The Estes who win aren't discounting harder,
they're planning smarter. Here's how. Hey, today
we're talking about Black Friday in October because
60 % of consumers start looking for deals in
October. This episode, we're going to talk about
offers that work for Estes and how you can roll
it out to your clients. I'm Doreen. I'm a content
and brand strategist and former esthetician.
And I'm Suzanne, Sadesco Certified Esthetician
with over 30 years, former spa owner and now
educator mentor to BUD Pros. And Suzanne, I know
you've probably done lots of Black Friday specials
with your business and it's important. I did
some stat research just to show our listeners
and our viewers, like really people are out there,
they're looking for deals, they start shopping
in October, and they are looking for bargains.
70 % plan to bargain hunt. And if you're thinking,
yeah, they're going to buy TVs or something like
that, actually, year over year, 24 % increase
in spending in beauty and wellness. People are
spending more on themselves too. So this is an
opportunity for us statisticians to take advantage
of. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me that people
are leaning towards that self care. it's been
on the rise the last few years and it's going
more and more and I hear it from people that
I know that maybe they don't do regular facials
or pedicures and that but they're considering
or they're searching more about skin care or
nail care or hair care like they're really diving
in or what's interesting they're trying to find
relaxed and calm when I go especially when she
puts the red light there Like it's really interesting
how people are becoming in this industry beauty
pros are getting more creative and bringing that
self -care into it, which is Exactly how you
can hone in on this new way of life, I guess
Yeah, and it is a great opportunity to like we're
living in a time where the cost of living has
increased and Sometimes that means that the services
luxury or special treat like facials or whatever
are the first things to go. So those are probably
the first things you're looking to get a deal
on because you have missed getting your regular
facials. So I think it is really a great opportunity
for aestheticians to attract some new clients
or keep them as they have or get them back. Yes.
Yeah. And you could get somebody else depending
on what you're doing with your promotions. Absolutely.
My stats that I got were from a Black Friday
consumer study done by the Boston Consulting
Group and they did it country by country and
it said that 64 % of Canadians prefer X % off
of everything or cash back gift card with purchase
type of promos. But today we're going to talk
about a few options that you can offer your clients
as a promo and then how you're going to roll
that out to them as well. Cool. Okay. The first
one is the bonus gift card. This plays into that
self -care. You know, one of the things that
consumers do do a lot of a lot, and I didn't
mention it before, was that they're doing early
holiday shopping, Christmas, holidays, whatever
you celebrate. So it's like two birds, one stone.
Sorry, birds. You know, you can get a gift card
as a gift idea for somebody, but you also can,
as the consumer, then get something for yourself
too. So as the professional can offer, you know,
buy a $100 gift card, get a $25 credit on your
account or your own, another $25 gift card or
whatever it is. I've tried different things over
the years, right, when I had my business. The
one that I started to do is because people of
the spending side of it, of course, they might
cut back a bit. So I looked at if they continued
doing their services, did they receive something
as well? So here's a gift card the month of October,
let's say, or even November could be the promotion.
You're coming in spending X amount of dollars
if you spend in services $150 the month of November
Receive a $25 gift card that you can use for
yourself or regift to anyone else Mm -hmm. I
like that. So that is the services going but
they got something for sticking with it and I
would say that or with a gift card purchase Depending
again how much receive this gift to you. And
you could do like a little post care gift or
something like that. So every year I try to do
something different. Those were probably the
most popular ones. Gift card for a gift card.
It was okay. But I'm like, gift cards are good.
Don't get me wrong. Like I had I did do it one
time. I remember doing that first time because
this isn't new. This is this has been around
forever, and buy a gift card and receive another
gift card. The only thing is, is then all of
a sudden you're bombarded with all these gift
cards. So the money came in early. So if you're
not budgeting for when they're all coming in,
you see what I'm saying? Because then all of
a sudden, January, February, people are using
the gift cards and you have no income coming
because you received all that money beforehand.
So it's just understanding so I would allot it
ahead of time and say okay I would say from history
gift cards are being used 25 % in January 50
% of it comes in February and Usually 10 % don't
even use it. I don't know what those stats are
anymore But just be aware they can still come
back because gift cards do not expire mm -hmm
so it you can do a lot of things I mean you can
have fun with it and play with it and Really,
it's about if you have staff or maybe friends
that you can kind of talk to other beauty pros
that you collab with What would entice them?
You know, what do they think would be interesting?
