3 Ways to Attract Rather Than Chase Clients

Thriving salons grow because the owners have a system for generating a steady flow of new customers and cultivating repeat clients. Surprisingly, steady customer flow is often achieved not by chasing new customers but by attracting them. There is an important difference. If you’re like most hairstylists, you would rather have a continuous flow of new customers looking for you so can concentrate on doing what you love…making people look and feel amazing.  

But…how?  

Well, I’m sorry to say, there is no magic formula. However, there are principles that “work like magic” for attracting new customers to you instead of chasing them.

Consistently build awareness of your brand. People do business with people they know, like and trust. I’ll let you in on the biggest secret. 99% of the people who would do business with you can’t because they don’t even know you exist. Having the world’s greatest hairstyling skills don’t matter if no one knows about you. Creating awareness of who you are and what you do is critical. Consistently marketing your brand, positions you to attract new clients rather than chasing down potential customers or begging your current clients, friends and family for referrals. Starting and stopping your marketing efforts disrupts your customer flow and creates an up-and-down, inconsistent income in your business. Marketing yourself on a daily or weekly basis means you won’t have to play “catch-up” and will keep you from being in a place of desperately needing to run down new customers altogether.

Improve Your People Skills. This may seem a little backwards, but many people are attracted to who you are and how you treat them rather than what you do. Certainly there are people who do business with you strictly based on your depth of knowledge. But, most people do business with you because of who you are. How you present yourself, how you make them feel as well as the results you deliver. Unfortunately, many of us focus on perfecting our craft and never spend any time on other important skills, namely how you communicate about what you do. Having strong technical skills and great product knowledge is extremely helpful; however, simply being knowledgeable and skillful isn't enough.

For example, I'm willing to bet we all know of someone who is an absolute fountain of knowledge and skill when it comes to what they do. And yet, they struggle to stay in business due to a lack of clients. In contrast, we've also known professionals who really aren’t that strong technically but have built and sustained a large book of business. The reason, of course, is that clients were attracted to them for who they were, more so than what they knew.

So, how do you maximize "Who You Are?"

Maximize and amplify who you are by continually improving your communication skills, your social skills, and integrity. Who you are is defined by your people skills. Good people skills mean you…

• Communicate clearly and cleanly
• Are authentic and relatable
• Do what you say you’re going to do
• Are professional in attitude and manner
• Have a positive attitude
• Take an interest in others
• Treat people with respect

The easiest way to improve is by simply being more mindful in each of these areas. Just drawing your attention to a few aspects of good people skills and surprisingly you will begin to improve. Ask people around you to help. Ask your spouse or significant other. (Hey! They're always hoping to improve us anyway, right?) Ask your VIP clients. Ask a fellow professional. Tell them you're working to improve your people skills and ask

• Which people skills they feel you're really good at
• Which ones they feel would be candidates for improvement
• Ask them to point out to you any actions or reactions that represent opportunities for improvement as they arise.

Not only will people who care about you be happy to help, but also they will respect you for your efforts.

Use media to attract your ideal customers. The reality is when you are in your salon behind your chair, you’re only meeting those people who come into your business. Most people in your city never get to experience your salon and those people skills you possess. The result? If you try to get clients from behind your chair, you end up having to pursue them. On the other hand, when you get out and utilize the power of video and social media, you allow people to interact with you, and you end up attracting them to your studio. Create a great video series that includes; an intro video, a video of your salon, a testimony video from your clients, and a video that highlights what you specialize in and the kind of results you deliver. As you create these videos, share them and put them in places where your potential customers can find them:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Youtube
• Your blog or website
• Send and share links in a newsletter, text or email      

If you want more proven ways to attract more clients to your business, click here to download my FREE ebook “The 21 Most Powerful Ways to Attract Steady Clients” and start getting more clients today.

About the Blogger: Alex B. Jones, M.B.A. is a Client Attraction Expert & Salon Suite Business Coach who helps salon suite owners, booth renters and independent contractors get more clients and make more money so they can finally live their dreams. He also owner of Revive Salon at Sola Salon Studios in Charlotte, NC.  For more from Alex B. Jones, Salon Suite Business Coach, please visit alexbjones.com.