Overcoming Marketing Fear

You wear many hats in your business as a salon studio owner - the artist, assistant, appointment scheduler, inventory person, and everything in between. One of the most important hats we wear, but often do not do very well or consistently, is the chief of marketing and sales. We all know, if you don’t attract enough customers to your salon business, it is very unlikely you will be successful. Yet, according to recent surveys, only 29% of all hairstylists have a clear, written, well-defined marketing strategy to consistently to attract new customers to their business.

So, what’s the problem? 

After coaching hundreds of hairstylists, the most common roadblock that keeps most salon studio owners from marketing themselves and their services is FEAR: fear of rejection; fear of failure; fear of losing money; fear of ridicule or fear of looking silly or foolish. We tend to think the worst about potentially scary situations to keep us from experiencing the bad feelings that COULD come from not getting the results we want. While these fears are understandable, they don’t have to stop your success. Here are a few ways to overcome your fear of marketing.

Reframe Your Outlook on Fear. A great acronym for fear is False Expectations Appearing Real. As it relates to marketing, many of us have some false beliefs about what could happen, or not happen, as a result of our marketing efforts. These false beliefs keep us from taking action. Instead focusing on negative false beliefs of what could happen, reframe how you look at things and focus on your actual marketing efforts and see them as positive. How many people do you talk to daily about your business? How often do you ask for referrals? How often do you recommend additional services and products? You can’t control the outcome, but you can control the effort you make. Congratulate yourself and concentrate on your efforts and you will automatically attract more customers and experience more growth and success in your business.

Don’t Give Fear Power. Understand that fear is neither good nor bad. Fear has no power. Remember, fear is false expectations appearing real. It is simply not real. It is only real to the degree you believe your expectations. The belief you assign to your fears give them power. If you expect clients won’t pay higher prices for your services, they won’t. If you expect the person you just met at the networking event won’t want your services, they won’t. By giving power to the fear they won’t buy leads you to not share what you do. At that moment they couldn’t buy from you. Instead, if you believe that you either achieve your intended goal (them buying your services) or you learn valuable lessons when they don’t, then every outcome, no matter what it is, becomes positive. Always find the silver lining and assign positive thoughts to your expectations.

Use Fear to Make You Better. Finally, fear can actually have a positive effect on you and your success. If there is some outcome that you have been fearful of and you do not want to happen, use that as motivation to do extra planning, preparation and practice. Fearful of making a bad first impression with a potential client? Prepare a script and practice, practice, practice. Fearful of clients telling you “No” when asking for referrals? Research scripts that work, create the materials (referral cards!) to back you up and practice, practice, practice. Want more sales, but don’t want to be pushy? Take a sales training course and you guessed it…practice, practice, practice.

Struggling with how to attract more clients? Would you like step-by-step strategies on building your clientele? Click here to schedule a complimentary Client Attraction Strategy Session.

About the Blogger: Alex B. Jones, M.B.A. is owner of Revive Salon in Sola Charlotte and is a Salon Suite Coach who helps salon suite owners, booth renters and independent contractors get more clients, make more money so they can finally live their dreams.

For more from Alex B. Jones, The Salon Business Coach, please visit alexbjones.com.