Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success, but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit, just working in your business and start working on it, join us here, where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up, my loves, and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva, really excited to jump into our topic this week: how clients are finding stylists today.
Ooh, now this has changed a lot. And this year, in the last five years, in the last decade, it continues to evolve. I’ve identified three different ways clients today are finding stylists and I want to talk about each and every one of those ways.
We have been programmed to think if we just show up right on the ‘gram, we’re going to build. If we can pay to be on the front page of Google, we’re going to build. If I have the best referral program in the world.
If I had a penny, you guys, for every time somebody sends me a DM and they’re like, “Can you just tell me a really good referral program?” I could, but I’d be doing you a disservice.
I could literally spell out the best referral program in the world. It would do nothing for you. It would do you no good, but we think it will, right? Because we’ve been programmed to think that way.
Word of mouth. If enough people are talking about you, then you will build. Yes, that is true in 1996. It’s not true anymore. Everything has changed.
And then paid ads, paid ads can be your best friend or your worst enemy. How many of you feel like paid ads are your worst enemy. For whatever reason, you don’t have the budget. You’ve done it before and gotten burned. You don’t understand how they work. I get it. The great news is that’s not how you’re going to build, anyway. There are other ways to build a clientele.
What I’ve noticed recently, we spend a lot of time this year waiting to see how the evolution of consumer behavior would change. And we’ve identified some really key changes and I want to talk to you about them.
So even if you’ve been following me for a long time, I want to talk to you about what we’re seeing specifically right now. This is a very timely episode. What we’re seeing right now in the way that Google indexing has changed, consumer behavior has changed, and how to get real clients in your chair today.
Now stick around until the end of this episode, because, really exciting, I have a new free online training coming up in just a few days. It’s brand new. I’ve never taught this class before. It’s a 90-minute digital training, highly actionable workbook included. You’re going to want to sign up, so stay till the end of the episode. I’ll give you the URL so you can save your seat.
Now, like I said, at the top of this episode, I have identified three different ways clients are looking to get into your chair. We have three different clients we’re trying to attract.
We have the client who’s new to town. Doesn’t know anybody, just moved to the area, relocated here for whatever reason, new to town, doesn’t know anybody, needs a stylist, desperately looking, no connections, needs to get their hair done. Okay. That’s client number one.
Client number two: it’s a local. They’ve lived in the area, whether it be your little community or a surrounding community, and they’re looking for a new stylist. Maybe they’ve been let down by their existing stylists, maybe their existing stylist doesn’t do what they want. Maybe they’ve never had extensions before and they’re looking for an extension specialist. Maybe they’ve been getting a men’s haircut by a stylist and they’re looking for a barber. Who knows, but for whatever reason, they’re looking to leave their current service provider in your area and find somebody new.
That’s client number two. These are two very different people and we have to do different things to attract them.
Then there’s client number three, the client who isn’t even looking, Oh, jackpot. I love getting these clients.
So we have three clients we could potentially attract to the person who’s desperate. New to town, knows nobody; the client who has been in the area, but is looking for something new, and the client who isn’t even looking yet. I want to tell you how to attract all three of them.
Let’s start right at the top, the client, who’s new to town and doesn’t know anybody yet. This is a prime clientele. They aren’t attached to anybody. They are ripe for the picking. They’re yours if you want them; they just have to know you exist.
You can say, “Oh my referral program…” No, they don’t know anybody. You miss that. They don’t know anybody. So we can’t say, “If I have a good enough referral program, they’re going to find me.” Remember I said they’re new to town. Maybe they’ve only been here for a week. They haven’t met anybody, but they’ve got crazy gray roots and they need to start applying for jobs or whatever their situation is.
They don’t know anybody yet and they want to find a stylist. I want you to get that business. So how are they going to find you? Maybe by asking a neighbor, maybe they met the lady next door and she’s really sweet, but more than likely, they’re going to look online.
There’s a few different ways they might find you: hashtag search, geotag search, right? Google, the term “best salons in San Francisco,” “best salons in Chicago,” “best salons in DC”, okay? Something like that. A generic search term looking for the best stylist in Manhattan, right?
The best. That’s what we’re always looking for. So a Google search, something like that, or they might go to a review site like Yelp.
