Most salon, clinic and spa owners understand that bad economy means cutting expenses…

You see your competitors falling all around you. You know and understand that you need to lower your cost and lower your budget in order to stay afloat. However, the first mistake in keeping a business alive during tough economic times and global financial crisis is cutting your marketing budget.

Big businesses separate their expenses into those they can control and those that are a necessity. Controllable expenses can include everything from the brand of coffee served in the office to the brand of toilet paper in your restroom. Necessary expenses, well, those they can not be cut in any way. And if you want your business to get through the recession, that includes marketing.

Cutting out your marketing budget is one of the most dangerous things you can do for your business. If you don’t market to the clients that are out there those clients are not going to know the products and services you have to provide to them as a consumer. While the news screams recession not every consumer is without money.

Marketing is the only way you were going to get new clients and keep your profits coming in.

So how do you market in a failing economy? Great question! Marketing in a failing economy where you need to cut expenses simply means marketing harder and marketing smarter.

Old marketing style - sending out mailers (cost $200)
New marketing style -emailing clients (cost $0)

Old marketing style -sending out postcards (cost $100)
New marketing style - phoning your clients (cost $0)

Use low cost options like following up with clients on the phone. Or completely free options like emailing your clients about an offer rather than posting a mail out. Using low-cost or free marketing means you stay afloat because you can reduce your expenses while still keeping clients coming in. Plus if do it well enough, you’ll not just ’stay afloat’, you’ll grow and thrive.

Times of financial struggle are not the proper times to put your business at risk by ceasing all marketing campaigns. These times require innovative thought and ingenuity. You can continue to build your business even if you do not have the marketing budget you use that have. All you need to do is concentrate on low cost and free marketing techniques and you can build your client base despite the news reports of a global financial crisis.

Look around you, are your competitors failing? Maybe they chose their marketing budget as the first place to cut costs! Don’t allow a dip in the economy to cause your business to go under. Perseverance is the key and low cost or free marketing can make it all work.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits. To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter? This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

Well, it’s been a busy but exciting few weeks!

Doug and I have found and booked our reception venue for our wedding next year.  The venue we eventually decided on is just beautiful and the staff there are ever so lovely.

In fact, it’s been quite an interesting experience going around and viewing all these different venues…

All of the venues have been lovely to look at, but what ended up clinching it for us was the staff at the place we booked.  At some places we went to, the staff weren’t overly helpful.  But at the one where we booked, they were so welcoming and ever so helpful.  In fact, even our phone calls to book and sort out the details have been an absolute pleasure.  Their warm and friendly customer service has made the entire experience relaxing, easy and fun (like planning a wedding should be!).

Anyways, it reminded me strongly of how important customer service is in both getting and retaining clients - especially in today’s market where clients are expecting their money to go far further than it used to.

So something to try this week is to record a few of your phone calls then listen back to how they sound.  Most phones and digital cameras have a record function on them so just keep one by the phone and press record when it rings.

Is your tone of voice happy and friendly?  Or is it a bit strained because you’re in a rush?  Are you upbeat and positive?  Or a bit tired cause it been a long day?

Listen back to those phone calls and see what comes across second time round.  Is it how you want to sound?  If yes, fantastic!  If not, then it’s something to work on.

To your success,
Rebecca

Our world is in financial turmoil and businesses small and large are going crazy. More and more people are feeling that the faster the economy declines the harder it is to keep their business afloat. Unfortunately for the small business owner, some of them will fail during these economic tops.

However, some businesses will find the silver lining in the cloud and they will fly.

The businesses that will survive during tough economic times are the ones who employ a successful, ‘get smart’ marketing campaign. These businesses will look at what they are doing everyday, analyze which marketing techniques work and which don’t. Then focus on the marketing techniques that will bring in the profits and those only.

The key to this style of marketing is to not get greedy. Let us say for instance your business does a marketing campaign which includes mailers or flyers. The marketing campaign costs $200 and returned $500 in sales. The total profit for this marketing campaign is $300.