And I think that is gonna have to be a given
for every business, you know, your demographic,
the time, all that and keeping track of the promos
that you do and then see how they work. So the
first one bonus gift will say so whether you
do a gift card for a gift card or a credit or
you do a service and then you get a credit or
a gift card, there's a few ways that you can
offer that. The second one is retail bundles.
So this again falls into catering to people who
are shopping for early holiday gifts. You could
do this by looking at your top selling products
and then creating your own little gift sets.
I know that a lot of times like distributors
and suppliers will have Christmas gift sets that
you can purchase, but you can also make your
own, I think. It just depends on what you want
to do and... gives you a little bit more control
because you can create these little gift sets.
You can create that scarcity. These are limited
time. They're unique to you. They're not going
to be anywhere else. You can put up a little
cute little gift guide sign with them in your
studio or salon. And yeah, just be able to offer
that as an option versus just a service based
product. Yeah. And really look out there at your
distributors. because they're usually having
some sort of promo in the month can you use any
of those because then they're discounted or maybe
you're getting a free gift with something it
didn't cost you anything so why don't you re
-gift it you know there's other ways to do it
if you can't afford to do that then what can
you afford to do so take a look at do you offer
it at 50 % off as a big you know intensive like
enticing thing even though you're not going to
probably make anything on it but what will you
gain from it? So, you know, there was also another
one that we did was enter a draw. So every service
that they came in for, it didn't matter if it
was a brow wax, it didn't matter if they came
for facial mani -pedi, then they got three, those
are three services, so they got three names in
to draw. And then we pulled out a gift card at,
you know, for before Black Friday that they could
use, they could re -gift or use for themselves.
So for the month of November for the Black Friday
special. Yeah, and then there's a bonus you could
do on Black Friday. We're going to do a second
draw. And maybe that's the gift bundle that you've
come together with, right? I mean, if people
know that Costco is ahead of time, there's Christmas
stuff already. So this is why they're doing it,
is to get you thinking about it, to spend the
money. I always looked at that and thought, wow,
that's amazing that they're that far ahead. Actually,
that's smart because you are looking and you
don't want to miss out. You want to get it before
they sell out. Yeah. So I think with you talking
about like discounting stuff, the consumer study
report that I read said that most people expect
a minimum. a 30 % discount during Black Friday.
So don't give me no 10 % discount. When I see
10 % discount on Black Friday, I'm not stopping.
I'm looking for an actual deal. So I think even
if you do bundle your products, you're going
to get a deal from your distributor, but then
you can discount it. 30 % I would say is the
minimum if you can't afford to discount more
at least go for 30 % and it just comes across
as more of a deal than like 10 % or 20 % Well
and on that note if you purchase the product
from your distributor at your pro price full
pro price Then you're giving them 30 % If you're
getting a discount on that item from your distributor
like could be 20 % could be 30 % So if you mark
it down to 50 % from the actual retail price,
that looks big, but you're not really giving
them 50 % off because you got a deal on it too.
But it looks that way, right? So I know it sounds
deceiving, but it's not. This is how it works.
I mean, if you go out there and you wonder why
that shirt that is on sale on the clearance rack,
well, why is it on there? it's it's how everything
all of that kind of works. Yeah and I think the
end consumer is not going to be like your clients
are going to feel like they're being deceived
they're getting a deal and you're not losing
as much. No yeah I was referring to the beauty
pro the way I was saying it right I don't want
anyone thinking that I'm deceiving anybody it's
just technically that discount you received and
you are passing it on yeah right because otherwise
that cream that cream would be $75 but now you
know what you got it for I don't know 60 and
you can offer it for less than that right so
yeah okay so that's products but another idea
is to do packages that you can promote during
the month of November and then have available
that they can Buy not necessarily but they don't
do book it or do it on Black Friday But it would
be like available for purchase only on Black
Friday and these are killer deals or whatever
But it'd be really good to do a tiered system.
So you have your like entry level It's a good
deal you have for your maybe more regular clients
and you're giving them a little bit of a better
deal it's a little bit of a higher price point
and you've got your VIP and that's going to to
be a little bit more luxurious, a little bit
higher on the price point, but you're also still,
they're still getting a deal as well. And that
gives you kind of, you're hitting every client
category because buyers want value. They don't
just want discounts, right? Like if you, if it
looks like I'm getting a lot, that's gonna be
really appealing. Well, and I think too, like
the point of that, when you say that is like
you do have clients We'll call them the VIPs.
What are you doing for them? They're the ones
repeat coming back, probably referring, right?
