Salon Client Acquisition: Do you pick your clients or do they pick you?

Whether you need to grow your client base or you are looking for salon marketing strategies to keep in your back pocket in case of a slowdown, remember that there is more than one way to find the clients you need to fill up your books.

There are two ways to approach the challenge of building a strong client base in a salon. Neither is wrong and both might work. The question is: Should you choose your clients – or should they choose you?

“If you build it, they will come.”
(From the movie, Field of Dreams)

Many times business owners seem to believe they have a slam-dunk business proposition only to find out that attracting customers requires more than just setting up, opening the doors and hanging out their shingle. If you are getting ready to open a new salon, lease a salon suite or plan to work as a booth renter or another independent beauty pro, it’s important that you have a strategy in mind for building your salon client base.

You might have a clear idea of the types of clients you are best-suited to please; if so, choosing your clients might be the right approach in building your business. If not, getting clients to choose you could not only help you grow your salon business, but also help in defining your brand.

1. Grow by attracting ideal client types to your salon.

This strategy is probably right for your salon or for you as a hairdresser, salon suite owner, booth renter or other independent beauty pro if:

  • you are evolving your client base (letting clients go that aren’t right for you – and vice versa – or just rounding out the books)
  • you have strong specialty services that are only right for certain types of clients
  • you have a strong brand identity and vibe (such as a downtown gentleman’s club, salon with a strong stylistic interior, business with the ambience and pricing reflective of an upscale luxury dayspa feel, etc.)

2. Grow by finding client types you want to choose you.

If you are just starting out or your salon’s brand identity is more general in nature, you can grow your salon by discovering client types who are represented within your community and getting them to choose you.

You may not have an ideal client type in mind yet (and that’s ok) or you may truly envision yourself and your salon as a business that many different types of clients would enjoy. You might also live in an area where your ideal client types are simply not represented in the numbers that will allow you to be profitable or grow your salon quickly enough.

Salon Client Acquisition Strategies: If you need to build a client base for your salon or for yourself as a hairdresser, booth renter, salon suite owner or some other type of independent beauty pro, here are some places to start.

Discover population segments in your area. A lot of salon pros rely on their own instincts and what they, themselves prefer when it comes to their logo, name, website, décor, ambience, etc. This might work out OK if there are a lot of people just like them in the area, but might not work out so well if they really need to attract people who don’t share their likes and dislikes.

You can find out about the types of people who live in your county, city, zip code and neighborhood fairly easily. The US Census Bureau publishes data about area demographics including household sizes, types, median income levels and other characteristics which could give you an idea of larger target audiences that might be right for your salon.

Another great tool for discovering potential client types for you salon is Nielsen’s PRIZM tool. Simply enter your business’s zip code and get instant information about different types of people that live in your area. For instance, today I’m in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Entering the FDL zip code, 54935, brings up charts with:

  • Households by income
  • Household composition
  • Population by age
  • Population by gender and ethnicity

With this type of information at hand, I can then research whether there are salons that are specializing in serving different target audiences or where there could be underserved segments of the local population.

That’s a good place to start, but the PRIZM tool does even more. It provides information about the most populous segments broken down by personas. In this case, that includes:

  • Boomtown Singles (lower mid/middle aged without kids)
  • Family Thrifts (lower mid/younger with kids)
  • Middleburg Managers (upper mid/older without kids)
  • Mobility Blues (downscale middle age without kids)
  • Sunset City Blues (lower/mid older, mostly without kids)

Given that four of the top five segments of the population are mostly households without kids, back to school offers or family-size packages might not help attract clients, but marketing on convenience or staying open later hours to accommodate working professionals could help to attract some of these types of clients. On the other hand, additional research might indicate that family thrifts are underserved and a kid’s salon might be a welcome – and profitable – addition to the community.

“If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain.”

If your salon client acquisition strategy isn’t working, you can’t expect a different result by continuing to apply the same tactics. If your client base isn’t growing, or isn’t growing fast enough, don’t be afraid to take a look out into the community in order to identify new target markets to help build your client base.

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  1. […] Whether you need to grow your client base or you are looking for a salon marketing strategy to keep in your back pocket in case of a slowdown, remember that there is more than one way to find the clients you need to fill up your books.  […]

  2. […] There are two ways to approach the challenge of building a strong client base in a salon. Neither is wrong and both might work. The question is: Should you choose your clients – or should they choose you?  […]

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