Many businesses may look at this and think ‘gosh, I don’t want to spend the money it will cost me just in case’, or ‘gosh, that isn’t much return’. But the smart ones, look at that profit exponentially.

For example, if you walked into a business and that business owner offered you a tree for $200 but that tree had five hundred $1 bills on it, how many would you buy? Any sane person would buy every tree in the store because with every purchase there is an instant $300 profit.

This is the same way you should look at a marketing campaign that makes you money for your clinic, salon, spa or therapy practice. Though $300 in profit may seem small, if that marketing technique works over and over again those profits will add up.

Now let’s take the same idea and make a bigger…

Your $200 mailing provided $300 in profit. What if you took that mailing an expanded the number of people who received that marketing information? You can focus and even streamline your marketing techniques by sector of the population, age, and economic background.

Sending out the same $200 worth of mailers to a young population with a really good introductory offer for your hair, beauty or alterative health or therapy services will provide your business with $300 in profit. And then you could send out the same set of mailers to an older population with a certain offer discount aiming in that mailer toward the needs they have and again you’ll see $300 in profit.

Do you see the pattern here? The more mailers you send out that make a profit, the more money you’ll have in your bank account and the less you will feel the global financial crisis.

If you want your health or beauty business to succeed in tough economic times, then focus more on what you can do and the profits you can make and less on what the media are saying. This will keep your business alive while others are failing.

With words flying around the well-being business community like ‘global financial crisis’, ‘recession’, and ‘bad economy’ your clinic or practice needs to find a marketing and advertising campaign that fits within your budget and still provides a substantial profit.

Whether you do beauty, therapy, homeopathy, life coaching, hairdressing, or any other any holistic or complementary therapies, you can profit by simply changing your thinking. By thinking that every dollar of revenue above and beyond that which you spend, is a worthy profit. Even smaller profits repeated over and over are nonetheless profits.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits. To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter? This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

Most people feel a buzz of exciting and a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when all the lights, tinsel, and gaily decorated trees come out in the stores, on the streets and in our homes. Bringing that excitement and celebration of Christmas to your business will definitely give both your clients and your income a boost.

Of all the industries out there, the health, hair and beauty industry has the most to gain from the festivities in their salons and clinics. When a beauty therapy salon decks their customer service area out with lights and balls and tinsel and gift bags, it is a real draw to bring business through their doors. Then when hair salons, masseuses and hypnotherapists offer real live gift bags with products that relate to their services, their revenue also increases.

In short, no matter what specific business you have within the industry, the glitz of Christmas will not only bring customers in your door, but it can be the beginning of a long-term relationship in the future.

Christmas brings a sense of excitement and you can play off that to attract more patrons and increase both your service and retail or product revenue. Christmas is a fun time and that is what has to be portrayed to the customer. People like glitter. People like to feel good about where they are. When customers come into a facility that sports hairdressing, tanning, or spa rooms, they come to relax and feel good about the experience. The glitter of Christmas decorations will enhance that experience.

So without consciously even thinking about it, your clients then start wondering if their aunt, or brother or sister might like the gifts you’ve got out on display. And then once they’re in the swing of shopping, they buy more products because it feels good.

Almost anything can be a potential gift but putting items together into gift bags are a fantastic draw to bring in new clients and to increase revenue. Group them together as “his” or “her” products, pop them in a nice bag or box and you’ve got a ready made gift.

