Hey, welcome back everybody. This is take two of episode five for the Justin and Heidi unfiltered podcast. Hi, I'm Justin.
And I'm Heidi.
We're deleting the screw ups so that nobody knows they happened, but me and you.
But then you say take two.
That's true. I can't help it.
We just wrapped up the positive mindset growth mindset series for five episodes. It was incredible.
Boy, we talked about a lot of great stuff.
And I'm really excited to move on to a new topic.
But I really believe that we'll be back to that old one.
Eventually, it's pretty broad. There's plenty that we can go over.
So now we're talking about client attraction and retention.
Heidi, did you know that attracting a new client can be five times as expensive as retaining an existing one?
What?
Yeah. But wait, there's more.
I didn't have more.
No, there isn't more.
I think we've all heard that adage before.
And I think it's true for most industries, if not all of them.
Yeah.
It costs more money and time and energy to attract a new client than it is to retain one.
Yeah.
So this next series of podcasts, we'll see how far we get in one. Maybe we'll cover the whole thing.
We're going to talk about both client attraction and retention.
The thing about client attraction is that things change through time.
There was back when you I'm not trying to say you're old or anything, but way back when I started, when you started and you rode your horse to start.
When you started in this industry, what was the number one tool for you to attract new clients?
Honestly, word of mouth.
Word of mouth.
I would say it's still not different today.
I think that can be argued for sure in your favor.
Yeah.
But that way is really icky sometimes.
Well.
Oh, word of mouth.
No, I misunderstood.
Yep.
No. And here's the thing.
Back when 25 years ago when I was starting out, we didn't really have social media.
We didn't really have cell phones.
We didn't really have cameras.
So it's not like we were taking pictures of all of our work and doing all these things.
Like when I came out of school, I mean, you did every head of hair that sat in your chair.
Yes. That's what you did.
You slowly cultivated.
And I would say I did this unknowingly almost, but I didn't love doing like kids haircuts or like perms or like certain things.
Right.
So what I did love doing, I'd tell those clients, do you have friends?
Send your friends.
And then that's where I learned, well, if I get them to rebook with me, then I know they're coming back.
Yeah.
And they'll fill that spot where someone would put their kid or last minute appointments.
So I think for me, it was one of those where it's like, I learned really quick.
If I want to do what I love doing, I've got to make sure that that's what's on my books to start with.
Yeah.
So that those open spaces weren't open.
So, I mean, it sounds like you caught on pretty quickly to that whole idea and mentality.
And I think it could be argued that you definitely have created a great career for yourself.
Twenty five years later, you're very successful.
You're doing the kind of hair that you want to do.
And you knew early on where those focuses should lie.
And I think that our target audience is probably people who maybe don't understand how to make that connection.
So we're going to try to talk about that and help teach how to bridge the gap.
I think and stop me if you disagree, but I think part of it is identifying your target audience.
But you brought something up, though, that at the beginning is you do hair anybody that gets in your chair initially.
I think to some extent, your mind has to be open enough that that may be what you do for a while.
Yeah.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Right.
If you want to focus on one niche, that's great.
But you've got to start somewhere.
So when we talk about identifying your target audience as guests, let's let's pick one, for example.
Why don't we say chemical services of color?
If that is my that's the thing that gets me excited.
I don't want to do barbering. I don't want to do kids cuts. I don't want to do extensions.
I just want to color people's hair.
And we'll say more specifically, like naturals and not huge shifts and not bright semis.
Okay.
How do you think I where do I start?
So it's funny that you say that because you have narrowed it down, but you got to narrow it down even more.
You think so?
Because it's not just about what you love doing, the type of color you love doing.
But that person sitting in your chair for a while.
Yeah.
So who is that person?
Where do they shop?
Where do they hang out? Who are their friends?
What do you talk about? What are their hobbies?
And then this day and age, you start tagging those places in your posts or speaking directly to that so that they get to know you.
And start following you.
And then for those guests that are sitting in your chair, that's your target market.
You're asking them, who are your friends?
Right.
Who would they are?
Are they asking you where you get your hair done?
Are you giving my name?
Yeah.
Are you dropping what I do?
Yeah.
Let me help you out.
In fact, one of the things that I've learned recently is for a great referral program, it's not what is it?
It's how do they do it?
So you can't just have a referral program that says, oh, if you send me five people, I'll give you this much off.
