this Jan I will be starting my 5th year in business

I started my biz right before the bottom fell out of the economy and I am still going! I have worked tremendously hard to make a name for myself (honestly, when I started, most people in my tiny town had no idea what an esty was, let alone a facial! - their idea of a facial was a MaryKay home party, seriously) I am SO busy now I can hardly believe the progress I have made. I want to make a big deal out of this upcoming milestone, but am at a loss for ideas on how to take advantage of it. This is unusual because my head is usually swimming with ideas :) I would so appreciate input (ANY input) treatment ideas, freebies, events, whatever...in otherwords I am asking for a brainstorming session...NO idea is a bad one people :) Thank you very much!!!

annie

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Permalink Reply by Beth on November 9, 2011 at 8:53am

Hold a client appreciation event and 5yr Anniversary Open House. Offer a discount on products that day and offer a pre-book special on a series or new treatment. Give them a goodie bag with a sample, card, or something special.

Congrats!!

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Permalink Reply by Emilie Spruill on November 9, 2011 at 9:59am

Congratulations!! I would definitely do an Open House, featuring products, snacks, mingling, maybe even some champagne or mimosa, do a "bring a friend to be entered into a special drawing" prize, offer a discount on services booked that night... I would take advantage of the big milestone to get some free earned media in local papers, magazines, even the nightly news channel... (5 years for an independent small business owner is huge!)... and maybe since you are celebrating 5 years in business, say bring 5 friends along and score a free service (maybe an express facial or a tint or something!)

Hope that helps!

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Greenwood on November 10, 2011 at 7:21am

I would also do an open house.

January is a tough one...but your theme could be "Fresh Start for the new year" or something similar.

Once you pick your theme it will be easier to get your creative juices flowing.

Offer special new packages and series and promote them at the event. Have packages or services at all different price points, make sure that they know the special pricing is only good if they purchase at the event. It is great to have demos...I am not too keen on mini-services if it takes away from your "schmoozing" time - but clients DO like them.

People LOVE raffles too.

I like to have a little goodie bag too...if you can't do samples, you can put in some discount coupons for your higher priced services with a short expiration date.

Oh - and CONGRATULATIONS!

Hope your next 5 years is totally awesome!

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Permalink Reply by Ann Prendergast on November 11, 2011 at 9:38am

Thank you ladies! what great ideas and support :) I appreciate everything! I really like the idea of a goodie bag and I also love the idea of discount coupons for the pricier services...idk about an expiration date (in WI its against the law to put an expiration date on beauty services...any idea how to get around that?) could I make it "good for the month of ______" ?

Here is a monkeywrench to deal with (and again, input is most appreciated) I work alone, have 1 treatment room in an office building...in otherwords, a traditional "Open House" type of event seems impossible to me...but perhaps I am not thinking outside the box...ideas?

Emilie, thank you so much for the media encouragement...I never thought of local news channel...I wonder how I could go about that? Idk how good I would be on camera, yikes! But the thought of that kind of coverage...wow!!!

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Greenwood on November 11, 2011 at 4:38pm

I'm not sure why that would be against the law.

A discount coupon is not the same as a gift certificate - You can do limited time offers or time valid offers for whenever you want.

I run specials on my Facebook page all the time - sometimes they run for a month, a week, or a day.

At our open house I gave a $20 discount coupon towards a microdermabrasion or oxygen facial (only good for 3 months) and I also offered a Vitamin C Peel for $40 - that one they had to buy a gift cert that night - so I put a 1yr exp date on that ( but you know I would accept an expired cert).