Plus if you make sure your label is on everything and if you group together items like a bottle of shampoo, or some beauty cream for the face which the potential gift-receiver might use regularly, they can get hooked on that product and want to return to “buy” the next bottle of shampoo or container of beauty cream themselves later

Celebrate Christmas with all the glitz, glamor and excitement of Christmas decorations. Enjoy the influx of clients and patrons and give away as much as you can to lend yourself as much as possible to the season. Play off it and let the tinsel blow in the wind and the dollar bills flow in.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits. To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter? This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

As a salon, spa or clinic owner, would you like to increase revenue while having fun? If so, why not plan a Christmas party? By following a few simple steps you will have the potential to let more people know who you are, increase your product sales, and grow your business.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure your health, hair or therapy business’s Christmas party is a success…

Firstly, showcase you best selling treatments and services. Set up a testing station to encourage guests to sample your most popular products. Make sure there is someone available to answer questions and to demonstrate how to use various items. Give away small favor bags containing samples of some of your lesser-known products to help your customers become familiar with them.

Introduce potential new clients to your staff by holding a clinic allowing guests to experience some of the hair dressing and/or spa treatments you offer, especially those unique to your establishment.

The second thing you can do to make sure your party is a success is to maximise sales opportunities. Anything that can be given as a gift needs to be available for purchase. Be sure that your inventory is well stocked in advance so that guests can buy everything they sample. Invent creative ways to make your products and services attractive as Christmas gifts. You could also have pre-made gift baskets, decorated with holiday ribbon available for quick and easy gift buying, and set up a gift certificate center with a list of services you offer that can be purchased for that special someone.

Thirdly, make sure to keep it fun. Create a holiday atmosphere with festive decorations, Christmas music, and light refreshments. You want to offer established clients a fresh experience, while making potential clients feel at home as soon as they walk in the door. Plan some simple games and giveaways throughout the evening to keep the energy level up and to encourage positive interaction between customers and employees.

And lastly, get your clients really excited about your Christmas Party. In the weeks leading up to the big event, let everyone who enters your salon/practice/clinic, and those in your community know about your party!

Advertise with posters, flyers, and any other means available. Have your staff personally invite their clients, friends, family, and neighbors. Create a bigger buzz by organizing a door prize as a further incentive for clients to attend. Offer a large prize such as an entire day of treatments or services, and the title of “Queen or King For a Day”.

High revenue and profit in the health, beauty and well-being industry is based on great client relationships and continual sales. A Christmas party is a fantastic (and festive!) way to make progress in both of these areas.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits. To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter? This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

Marketing ideas are adjustable and changeable no matter the sector off business you are aimed toward. The inspiration for a new marketing plan can be derived from just about any business out there that shows they have the resolve to make it in the business world. All it takes is a keen eye and a bit of imagination.

Some of the best businesses to mimic in your marketing choices are the biggest and the brightest. These businesses pay marketers hundreds of thousands of dollars to plan a marketing campaign. These same ideas can be scaled and customized to suit your business and your clientele. This method not only saves you time, but allows you to work with a proven campaign.

If you have ever heard someone singing the McDonald’s song about the Big Mac, you understand how well marketing can be infused into the minds of the consumer. Just because you do not have a Big Mac does not mean you cannot take a theme and lay it to music for your marketing slogan. “I’m Lovin’ It!” for instance was and still is a huge marketing choice for McDonald’s. You just need to choose that slogan that has your customers singing, “I’m Lovin’ It!” too!

In salons, clinics and spas, the well-being of the consumer rests in the services you provide. You need to offer the consumer something more than just a great product however. Today, the flash associated with marketing has reached epic proportions and many small businesses just cannot afford to render a huge marketing ploy the way the larger business can. This is where ingenuity comes into play.

There are three major points to rebirthing a marketing idea from another company. Quickly and easily you can:

1. Assure the results of the marketing campaign
2. Save a massive amount of research time
3. Stop yourself from reinventing something that is clearly already invented

Marketing might not necessarily come naturally to every holistic or care provider, but to achieve high revenues and success, marketing does need to be a big part of your business.

When you market, you take your service to the streets and when you put a tried and true marketing choice in front of them, they will see what you have to offer and come back for more again and again. In order to gain a following you need to assure that customer you are going to take care of them and provide them the health and well-being services your potential clients both want and need.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits. To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter? This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

Doug and I have just gotten back from a long weekend in Paris and I couldn’t be more excited!