Well, okay, then you'll have the go-getters.
They'll send you five people.
Right.
But most people go, well, how do I send you five people?
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
So then it's more, I'm going to take a really great after picture of your hair and I want you to send it to five people.
And anyone who comes back to me, I will give this is the reward.
This is the referral program.
And so you're not telling them how or just what to do.
You're telling them how to do it.
Right.
And then you're like, if they're not on social media, okay, then text it to them.
Do you have a group chat?
Do you have something?
Mention it in there.
Yeah.
Or somebody says that, you know, compliment your hair at your grocery store.
It could be a perfect stranger.
Could be a perfect stranger.
I mean, one of the things that's been brought up a lot is as hairdressers, and this does actually work for almost any business.
But as hairdressers, most of us are in the business because we can't stop talking.
Why?
I know.
Crazy.
But after you've been talking all day, you kind of shut down at the end of the day.
So then if you do go out to dinner, if you do go out, you stop talking.
Yeah.
But really, like if you see someone who does have hair similar to what you like or has the vibe of what you like or your target, start talking.
Yeah.
Just strike up a conversation.
Tell them you like their hair.
Tell them.
Now, I do find it funny when a hairdresser goes, oh, my gosh, your hair looks so good.
I'm a hairdresser too.
Here's my card.
Well, they're not going to leave their hairdresser.
You just gave them a compliment on their hair.
Yeah.
Not the right thinking.
But you could be like, I mean, you could actually do the opposite and be like, if you have any friends, here's my card.
Because I have had clients say to me before, like, I don't want to recommend my friends to you because then you won't be able to get me in.
Because let's be honest.
That's the thing is like we're so afraid of losing a client or not getting every client to sit in our chair.
But at the end of the day, you can only do so many heads of hair before you're burned out.
Yeah.
That's just physics.
Yeah.
But you got to you really almost have to narrow it down even more.
It's not just what do you love doing.
But who do you love in your chair?
We're not all going to get along.
Right.
Well, so let's let's take, for example, so somebody who who's going to fit this niche, somebody who wants to get their hair colored.
They come in regularly enough and keeps me busy every six weeks.
Let's just say a modern working woman somewhere, you know, 30s or 40s.
Semi affluent or affluent.
And, you know, because they can afford your higher prices.
This is just one example for now.
But this person shops at Harman's instead of Smith's.
She works out at Treehouse Athletic Club instead of Gold's Gym.
It's not Gold's Gym anymore.
But yeah, you go to a club or a sports ball in Murray instead of the plan of fitness.
Yeah.
Like there's she drinks Starbucks instead of brewing your own coffee, brewing your own coffee like some kind of animal.
So that's what we're talking about.
When you say, where does she shop?
Who does she hang out with?
Break it down like this and then you can understand.
OK, so these are the kinds of people.
So when you're creating your Instagram post, you can cater it and start to add those those hashtags and the geo tagging, the geo tagging as well.
We kind of I hope it's just understood like we're not starting from the very beginning and explaining to people why you should be using Instagram.
I don't know if that's going to be worth anybody's time.
If you're a hairdresser, you're not using social media.
This is not this isn't the podcast for you.
It might not be the career for you.
That's rude.
Because it's not true.
You're right.
It's not true.
Bad Justin.
But it's so useful.
It's such a strong tool.
But some things that we have to remember is that things are evolving.
Things are changing.
Instagram made all those changes to how their hashtags work.
And there is there is a lot of fallout from that that one awards show.
The one shot awards was like crazy affected by it.
We have to be able to adapt.
Yeah.
But so say you don't have social media.
Well, then are you hanging out at Starbucks?
The one that's by your salon?
Yeah.
So you're hanging out at the at the gym, the club where you want to get clients.
Right.
What are you doing if you're not doing social media?
Yeah.
So that's why that's why I said Bad Justin.
Because social media.
Here's the thing.
Doesn't matter if it's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, whatever your jive is.
Right.
Well, that's where your target market is going to be, because that's what you like.
So so I'm not going to say, well, if you're not on Instagram, you're screwed.
That's your wherever if you're Snapchat or that's where your target market is.
If you're a Facebook or that's where your target market is.
I said social media, though, to be fair.
Right. Right.
But if you're not a social media person, then that's not where your target market is.
There are people who are not a social media person, but that means they're out in the wild.
Like they're they're the kind of people that are either sitting in their house.
