a good enough presence there to get their attention? Are losing your potential customers in the process of them searching for you? Let’s dive in and take a look!
It’s 2019 when you are in need of something what is the first thing you do? You look it up online. I know that’s the first thing I do! Even if I am getting advice from a trusted friend or family member I never just make an appointment with someone without doing some research of my own!
If it’s researching information I go to Google, if it’s a review of a business or service I look on Yelp, and if I need help learning how to do something I turn to Pinterest.
Once your potential customer turns to one of these three platforms and does a search for salons in your local area and you pop up, you have 1 opportunity to show your potential customer what you do and that without a doubt they want to pick you over the other options to help remedy their problems and make all of their hair dreams come true! No pressure.
This means, not only do you need to make sure you have an actual presence on those platforms but you need to make sure you have a website that you are 110% proud of that you can send them to!
In next week’s post Why You Should Build and Operate Your Own Salon Website I go deep into this topic. Keep an eye out or better yet fill out this form to join my community and be notified when new and exciting posts like this one are published on the blog.
One of the main features on your home page should speak directly to that brand new potential client. Not only should a major portion of the homepage be dedicated to making the potential new customer feel welcome but you should help them out by pointing them in the right direction.
This is called a Call To Action or CTA. The call CTA should be stupid simple! This mean, if someone with no sense to come in out of the rain were to call on your page, even they would walk the path you laid out for them.
Did you just think to yourself, what path I have laid out for them? This one silly!
The customer journey is a path that you lay out for your potential customer to walk from your local area needing a haircut or color service straight into your chair. Like any skill and trust me this is a skill, you get better and better with time and practice.
The last part of the journey is facing the doubt that may surface as they are going back and forth between you and your competitors. Again, think back to when you research a business. You look them up but you see businesses in the area that are similar so you want to know what others have to say.
I highly recommend inserting a couple of customer quotes throughout your website. You can use portions of your online reviews but always mention the source. This of course is sometimes covered in the research portion of the journey. If someone referred this potential new customer to your online profile/website they probably already feel they trust you and may not need that extra boost of confidence before booking.
If the route this potential new customer has found you on yelp or a hashtag or tagged pic on Instagram, they also alreayd may have the confidence they have all the proof they need they can trust you.
If you get this right one day your customer journey funnel will convince someone they need to book an appointment with you when they don’t even need their hair done and they will wait months for your next available appointment and never question your prices. THAT is the real goal!
Let’s recap.
- The customer journey starts with the customers NEED for a hair service.
- Then they RESEARCH the talent in their local area or ask around.
- Once your online profile is found your customer is impressed with your REPUTATION ONLINE.
- Walks the easy to follow path you have laid out with your CALL TO ACTION.
- The appointment is set because you have acheived TRUST!
Makes sense right? Again, think back to so many interactions you have with the business you purchase from. This is a system that takes some time and patience to get right. Don’t be too hard on yourself, you will probably be constantly refining this forever as you evolve and trends change. 10-15 years ago the customers journey to your chair looked a lot different and it will change again in the future!
What should you do now that you have this incredible information? Go and look yourself up as if you are a potential new customer! What do you find when you type your business name into google or instagram or yelp?
Are you proud of what you see? If not, start with working on what you see.
Making sure you are speaking to the right person is key to catching the right persons attention.
Manifesting your Dream Salon Clientele with Proper Alignment
Start exactly where you are. Make a list of every little detail you want to improve of your customer journey funnel and start checking things off. Don’t stop until you are proud!
I know you got this!