Not only did we have a fantastic few days away, but while we were away, Doug proposed! And to celebrate our engagement, I’m doing something I’ve never done before…

This week only you can get your hands on my entire Online Marketing Course, completely FREE, via this incredible offer…

There is simply way too much information to tell you in a short email so I’ve set up a web page where you can find out all about it.
www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/engagementsale

As you’ll see, my Online Marketing Course is normally valued at $1,233.00, but this week you can get it completely free when you join my VIP Gold Membership!

• VIP Gold gives you everything you could possibly need to get your business online including a website, newsletters, coaching calls and marketing templates.
• The Online Marketing Course will help you discover how the power of the Internet can give you the cutting-edge over your competition.

The two together are the ULTIMATE in business building tools for any spa, salon or clinic owner.

No longer do you have to struggle the daily uphill slog that working on your own can be. Discover how to fast-track your marketing, all the while spending less and relaxing more!

Claim your free course today…
www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/engagementsale

To your success!
Rebecca
P.S. Because I’ve been there, experienced how hard it can be and come out the other side with huge success, I’m incredibly passionate about helping you avoid the pain and get straight to the results. That’s why you’ll get personal support and help from my team and me the whole way along your journey to success. My reputation depends on your success so we’ll do absolutely everything we can to get you there. That’s my commitment to you. Now it’s your turn to take the first step.
P.P.S. Remember, this offer is for this week only. So if you want to claim your free Online Marketing Course, you need to get in FAST.

Have you started thinking about Christmas yet? It might be weeks away but if you want to really use the flurry of present buying to your advantage, you’ve simpley GOT to think ahead.

For large clinics and salons, the 6 weeks leading up to Christmas usually bring in over 50% of their ENTIRE years retail product and gift voucher sales.

That’s something to think about! Imagine if you could generate 50% of your annual income in just 6 weeks…

Now you may or may not have a team of people to help you. You may or may not have a large line of retail items to sell. But regardless of your situation, with some advance planning you CAN get in on this.

In fact, even if you don’t have any retail products or items at all you, you can still generate lots of extra income through gift vouchers. You just need to create gift vouchers for your treatments or services, package them up nicely and start talking about them to clients.

If you are short on ideas, my favourite way of packaging vouchers is to

• Get an A4 piece of coloured cardboard
• Pop a slightly larger piece of tissue paper on it
• Put the gift voucher on top of this
• Roll it up
• Tie it with ribbon so it looks like a scroll

I used to use pretty red and gold coloured card and tissue at Christmas time and even used to sprinkle little gold stars into the scroll before rolling it up. Makes for a gorgeous gift that your clients will LOVE to give to friends. And a few of these pre-made on display by the counter, with some Christmas cards surrounding them, makes for a really cheap yet completely effective display!

It might be a bit early yet to be putting your displays up but this ‘calm before the storm’ period is a great one to get prepared…

• Do you have gift vouchers?
• If yes, do you have enough? If no, can you make some?
• Do you have gift packs or baskets of items that go with your services that you can sell at Xmas to clients?
• If no, can you go to the dollar/pound store and get a few baskets & make some?
• Is there somewhere you can create displays of all your Christmas goodies?
• If no or if you travel a lot, can you create a display at home, take a photo and put it on an A3 board to show to clients?

Get thinking early and reap the benefits. Leave it to the last minute and you’ll only get last minute sales.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits.  To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter?  This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

There is a constant debate between long and short-term goals in business.

When it comes to goals, most people want to make as much money in the shortest amount of time as possible. But, just because the sales are flowing does not mean you are establishing the client base that will keep the money running into your doors for years to come.

Sadly far too many businesses in the salon, spa and clinic sector are forced to close their doors every year due to a simple lack of funds. It is not that the demand for their services isn’t there, but usually that these businesses chose short-term instant cash over longer-term client base.

