Five
Ways to Drive Away Customers
My last
post discussed wonderful ‘dos’ to grow your business. I thought today’s article
would serve as more of a “don’ts” list.
My
career with Eminence, year after year is becoming more and more of a consulting
position. With over six years under my belt as an educator and support resource
for over a hundred spas, I can quickly identify ‘red flags’ that commonly come
up over and over in businesses that are struggling.
I am
held accountable to the success of my spas, and many of my partners have noted
a shift in my trainings and communications. I now openly discuss goals,
business plans, and forecast numbers with those whom I feel would be receptive.
The benefit gained from making ‘numbers’ an open topic has been surprising and
rewarding, and it is my goal to address sales numbers with each and every one
of my partners.
One can
naturally conclude that if I have a business meeting with a client who’s
numbers are progressively dropping, a trouble-shooting session must follow. I have
decided to share the top five mistakes that are I frequently encounter. For
those of you reading, please understand that if you find yourself practicing
some of these not-so-great habits, it doesn’t necessarily mean your business is
sinking, but it could hi-light an area that can be improved. And as we all
know, businesses should be ever-evolving, growing and learning!
Please
note that these “bad habits” are not listed in any particular importance:
Five
Ways to Drive Away Business:
1)
Don’t
answer the phone or put aside hiring a receptionist. This is a surefire way to
lose new business. And yes, I know many spas offer online booking, but there is
still a need to offer call-in appointments. Returning client calls still doesn’t recover
the lost new clients that may not have had the patience to leave a message.
Here’s a simple exercise to understand how this impacts your business: Count
how many missed calls you have in a week from new clients or possible new
clients, include those who left messages and those who didn’t. Then count how
many new client appointments you actually made that week. Compare that to the
total amount of missed calls. This will give you a ballpark idea of how many
potential customers didn’t schedule appointments. Remember that when a customer
calls, chances are they have already surfed your website and are ready to book.
All those missed calls, stack up over time and so does the lost revenue.
2)
Allow
high turnover in your spa. This is a terrible thing to happen to your business!
Customers, colleagues, and vendors catch on quickly, creating a word-of-mouth
nightmare. Once your business has established a reputation of high turnover, recovering
the faith of your customers and future business associates can be very
difficult. The root cause of staff
turnover lies within the owners and management of the spa, and not in the
ever-revolving employees. I will say, in my personal experience, this is also
the most difficult problem to confront, as usually it requires that I advise a
business owner that her/his fundamental business ethics make people want to
leave. I feel however, that this problem is a profound concern for some of my
clients and for all businesses everywhere. I promise to dedicate a new blog in
the near future to addressing this in more detail. For now, spa owners that are
experiencing frequent turnover, take a day to revise your workplace behavior,
communication style, management style, and commission structure. These are the
top complaints from staff members who leave high turnover spas.
3)
Become
a bargain shopper’s haven. The basic
mistake here is the idea that offering discounts arbitrarily, giving lots of
free samples, and having a generous return policy will grow your business. It
will not. In fact, these kinds of business maneuvers will bring low quality
customers with very high demands. Consider the message that you are sending the
customer, “I’m just not worth paying full price.” Even a clever discount
promotion can backfire. When I was just starting out as a single esthetician, I
offered $50 facials on Mondays, to fill the usually slow day. I adopted the
policy at the spa owner’s advice. Within a month, I was booked solid on Mondays,
and customers complained that I couldn’t fit them in for their discount
facial. Clients who were previously
happy to pay full price, began to try to fit themselves in on Mondays to save
money. Monday clients who could not be fit in, began to insist that they be fit
in on any available day but pay only $50! They felt entitled to the discount
simply because they had come in on a Monday before I was completely booked. It
turned into a disaster that I had to cancel.
4)
Blame
the economy. If I had a $10 for each time I’ve heard a business owner use the
economy as a scapegoat for their business’ decline, I’d have enough for a month
vacation. The economy is just another variable in the ever changing world of
business. It is not the reason any business fails or grows. Simply, it forces
us to change our tactics and seek out new strategies. Trust me, dear readers, I
work with many businesses that have done better in the past few years, than
ever before.
5)
Focus
on the competition and resent their success. If your business is doing well,
why do you honestly care what the neighboring spa is up to? Competing businesses
are not a threat, instead, see them as a resource for new ideas. Additionally,
consider that the poor attitude and contempt one holds towards competing
businesses will inevitably shine through to your staff and customers.
Negativity like this is poisonous to the heart of your business and can easily
create a hostile environment. Drop that nasty baggage and tune into what your
neighbors are up to. It’s good to know community trends, and what customers are
saying about them on Yelp/Citysearch. Consider it an extra source of business
research.
As always,
I am happy to chat with readers regarding any of these issues and am open to
any insight you would like to add. Feel free to email me at dianaskincare@gmail.com.
Thank
you for reading!
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