“I ran two ads in a local magazine, and got zero response.”

Among the dozens of calls and emails we get every week, from salon owners expressing delight and wonder at the results they’re achieving as a result of doing ‘my’ kind of marketing, there’s always one or two who complain they’re not getting the same results. And when I analyse it, it almost always comes down the same thing.

Expecting sensational results from only one piece of activity.

The Inner Circle members who do incredibly well – and there is ample evidence of them throughout this website – are without exception those who live by the creed of Massive Action. Those who fail to emulate those results are, without exception, those who regard marketing their business as something of an ‘experiment’ – as if it’s something that a scientist would do in a lab, they test the water one toe at a time. They do one ‘thing’ – one ad, or one small mailbox flyer, or a single one-page letter to their clients, or a sample run of text messages to a tiny proportion of their database, and somehow expect a stampede of customers.

Such expectation is always a mystery to me. You want BIG results? Do BIG things – and not consecutively, all at once.

This salon business owner is hardly alone. Most salon businesses make the mistake of linear (or consecutive) marketing; doing one ad, flyer or letter, waiting a month to see what happens, and then doing another thing, waiting another month, and seeing what happens with that.

Worse, the mindset of the ‘linear’ marketers is such that not only do they do things one at a time, they also do ‘em too small – typical of the timid.

Inner Circle member Cherie Hardman (middle) and staff at Femme Fatale in Jannali, NSW with their Ultraceuticals A-List salon award for 2009

Evidence this, just emailed today, from Inner Circle member Cherie Hardman of Femme Fatale Beauty & Skincare, in Jannali, NSW:

“We have now had the pleasure of being a member over 2 Christmas periods and although our increased profits were more spectacular in Christmas 2008, they were more spread out over the months leading up to Christmas this year (due to the special offers you told us to do in Nov). The big one for me is I have cut back to 3 days a week in the salon, and will take up to 6 months PAID maternity leave this year which would never have been possible before joining WSM. We have definitely noticed that when we  ‘market big’ we receive big. We also mix things up a bit such as we not only have our normal packages with the add on’s but we also created an additional festive overhaul similar to one of the templates in your Toolkit.”

Marketing your salon business cannot be timid. Recently another Inner Circle member complained that she’d ‘tried our kind of marketing and IT doesn’t work’…. she claimed that a particular campaign that had been incontrovertibly proven to generate thousands of extra dollars for a huge number of our Members had completely failed for her. When pressed, she admitted she’d sent it out to ‘about 25 of her clients’.

Twenty five??? That’s ALL? Yep, 25. No wonder it didn’t work, she didn’t give it a chance. The science of marketing is about numbers. And any statistician will tell you that 25 is far too tiny a sample to provide results of any reliability at all.

But the biggest mistake is doing ONE thing, waiting for a result, and then doing the next thing, and so on. The trouble with this strategy should be obvious – by the time you figure out whether the first shot has worked or not, you’ve lost another week, a month, three months, during which time you’ve avoided doing ten other things that could have been tested alongside each other.

Thirty years ago, when Lee Iacocca took over an ailing Chrysler and set about giving the moribund company a kick in the butt, he had at one stage no fewer than 37 different strategies, plans, campaigns and re-organizations underway. It upset a lot of people (inevitably, those resistant to change) but it saved the company.

To those who complain “I can’t handle too many things at once, it’s too chaotic/my staff won’t like it/it’s messy/it’s too much going on”, I say this:

Success is not neat. It IS chaotic. If at the end of your day you’ve done everything you needed to do, your desk is tidy, not a pen or stray bit of paper to offend the eye, and nothing ‘left over’ for tomorrow…. that‘s when you need to worry. That’s when the business is in trouble.

The Space Shuttle goes straight up because it has to. But your salon business needs to zig-zig upwards...

Neither is success linear, a straight line from zero to hero. ALL businesses zig-zag to success, like a mountaineer criss-crossing the face of the mountain, attaining a foot-hold here, a hand-hold over there, then another foothold a little to the right and up a bit.

It’s why the Space Shuttle needs the energy required to power a small South American country for an entire year just to escape gravity – if NASA could climb a mountain to get into space, it would, but there aren’t any convenient hand-holds on the way. It has to do it all at once, straight up.

But your salon business ain’t a rocket ship. You need a LOT of hands and feet, all working together – at the same time - to climb the mountain. If you’re only using one foot, or one hand, at a time, you’re never going to climb over the creek at the bottom, let alone zig-zag up the hill.

