‘DISCOUNT’ IS NOT A DIRTY WORD By Chrissy Alger
Hello everyone, I am Chrissy Alger - Senior Coach and new recruit for The Zing Project, Salon Coaching… I thought I would introduce myself, given the provocative title of this article- before I explain myself... I am a Salon Owner, Salon Marketer and Salon Coach having successfully ran my own Salon business from start-up- NOT as a technician and purely as someone addicted to business… I am actually a Psychologist, who decided to do something different and venture into the salon industry space under the guise of wanting to do more to promote health, wellbeing and self-confidence (all the things we get when we spend time in a Hair or Beauty Salon).
So here goes…..
Start Up Businesses, are hard work. Especially when you cannot do the work yourself. So, over the years I have had to learn all of the business strategy known to man to keep my business afloat and to stop myself from going bankrupt!
But the problem was, my business was drowning. I had no clients coming through the door, I had no services really being provided that could actually be considered as “devaluing” as quite frankly, there was no-one to even service!! So, I had to think differently.
Not only was I able to scale and grow my Salon Based business exponentially, but I have been able to help other Salon Owners do exactly the same. My methods can be controversial (hence the heading) and are often not liked or slammed in the industry as a “bad idea” or “devaluing service”. But I am here to help you think differently about sales and marketing and to change ‘regular’ thought patterns amongst the industry… Call me a ‘pattern disrupter’ if you like. But my main message is “what got you here, won’t get you there”, so if you want to continue to grow your business and yourself for that matter, you need to be open to new ideas.
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Hair Biz Year 15 Issue 2
‘THE DISCOUNT’ Slammed as the single quickest way to attract a “bargain hunter” or not an “ideal client”, discounting services in order to attract new clientele has often been frowned upon by the Salon industry elite. “NEVER DISCOUNT” was something I heard time and time again when I first started my business.
I had to develop a way to attract clients through the door, and my marketing research told me my ‘offers’ had to be absolutely irresistible in order to entice people to come through my front door. So, I learned all about “Low Barrier to Entry Marketing” and from there, everything changed.
“Low Barrier to Entry” Marketing – What is it? Low Barrier to Entry Marketing is simply a way attracting new clients by limiting any possible barrier to the client getting to know your business.
Whether the client barrier to accessing your service was price point, not understanding how the service would benefit them, believing the service would not benefit them, client indifference or the service access simply was put in the “too hard” or not enough “time” basket, there are a number of reasons why clientele may not access services from you. The Low Barrier To Entry style of marketing aims to reduce all of these typical client objections to make your marketing offering virtually impossible to refuse.
Reducing Price Point AKA ‘The Discount’ The Low Barrier To Entry Marketing Model (LBTE) would prescribe that providing a service for a fraction of the amount you would typically offer this service, is a certain way to attract high volumes of new clientele. It would not be unusual to offer a blow dry for $7 or a colour service for $99 under a promotional offer such as this. The price point is SO unbelievable, that clients are compelled to attend your Salon, it’s a “nobrainer” type of offer. But this is where most business owners get it wrong. The low value price point aims to simply have you “break even” on the service e.g. cover the costs. Your aim, is to make it profitable via upgrading the service and selling retail. Also, the holy grail of LBTE marketing, is that