Boo. I know. Whenever I say Yelp, it’s like a dirty four letter word. No one likes to talk about it, except the stylists who have built an entire clientele on Yelp. We hate Yelp until we learn how it works and then love it or hate it, it can be the biggest clientele generator for you.
We dive deep into Thrivers into how to use it, and why you don’t have to hate it, and why it’s a thousand times easier than any other social media platform. But until you get there and until you’re drinking the Kool Aid, I just have to let you know, that is a way that clients today are finding stylists.
Whether you love it or not clients like it, consumers enjoy it. Consumers still use it and it’s how clients are finding stylists today.
Now we’re going to talk about hashtag search and geo-tag search in a second. So I’m just going to put a pin in that social media conversation for a minute. Let’s talk about that Google search. Do this. Do a Google search for best salons in, and then the name of your city, or best stylist in name of your city or community or whatever. Go ahead and try that and see what pulls up for you. ‘Cause I did this.
I was going through a really awesome training intensive with my two Thrivers Society coaches, Haley, and Jess, and we noticed a major change in the way that Google indexes small business.
So what shows up now, first and foremost, is Google place listings through Google My Business, always right at the top. That’s the first thing. And several of them—three or four show up first, depending on if you’re mobile or desktop, maybe just one or two—that’s going to show up first at the top of your search results.
Then local blog features. What? We tested this in a ton of cities, but it went Google places, one or two local blogs, then what was next? Yelp. Google owns Yelp. Do you know that? So of course they’re going to index it very high. Then we started to see websites with social media. Didn’t even hit the search feed unless you were digging deep four or five pages deep, but nobody’s going four or five pages deep on Google search. It’s just not going to happen.
So it went Google place listings, Google My Business, then it went local blog features—just one or two, not a lot— then Yelp—big, big feature—then websites. So now that we know that is how index is happening, we have to prioritize how we show up on an internet search. You have to optimize your Google My Business listing. We saw so many Google My Business listings where it was like the salon had done it. Somebody had gone in initially and built it and then they abandoned it. It was like you built the house, but nobody moved in.
We saw a ton of that. Not attractive and not how you’re going to build a clientele. So we saw a ton of that.
You have to have control over your Yelp profile. Do you guys know this? You can decide you hate Yelp. It’s for the birds. You’re not interested. Somebody can create a Yelp for you. Is that what you want? An angry client creating your Yelp page? ‘Cause they can do that. If you choose not to create a listing for yourself, they can create one for you.
So again, love it or hate it, this is how the platform works. So for me, I want to be in control of that conversation. If you create the listing for yourself, even if you’re not going to nurture it, like you’re not drinking this sauce yet, that’s fine. I want you to create the profile so nobody creates one on your behalf. You want to stay in control of that driver’s seat.
And listen, if somebody creates one on your behalf, it’s almost always an angry client who does it. It’s not a loving client who does that for you. It’s an angry client. You can go in and claim that as your business, that angry review, you can go ahead and claim it as yourself. If you don’t claim it, it will still have your name on it. If you do claim it, you can then go back in and start creating a profile, but that’s not where I’d want my profile to start. I want it to start strong.
So you need some kind of Yelp presence. It’s just super important. Even if you build it and then never look at it again—I could get on board with that, I guess—but you need to get in control of that Yelp platform. It’s super important.
Then you have to have a well-designed website and not just a pretty website and not a website that just says, “I’m a stylist and I do hair.” It has to be, “Wow. This salon is better than any of the other salons in town, I can tell, and that’s where I want to go.”
That’s the kind of feedback we’re looking for on your website. It’s crucial. It is the decision point. Think about it. How do you judge a website? Does it take you too long to find what you need? Is it easy to look through? Does it look professional or does it look like a seventh grader in, you know, engineering class who made this website? Does it scream, “Wow, this is really where I could see myself because that’s what clients are looking for”? Not just, “We’re a salon. We do hair.” “Come on in. You’re welcome here. Look, here’s clients who look like you. You’d feel comfortable here. Let me explain what our guest experience is like. Here’s how you get started.” That’s what we want. It has to be a concierge-level experience on that website. It’s not an option; it’s crucial.
So what this means is even if you don’t like Google My Business, or you don’t like Yelp, or you don’t have the time to do the website properly, Google doesn’t care. Google will show whatever story you’ve created online or not. It’ll show either your story or the absence of story.