So I know some SDs out there that they like really
nice gifts at Christmas. But they start now planning
for it. Right, so they're budgeting for it. They're
looking for the deals to see what they can give
and. the clients are like oh my god oh my god
i can't believe you did that it's like well i
really appreciate you as a client and that you
were so you know always here dedicated coming
referring whatever that might be and this is
why we're talking about this because not only
black friday's coming but what things do you
see as an sd that you could use also right for
after the fact yeah or maybe it's a spin on the
black friday here's a gift for you you know like
that could be instead of If one's looking for
a deal, what if you gifted them something for
your VIPs, for example? Yeah. I mean, but that
could be part of your package too. And it can
be something you don't necessarily have to promote
publicly as well. So it could be in several ways.
And then you can also do join the two and do
a service and retail. Bundle if you want like
maybe you have again, I would go by like what
is my more popular services? What is your specialty?
Like are you doing lots of my meddling? Maybe
for the month of November if they purchase a
micro needling series they get a post care kit
or Whatever like you can do a retail bundle.
You can do the service and retail you can do
all of them or do one of them That's right. It
just depends on what you want to do, but the
biggest thing too that people Please track it
see what worked like you heard me say earlier
while I discovered that this worked really well
with my clients So in the in the spot itself,
everybody felt the same and it didn't matter
if they were having a brow wax nails done facials
massage like Something right and then you know,
we we worked with the team in general at the
spa. Like if someone was offering massage and
someone's offering nails and someone, especially
if you have contracts and renting rooms from
you, will work together as a team and come up
with a promo together what you could do. It's
okay that you're, you know, one's going to one
room for one thing, et cetera, but, or, or if
you work in the studios that you're renting,
you know, is there someone you can collaborate
with? I think it's a great idea. So I know there's
a lot more entrepreneurs out there on their own.
So that could be something you could work with.
And that's why it's important to start early,
because to start your planning early, start thinking
about it early, our next segment, we're going
to talk about how you can roll it out. But starting
and thinking about it in October is not necessarily
mean you're telling your clients about it in
October, but you're getting your done in a row.
Right. And then you're going to come up with
the plan of how you're going to share that content
with your clients. And I think whatever you pick,
pick based on the data that you have. So if you
don't sell a lot of retail products to begin
with, maybe don't do a retail bundle because
it might not work for you. And then you're going
to be disappointed. I would just start off by
really working on the things that I'm already
selling. and then maybe incorporating. So if
I do a lot more services and not a lot of retail,
maybe I would focus on doing like a service and
retail bundle so that I can then introduce my
retail. And that can be something that comes
back to me in the future. So kind of thinking
about like, how am I going to benefit down the
road and not just this one time? All right, so.
You pick you pick what you want but how are you
gonna tell your people about it. Plan so this
is something that you know I use with my clients
we use a beauty cult and. It's pretty simple
to follow. You gotta start at your four weeks
out so four weeks from. The you know black Friday,
which is November 28. I believe this year Starting
four weeks out does not mean you know four weeks
out. You're just filling all the beans, but you
want to create a little bit of Interest you want
to plant seeds and you want to give that the
perception of you know? What's the word I'm looking
for like you want to give the like build a wait
list, you know make your Clients feel special
like you want to get on my VIP waitlist or Get
on this so I can tell you first about my specials
or my promos that helps create a feeling of You
know connection with your clients. It helps make
them feel special all that stuff. So I would
say like four weeks out We're starting with like
planting seeds and building a wait list. It's
something as simple as like a post about your
Black Friday Menu or Black Friday specials coming
soon. If you want to know exactly what they are
you can say like Notify me you can sign up to
be notified when they're live or whatever You
you talked about this earlier, but I would do
you could do it earlier. You could do it in your
for week out, which is a poll asking clients
what they want. Yes, you've already decided at
this point, but you can still still view it.
It's just the perception as well. And it gives
you data for moving forward. Like if your poll
is saying one thing and you picked something
else and it didn't do well, then maybe next year
you refer back to your poll and try something
else. Then at three week out, this is where you
can talk a bit more about your actual packages
or promos, whatever it is you decide to go with.
I still would not talk specifics on what the
deals are, but I would just start with like a
pre -sell on choices that. or options that are
available, educate about like how to choose,
especially if you're doing packages or series
and retail products and just kind of talking
a bit more in the education realm and getting
people interested. And again, always remember
to create that sense of scarcity, like this is
limited time. early access is available, you
know, get it before they're gone, sign up for
the VIP list so you can be first to be notified
and first to have access to buy. On that, it
could even be I'll be limiting it to 10 for the
first 10 people, first 20 people, right? So then
they know, oh, I got to pay attention to these
newsletters coming. Absolutely. The communication
you're using. Scarcely. And that's a good point
to make. You're using all the communication.
