Creative ways that 6-figure beauty businesses built their clientele
This summer has been amazing! It would be nice if it could slow down a little...but I’m feeling so grateful and blessed that I can’t complain about the speed at which we’re rushing through it!
Last month I hosted the Beauty Pro Brand Lab - an incredible event about personal branding that I developed specifically for small and medium-scale beauty business owners who want to get really clear about what their brand is saying to the world.
Throughout the course of the week, the 14 brilliant speakers I hosted also talked about all the ways that they’ve built up their clientele as hairstylists, estheticians, waxers, and makeup artists - from the very beginning stages of their businesses, to keeping the momentum going over the years and scaling up their success.
If you’re in the first few years of your business and haven’t got that solid client list…
...if you’re struggling to figure out how to stand out and get known…
...pay attention, this is for you!
Or maybe you’ve been around for a while but you're looking for new places to meet more of the clients that are the right kind of clients - the ones you love...the ones who are obsessed with everything about you and your business. Then today's blog is definitely for you!
I know you hold this hope in your heart: that your next new favorite client might be hiding in plain sight.
Well, guess what...you're right! They are!
Today's blog is a boatload of inspiration from beauty business owners who have been where you are: searching for the best ways to build your client list. These 6-figure success models are sharing their secrets for how they found their most favorite new clients, and how you can do the same. Get ready to open your mind to the possibilities!
Mckenze Trachuk - The Wax Room
Grew through word of mouth and reviews - now has hundreds of five-star reviews!
Mckenze and her team of estheticians at The Wax Room
Mckenze is the owner and founder of The Wax Room, a buzz-worthy wax bar in Surprise, Arizona. She’s passionate about education and advocating self-love and acceptance for every person who enters her doors.
When talking about her marketing, Mckenze says that she’s completely self-taught - she just tried different things to see what works.
And what has worked really, really well for her is word-of-mouth marketing.
She’s been particularly successful within Facebook groups, of all places!
At the beginning, she said she was scared of word-of-mouth marketing. It intimidated her to picture having to ask clients to spread the good word for her. She often wondered, “How does it work? I can’t wrap my mind around it!”
She found the best way to make word-of-mouth marketing work for her was by getting involved with local Facebook groups. In her town, there’s a large military family base and a tight-knit community - and getting involved with their local Facebook group worked wonders for spreading the word of her salon!
Whenever she joins a new Facebook group, she introduces herself and shares about her business. Often, she says, others in the community end up posting about her wax bar on these groups, as well!
Reviews are also a lucrative part of her strategy.
The Wax Room has 191 5-star reviews on Vagaro...and it’s not hard to imagine that this is a huge part of how new clients find her.
How does she get so many rave reviews? She just asks for them!
As happy clients are walking out the door to leave, she says “Leave us a review! Share us on Facebook!”
She also does incentives. For instance, all clients get $5 off their next visit if they leave a review, tag her location, and share on social media.
Giveaways are also pretty big for her. She hosts 1 or 2 a year, so they’re rare and really get people excited, which creates buzz and demand. To enter her giveaway, clients will have to leave a review somewhere, and she’ll select a winner.
Mckenze’s biggest word-of-mouth marketing strategy, though, comes from within the salon.
As she explains, it all comes down to the guest experience: “You have to give them something that goes above and beyond. Most of my clients have never left reviews for any other business, and they felt compelled to leave one for me.”
Now that’s how it’s done!
Laura Symons - Aura The Art of Hair
Connecting with dream clients in-person
Laura is a hairstylist, salon owner, and educator in Texas
Laura owns Aura The Art of Hair Studio, and is also the creator of the The Glass Ceiling Academy, a transformative program for hairstylists to achieve real, sustainable success in their careers.
On top of being a motivational tour-de-force in the beauty industry, Laura is really good at finding and keeping her ideal clients happy and returning to her salon consistently.
From the very beginning of running her salon, she got really clear in her mind which clients were right for her by niching down and being intentional about who “clicked” with her.
Once she knew who she was looking for, she asked one very important question:
“Where would someone that I’m looking for hang out?”
Moving from Canada to Texas and starting her salon from the ground up, she polished her social skills and sales skills to diamond-quality standards - and she’s very savvy about seeking out exactly who she wants in her chair!