It’s very important that you prioritize those platforms because we now know from the searching that we did that is how the index lays out, and I want you to be a part of that search. And the way to do it is to get more Google reviews and build out that profile in full and get some Yelp reviews going. That’s the best way to show up higher in search.
I can coach you how to do that in Thrivers Society, you can do it on your own, but it’s crucial and important, okay?
So let’s talk about the second client now. What about the client who already lives in town, but isn’t happy with their stylist?
We really have to impress these people. They already have a stylist they’ve been loyal to and even though they weren’t totally in love with him or her, or even if he or she didn’t do the services that they’re looking for, there’s a relationship there. And that stylist has the advantage, right? And this local client also has the advantage of they know some local salons by reputation, right? We know that salons that you’ve heard about, you’ve heard the name tossed around, you driven by. It’s pretty cute. We know these kinds of things.
That client is probably going to do a different search. They might just not do a broad Google search of “best stylist in Oklahoma,” right? They might not start there. They can start a little bit more refined because they’re local. They know the area, they have a sense of where to start.
That client is much more likely to start with a social media search or even a web search that goes straight to your website because they’ve driven by your salon. They know it’s cute and now they want the website to tell a story.
Is it just cute, but kind of amateur hour? Or is it cute and they’ve knocked it out of the park? Two different stories, right? Or they’re going to look you up on local hashtag search, geotag search, whatever and they might find you that way.
So with this client, it’s something else different that they’re looking for. Your social media is going to tell a story about you. Your website is going to tell a story about you and it’s going to be one of these three stories.
So as I read these stories, I want to connect with the one that is most in alignment with where you think you are today. You ready for it?
Story number one is, “Wow, she’s kind of all over the place. It’s hard to tell if she’s taking this career seriously.” How many of you think your social media or website tells that story right now? Wow, she’s kind of all over the place. It’s hard to tell if she’s taking this seriously. Okay. Let’s be honest.
Story number two: “Well, she certainly does hair.” That’s another story. Does your social media and your website just scream hair stylist? ‘Cause that’s not going to work that worked in 1992. It doesn’t work today. So we have to change the way we market ourselves.
Or does it say story number three? Whoa. She looks super committed, consistent, fun, personable. It feels like I already know her and she does the kind of hair that I’m looking for. That’s the story we’re going for and I’m going to list off the key parts: committed, consistent, personable (“It feels like I already know her.”) Those are the key pieces.
If I look at your social media and it doesn’t say committed, consistent personable, and like I already know you—not that kind of hair you do, but you as a person—we’re missing the mark. Those pieces have to be there if you want to capture clients already in your area that are not currently in your business. Very important. Good hair is easy to find. Those pieces are the secret sauce. That’s what we have to infuse into the social media and into the website.
These existing locals might find you through that hashtag search or geotag. Another hotspot for locals is the Nextdoor app. Every single week in my community, somebody posts, “Does anybody know a great stylist?” I would be willing to bet Nextdoor is the biggest clientele builder in my community right now. At least it’s huge and it’s just like a referral goldmine.
However, if somebody is referred to you through Nextdoor or Facebook, do you think they’re just going to blindly pick up the phone and call? Nope. They’re still going to look you up on social media or your website. So it doesn’t mean that’s a shortcut. It means it’s a part of the process.
So locals are finding you a little bit differently than somebody who’s new to the area.
And then we have number three clients who aren’t even looking. Ooh, these give me all the feels. These spice me up a little bit. I love these guys.
The reality is every client is up for the taking. This is why it’s so funny to me when a stylist is leaving a salon and the salon owner is like, “well, you can leave, but you can’t contact any of your clients.”
The clients aren’t zoo animals. You don’t owe them. The clients are human beings and they can see whomever they want. A client has freedom of choice, always, as to who they want to see, right? We are in the relationship business, not a transaction business. It’s very different kind of business.
So every client is attainable always. And I know it sounds scary when I say that it gives us some feels, right? Because we were like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t want somebody poaching my clients.”
I want you to think about consumers today. We, as consumers are always happy until the next best thing comes along. You know, the whole “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” We have these blind spots where we don’t realize what we’re missing until we’re presented with a better opportunity.
