A timely reminder this week that even if we’re still in lockdown, the first big sales opportunity of 2021 looms large on Sunday.
Of course we’re talking Valentines, and even though we might be closed for our core services, that doesn’t mean we can’t sell our products, does it?
In today’s post, I just wanted to explore a few ways you could market your services and perhaps keep the till ringing up sales this week despite being in Lockdown..
Let’s Dive In.
The first thing is pretty obvious, and something most of you will most likely already be offering, which is gift vouchers.
Vouchers have become a vital source of revenue during the restrictions and ideal for locking in clients and revenue for your business so that when you are open, your customers can redeem them…
Valentines is no exception, you can use vouchers to cover various monetary values which is the most common way to do it, but by being imaginative you can also be a little different too.
For example, you can think up some valentines packages which you can create from the treatments you offer and then advertise them as specific valentines vouchers.
This means customers can only redeem those specific packages rather than having a voucher for a random monetary value.
It provides choice for your customer and makes it more of a gift purchase rather than having just a plain old voucher, but it also allows you to make greater profit from each purchase if you design the package right.
It’s also important as the recipient sees it as a gift where the purchaser has put some thought and effort into it, rather than say boring £50 gift voucher, which doesn’t exactly say, “I love you” as much as one for that specific occasion.
Taking It Further
You could even take this step further and partner with another retailer who is not in competition with you, but shares the same target market.
This could be a hair stylist for example if that is something you don’t do already, or even thinking outside the box for a moment, even a local florist?
The idea here is that you can create packages which will include each other’s products, but you both will benefit from each other customer base.
And, if you can provide a voucher for a specific valentines package, together with say a florist, it just says that much more if you can deliver a valentines voucher together with something physical such as flowers, which of course can be delivered together.
Though you don’t have to rely on working directly with a florist if you don’t need to, you can just offer flowers as part of one of your packages if you prefer. It’s just by partnering up it might offer a broader audience and greater value/
Other services you can partner up with is a restaurant, as the hospitality sector is suffering from restrictions too. Why not team up and do a valentines package together?
I’m sure that the owners would love to hear from you with such an idea, and you might get a great deal from them for when they can reopen.
In that same vein, what about a local hotel? As long as they don’t have a spa, you can easily offer something along those same lines, and you never know, this could be a long-term arrangement to provide pamper packages in partnership with not just one hotel, but several.
Thinking Bigger
Another way you can use the package theme is to offer something more than just a valentines gift.
If you are adventurous and think a little bigger, you can offer things like subscription packages.
Subscriptions are a popular trend at the moment and based around the same principle as the idea above, but they represent a higher value and be redeemable over a set time, such as monthly, quaterly, biannually or annually, much in the same way as a gym.
The benefit of this is that not only is it a higher value product, but it future proofs your income to a degree.
Of course, you don’t have to limit its sale only to valentines, but on these occasions when more people are looking for gift ideas means that you should have various products in front of as many people as possible during those high demand times.
Obviously, these come with some caveats which would need to be incorporated in the terms and conditions, but as long as you take precautions and advice, it’s a product line which you can use in your offering.
Double Up
Most salons offer products just for one sex, mostly women, which is understandable.
But what if you could offer treatments for males too?
The idea here is that you could of course offer a valentines package for males. This would typically be purchased by a female who may be a regular customer already and potentially added revenue.
Or you could also offer doubles packages. Male grooming is one of the biggest growth areas in the market right now, and so by offering male treatments along with female treatments it could open up the opportunity to offer additional revenue streams.
I’m thinking skin care and perhaps waxing, but surely it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to come with some couples pampering experiences if you give it some thought.
Along those same lines, you could also cater for same-sex couple too if you think that would be appropriate for your salon too.
These suggestions obviously need to applicable and practical for your business and some may not be appropriate in your situation, however, if you just take a few moments to think about ideas or browse around the internet for a few moments will allow you to conjure up some revenue generating ideas more suited to your business.
The great thing about the above is that you can try ideas out and advertise them when interest is at it’s highest such as on valentines to see what take up is, without a big budget, then simply keep the things that work and ditch the ones that don’t.
Whatever you decide to do as a salon, please don’t think you can’t generate sales even if you are in lockdown, all you need to do is be creative and put it out there on social channels, your email list and wherever else you can get it seen.
The key thing is though is to take some action and think up as many packages as you can and then get them seen by as many customers as possible – you just may be suprised at how many sales you get.