They're not getting their hair done anyway, unless they do need that once a year haircut.
Yeah.
Maybe that's your maybe that's your vibe.
I don't I don't know. I don't care.
And that's just it is if your vibe is this isn't your career, but you do hair to earn money.
You should go check out sports clip.
You should check out great clips.
You should check it because those are the places where people are going to go.
Yeah.
Because that's where they're going to go.
Right. So there are always going to be lots and lots of people that go there.
Again, this is why define your target market.
Define where you want to live.
Define what you want to do, because there isn't a wrong answer.
Yeah. But if you hate your career and hate your job, well, then mindset.
What are you doing? Right.
So let's talk specifically about social media, though, when it comes to how to grow your target market.
We talked about what you need to do to define your target market.
And it needs to come down to something that you like that you want to do.
And like you said, to your point, people you want to be around.
That's your target market.
When you're starting to cultivate your social media to attract your target market,
what what specific things come to mind or what tips would you have?
OK, again, you have to know what lane you're in.
For me, I'm not going to make my life harder than it already is.
So I'm not going to have two separate accounts, one for personal, one for work.
Because to me, first of all, one of them is definitely getting neglected.
And the reason why we have social media on there now is for people to find out who you are.
Who are they investing their time and money in?
So they want to see what you're doing on the weekend.
And honestly, if you're someone who likes to go out and party, that's probably your target market.
So don't be afraid to post it. Right.
I totally agree. And I did the same thing. My Instagram, your Instagram is at IBE salon H.M.
And mine is at Justin underscore the underscore Metcalf.
So but I did the same thing. I'm pretty sure we talked about it, too.
When I was a banker, I mean, I wasn't going to attract clients using social media.
I didn't I never did that. I never made the connection or whatever.
But when I got into the beauty industry, I did start making business posts.
So I did the same thing. I'm not going to have two different accounts.
And if but if you do, that's fine. There are a lot of people that do and it works for them.
Totally. And they pay attention to both.
To your point, when you said people want to see who you are, people that's this your dating profile.
When somebody refers you, they're going to look you up.
When somebody talks about, hey, where did you get your hair done?
Oh, it's from Heidi. They're going to look you up.
They want to see the work that you do, but they also want to see what you look like.
They want to see the way that it is.
So you've got to have some posts that show who you are.
Yeah, I think some people have said, like, your posts is where you put like all your work.
Right. Look book. Yeah, it's your digital look book.
Your stories would be like, I mean, they're going to disappear after 24 hours.
Day in the life. Just what do you do?
What's it look like getting ready in the morning, grabbing your cup of coffee,
people doing the duck lips and throwing their foot up in the air, whatever.
Reels is where you get creative. Oh, yeah.
I mean, there are so many things you can be doing with Reels.
Take these the sound bites that are already out there from lots of other people
and incorporate it into your to your work.
People freaking love those. But it also shows who you are.
Right. It can be both. You can have both your work and your lifestyle in it.
Yeah. That doesn't mean that the people who don't like actively creating social media
are going to fail with this. No, no, no.
You're not going to fail with this. No, because like I said,
there's there's a target market out there for everyone. Yeah.
So that's why I say if you do have two separate posts or two separate accounts,
it's not a bad thing. But just make sure that you are still including in your business one lifestyle.
People want to get to know who you are, not just get pretty work.
Yeah. And I think a lot of people, what they do is they they put a link to their business
account in their personal profile and vice versa. Yeah.
So the kid is the kind of work they can do. Yeah.
Let's see what they look like and what they do. Yeah. For fun. Yeah.
But I mean, but if you're not a social media person and you don't like doing that,
then you're going to have to rely on the older methods, which work.
Word of mouth works. They do. They'll always talking to people at the grocery store,
talking to people at the restaurants. It works. It will be more work. Yeah.
One way or another, you're working at either one. Yeah.
One's just is just different. It is. And it's it's important to understand that if you're
depending on the kind of person you are, you're an outgoing person.
You you are not going to have a problem handing someone your card.
It's a stranger. They compliment your hair. Right.
There are some people with crippling social anxiety.
It's really hard for them to have this conversation, but they still are very creative
and they still want to do this for a living. So they fight every day to get out of themselves
a little bit further and get more uncomfortable. And it is very, very, very hard.
But some things that are that they can kind of lapse on is doing that.
Talking to a stranger thing. That's where.
