Spring Clients: How to Fill Your Books for April and May

Last episode, we talked about knowing your numbers. Today we're gonna hit them. Here is your spring marketing plan. Three things, all of them doable this week. None of them involves posting on Instagram and hoping for the best. All on Build Your Salon. Hello, hello, hello, my salon friends. Phil Jackson here, your Queen of Salons coming all over the internet with another dose of my Wise Owl wisdom. How on earth are you? Achingly well, I hope. I hope you're noticing the longer days. I hope you're feeling like we've made it through another winter. My God, when did winter turn into an endurance test rather than something to celebrate? I don't know. Perhaps it's just me getting old. Also, I want to take a moment to apologise to those of you viewing on YouTube for what I'm wearing today. I thought I was gonna look young and hip and down with the kids, but actually I think this top just makes me look a bit like a Jedi warrior and feeling a bit Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is not quite the look that I was going for. Anyway, we won't be wearing this hoodie on the Build Your Salon podcast again. So what are we talking about today? Well, we're talking about spring because spring is the second biggest seasonal opportunity of the year. For most salons after the Christmas period, clients are shaking off the last of winter. They're wanting colour refreshes. They're wanting skin treatments, they're wanting to get their waxing back under control, their lash and brow work nails for scandal and sandal season. But the problem is that most salon owners wait for spring to arrive and then try to capitalise on it. And actually, my darlings, without having a go, without telling you off, because this is a hopeful springtime episode, this is what happens all the way through the year. We wait until we're in a season and into a period when we could be promoting before we start getting anything together. But of course, by then those diary gaps are already formed and then the panic starts setting in and then we're making poor marketing decisions and choices instead of consider what. So the salons that have the strong spring season are the ones that are marketing in March ready for April. If you drift into April without a plan, you're gonna spend the whole of Q2 in catch-up mode, in reactive mode. And that's not what I want because today is the 20th of March. Easter Sunday is in a couple of weeks' time. I think it's 16 days away. That's enough time for you to run a meaningful push on spring. If you start now, there's not gonna be enough time if you sit and think about it for another week. So what can we do? What things can we be doing? Uncle Phil, give us precision. Give us the action plan. Give us the marketing plan. Well, the first thing I want you to look at is your lapsed client reactivation. And this is so easy. Just a couple of minutes' work these days because the cheapest client to rebook is one who's already been in. And this is the quickest win in Q2. And I know some of you have got these automated things in your booking systems where it chases clients up over a certain amount of time. It's not enough. I want you to do some manual processing. I want you to get a list together. So jump into your booking system. If you can't find the report, nag your booking system. This is one of the reports they need to make really super simple for us. And I want you to pull a list of clients who have not been in since before Christmas. These are your lapsed clients now, and they're not necessarily lost clients. Sometimes they're just a bit distracted. Life got in the way. They still like you. They just need a reason to come back now. And we've talked about this before because sometimes I think what happens is we lose a client who was a bit distracted because they get embarrassed if they've been a regular client for a while and then they miss an appointment or two. They worry that you are offended or that they've hurt your feelings or they don't quite know how to come back into the salon again. So they end up drifting away and finding a new salon even if they like you, even if they love you, even if they trust you. So sometimes all they need is a reason to come back, an invitation to come back. And I want you to send a simple direct message, not necessarily a discount, it's a reconnection. Something along the lines of, we've not seen you since before Christmas. We'd love to have you back. We've got some availability coming up in April. Can we get you booked in now? Personalise it as much as you can. A message that mentions their name and the treatment they normally have will convert far better than a generic mail-out. I would do this by text or WhatsApp if you can, or email if you really can't. Definitely this isn't something for social media that's public and it's impersonal. This is private. It's a direct conversation. You will get extra brownie points from your Uncle Phil, extra gold stars if you actually pick up the phone. And I promise that little bit of bravery will pay off. If you've got, say, 50 lapsed clients and 20% respond, that's 10 bookings from one afternoon's work. If you chuck in an average bill of 50 quid, 60 quid, a hundred quid, that could be a thousand pounds before you've even touched social media or spent a single penny on advertising. Be brave. Pick up the phone. I promise it will work better than anything, even if it's voice notes, you're doing better than text-based stuff. Part two is the pre-Easter push. Easter is a gifting and treating moment. And it doesn't matter whether you believe in Easter. It's just around that messaging. So we've got the two weeks before Easter now and they're your window to start pushing these spring services for people that wanna look good