Yes, it’s really important to have sufficient funds right now to carry on doing what you do.  Of course it is.  But it is equally important to ensure you’ve got an eye on the future.  That you are working to build a client list that will sustain you over the years and allow your business to continue to flourish and grow.

In any field that provides a service of the holistic, hair, beauty or well-being sort, the consumer will first enter the doors in interest of what the business has to offer. But clients have options and they can and will be swayed to go elsewhere.

Whether and where they go normally depends on which businesses are doing regular marketing and building relationships with them. Clients can often be fickle in nature and need to be coddled to the point that they will choose your service for years to come because they love the service you provide.

That is the long term goal.

Sure, you can mark down your service price and grab a bunch of clients; take on too much work, make a quick buck and chuck out a quick marketing campaign, but there is a down side to this. If you don’t balance the immediate need for cashflow with building long-term relationships with those clients you could lose out.  The clients can go elsewhere and leave you with a dwindling bank account.

On the flip side of the coin, you can take care of each and every client as if they were the only client in the world. It might take some work, but that client will COME BACK! That client will TELL THEIR FRIENDS! And, that client will be there for years to come while your business grows and expands on an income that is steady and affluent.

Everyone wants to see that bank balance grow. Everyone wants to report a profit at the end of the year. But, in the wellbeing business there is a difference between making fast money and making long money. Long money is the money that is there 10 years from now and a long client base is one that takes time to acquire.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping business owners massively increase their client base and profits.  To get instant access to her free insider secrets report ‘The Top 7 Secrets for Massively Increasing Your Client Base’ visit: http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/freedownload.

© Copyright Rebecca Kepple 2008

Want to use this article on your site or in your newsletter?  This article may be reprinted provided no part thereof is edited in any way and this resource box is included.

I mentioned the other week that we went out to Hanbury Manor for my birthday. It was so relaxing and the location was brilliant.

I’d seen pictures so I have to admit I expected the hotel to be gorgeous (which it was) but what I wasn’t expecting was such a phenomenal overall experience. In fact I’d call the service there truly amazing. Both the hotel and the staff really did go way above and beyond our expectations.

So it got me to thinking… when did you last experience amazing service? And I don’t just mean ‘good’ service. I mean truly amazing service.

Service so amazing that you want to tell others. Service so fantastic that when you enthuse about it, it makes others want to go buy from that business, just to get a taste of it themselves.

Giving amazing service really can transform your business. It turns your clients into raving fans. And raving fans turn their friends into your clients too.

So the question is, are YOU giving “amazing service”?

If yes, fantastic! If no, you should start (by the way, if you’re not sure, then the answer is probably no).

A great way to find out how your service rates, is to have someone mystery shop you.

The easy way is to give a gift voucher to a friend. Then ask them to give it to a friend of theirs, that they trust but you don’t know. Then that friend-of-a-friend can use the voucher to have a totally free service or treatment so long as they write to you after and let you know the ups and the downs.

You may find that they loved things you’ve never even realised you did. Which is great because you can then put more of an emphasis on them. Or you may discover you are missing things you didn’t even know you needed. Which is even better because the second you implement changes, you’ll see more clients returning and more clients referring friends.

PS… The building is obviously exceptional but what really got me was the massive attention to detail. Everything was spotless (literally) and whenever you wanted something, it was just right there. Coming back to the ‘real world’ on the Monday really reinforced what a wonderful experience it was to treasure!

PPS… Hopefully you’ve had an email about how to market your business online at really low cost (and with no technical expertise) but if you haven’t, the link is
http://www.wellbeingbusinesssecrets.com/internetcourse.html. If you’re serious about attracting clients the easy way then take a look today.

This is my Mum outside Hanbury Manor - simply goregous (both my Mum and the manor!)

And this is my family at dinner - rather more formal than our normal dinner together but lots of fun!