Yeah. You want to if you have an email list and
you do email marketing you need to you should
be using that if you are Hopefully you're on
social media use that like do it all Email them
and put it on social media and have a sign in
your studio and text your VIPs If you have there,
you know, I would just do it all At two week
out, this is where you're going to reveal everything.
You're just going to reveal all the pricing,
but this is for your VIPs. If you've collected
emails or you've gotten your people sign up to
be notified early, this is when you notify them
so that they know and they have that VIP experience
that they have the early access. You can because
it we're talking like weeks like you can do it
early on two weeks out and then later in that
week You can reveal it to the public as well.
Just depending on how your What the uptake is
like from your first initial reveal to your VIPs
and then what it's like Later on does that make
sense? It does and and I'd suggest to close the
window off say, okay This is rolled out to VIPs
for these three days Yes, then it's open access
to it before I open it to the public Right. So
that's that extra special That you're doing with
your with your VIP clients and it's again we're
creating that fear of missing out that scarcity
This isn't like don't lollygag and take your
time because because people will and i'm guilty
of it myself, you know Leave it to the last minute
until you and unless you create that sense of
like Urgency is the word urgency They need to
do it now where it's going to be gone And then
it's also too like you're competing with a lot
of things out there happening Like maybe they
really want the tv. They know they have to upgrade
but they way Rather have you you know, it's like
So give them a choice. Yeah, absolutely. All
right. And then when you're one week out, so
the week leading up to Black Friday, this is
where you're going to be more active, I would
say, in your reminders, posting on social media,
sending emails, talking to every client that
comes in your door about your Black Friday. I
mean, talk to the person at the grocery store.
It doesn't matter. Tell everybody. This week,
you're just, you're telling, you're talking all
about it because you want to get as much awareness
and traffic to your Block Friday promos. It's
free advertisement. Yeah. Because it's not costing
you anything to be, you know, pounding the pavement
as they say, right? And one of the things that
I do when I talk about is like making it as easy
as possible for people. To buy whatever it is.
They are buying if they're buying a Bundle if
they're buying gift card if they're buying a
service or a series You need to make it as easy
as possible. So setting up that system if you
don't already have it to buy like They might
not be buying, you know, the nine to five hours.
Maybe it's 11 o 'clock at night. They're scrolling
on their phone and they see your post. How are
they going to buy? You need to make it very easy.
Have your links in your bio. Have a very clear
instructions on how they can purchase from you.
If you're not set up for that and you can, that
would be great to be able to have that online
payment option because a lot of times the convenience
also wins. Do you know what I'm saying? Oh absolutely.
I know for Christmas I do all my shopping after
my kids go to bed and I do it all online and
I do it in the middle of the night. Well you're
not disturbed and you can think and you can surprise
them. It's all those things for sure. Convenient
is what that is, really convenient. So that is
like honestly how I would just like try to make
it as easy as possible for people to give you
their money Yeah Exactly But yeah, then don't
forget like the day of black friday just kind
of be a bit active on your social media channels
Ask your clients if you've got clients coming
in the door ask them to post and share Just make
it Make a big deal out of it make it something
you like, you know not event but make it just
like a thing that's happening and I would just
like hold off until after Black Friday and then
you can talk about if you still have a lot of
whatever the promo is then you can you know pop
on and Extend the promo because it was so popular
or something like that Monday Exactly. And just
say, you know what, this was so popular. We sold
out right away. We're going to extend where we've
opened up more spots or we've gotten more products.
We're extending it for the weekend. Don't tell
them you're going to do it ahead of time. That's
right. You know, on Saturday, maybe just then
post about the deal is all weekend long. And
then you can try to capitalize on that weekend
and the Cyber Monday as well. Lots of good juicy
tips. Yeah, and I think, you know, it's just
trying and seeing what works for you. And if
it's your first time, try start small, like do
one thing and then see how it works and then
work your way into it. But I think, like we said
at the beginning, you win by planning and not
scrambling last minute. Yeah. And we'd love to
hear feedback, comments, let us know what's worked
for you. What's been a Black Friday promotion
that you've offered that's worked? Or what's
one that you've bought that you loved? What's
a great deal you found? Because that's how you
get your inspiration as well. Because I usually
think, what am I looking for? And I'm always
looking for a killer deal. Who isn't nowadays,
you know? that's for sure exactly yeah but questions
comments reach out to us love to hear you from
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