#11 - HOW TO GET MORE CLIENTS
The best form of marketing is Word of Mouth.
Most business owners know this, but not many business owners do anything to encourage it.
So be a little smarter than your competition and here are some things that you can do to get your customers talking about your business.
A: Have a referral system and continually tell/remind your clients about it. Unfortunately humans work on repetition as a form of ‘remembering’ so you have to keep reminding them of your referral system.
Some easy ways to do this...
Get cheap business cards made up (Vista Print does them cheaply) and on one side of your card have a section that your clients can fill out with their name. Give 3-4 cards to each client and tell them that if they refer anyone by simply giving this card to their friends, they will get a discount on their next refill (or a free mascara, or movie tickets etc). The friend will bring in the card so then you know who referred them. Maybe you could even have some sort of offer for the friend like 10% off for first time clients or something.
B: Go to your local hairdressers, checkout chicks at the supermarket, bank tellers, gym people etc and tell them that you would love to do their lashes for 1/2 price (or something) in hopes that if they like them they could refer people to you. Give them your business cards to give out.
C: Get reviews. Reviews act like “Word Of Mouth”. The more you have the more you are likely to come up in google searches, and the more ‘trust worthy’ you will seem to potential clients.
WOMO.com.au (Word Of Mouth Online) is one of the best websites to register with to get reviews and it is free to join. They can send you little slips that you give clients with instructions on how to write a review which you can give out, or you can write up your own little instruction sheet for them to follow. You have to ASK for the review. Clients usually won’t just go and write one.
Google is also another place people can write reviews and also on Facebook and True Local.
Again, you have to ASK for them to write a review. You can find different creative ways to ask them, but don’t be shy and do ask them.
D: Take photos of your work and post on Instagram and Facebook for this a form of Word of Mouth.
Get your clients to post photos on their FB & Instagram of your work. A great idea is to take a photo of your clients lashes and then text it to them. In the text ask them to put it up on their Facebook and Instagram and tag you in it. Most clients will do this rather willingly.
E: Create a ‘Goodie Bag’ that you can give to each client. It does not have to cost you a lot of money at all. Here are some ideas on what the Goodie Bags could contain;
- Your business cards with referral system on the back
- A discount voucher to give to a friend
- Nicely printed ‘After Care Instructions’ (available at Locks Lash)
- A mascara wand in a tube with your business name on the tube (you can easily find these to buy at Locks Lash
- Your menu
- A little chocolate or candy
- Any product samples that you may have
- Lash Shampoo to wash their lashes with between appointments.
F: Collect email and postal addresses from all clients. Start a monthly newsletter either emailing or posting it out to them. Remind them in the newsletter of your referral system, give them tips on how to care for their lashes, tell them of your specials etc.