You've got to pick up. You've got to make up the gap there with your social media presence.
For sure. And so it depends on where your crippling anxieties lie, I guess. Right.
I mean, if you can't. If you can't find an avenue that works for you.
Then you got to figure that out, because there has to be one.
There has to be one, whether it's asking the client that's already in your chair that loves you.
Great. Have a great referral program. Right.
Whether it's social media presence, because you just don't want to talk to a stranger anywhere else.
But you're cool talking to strangers through social media.
Again, doesn't matter what platform. Figure out the one that works for you.
That's your that's your avenue. Right. If it's.
Posting things on a Facebook page.
I mean, there's so many different ways. And with technology now, there's even more.
It's growing all the time. Yeah. So so I mean, you are you're going to you do need to figure that aspect out first.
And that's true for any business. Every business needs to figure out where's our target market and how are we going to have you attract them?
Exactly. Yeah. Which avenue are we going towards? Marketing 101. Yeah.
There's a lot to say about what options we have at our disposal, too, because I started to think about.
I mean, there are people who there's sometimes there's negative talk in our industry about certain types of hairdresser work,
like the people that work at great clips or sport clips.
That's unfortunate that there's negative talk. There's just there doesn't need to be.
You know, we're all in the same industry.
And I was thinking, what if you're the kind of person who thrives in that kind of industry or any next situation?
You want to come to work and have a dependable nine to five paycheck, but still do something creative like this.
Maybe you've got a clientele that's just maybe they don't ask for you, but you still have regular haircuts every day.
There are people who really love that. Yeah.
There are also people who create a clientele in that environment. Right. We don't need to.
There's there's room for everyone in every situation. Yeah, there is.
There really is. And that's why it's like, why are there always going to be great clips and sports cuts?
Because there's always going to be people who don't want to schedule, who want to walk in.
And they know that they might wait five minutes or 20 minutes. Right.
Like, but they want to walk in today and they want to get it done today.
And yeah, you're always going to. And you will. You have those people who that's what they enjoy.
That's how they like to do it. Right. There's nothing wrong with that. There's not.
And from both sides, there's those kinds of guests who prefer to just, you know, I need a haircut.
I'm just going to go get one. I mean, I was that and I never waited more than like 10 minutes. Yeah.
That's what I thought it was. Yeah. But there will also be lots of stylists who just want that environment.
It's the it's not always. It is. It's a comfort zone.
And there's nothing wrong with that. If that's your career choice, that's fine. Yeah.
But there are some people who see that as like a growing platform.
I'm going to start here to get more practice and more experience.
And then I'm going to move to something bigger and better.
It's no different from like a corporate world. Right. Yeah, definitely.
It just doesn't need to be any negative talk about where you got your start.
Yeah, I agree. Something that comes to mind are so I've heard so many stories of people who who got their start working at McDonald's.
Yeah. You ever talked to one of these people?
I never have worked in fast food, but I I have talked to a lot of people who got their start at McDonald's and they have overwhelmingly very positive things to say.
It was a very good environment. They were treated well. They learned how to work.
They were I mean, that's I'm not saying that's everybody's story, but they appreciate where they got their roots.
That's where they started. And now they're they're moving on to bigger and better things.
I will say this. I feel like the people that you're talking to that say that about working at McDonald's.
Had the right mindset to start with, which is why they're where they are now.
Yeah, because there's got to be plenty of people who worked at McDonald's and would say the exact opposite.
Yeah, they're also probably not so successful.
I do tend to hang around people with positive mindsets.
Funny. Yeah, I don't always. That's the joke.
But when you when you talk about attracting clients, we talked about identifying your target audience, understanding what work you want to do.
We've we've begun briefly discussing what your platform needs to look like.
You can go the route of having a website if you want to.
I would say I would say most definitely if you don't have a social media presence, you got to have maybe.
Well, you know, you really don't have a website.
I mean, you could say that if you're a salon owner, you probably would want a website.
A lot of people when they're looking for a stylist, they go to Google.
Yeah. And if you've got a salon page, you can show pictures of all the services you offer and the booths.
And that's different. So there are instances where you it's beneficial for you to have a website.
But the point is to have something to have a landing page because we do live in a technical digital world.
Yeah. You don't want to miss out on somebody searching up something you do.
So you've got to get your information out there. And it shouldn't just be Instagram.