Donnah King (second from right) and staff at Envy in Coffs Harbour, NSW. "600 new clients in 6 months from using Toolkit-style marketing..."

Back in May when Donnah King bought a run-down salon in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, it 'looked like a sex shop' as she describes it.

"Blacked out windows, purple everywhere... it was awful. The two remaining staff were sitting around doing nothing - because there were no customers coming in, not surprisingly - so I set about renovating. Two weeks later I got a flyer in the mail about your Road to Riches seminar in Sydney.

'I took the senior stylist down with me, more as a treat for her than anything. We sat in on the seminar, and I thought 'right' let's give this a go', joined the Inner Circle program and got our Toolkit, and things changed from that very moment."

Donnah went back to Coffs Harbour, and immediately started using the templates in the kit. With spectacular results.

As she describes in this interview recorded this morning, those templates have brought in at least $80,000 in business the salon would never have had.

"I forgot to tell you about the direct marketing campaign we have just done which produced 41 new clients from 65 postcards handed out in 2 days. They are the $25 gift vouchers. My staff thought I was crazy giving these away but to their amazement over 70% of the people using them bought product valued at over $40 & booked in for another appointment as well.

IF YOU ARE NOT YET A MEMBER, do not have the done-for-you marketing templates that Donnah and hundreds of other Inner Circle members use,… then you are running your business with one eye closed, with both hands tied behind your back, re-inventing the wheel day after dreary day.

Go here to complete the Pre-Application Survey, and you might qualify for a 30-Day Test Drive of the entire Inner Circle system, including the Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit®

Lawyers and rats aside, what will you do, how far will you go, to give yourself a better chance of success?

A couple of years ago, I flew half way around the world to attend a single seminar. At that event, I listened to a man who had many ideas I could use, but one that was pure gold. I diligently wrote it down, and flew all the way home again.

That one idea, and the action I took to implement it, was responsible for no less than a tripling of my business over the next two years. If I hadn’t taken that trip, made that effort, invested that time (and a considerable amount of money), I’d still be in business…but held back by ignorance.

Most salon & spa owners will suffer this ignorance for their entire business lives, simply refusing to do the things that successful salon owners have proven time and again to be profitable.

We all know that we have to educate ourselves – and then implement that education – to be successful. Yet most of us just don’t do it. Wierd.

For those who DO take the action, the rewards are often instant. Like our very first South African IC member, Fairoza Tippens of Bella Rosa H&S Clinic in Cape Town. Like hundreds of South Africa salon owners, Fairoza’s desire to be a part of the Inner Circle program had been hampered for years by their country’s lousy exchange rate. The South African Rand ain’t exactly a world currency powerhouse, which means that when converted into dollars, IC membership is pretty pricey.

But that didn’t stop Fairoza. She bit the bullet, took a 12 hour flight to Sydney for the recent Road to Riches Super Conference, joined the Inner Circle program, and flew all the way home again. Fortune favors the brave. Fairoza got home and took immediate action. Here’s how she writes of the experience:

Fairoza Tippens flew all the way from Cape Town to Sydney to attend the Road to Riches Superconference and enrol in the Inner Circle program.

"Hi Greg,
 
The seminar was far better and "hit home" more than any other I have attended or books I’ve read. Thanks.  
As soon as I got email with my Inner circle membership password i immediately logged on. For months I’ve been reading (the Success Strategy newsletter) and often closed in frustration as I could not enter the Inner Circle area. So you can imagine my delight when I went through most Inner Circle links.  I received the Toolkit Friday morning on my way to work, opened it and took out the Fast Start Audio CD and played in my car. It was storming and I new some clients would cancel on me due to the bad weather - which the 3 out of 4 cliets booked did.
"As I sat all alone in my salon, frustrated, I remembered the interview you had with Dan Kennedy (yes i read it, twice in one week).  Took out my diary and wrote: ‘Target/ Advertise to those who are least and last affected by a bad economy’. 

" I new I wasn’t busy the next day, although being Saturday, so  I thought I had nothing to lose by being bold. So, I used the cheapest and fastest way to get in clients quickly - SMS. I sent the sms  to about 12 wax clients and 7 facial clients. 

"I wanted the wax clients to start doing facials and using products and I wanted facial clients to do more waxing other than the usual lip, brow and under arm.  I got 2 bookings within seconds of sending the message, then my phoned died. Without my charger I finally put my car to good use and rushed home in the storm. Put my phone on charge and had received a further 3 replies.

