How Having a GUARANTEE Can Save Your Salon From Being Shamed on National TV!

by Chris Sanders on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 11:56 am

For those of you who are members of the Inner Circle program you will know that from the very start of your membership I drill into you the importance of having a guarantee in your business and using it in all of your marketing. Most salons embrace it, others although a little apprehensive soon recognise its importance and the benefits that it brings to their salon.

Those that ignore a guarantee are juggling with fire!

So many businesses have what I would call a ‘Flakey Guarantee’. For example, yesterday morning I received a fax from one of those ‘Fax Ads’ businesses and in big bold writing at the top of the ad was,

“Advertising that actually works – Guaranteed, or you only pay half”

I hate these kinds of guarantees as it screams a lack of confidence in your own product or service. Why not be so bold as to say ‘Advertising that works – or YOU pay nothing!’ Why do you think Worldwide Salon Marketing has a 30 day money back guarantee with our Inner Circle program and an extra 60 day ‘pay no more’ guarantee? It’s because we are so confident in our product and we know it works – there’s no beating around the bush!

Now that I’ve had a little rant, back to the real reason for this blog. To show you how NOT having a Cast Iron Guarantee can be fatal to your business. A couple of weeks back it broke my heart to see a salon featured on TV 3 show ‘Target’ (For those of you who are outside New Zealand Target is ‘Consumer Watch Dog’ show were they help out disgruntled customers with their problems and try to get them resolved).

This salon had literally ‘fried’ part of a client’s hair off during the colouring process with the only solution offered to cut part of her hair out. The drama that ensued lasted 8 weeks and resulted in the salon finally giving the customer a refund. Imagine the amount of people in that period who this client would have bad-mouthed the salon too…let alone shaming them on prime time National TV!

For those of you who didn’t see the story then click the below link to watch, the story starts at around 3mins 33secs and consumes over a third of the show.

http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Season-12-Ep-20/tabid/59/articleID/441/MCat/21/Default.aspx

But there is a further twist to this story that I would like to share. In 2009 this salon actually joined the Inner Circle program. After they joined and got their kit, we had our first coaching call which went really well. About 2 weeks later the toolkit arrived back on our doorstep.

When Rachael called her back the salon owner said she loved the program but the timing was wrong, she was too busy and would join later. An assumption some salon owners make…you are only allowed to join our Inner Circle Program once. As you know, we are interested in members who take Massive Action, not those who are scared off by a little hard work!

Like many salon owners, this lady was lovely and very passionate about making her salon work, she was just going about it the wrong way. She had the Tools to turn her business around but lost the opportunity when she sent them back. If only she’d let us coach her to see the wood from the trees and what is really important in business there would have been no way she would have been shamed so badly (pictures of the salon, the name repeated and the disappointed client saying ‘The worst thing is, I felt they just didn’t care’…it doesn’t get worse than that on National Television folks)

If you don’t have a Guarantee, get one – a real one. And if you do, stick to it – it could save your business and your reputation.

If you want to find out more about how to get your hands on marketing that is GUARANTEED to work or your money back, then you need to join the Inner Circle program TODAY and get your own copy of the Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit®. Go here to see if you qualify for a 30 Day Money Back Guaranteed Test Drive of the entire system – completely risk free.)

A post by Chris Sanders

Chris and his wife Rachael D'Aguiar own a successful salon in Auckland - so successful, thanks to their involvement in the Worldwide Salon Marketing Inner Circle program and the tools and strategies in the Essential Salon Owner's Marketing Toolkit that they grabbed the opportunity to become the NZ franchise of WSM.

Worldwide Salon Marketing