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There has never been a better time to plan a client evening at your salon. If planned well these salon events can really help you to generate new business and sell more products than ever before! Here are our top tips for planning the perfect salon event evening.
1. What's the reason for the salon event?
There are so many reasons to plan an event, from seasonal events like Christmas and New Year, new product launches or treatment demonstrations. Launching new products in your salon is always incredibly exciting, be sure you're prepared to answer any questions that your customers might have on the night.
2. Prepare your salon
Split your salon into different areas on the night, with at least one member of your team dedicated to each area. We've found the below split to be highly effective:
- Straighten (Cloud Nine Irons, Hot Tools Evolve)
- Curls & Volume (Hot Tools Curl Bars, Cloud Nine Curling Wands, Neal & Wolf Amplify)
- Consultation Area
- Troubleshooting
Also ensure that the salon is spotless; first impressions are everything!
3. Have a budget for the night
Make sure you know how much you can afford to spend on the event. You want to impress your clients, but you also need to make a profit. Prosecco on reception always goes down a treat!
4. Timing is everything
You know your clients best, but we've found that Tuesday evenings between 6pm and 8:30pm work well.
5. Stock up!
It might sound obvious, but make sure you have enough stock to cater for all of the potential buyers at your event. There's nothing worse than losing sales because you have sold out of a product.
6. Send out invites
Prepare your invitations and select who you want to invite. Invites can be sent by post, email, text, social media or handed out in the salon - don't limit yourself to one channel! Create some VIP invitations for 10 of your regular best clients and ask them to bring 10 friends that aren’t customers. Did you know clients are twice as likely to try a new hair treatment or product if friends or family members recommend it. Finally, Make sure you have permission to contact your customer list under GDPR rules.
7. Set goals and expectations with your team
What is your goal for the evening? Is it how many new clients you'll sign-up, or how many products you'll sell? Split the targets between your team and incentivize them to beat them! Normal expectations for 20 potential clients would be 10 to buy products, 5 to book appointment, and 5 to buy electrical products.
8. On the night
The night is where all your planning pays off. Great your visitors with drinks on arrival, talk about what's going on in the salon and highlight the different areas that are running. Some other ideas to make the night a success are:
- Have a competition to win a prize – put raffle tickets under chairs or have a free draw you decide the prize
- Offer a 10% discount on products and treatments
- Show off your product knowledge, highlighting all the great reasons someone should buy something and try a new treatment
- Don't forget to ask people for feedback when they're leaving. A feedback form that also captures marketing permissions is highly effective
After the event use social media to spread to the word of the winners from the raffle.
9. Rinse & Repeat
After the event make sure you spend some time reviewing what went well and what could have gone better. Did you achieve all of your goals? Did you stay within budget? and most of all, did you have fun? Use this information to plan your next event!