Archive for January, 2011

What makes a potential client decide to come to your salon or clinic as opposed to your competition down the road? What makes you stand out from the crowd? What’s your USP? (Unique Selling Proposition), what makes you different to them? Have you ever thought to ask: “Why should a customer come to us? What makes us different? What are we doing that’s specifically different to my competition?”If you don’t know, then it’s time to find out…Try this for your next staff meeting: Ask your team: “What 3 things do we do at our salon that is different and unique to all the other Salons in our area?”And if you can’t think of any, try this it works for Hair, Beauty or Spa:”What 3 things could we do that is different and unique to all the other Salons in our area?”Brainstorm this for about 10 – 15 minutes, remember the brainstorming rules: no idea is a silly idea. Write everything down. Then take 2 or 3 of the best ideas and expand on them.

Let them evolve, what more could we add to improve upon them. Example: USP for a Hair Salon: We give every client a chair massage at the basin with our massage chairs…Expanded upon this: We guarantee a minimum 3 minute scalp massage or your service is free… (Use a salon timer to time this and give it to your client to hold)This would be a very simple yet powerful USP, how many times have you heard your client say the scalp massage is the best part of their visit and it was not long enough? And how many times do you rush through this part of the service because you are running late? Remember a relaxed happy client is a spending client. Allowing extra time to do this should increase your retail sales, providing you are recommending products for home use. Whatever you come up with, take the best idea and use it in all of your marketing to let every potential client know why they should come to you and your salon and not your competition down the road.

In the last few years, slowly but steadily, “Naturals Beauty Salon” has created a mark for itself in the world of beauty, across Chennai. Just look at the number of branches that have opened up over the last few years, and you are bound to find a “Naturals” near you! Great, in-the-face marketing strategy I would say!”Naturals” is perhaps the first in the business to open unisex salons and spas across conservative Chennai. Even though all their salons are unisex, rest assured, you do not need to share your space with the opposite sex. Earmarked areas for women and men give you enough privacy. If you are looking for a body massage, hair wash, beauty treatment, blow dry, pedicure or a facial, here’s your one-stop-shop. Their trained stylists are good at hair colouring and qualified to recommend which colour will suit you best. They are also trained to give you a haircut or hair style suitable to your face cut.

If you are looking for a blow dry to add that extra bounce, for the big night out, you are in the right place! If you want to straighten your locks or perm your poker straight hair, it’s always better to go to the expert. Naturals have trained staff to take care of all these services for your crowning glory. Their staff is trained for bridal make-up and hair styling too. So, leave your worries behind, and just book your appointment for the big day. It may be wise to take in their bridal package, where they pamper your skin, remove blackheads, give you regular pedicures, manicures and massages to make sure you “glow” crazy on your special day! They can include waxing, Mehndi, aroma massages and spa facials too, depending on your budget. The staff is friendly, polite and unobtrusive. The ambience is relaxing with soft music playing in the background. Hygenic surroundings, fresh towels and a soothing, lingering fragrance in the air is what make me go back for more! Try their fish pedicure, to remove the dead skin from the feet. Their aloe vera and vegetable peel facials are worth trying. So, whether it’s Anna Nagar, Alwarpet, Besant Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, ECR or Anna Salai, you are sure to find a “Naturals” just down the road! For Skin Care Tips, read HERE

