subject: The Secret To A Full Appointment Book For Salons And Spas [print this page] Have you ever wondered why some salons and spas seem to enjoy an endless flood of customers pouring into their business, while others seem to struggle to fill their appointment books? What is the secret of these successful salon and spa owners? Answer They make the time to market their business.
The bottom line is that if you are truly serious about growing your business, then you have to put real time aside each week to market it not just run a few token advertisements here and there.
It doesnt take a lot of time, money or resources to market your business effectively. And the good news is, it doesnt have to be difficult. You need to spend 4 to 8 hours on your marketing per week. Some people tell me this is too much time away from their clients (or their business), but if YOURE not working out where next weeks clients are coming from who is?
What you need to look at are the non-essential things that are eating up your time. I call these the leaks in your day. Heres what I mean: if youre spending your valuable time working on the usual issues that come up in the salon every day and making them your priority, thats just fire-fighting. You know what I mean, that sort of day where you were busy all day, but you feel you actually got very little done.
I have a habit of asking two questions of every task I look at during the day. My questions are: 1. Will doing this task get me to where I want to go? By that Im referring to the goals Ive set for myself and my business. 2. Can some-one else look after this task for me?
Both of these questions help me to get my priorities right.
When you have allotted time to your marketing, use this time to set a marketing plan for your business. Once youve taken the time to set up your marketing plan, you can use this as your business road map. By developing your own marketing plan, you ensure that the marketing part of your business will run smoothly and will not be subject to the "spur of the moment" type decision making. This helps you to keep control of your marketing and advertising budget. Marketing your business will then be organized and effective.
Make time to market your business every week, your business depends on it.
