In this video training for Schwarzkopf Professional, in part of the Bring the Boom Back Into Your Business event, I’m sharing how to make more sales and how to promote your salon when you’re back open. This includes promotions to get your clients excited for your re-opening and getting new clients in the door as well to build up your client base.

I also share how you can make more money while you’re closed, if that’s the situation you’re in right now. So if you aren’t sure when you’re opening (which I’m seeing is the case for many businesses) or if your plan is to open in a few weeks from now, it’s time to think about how to inject some cash into your business right now even when your doors are closed.

Whether you are open or closed, this guide is going to be valuable for where you’re at!

How to make money while you’re closed

Most businesses right now are facing one of two problems. Problem number one is how you can make money while your doors are closed. The other problem is for when you’re ready to open up, how you can make sure that you’re making more revenue when clients come in. Let’s chat about the first problem: what to do if you’re not ready or able to open yet.

Cash is king, and we need cash coming into our business now more than ever. There are a few things you can do to sell before your doors even open up. You just have to be willing to try new projects out, and get creative.

Gift cards

The first idea to promote is gift cards. This is the number one way you can make money right now! Creating gift cards for your salon is easy to do and they can be a huge moneymaker even after COVID-19. The easiest way to create and sell gift cards is an app called Square. Square is not only a point of sale platform, but they allow for you to sell both digital and plastic, physical gift cards.

If you are wondering if your clients even want gift cards from you. The answer is yes, they do.

One of the members of my program, Mel from Bare Skin Studio, sold $8,000 in gift cards to clients in the month of April. She sold them all through email marketing, which was the number one way she communicated with her clients during shutdown. Part of the reason her gift cards were so successful is because she got creative and added a bonus on top of them. For example, for a $100 gift card that a client bought, she added a $20 bonus on top of it.

Another incentive for gift cards that several members of my program did last month is to share a bonus of gifting a gift card with every purchase to someone on the front lines to support your local community. So if your client purchases a $100 gift card, you gift them an extra $30 gift card that they can share with a nurse, retail worker, care taker or someone else who could use a “pick me up” during this difficult time.

The key thing I’ve learned about promoting gift cards is this: You have to talk about your gift cards everywhere! Talk about them on your emails, Instagram, stories, and Facebook posts. Don’t by shy to mention them whenever and wherever you communicate with clients.

Pre-selling packages

Right now as business owners, we want the security of consistent income. A great way to do that while closed is to pre-sell packages and services. You can typically do this with on your booking software, by allowing payments through the app, or by setting up an online shop where clients can purchase services and packages from you.

For example, one of the members of my program the Milk & Honey Club decided that she needed cash flow in her business and wanted to fill her books for when she reopens. Julia is a microblading artist in the UK. She made £1500 in 3 days by promoting her packages for clients to pre-book. She included a few bonuses to show her gratitude and to encourage clients to book her services by offering an extra $20 gift card and a small thank you gift in the mail.

Retail sales online

If you can create an online store for retail products that you can sell, it’s an incredible way to make money online while closed. This can be a hub for your gift cards and packages as well! Square is a great place to build your eCommerce store, and it’s a lot easier than you might think.

Before selling online, ask your clients what they want to purchase from you right now. Use social media, send them surveys, and DMs to see what products they could use from you since they aren’t able to get into the salon to see you.

One hot product to offer right now are kits that you can put together with products for your clients. For example, one hair salon owner I know created a toning kit and a conditioning kit for blonde hair. If you’re an esthetician, look at creating a “Facial in a bag” kit. You can create kits with small products in a pouch, or full-sized products in a bundle. It just takes a bit of creativity, and most importantly understanding how you can serve your clients right now.

How to prepare promotions for when your doors are open again

One of the big ideas that many businesses are thinking about right now is how to make the same revenue as before Coronavirus, or more how to generate more revenue per client who comes in. Depending on where you are located, you might have reduced hours or have to space clients out during the day, and that can be a a major concern for cash flow.

The solution here is to get creative with your clients that do come in. How can you make more revenue per client that comes into your business? Now’s the right time to create a strategy for selling more retail products and gift cards from inside your salon, too.

Retail sales

We all know that the basis of retail sales in your salon is about educating your clients about products, instead of just “straight selling” and by genuinely loving the products you’re selling. So I’m not going to harp on that. But selling products in a post-Coronavirus world might require a different strategy.

I would decide on the big 5 retail products that are going to solve problems for your clients right now, and design a selling strategy around that.

Your clients saw the effects of not seeing their hairdresser for months on end (yellow hair, dry winter hair). They saw what happens to their skin or lashes, or brows when they’re unable to come in for their appointments after so long. So I would talk to them about this and the effects during their appointment. Educate them on purple shampoo or conditioning treatments, or skincare products that they could specifically use right now after forgoing treatments for while. Which 5 products would benefit them the most after this unique situation, and what will your story be about each of those products?

Another idea that can work incredible well for selling retail right now is to put together self-care or pampering gift sets. These can be products that go together and complement each other, that your clients can splurge on after a long quarantine. Bundling up products together usually means you’ll want to sell them at a special price. One psychological trick I would use here is to run the promotion as a dollar off promotion instead of a percentage off. Offering a bundle of products with $20 off as opposed to 10% off gives a greater perception of value.