Right. Doesn't mean you have to do tick tocks and Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook.
I think you should do the research for your area and for your target market.
And there are some statistics out there. So if my target market is such and such, you know, where do they shop?
There are ways that you can you can do a little research online and you can find these analytics that tell you, you know what?
My target market, they almost always look up things in inside Google Maps.
Yeah. That's me. That's me too.
Anytime I look anything up, I don't pull up the Internet.
I pull up Google Maps and I type up something and I want to see the options around me.
Near me. Right. The people that I see when I'm searching there are the ones who have put the effort into their Google presence.
Which is a web page.
My business presence. Yeah. So you just have to understand where your target market is going when they're searching for a new hairdresser.
Right. Because to your point, most people are word of mouth still, honestly, whether it be through social media or actual word of mouth.
Yeah.
That is still I think is probably going to be your number one. That's how you're getting someone in your chair.
Somebody told them somebody. Yeah. I don't think people understand reviews or word of mouth.
100 percent. Yeah. Yeah. So that's where a lot of people look too.
But the other thing that is actually the highest next is Google.
Because when you have somebody moving to a new area, they don't have word of mouth because they don't know anyone in the area.
Right.
I'm sorry. But if you were to ask them, it's Google or Yelp. Right.
Why do you think it's that so many businesses are asking you, begging you for review promotion, paying you in some way?
I mean, we had a guy come and replace our disposal a week or two ago and he was awesome.
And I'm very vocal and outgoing. So I told him this went really well.
I really appreciate it. And I love when people are just honest about it.
He said, you know, we're having a contest right now at work, trying to see who gets the most reviews.
So if you're if you're willing to give us a review and mention my name, I mean, I love that you got to the point.
We're not going to fart around with nonsense. And I did have a great time and it's going to benefit him.
So, yes, Taylor, I'll do that. And I had no problem doing it.
Same basic principle. You've got your people that are in your chair who have come to see you since you got out of school or just you really love them.
You mesh, you, you, you vibe. Those are the people who can help you out. Yeah.
Just have an honest conversation with them. If you find out that the people are looking for you or that your target market is going to Yelp first.
Get yourself on the open and ask your client, ask your guests, hey, can you do a review for me on Yelp?
It really helped me out. It helps also if you make it stupid easy for them.
Yeah. Having a QR code that's right there that they just snap with their phone. Yeah.
Makes it really easy. If you're someone who does like online booking, have it send that email right after that.
They just click the link. Yeah. Makes it really easy. I agree.
So, I mean, and that's again, we live in a digital and technical world. That's it's not new.
We know that that's how marketing 101. We know how that's how that works.
But that's so we've talked about attracting clients. Yeah. But we've also said it's easier to retain than it is to attract.
And since we're at almost 30 minutes, that's going to have to be the next episode.
But I wanted to briefly touch on the QR codes because you got my brain thinking.
When I was working at the distributor for the last five years, a good part of our job was talking to salon owners and stylists on how to create QR codes for the things that they want to advertise.
And it has not been a super easy thing. I don't know how long this has been available on Google Chrome, but they have completely changed the game for everybody.
So, again, I mean, if this has been on there for three years, then this is embarrassing.
But but I don't care. Nobody told me about it.
So if you go to Google Chrome and you click on the three dots, you can go down from any website.
So, like, if you want a QR code for your website, you want a QR code for your Instagram gives you your own anyway.
I say most of them give you a QR. So like your website or like your review page in Google Chrome, three dots and you go down to cast, save and share.
And one of those options, the very bottom one is create a QR code there plate when somebody goes online and search.
I need a QR code. The first 10, 15, 20, whatever their paid subscriptions always.
They make people think you've got to pay for the subscription. You don't. Nope. You do not have to pay for QR code.
QR QR codes are free. They are. They're actually really easy to make.
And most most websites, most apps, most things have it for you.
You just got to go to the menu or find it right when you want to go share something.
There's almost always an option for a QR code to share as well. Right.
Almost always. I agree. And I think if you're if you're smart, you should have a little plastic holder on your station that has two QR codes on the front is how they're going to pay you.
Venmo or you know, you got your square, whatever. And on the other side, how to leave reviews, how to help your business. So I'd have them side by side.
There you go. OK. Well, that's all for this episode. We will be right back next week and we're going to talk about client retention.
One of the single most important things you can do for your business. Yeah. Thanks for listening.
Bye.