Making the Most of Your Salon Business This Christmas

Katie Godfrey is the entrepreneur behind the KG brand, and single-handedly built her empire from a single salon bought aged 19 as a school leaver with no qualifications, to a chain of salons, a UK-wide beauty training academy, an eyelash product range and a salon coaching business.

In addition to maintaining the salon and pro businesses, Katie is a dedicated business mentor and looks after over 35 salons.

Hello December! I think all of us are looking forward to the Christmas rush in our salons this year. Across the industry, the last couple of months have been a harder and quieter time with lots of salons and therapists naturally worrying.

First of all, I want you to remember the industry was quieter across the board, it wasn’t anything personal to you. Traditionally October and November are slow months in our industry but with the battle of covid and not all our clients having fully returned through our doors, we’re feeling the struggle more than ever.

The only way is up. With the Christmas rush your booking system will be bursting. Seeing those full columns again will give you instant motivation.

So how are you going to make the most of this rush through your doors? You’ll be seeing faces you haven’t seen in a while and your regulars will be first in and booked. You want to hold on to all of those clients to bring them through to the new year giving yourself a big head start.

So how do you do this?

Here are a few tips to help you and your team:

1. Re-booking is key.

Get your team on board with rebooking. Set them targets to book the next 3 appointments for their clients rather than just one. Create the buzz and urgency to get those appointments booked before the spaces they like to have are gone. You could always set a competition with your team – the most rebooked appointments get a prize. Make it fun and rewarding, this will help.

2. Christmas cards for your clients.

Giving something back is always a good way to thank clients for choosing you and a great way to get them back through the door. Popping in a gift voucher with a minimum spend and to use in January only, will boost your sales in January and get all your Christmas clients tempted. You need your client to come back 3 times to become a regular, so you will be half way there!

3. Consultation forms.

Well, I don’t need to tell you to fill out a consultation form as I’m hoping you all do that already. But do you make sure you get all contact details including email? Make sure you’re hot on this with your team. Being able to contact the clients after and between appointments and adding them to your marketing list is key. If your clients don’t hear from you regularly, how are you going to stand out within all the other noise in their lives? Being at the front of their minds at all times will help with re-bookings and filling up your diary in advance. With all the new clients at Christmas it’s a great opportunity to make the most of this time.

Get a team meeting booked in now and go through all the targets and ideas that you wish to do over Christmas to go into the new year with a bang.

I would love to hear your ideas for what you’re doing within your salons over Christmas and how you get on. DM me at @kg_katiegodfrey

Katie Godfrey

Katie Godfrey is proud owner and director of KG Salon. KG is a multi award winning beauty salon based in Barton Le Clay, Bedfordshire which has been established since 2009. Katie also owns KG Professional which is a beauty training academy across the UK and product range that specialise in eyelash extensions, lash lift and brow lamination. Katie opened her first business at just 18 years old and has since grown to become a Business Mentor and entrepreneur.

All articles by Katie Godfrey