04 Nov 3 Tips On How To Increase Sales With Holiday Promotions

Year end holiday sales is the season where you’ll get an increased CASH FLOW when planned and executed properly. You can plan this 60 days in advanced or plan a yearly marketing plan. When planning, you must market your salon with a goal. Don’t copy your competitors’ promotion without understanding the figures involved in a promotion. At the of the day, the figures are the one that shows you what you really made during the campaign. In addition, you must have a campaign that runs all through to Jan and/or Feb. Your promotions does not necessarily have to be that long but your actual cash flow must be in check.

“But…..what if I am fully-booked”?

Marketing is a fundamental aspect of a business irregardless of whether the salon is fully-booked. It acts as information that can translate to additional sales.

Here are my top 3 recommendation on how to increase your holiday sales:

#1 GIFT CARDS

Gift cards are one of the easiest solution to buying a gift for a loved one. With that being said, people do spend more on gift cards during the holiday season. So do sell your gift cards wisely! Don’t sell it too cheap to earn in quantity.

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD NOT do:

• • Buy a gift card at $100 for the value of $200
  • Buy a gift card at $200 and get an extra cash voucher/ gift certificate worth $200

Bear in mind that gift cards don’t usually have an expiry date; this varies with every state and country so it is recommended that you check to ensure that your gift cards are in accordance with the law and legislation. And because most of the time there is no expiry , the people that you are already serving will very well end up buying it for themselves to use. If they do so, they can purchase multiples of  gift cards and enjoying the gift card promo. You will then end up with a lot of clients returning to redeem their gift cards in the month of Jan and/or Feb with little to no cash flow.

Here are your goals when selling gift cards:

(1) Increase your customers’ average spending per visit

(2) Get new clients

The idea behind this is that you would want your customer to spend more by buying a gift card for family and friends. You can start with selling a $100 gift card and decide on a value from $15-$25 extra on top of the amount being paid.

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD do:

• • Buy a gift card at gift card at $100 and get a voucher of $20 for a [high ticket price service/ product].

Always offer a promotion that suits your business best.

#2 PRODUCTS

If you have a lot of products for sale, you can market them for the festivities. Buy 2 products and get the next one at 50% off. On average, you’re giving an approx 16% of each item. Before you decide on your product promotion, understand and get to know the costs of each product. Create a list that you can refer to. This will help you easily determine what promotion is best suited for your business.

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD NOT do:

• • Buy 1  Get 1 Free
  • 1 at 50% off

If you look at it closely, they are both essentially the same type of discount; 50% off on average per product. Depending on what your wholesale pricing is, does this promotion leave you with a profit you’re happy with? Your customers are going to buy 1 product anyway (if they have been buying regularly/intended to buy/persuaded to buy], why not increase their average spend

Here are your goals when selling products :

(1) Encourage customer’s average spend per visit

(2) Clear existing/ old stocks

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD do:

• • Buy 1 Get 1 50% off
  • Buy 2 at 25% off

Again, these two promotions differ but when average out; it is a 25% discount. With these promotions, you’re essentially trying to get them to buy more than one product.

#3 UPSELLING

Cross promoting complementary services or upselling a service is a must!

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD NOT do:

• • Get a full set and receive a refills for free
  • Get a full set and receive a pedicure for free

Don’t ever give out services that requires long time and high ticket services for free.

Here are your goals when upselling :

(1) Increase your clients’ average spend

(2) Cross promote services and/or introduce a higher ticket price complementary service

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD do:

• • Receive complementary nail art on 2 fingers with every full set done
  • Receive a complementary 15 minute leg massage with every spa pedicure done

These promotions will help introduce or push out any high ticket services that your clients have been avoiding due to the price or is simply unaware.