over the Easter break, even if they're not religious, even if they don't believe in Easter, they've probably got some time off over Easter. Frame it around the holiday. Again, not a discount necessarily. We're talking about getting Easter ready or we're getting set for spring. Get set for spring was a huge promotion in the salons that I was looking after for a very long time. It gives them a legitimate reason to book and that doesn't need you to cut your prices. Also, Easter I think is a bit of an underused gift voucher opportunity. A push in the week before Easter for gift vouchers. Position it as an Easter gift for mums, partners, friends. It can generate some revenue. Maybe bring some new clients in post-Easter when those vouchers get redeemed. We did a fat-free Easter treat, which was a really strong promotion as well in salon, that can just be a simple sign or a card on reception saying Easter appointment's still available, but now or gift vouchers available, why not buy one now? That does more work than most salon owners actually give it credit for. We call it POS, point of sale. And if you go into any store, any chain store in the country, they place res of point of sale. And that's because it works. Take those clues, take those tips from bigger businesses. They've done the research, they've done the hard work for you. Clients that are already in will often book on the spot if they're prompted. Any Easter promo that you haven't started by about the 28th is probably too late to land properly and you're gonna get disappointed. So this week is the window. That said, if you don't get time, it's no excuse. It doesn't mean you get to do nothing, just means your results are gonna be less impressive. And then the third thing I want you to look at is your rebooking strategy, because this is the one that's gonna build May and June from the April that we're filling up. Rebooking is the most powerful retention tool in the salon industry and most salons use it inconsistently or not at all, especially if you're relying on team members to do the rebooking for you. So every client who comes in during April should leave with a May appointment in the diary. Not, "Shall we book again?" Not, "Why don't you book again online?" An actual appointment confirmed before they leave. And use spring as the excuse. You can say, "We're gonna start getting busy now. It's coming up to summer. Let's secure that appointment for you. Let's get it locked in now in that slot that you like on a Thursday so you're not waiting weeks and weeks for a slot." That's not hard sell. That's really good service. And if your team is not doing this consistently, now is the moment to kick their arses. To be honest with you, a quick team meeting this week from now until June. Every client books an appointment before they leave. Here's what to say. You do the scripting for you. Make it super easy for your team. If you do 30 clients a week and half of them rebook, you've got 15 confirmed appointments for the following month before you've done any marketing activity. Before 70% rebooking, that's 21 appointments, is the easiest revenue you are ever gonna generate. People that are rebooking tend to stay more loyal. People that are rebooking tend to be in sooner. And I know where people are gonna say, "Oh, I'll book it online when I get home." Give them a reason not to. Tell them about the surge in bookings that you're getting because it's the spring. Make sure they get the slots they want. Or even say to them, "Look, let's just get it booked now. It's easier for us to change an appointment." Should we need to. Let's make sure we've got a slot for you in May. So let's get you booked in for your next appointment while you're here. Things are gonna be super busy towards the summer or even push in your own holidays. Say, "Look, I've got holidays coming up at the end of May. It's gonna get really busy. Please can we get you booked in now?" Asking to do something for someone is always an easier sell than it is to give them a decision to make. So, "Can I do this for you?" rather than, "Is this something you need?" So offering to do something for someone tends to have better results. What we're not gonna do is spend the next two weeks posting on Instagram hoping it fills your books. Social media is not the same as bookings. I don't think it's even particularly an effective marketing strategy for most salons. I know some of you are slaying. In fact, gimme a call, drop me an email. I'd love to be talking to you about your successes on social media. But somebody liking a post that you've done of some spring colour is not the same as getting a booking. Someone getting a direct text that says, "I want to get you booked in," is much more likely to become an appointment. Yes, social media has its place. It keeps you visible. We need to be reasonably active, but as a short-term booking driver, it's not gonna work. Existing contact with existing clients, contact with your lapsed clients, it's gonna outperform it every single time. Use social media. It supports your spring push, but it's not going to replace it. So there we have it. What have I missed? What's in your spring marketing calendar that I haven't mentioned? I'd love to hear from you. My email address, scrolling at the bottom of the screen: Phil@buildyoursalon.com. I'd love to be hearing what's going on in your salon. I'm hearing some mixed stuff in salons at the moment. I think it's a shaky time for everybody, but I have heard some success stories too. I'd love to be sharing your success story with my gorgeous Build Your Salon Podcast listeners. Just a few short days until I'm coming all over the airwaves again. Next time we're talking about difficult conversations that you might have been putting off with your team. And until then, take care.