Keeping Abreast of the Competition

The world of salon treatments whether haircuts, manicures or anything else, is a fast moving industry. It is driven by a careful balance of the services you offer and the services your customers want. Keeping up to date with what the competition is offering and striving to offer new products or services before them is vital. Here we take a quick look at a few tips for keeping abreast of the competition.

·         Subscribe to newsletters – some of your competitors are likely to have email newsletters that they send out to clients. These might feature special offers, new services or ideas for seasonable trends. By subscribing to these newsletters, you will be able to see exactly what your competition is offering.

·         Subscribe to fashion and beauty magazines – many publications such as fashion and beauty magazines report on catwalk trends which are often a season in advance of what your customers are going to demand. It is often worthwhile checking out these various publications for ideas of new product offerings or to identify up-coming product trends such as eco-friendly or sustainable products, new season colours and more.

·         Trade Shows – beauty trade shows are a great place to find out about new brands and new products that may be of interest to either your salon or your customers. They are also a great place to network in order to hear about up-coming trends and other industry news.

·         Customer Feedback – one of the easiest ways to find out what additional services your customers are looking for is to ask them. This can be done verbally during consultations or more formally through feedback forms or suggestion boxes. By identifying what your customers want before your competition does will ensure that you offer it first, thus retaining customers.

·         Networking – networking with other non-local salons is also ideal for keeping ahead of your more local competitors. This can be done at trade shows, training events or through social media networks like twitter or Facebook. Start ‘liking’ or ‘following’ to ensure you know about their local offerings or new ideas.

By following these top tips, you can help not only retain customers for longer but also to gain new ones which will have a positive effect on your salon’s turnover.

*Image Credit: Inky