Dear Larry, I am a co-owner of a Salon. I attended three of your classes recently and wanted to thank you for all of the information you provided. I bought into this salon in June of 2007. I have a year and a half of business and accounting education as well, but I really only had a slight clue of what I was getting myself into.
Back to thanking you...All of the information provided in your classes answered so many questions I had in the back of my head that I kept forgetting to write down and get answered. Not only did you help clarify many things, you inspired me to get back on track with all of my goals, business and personal. I have always known I will be successful. However, sometimes I get caught up with what I am currently doing and forget that what I'm currently doing isn't enough. I want to keep pushing through locked doors and realizing my potential more and more everyday.
OK, I'll stop the mushy, inspired speech now and let you get back to a busy day. Just one last thing...I was wondering if you could e-mail me the prebooking slide you showed during the "understanding financial statements" class. Again, thank you so much! Donna
Donna, thank you for your kind comments. I am very pleased to hear that you understand the importance of being a business person first. Many times in dealing with salons, they are so caught up in the artistic side, that they forget that the way to be the best for their clients is to have a successful business. I’m glad I was able to help you, as you said, “get back on track.” You asked for the handout I did on prebooking. I am attaching that for you.
From the prebooking standpoint, I have a couple ideas that have worked very well to increase prebooking. One of them is a simple fishbowl. We have had a couple clients that put out a fishbowl, and every time you prebook you can put your name into the fishbowl. The promotion lasted a couple months and I believe they drew out one name that received free services for a year. This might seem like a lot. They put a cap on it at $600-$800. But, the technique really increased the prebooking. In addition, this is very easy to put together and not very costly.
Another promotion that seemed to work very well, that I found to be very attractive, was a salon put up on all their stations, a very nice picture of an iPod. Underneath this very nice picture of the iPod, was a sign that said, “Ask how you can get a free iPod.” This was at the front desk and all the stations. This caused some chatter and of course, to receive a free iPod you had to prebook and then they had a drawing from those people who had prebooked.
I hope these ideas are good for you. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do for you. By specializing in salons and spas and working with hundreds of salons throughout the United States, we have been able to help our clients to achieve their potential.
It is a pleasure serving you.
From the prebooking standpoint, I have a couple ideas that have worked very well to increase prebooking. One of them is a simple fishbowl. We have had a couple clients that put out a fishbowl, and every time you prebook you can put your name into the fishbowl. The promotion lasted a couple months and I believe they drew out one name that received free services for a year. This might seem like a lot. They put a cap on it at $600-$800. But, the technique really increased the prebooking. In addition, this is very easy to put together and not very costly.
Another promotion that seemed to work very well, that I found to be very attractive, was a salon put up on all their stations, a very nice picture of an iPod. Underneath this very nice picture of the iPod, was a sign that said, “Ask how you can get a free iPod.” This was at the front desk and all the stations. This caused some chatter and of course, to receive a free iPod you had to prebook and then they had a drawing from those people who had prebooked.
I hope these ideas are good for you. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do for you. By specializing in salons and spas and working with hundreds of salons throughout the United States, we have been able to help our clients to achieve their potential.
It is a pleasure serving you.
Larry Kopsa CPA