Have you ever considered the value of training employees in the art of giving GREAT service? The biggest complaint I hear from disgruntled clinic/spa owners is that just after providing comprehensive service and ongoing technical training to team members, they up and leave taking all that knowledge with them for the benefit of the next place they work! Unfortunately, there are too many owners with this mindset of scarcity around training. Looking at the issue, we first must acknowledge that this could be a problem, yes, training someone to perform at their best for your business and having them up and leave can be soul destroying if you are looking at it from a victim perspective. Training is not the only answer to a successful business; however it is a very important cog in the wheel. It should be included as part of what you offer as a ‘balanced team focused’ business, and in today’s clinic world we should very definitely be a people (team) focused business. It was Mary Kay Ash that said “People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.”So here are five super reasons to offer regular training to your team: 1 Productivity: ‘is a measure relating a quantity or quality of output to the inputs required to produce it’. Productivity training should help the team work more effectively thus helping the clinic to achieve its long term goals. 2 Culture: ‘is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior’. Training helps develop a culture of learning within the clinic, one of my favorite quotes is ‘knowledge breeds confidence and confidence creates sales’. 3 Quality: ‘Quality is a measure of excellence; quality defines desirable characteristics of a product, a process, or a service’. The team will value the added quality they can give to their clients, and clients will love the added quality they receive from well trained, well informed team members.4 Image: ‘the general impression that something (a person or organization or product) presents to the public’. Ongoing Training and Development helps in creating a better more professional clinic (and industry) image. 5 Profitability: ‘the ability of a firm to generate net income on a consistent basis.’

Training leads to improved profitability and more positive healthy attitudes towards the relationship between educating clients and profitability for the clinic. Of course there are many additional benefits of team training including the development of leadership skills, higher motivation, loyalty (yes it does happen) and better, healthier attitudes amongst your team. Look to your suppliers for specific product training and most of these organizations have some great ideas on the art of selling, some even have programs to help you with this. Consider looking at what other organizations are out there for sales training, the chamber of commerce is a good resource for this, also look at companies specializing in service training programs, and lastly don’t discount industry specific experts as sources of inspiration, these people are generally experienced in the Beauty Industry and are more than willing to share their knowledge with you and your team. Raising the knowledge of you and your team regarding service is a step in the direction of raising the knowledge of the industry as a whole. The last few years of technology has somewhat ‘dehumanized’ the buying experience of your clients and your team (particularly younger members) have rarely been on the receiving end of great service, thus have not experienced the warm feelings that great service can bring. The clinics that recognize the value of pleasing the client and embrace this into the future will be the ones to reap the rewards that great service can bring. Just a quick note on technical training, think about this; better educated therapists means better educated clients, and clients these days that are better educated are more inclined to spend their money knowing exactly what they are spending it on. Let’s face it, with the availability of the internet with its plethora of beauty advice and knowledge, you better be up with the play or your clients could end up being better educated than you! Oh and one last thought… Whilst understanding the real fear of clinic owners of when they train their team in giving GREAT service they then leave, Please Consider the implication to your Clients and business of NOT training them and they stay!

Modernity is a boon as well as a curse in itself and for whole humanity. It can be said to be a boon as it has made life easier with its all round advancement and a curse as the growing modernity has increased a lot of stress, diseases, pre ageing leading to a harmful effect over the health. Medication is not only expensive but at the same time has side effects, no sure cure and return of the old problem over time. Precaution is better than cure is what we are taught from a base level and now it’s the high time to follow this most valuable advice of bygone era. So if we follow modern medication as precaution it will only lead to depletion of health with its side effects but this is the exact focal point where luxury spa resorts outdistance all modern medical sciences when it comes to pre medication. Especially Luxury spa resorts in India enjoy a healthy edge over western spa with its stunning Ayurvedic therapies. As ayurvedic treatments are free of side effects so they are always the need of hour and work wonder over mind as well as body.

A luxury hotel in India is a striking fusion of fashionable beauty salon and Ayurveda which assures a holiday of sparkling self transformation. These beauty enhancement resorts are decked with lavish accommodations, matchless services and praise worthy Indian hospitality. These personality development centers provide various therapies to keep you beautiful, healthy and free of any diseases. The holistic therapies includes facials, herbal treatments, mind relaxation, meditation, yoga, body rejuvenating therapy, hair care, beauty enrichment methods and toxin eradication process. The therapies are also backed with diets naturopathy diets which are rich in fiber, vitamins, proteins and minerals. The luxury spa resorts are always the perfect place to plan a vacation which will not only give you an experience of royalty but will also give you a new avatar to be proud of.