The service industry is one of the most affected by the restrictions when the pandemic hits. The same is true for salons. In fact, in one survey, 17% of respondents in the United States were hesitant about getting a haircut at a salon when businesses reopened. It is a no-brainer that these kinds of service businesses fail when the pandemic hits because of the close physical contact with customers needed to provide their services.
Restrictions are also put up by the government to lower the risk of transmission of the disease. Most salons do not have a choice but to close their businesses because of these prolonged restrictions.
Some salons are able to keep their businesses and have found ways to still grow their customer base even during the pandemic. You can seek the help of professionals at Zensoft to help you manage your salon business efficiently in these trying times.
It pays to be creative in these challenging times because your business depends on it. It is a good thing to remember that your customers are still in their homes waiting for the restrictions to be lifted to avail of your products and services. It is a silver lining that you can hold on to in these challenging times. The only thing that you should work on is how to keep their loyalty to your salon business, and not look for other ones when restrictions are lifted when they can go to salons.
Here are some ways how you can grow your customer base even during the pandemic:
Minimize physical contact
If your locality allows for salon businesses to open, then that is great news. Needless to say, you should work on minimizing physical contact between your customers as well as your staff. This may take some amount of effort as well as a financial investment, but this would help your business be a safe space for your clients.
Investing in equipment to help keep your salon safe from the virus will help your customers trust your salon and encourage more customers to visit your salon even during the pandemic.
Some ways you could limit physical contact between your clients and your staff would be to require booking your appointments ahead of time. This would give you time to screen your clients and let them sign a waiver, helping protect your business against untoward incidents. Also, these would eliminate the need for them to write at any shared clipboard or tablet within your salon, minimizing touch contact.
You can also offer contactless payment by setting up a system where your clients could pay online, either via any digital service or bank transfers.
Push your retail products
Shampoo, conditioner, hair color, nail polish, waxing kits, and all products used within your salon can be retailed for a certain price. If your salon cannot be opened to provide service to your customers, then your next move would be to retail the products that your experts use in your salon. It is a great way to keep in touch with your existing clients as they know that your products are worth the price.
You could leverage that your customers would want the salon experience inside of their homes when they cannot go out to pamper themselves. So you can market the shampoos, hair color, or waxing kit that you use inside your salon and package it in a home-friendly kit so that your customers would be able to purchase and use them at their homes.
Not only that, but you could also use this as a form of engagement through your social media accounts by providing tutorials on how to use these retail products effectively as a do-it-yourself kit. By offering your retail products to your customers, you’re keeping them loyal to your salon business, and you’re also gaining profit even if you are not able to provide physical services to your customers.
Create a reopening waitlist
Everybody cannot wait to go back to other normal lives and avail of salon services to be pampered. If you know that your locality is soon opening up its doors to normal business transactions, then it is best to create a reopening waitlist to draw customers that are willing to get or avail your products and services once your doors reopen.
You will know how many people you are expecting on the first day you reopen, and you will be sure that you have a steady stream of customers for the days to come.
By creating a reopening waitlist, you are also whetting the appetite of your customers to the services they could avail of once the restrictions are lifted. With the reopening waitlist, you could also offer a reopening discount, further exciting your client to avail of your services.
Keep your service menu short
By keeping your service menu short, you are making sure that you are providing quality service and that you are able to keep up with the changing demand.
It is not every day that people are flocking your salon during the pandemic, that is why keeping a shortlist of your most demanded service would be a great idea to keep costs low and profit high. Having your most sought-after services available during the pandemic will make sure that you have the specific staff on hand to do the service and not waste your resources on services that will not be available that often.
Keeping your service menu short is especially helpful when the foot traffic is low because you are sure not to waste your resources when there are not enough people to avail them.
Another way to do this is to ask your customers to book ahead of time and ask them what services they would like to avail. This way you could prepare the needed products as well as prepare your staff as to what they will be doing on a certain day.
Maximize your online presence
During the pandemic, everybody has no choice but to stay at home, but your business should still be thriving if you keep your online presence alive and kicking.
Maximizing your online presence means having your website up and running and being active on your social media accounts. This way you could still be in touch with your existing customers and start creating a list of new ones.
One way to maximize your online presence is to make sure you are engaging your prospective clients online. Some ways you can do this is to create tutorials on how you could use retail products as a DIY home kit.