KEEP AFLOAT THROUGH UNCERTAIN TIMES
Diversify your offering and stay connected with your clients to sustain sales during these times of uncertainty and isolation. Consider providing your clients with professional home hair consultation services in the comfort of their own home.
This guide gives you all the information you will need to quickly and easily enable a professional hair consultancy service during the downtime from your salon, operating from either your home or salon. Available with this guide are the following materials and assets to help you bring this service to life, quickly and professionally:
- Strategies and supporting assets to promote your new service offering and get the word out to your network
- Solutions for frequently asked hair concerns and retail product recommendations in our Quick Guide to Professional Home Haircare Services
- Supporting hair how-to guides for you to share with your clients
Professional Home Hair Consultation Services
PLAN YOUR PROGRAM
So you've decided to offer a Home Thairapy service during this time. First and foremost, you will need to consider your pricing strategy and your target audiences. Here are a few ideas for consideration:
PRICING STRATEGY IDEAS
- Complimentary consultation with the purchase of retail product from your salon
- Charge a nominal amount i.e. $5 which is then redeemable on the purchase of retail products in the salon once you have re-opened
- No strings attached, complimentary service to assist in customer retention during this period
TARGET AUDIENCES
How you determine the best consultation and communication approach with your clients will depend on the level of relationship you have with them:
- VIP Clients - As you know your loyal clients’ every hair need, why not reach out to them with your pre-determined recommendation and regime that they should be following whilst they are prevented from coming into your salon. It is likely that your clients will want to take your advice and purchase the products and regime you recommend so that once they are able to sit back in your chair, their hair has been maintained and they can resume their usual hair services right away.
- Existing & New Clients - You may not see your existing clients as regularly as your VIP clients and it is always recommended that a one-on-one consultation is conducted for any new clients or those who you may not see as regularly so that the best course of action can be determined for their specific needs.
Step 1: Promote Your Service
Advise your valued clients, friends and family of your new professional hair consultancy service to support their hair needs whilst in isolation. Encourage your clients to utilise your salon booking system to make their appointments as they usually would. Promote your new offering on all of your salon channels to ensure the message gets out promptly:
- Direct: telephone, text message, email or direct message on Instagram or Facebook.
- Online:
- Social Media: In-feed posts, stories to your Instagram or Facebook accounts. Consider adding information to your highlights reel or recording a consultation and sharing it so others can see how it works
- Website: Ensure your website has been updated with communication to reflect this new service offering
Ensure that you are consistently spreading word of your new service, consider creating a communications plan/calendar with content ideas to include in your communications. For example:
We are excited to launch our new Home Hair Consultation Service!
- Hair feeling a little lifeless? Ask us for our hair detox ideas.
- Banish those brassy tones with our range of product ideas.
- Grey starting to show? We have some easy home solutions…
- Step away from the supermarket box colour. We have colour fade tips to get you through.
Step 2: Communicate with your clients
Contact your client to set a convenient date and time to chat to them or to conduct their personalised consultation. This could easily be done via email, text message or DM.
Here are some ideas on how to get in contact with each of your clients both VIP and existing and current clients.
As new requests start coming in for your home hair consultation service, have a templated reply prepared. This will save you time and allow you to efficiently understand the hair concerns of your clients.
If they select 2 and want to know what types of services you are offering, send them back this quick questionnaire. This numbering system marries up to the solutions in our Quick Guide To Professional Home Haircare Service.
Step 3: Prepare
Start to prepare the recommendations for your clients based on their specific hair needs. Please reference our Quick Guide To Professional Home Haircare Services which outlines the most frequently asked for hair concerns as well as the products and How-To guides available to you as part of this guide.
Step 4: Communicate with your clients
The consultation could be done via FaceTime, Skype, House Party or a conferencing platform such as Zoom. We recommend you video chat with your client so that they can get the most out of your consultation. The service should take about 5-10 minutes depending on how many questions or concerns your customer has.
- Call your client for their one-on-one professional consultation armed with the information, how-to guides and product recommendations based on their initial hair concerns or your pre-existing knowledge of their hair condition.
Tip: If you are consulting live, we recommend the client video chats in natural light so that you can determine the colour, quality, texture of their hair. - Provide your recommendation on a selection of retail products that provide appropriate solutions to their hair concerns and encourage that you take payment for their package prior to the end of the call
- Package up your recommended retail products and prepare to ship to your customer. Considering sending samples with their order to encourage your clients to try a new product. Work with your Haircare Representative to discuss access to samples.
Step 5: FOLLOW Up
Share relevant How-To guides with your client as they relate to your recommended service. Reconnect once the client has received their retail products to provide additional support for product use.
We recommend this frequency of contact:
- 1 week after your client has been using their recommended products – check in ensure they are happy with their regime and products
- 3 weeks after your client has been using their recommended products – do a further check in to ensure they are getting the most out of their products and if they have any further concerns that you can help address. This may open up further hair concerns that they have discovered and lead to more retail sales.
When you re-open your salon, or isolation restrictions ease, contact your clients and offer them your first available appointments as a reward for supporting and being loyal clients during this period.
Resources
Home Thairapy: Professional Home Haircare Consultation Services
Quick Guide to Professional Home Haircare Services
For further support and assistance with this service, feel free to contact us.