One final promotion you might want to offer for retail sales is this: when clients buy $100 in retail products, they’ll receive a small gift card (for example $10 or $20) that they can gift to a friend or family member for pampering after quarantine. This is a great way to encourage more retail sales, and it gives your clients the generous idea to share something special with their loved ones to come in for some pampering.

Gift card promotions

We’ve already talked about gift card promotions online, but gift cards are honestly something that you should promote even after you open, even if you didn’t offer them before! I’ve chatted with so many business owners who used this pandemic time to make an online store, or to set up gift cards and have realized: this is something I should have done a loooong time ago! And this is something I should continue promoting once I’m back open!

So what can you do to promote more gift cards in store as well? Here’s one simple idea: When your clients come in for their appointments, before they leave tell them that you used the quarantine to set up some new systems in your business. And one of the things you’re now offering is gift cards! You can then ask them if they missed out someone’s birthday or a celebration because of self-isolation, and ask if they’d like to purchase a $50 or $100 gift card for that special someone. Such a simple narrative to use, but it’s a great way of potentially making more sales for each client that comes to visit you.

You might also want to get some small printable promotional cards to put around your salon referring to your gift card promotions. Canva is great for that, and they let you order prints as well!

How to entice your clients with your promotions

Whenever you’re looking at building promotions, whether your business is still closed, or your doors are finally back open, there are a few key elements to keep in mind. Here are some of the best ways to entice your clients with your promotions:

Build anticipation
Create value instead of steeply discounting
Create urgency and scarcity
Use email marketing to sell and reach more people

Build anticipation

When you’re planning to open your doors or launch a promotion, build anticipation with your client base to get them excited about it, before it even happens. This is one of those things that takes a little extra planning, but it really gives your promotions a huge push. Before you actually make a promotion live, give your clients hints about what’s to come. Send them an email asking them to guess the big promo you’re putting together for your grand reopening. Post on Facebook and Instagram telling them that something big is coming on a certain day. You can share countdown timers on your website or in your Instagram Stories to really amp up the excitement.

Another easy way to build up anticipation is simply ask your clients on social: “When I open back up, what’s the first service you’re excited about coming in for?” This gets them thinking about coming in and seeing you, and it lets you know what they’re looking forward to the most. Even if you’re not sure your exact opening date yet, you can still tease them with special offers and hints about what’s to come when your doors are finally back open. This will get them primed and ready to book ASAP!

Create value, don’t discount

This is a promotional formula that my friend and salon business coach Pam Stellema taught me. It’s the perfect way to create promotions that get clients excited, without hurting your pricing integrity or profits.

First, you need to figure out your primary services. These are your higher-priced services and the “headline” services that you want to be known for. If you’re a hairstylist, this might be balayage, cut and style. If you do waxing, this might be a Brazilian wax.

Next step is to decide on which secondary services you can add on to the primary services to create a package. Secondary services are your lower-priced “extra” services. This might be a conditioning treatment, brow wax, or an express pedicure. There’s no one-size-fits-all definition of what your secondary services are, but they will be your less popular, lower priced services that are valuable but don’t cost much to you (often times you can do these services during your primary services).

Use this formula to create packages for your clients: Take one primary service and add on some complementary secondary services onto it. Then create special pricing to add on the extra services as bonuses. This way, you’re not discounting your main services, but you’re adding on something extra that creates value at very little cost to you.

For example:

When you have a facial microdermabrasion for $99, you get a complimentary hand microdermabrasion valued at $75

Free lash and brow tint when you book our signature facial. This package is valued at $145 for only $100

Create urgency and scarcity

The best promotions create excitement because they’re only available for a limited time or for a limited number of clients. You’ve seen the craziness that happens on Black Friday. Would that still be the case of Black Friday lasted all month? Not so much. You’ve also seen the exclusivity that only having a limited number of spots creates: you think “I need to be one of the few people to get this!”.

The same goes for your salon’s promotions! So look at how you can add in some urgency and scarcity.

To create urgency, when planning out your promotions for re-opening, tell your clients you have this package available for the next 7 days and they need to book it before they miss out.

To create scarcity, announce that you have limited spots available. Scarcity is going to be a real issue that salon owners face with social distancing guidelines when they open, so often this is not creating fake scarcity. Just let your clients know how many spots you have available for these packages (or introduce a limit to add in scarcity) and they’ll go like hot cakes.

Use email marketing

I wanted to include this final point, because I think that many business owners forget the power of their own client list. Email marketing is one of the most underrated tools in business. If you have a list of your clients’ email address, please use it, and use it more often than you might feel comfortable with.

I personally recommend sending one email per week to your list. Make your emails fun, personal, heartfelt, and don’t forget to talk about your promotions in them. Your clients truly do want to hear from you, and this is the one place you can reach them during social distancing where you’ve got their full attention.

If you need help sending emails that your clients love reading, check out my blog post here:

The 6 types of emails you need to be sending to your salon clients

In conclusion

Whether your salon will be closed for the next few weeks or months, or whether you’re already back in action, I hope that these promotional tips are useful for you as you look at new ways to generate more revenue.

The key that I’ve learned during this shutdown is to be flexible and adapt to changes, and to make plans for the new reality. The reality is, your clients still need you and are so excited to come in and see you. So let’s look at new ways of serving them, rewarding them, and connecting with them. That means through your promotions, too!