Building client base
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Greenwood on
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It really depends on what marketing options are available to you. Finding the right clients who are a good fit for you and what you do can take some time. You will need to determine how you fit in with the medispa's marketing vision (and budget!).
If it is a new medispa and you are trying to build a clientele from scratch, you may have to look into clever marketing ideas to get new clients, and who is going to pay. If it is an established business then you will want to market to the current list - this is MUCH easier!
It took me about a year at my last location to feel comfortable with the number of clients on my list - and that's the time frame I hear from a lot of other business women. It CAN take years to build a good list, and a good reputation.
At my new location, it feels like it's growing in slow motion! It's been almost 7 months and my client list is still only about half of where I would like it to be...but I am a solo with a tiny marketing budget!
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Permalink Reply by VICKI BENNETT on
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Thank you for the feedback Cindy. I was feeling discouraged. I have been a a medispa for 9 months and it has not been open for quite one year. (about 10 months) I work 9-3 Mon-Thurs. Our area is a retirement area and people just don't like to make appointments beyond Friday up to about 1 pm. If a client wants it I will make arrangements to be in the spa on a Friday or Sat, but rare that we have anyone that wants it. I think our location is challenging. It is a beautiful spa and we offer the hydrafacial at medical grade peel which is our most popular service, but it seems our building is at a snails pace.
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Permalink Reply by Jodi on
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I was told when I graduated to give it 2 years. I'm approaching 2 years working at the same spa and I am seeing the results. My schedule for the days I work is usually booked and I have a loyal following of clients. I'm still only working part time, but I'm happy that I no longer see those empty days in the book with no clients! I know it's hard, I wanted instant success and instant clients! Keep networking, start a Facebook page for your skin care and share it with all your friends. Below is the link to mine.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Skin-Care-by-Jodi-at-Elements-to-...
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Thank you for the helpful feedback Jodi.
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Permalink Reply by Dana White on
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I agree with Jodi I think it just comes down to time. If you do a good job you will get returns. Returns will refer people, and so on until one day you have more clients then you can handle. I would say it was around 3-4 years where I was finally getting the amount of work I wanted.
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Vicki -
It sounds like an event would be a really good idea to promote both you and the spa in general.
Has the owner(s) considered an open house for the anniversary? Many people on this forum have had successful events that bring in new clients, product purchases, and gift certificate sales. Plus if you do an event or open house you can try to get local buzz going with a press release to area media.
Have you considered adding or changing up your hours? I don't work late on Fri or Sat either but my other days most of my appointments in the 3-6p range are usually booked. Do you really have clients coming in at 9am? My Sat schedule is open at 9A but I have only had two people come in that early - and BOTH of them HAD to because the other times were taken (normally I only have one or two Sat appts though)
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We have had charity parties every quarter. We don't keep our tips the owner is very much into community service so we donate our tips to a charity each quarter that one of our guests chooses. Then we have a party at the end of each quarter to present the check. All of our guests are encouraged to bring a new person to each of those events. Our massage business seems to do a little better than the esthetics side of things (even tho still less than I would think it would be at a year mark) because of the age demographic in the community we are located in which is 6,000 people but only about 347 of them are 35 to 55 and then the rest is late 60's to 80's. I am new to all of this so not sure if this is a factor, but it would be good deductive reasoning. A lot of arthritic clients etc.--so massage very appealing. We only recently decided to approach the skin care piece of things a little diff with our guests. The hydrafacial promotes healthy skin as well as the anti-aging piece so we have been educating our guests about combating precancerous spots on face and body. It would seem all of them are seeing a dermatologist. The hydrafacial takes care of precancerous spots. I recently began volunteering at a local hospital one day a week to network and we are going to get involved in taking the hydrafacial to a gym for appointments. I am hoping this improves our traffic. As far as schedule is concerned, I pretty much come in for guests whenever they need me early or late. I just make 9 - 3 my core hours to be there for walk-ins etc. Believe it or not out in this retirement area most people don't want an 8 am appt, but 9-1 pm is the most popular.
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so let me get this straight...the owner decides that YOU will donate YOUR tips? yikes!
That's real charitable! (insert sarcastic face of your choice)
But otherwise...that's great that he/she is doing some community outreach.
I understand about the massage piece - my massage business has always been much stronger than the esthetics side of things. Perhaps you could put together a promotional package treatment to introduce and attract clients to the benefits of BOTH at an attractive introductory price?
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:-) Yeah....I know what you are saying about the tips. Our guests, of course think that it is great and we have had some massage therapists and estys not want to work like that, but the owner offers a higher percentage of compensation to off set that. Not sure it always balances out because the nature of tips, but it works ok for us for now. Thank you for the pkg suggestion. I think that would be a great idea.
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