Do your clients hold back when you ask for a referral and tell you that you’re their “best-kept secret?” While there are always new strategies for business building, nothing will grow your clientele faster and stronger than referral marketing.
People are 4 times more likely to make a purchase when referred by a friend and the lifetime value for a referred client is 16% higher than non-referrals? Woah!
In the beauty industry, building client relationships are the key to success. A recommendation from your current clients can augment the trust factor so others are more likely to try your services.
The Major Challenge For Beauty Business Owners To Get Referrals (it may surprise you!)
You’d often hear people say, “just ask for it!” when it comes to getting referrals.
Of course, that’s the essential first step – and that’s how most service businesses get referrals.
However, after working with many estheticians and spa owners over the years, I have noticed a challenge that’s quite unique to the beauty industry.
Many clients aren’t referring others to you because they want to keep you a secret! They’re concerned that if they send you referrals, you’d get booked up and they wouldn’t be able to schedule an appointment with you. In other words, they want to secretly hog you.
Word of mouth will forever be the strongest marketing force. Click To TweetThankfully, you can address your client’s concerns by communicating how you’d prioritize their appointments first. Think of it as “VIP time slots.”
A couple of spa owners share their experiences on this particular challenge:
Angela Peck said, “I get this a lot. I tell my clients that I will always have time for them, that they will always remain a priority. I have over 100 people on my waitlist and I screen new clients whenever an opening becomes available. I encourage my clients not to shy away from referring their friends because of this. I tell them that their referrals go right to the top of the list because I want to continue building my business with clients like them.”
Nakia Vargas from Brow To Toe in North Carolina says: “I literally had a client tell me that I was the best lash artist she had been to in three countries. I asked her to write me a review and she declined because I was supposedly her ‘best-kept secret.’ She knew I would get booked up once people discovered me. I worked with her for over a year until she relocated. She wrote me a stellar review after her last appointment.”
Referral Marketing – Relationship Marketing At Its Best
Think about instances when you refer someone to a business. What prompted you to recommend them? If you didn’t receive outstanding service, would you refer your friends to that business even if you were asked? Probably not.
What if we reframe how we approach “referral marketing?” What if we shift from “pushing” to get a referral to “attracting” referrals?
Instead, let’s focus on “earning” referrals instead of “asking” for referrals.
To earn a referral, you must hands-down deliver the most incredible experience for your clients. The experience you create is so outstanding, your clients want to refer others to you because it makes them look good!
Delivering the best spa experience goes hand-in-hand with building trust and relationships with your clients. If you want to build your beauty business in a long-term and sustainable way, we need to shift from “asking” for referrals to “earning” referrals and building relationships.
Unfortunately, many spa owners overlook this important piece in their marketing strategy. It’s often easy to get caught up in running the latest promotion or chasing after the “next big thing” on social media – at the expense of strengthening our connections with existing clients.
Focus on your clients, so they can’t help but speak highly of your services and send others to your spa.
Want to learn more tricks of the trade and get support from other beauty industry professionals just like you? Learn more about our business and marketing membership program designed exclusively for estheticians and spa owners here.