"5 clients =   R1000.00 on my day off. I know, not much of a reply but at least I have 5 facial clients next Saturday and no one cancelled on me due to bad weather.  After a long day, I finally sat with the Toolkit and was surprised to see the example used (in the Toolkit) were similar to mine. And, by just going through your Inner Circle links (in the Members Only area) I’m amazed, I finally get it.

"Imagine what I’m going to do when coached. I know my text message can be improved but for the first time since opening my salon a year and half ago I feel optimistic!!! It couldn’t have come at a better time.
 
Regards, Fairoza."

That’s the kind of action that gets results, time and time again.

At that same conference, we spoke with many, many Inner Circle members getting even better results…. here’s just a few of them:

And the interesting part about these Application Surveys is the consistency of answers to the question “What do you most want for yourself?”

These answers provide us with an insight into what I call the “Outcome/Input” ratio – the relationship between the expectations of the applicant, and the amount of effort he or she is prepared to put in to achieve that outcome.

Here’s a typical answer:

“I want an annual three month vacation in Europe with my family, a new BMW for me and one for my husband, a beach house, two or three investment properties…and I want to work only two days a week…”

Er…fine. Win the lottery, or be smiling sweetly, in the right place at the right time, when rich old Uncle Mort falls off the perch.

Reality check: it ain’t going to happen. At least, not without a stunning amount of ACTION first. It never ceases to amaze me that so few recognise the law of nature that ties success to….well, there’s no other word for it, work. And by work, I don’t just mean actual manual labour, I mean the work involved in educating yourself in the knowledge of what works in business, and then applying it, implementing it, testing it, and applying it again and again and again.

Example: this week I took a call from a spa owner who was desperate for success. In fact, she wouldn’t survive unless she took MASSIVE ACTION. I explained to this spa owner that success was NOT about doing one thing, waiting for results, and then trying something else.

I explained to her that to be successful she would have to take a huge leap – and implement dozens of strategies, ALL AT ONCE!

Here’s just a partial list of what you could and should be doing to generate BIG results – and this is assuming that you already have in place the appropriate infrastructure, ambiance, sales processes and operations systems in your salon:

• Re-inventing what you sell – in other words, Sales Thinking – You should be actively and energetically re-inventing what you sell to more closely match what your customers want. No woman ever woke up with a start, nudged Norm in the ribs and declared she just had to get hot wax poured over her inner thigh and have the hair torn out by the roots. What she wants is smooth, sexier thighs… so why advertise ‘Waxing’?
  

• What it means is a huge amount of work, forensically examining everything you sell and re-packaging, re-inventing, re-naming, adding sex appeal, adding value, creating products and services they cannot get anywhere else.
  
• Planning your year’s marketing ..and implementing it, relentlessly. And that means a massive amount of work, at least in the early stages. Here’s just a partial list of what you should be planning, writing, doing – ALL AT ONCE.
  
• Direct mail to get old ‘lost’ clients back. In the Toolkit, we call them the Raise the Dead letters. Religiously, every three months.
  
• Client appreciation evenings
  
• a MONTHLY – not bi-monthly, not quarterly, but every month – client newsletter
  
• Text message campaigns – short notice, militarily planned and executed, to fill empty chairs or treatment rooms on a short term basis. Probably one of these every week
  
• Special event campaigns – eg Mothers Day, Easter, Christmas gift vouchers – by direct mail, email, text message etc
  
• Referral programs – regimented, systemised, with staff trained on how to  implement
  
• Regular – probably fortnightly – staff sales training sessions, with role playing, incentives, accountable outcomes
  
• web site – you should be actively, regularly working on your website, putting up new copy, getting it optimized for search engines, putting your newsletters up there in pdf format, special offers and so on.
  
• Implementing a system of getting client contact details… every single client, new and old, multiple contact points (email, phone, cell phone, physical address) – this is your GOLD, the real value in the business. And that means every single prospective client who walks in the door. Offer them a bribe to give you their details if necessary.
  
• Mailbox flyers (if its legal in your part of the world – much of the USA its not) to attract new clients. Compelling flyers, with an offer, a headline, scarcity, a guarantee, etc etc. It’s direct response marketing 101.
  
• Product packaging – grouping products together so there’s an incentive to spend more
  

….and that’s just a partial list. Sounds overwhelming? Well, do you really think the new BMW, the holiday house, the investment properties and the three month vacation on the French Riviera is going to miraculously land on your doorstep if you just plug away at it the way you’ve been plugging away for the last ten years?

Resource: Okay, so now you know you need help. That’s what the Inner Circle program is for. Go here to apply for a 90-day Test Drive and see for yourself.