She looks for places to go hang out where her ideal client would be: “Whether that’s at the yoga studio, the gym, at church, a networking place. For example, Dallas has a ton of women’s networking events! I’m going to put myself out there, get uncomfortable, and meet people in person. I’m going to talk about myself. Even if I don’t feel confident, I’m going to dress in my power outfit, and I’m going to approach people for the first time and tell them what I do.”
She says that by doing this, you’re building your confidence and making a memorable impression on people.
I asked Laura how she approached people without feeling salesy, and without making them feel like she was trying to sell them something.
She said at the beginning, she was the most awkward human ever! But she got better over time. Here’s how she sometimes does it:
“If I’m at yoga or at the mall, and I see someone with beautiful hair, I’ll approach them and give them a compliment like, ‘You have gorgeous hair! I just wanted to introduce myself, I’m a new stylist in the area. If ever you’re looking for a new hairdresser, I’d love to serve you.’”
She would give them her business card and a perk: a percentage off, a free blowdry, or something else. And the ROI on this kind of move is really impressive...a lot of people have taken her up on her offer.
Laura says that of course she also got some weird looks, but she didn’t care and didn’t have anything to lose: “All I needed was clientele to grow my business. So I had to become fearless.”
Ashley Meltcher - Wax That Ash
Creative and free guerrilla marketing!
Ashley built her clientele for free by being creative, fun, and getting scrappy
Ashley is the owner and founder of Wax That Ash in Santa Monica, California. She’s built a strong reputation on being a talented wax artist (loved by celebs like Tess Holiday), educator, and brand maven.
Ashley rocks a wicked sense of humor and a very popular Instagram account with posts that show off her authenticity and realness, while showcasing her talent and knowledge of waxing and beauty.
She also has some incredible guerilla marketing ideas to attract clients that are SO fun and cool!
I’m in marketing, so I’m privy to a LOT of conversation about client attraction. I use a ton of tools myself, and I consider myself pretty savvy. But I’d NEVER heard of these ideas before - they are so cool and unique!
A few years ago, Ashley split up with her business partner and went out on her own. She didn’t have a huge clientele. Some weeks she only booked 4 people...just enough to pay her rent.
At night, after she finished work, she would text her clients.
“Hey, I’m offering $5 off per review for Google and Yelp. You can get $10 off your service!”
Because it was at night and they weren't doing anything important, clients would just do it immediately.
These days, those reviews are paying off in a big way. Being found on Google has been very lucrative for Ashley.
Here’s another super cool guerilla marketing tactic, and one that the attendees of the Beauty Pro Brand Lab went crazy for:
“When I’m in crowded places like an Airport, at Disney, a Target, or at Starbucks, I Airdrop people things. Whoever’s Airdrop is open around me is not safe! I’ll send them a little ad that says ‘$10 off your next waxing or lash lift’. And it works! I’ve had people message me on Instagram that say ‘hey I got an Airdrop from you, can I book an appointment?’”
And another off-the-wall genius idea from Ashley:
“If I’m ever at a Michael’s or Staples where they have the pen testing place, I’ll always write,‘@waxthatash. Take a picture of this and send it to me for $20 off!’ I’ll do a crazy discount because it’s so happenstance that someone might find that, that I want to reward them.”
And how about marketing yourself during COVID? Here’s what Ashley did:
“During COVID I went onto Vistaprint and spent $10 for cards that said ‘Feeling hairy? For $10 off your next wax use code COVIDBUSH.’ I started putting those in parking lots!”
“There are a ton of ways to get clients and be fun about it without feeling like “this isn’t working” says Ashley. It just takes some creativity. Try some of these ideas yourself, or dream up your own guerilla marketing campaigns!
These ideas are just the beginning!
There are a thousand unique, creative and fun ways to bring your favorite new clients piling through your doors. If you can dream it, you can do it! Start by trying out some of the ideas that the ladies here shared, and then try making up some new ideas yourself!
The most important things to always keep in mind are, who is your ideal client? What do they love? Where do they hang out? What matters most to them in a salon or a wax bar or a spa? And what can you do to bring them through your doors and falling in love with your beauty business?
Once you have the answers to these questions...the sky’s the limit! So get out there and start some guerilla marketing of your own!
Cheering you on every step of the way,
Stephanie xo