So for me, for example, I’m a book junkie. I have been since I was a little girl, like really small. If you understand what I’m talking about, you really resonate with this. I like the smell of library books. I’m not an ereader. I need to have a physical book in my hand. I have a very specific way I fold the pages. Like I just, I love books. It’s something that’s just a part of me. It’s in every fiber of my being. And I have like a deep undying love for wandering the halls of a bookstore quietly by myself and sitting on the floor and opening pages. I love that being in a library, I still check out library books. I like that experience.
However, 90% of the time I just get my books from Amazon now—ah, kills me to even say it, but why do I do that? Because on Amazon, it’s faster, easier. Amazon gives me recommendations and I can see a wider selection. I didn’t realize how many books I didn’t even know existed until Amazon came along. It really changed the game for me. I wasn’t just limited to what was right in front of my face. What was on shelf number 17, it was the plethora. Like the world is my oyster. I can have whatever I want.
So I still go to my local bookstore if I’m buying gifts or if I’m looking for a super popular book that I know they’ll have, I’ll go there because I want to support a local small business. But if I’m looking for something new I haven’t experienced before, I always go to Amazon. Change in consumer behavior because I realized there was another option. That is how humans are.
So when I say clients are always up for the taking it’s consumers are always up for the taking. It’s just part of who we are. It’s part of business evolution. So you can have some feels about it, but it’s just the way that it is. So we can’t be blind to the idea that we can always obtain clients who aren’t looking and we also can’t be blind to the concept that clients are always looking. That’s why it’s so important for us to stay sharp.
So here are three ways to get out in front of clients who aren’t already looking. What I want to remind you of is they don’t know what they’re missing until somebody shows them the way. I think about my relationship with my photographer, Morgan too. She’s the probably sixth or seventh professional photographer I’ve worked with and the others were fine until I met her. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, you run circles around all of those other photographers.” And she’s like, “I know,” she’s like, “but people don’t realize what a great photo shoot can really be like because they haven’t experienced it before.” And so until Morgan got out in front of me, I didn’t even know people like her existed.
That’s who you have to be for clients in your area. I didn’t even know it could be this good. I didn’t even know this was possible.That’s who you have to be. That’s how you dominate a market, right?
So we can do this through aggressive referrers, meaning your clients are shouting you from the rooftops. Aggressive referrals don’t look like this: “Hey Jane, I’m looking for a new stylist. Do you know anybody?” “Yes. My girl Britt is amazing.”
That’s passive referral. That’s not going to work.
Aggressive is “Jane, don’t be offended, but I have to tell you something. I think you need to start looking for a new stylist. My girl Britt is going to blow your mind,” and Jane’s going to be like, “Are you kidding?” And she’s like, “No, no, no. I know you are loyal to Nadine, but I want you to give Britt a shot. She does hair in a way that I’ve never even experienced before.”
That’s an aggressive referrer. That’s when your clients are working for you, okay? It’s rare. But there are absolutely clients who will do it.
So that’s one way, and aggressive referrers come when you blow people’s socks off.
I’m an aggressive referrer. My friends turn to me for everything and I will 100% have an intervention. “Hey girl, we need to change up that wardrobe. I have an idea of where we can go shopping,” and I make it fun. But I up level those around me and I’m now a trusted resource for where to go and what to do in my area, right?
You want people like me in your chair who are going to keep talking and send their friends in even if the friend isn’t asking.
Okay, number two, social media ads. If you do social media ads, right, you can be getting new clients in your chair for 10, 12 bucks a guest. And if you’re like, “That’s expensive,” how much are you paying right now to get a new guest in your chair?
How many of you have a referral program where you’re paying $15, $20, $30 off to get somebody in? How many of you aren’t seeing new guests? Well, then you really can’t balk at price because you desperately need new people in your chair.
There was always a cost for new business and the cost is either time or money. So if you’re down to spend the time, we can do time-based strategies. It’s going to be more pounding the pavement and physically working hard and investing time, ‘cause you can’t invest money, which is fine. That’s how I built my clientele.
Or you can invest money at the rate of $12, $15 a guest, which when you look at successful stylists, they’ll spend that all day long ‘cause it’s worth it, right?
So aggressive ads are another way to do it through social media and then local networking. Local networking is a low-cost, high-impact way to build a clientele in your community who is not even looking.
It’s so easy to create wow factor through local networking, local businesses, local organizations, things like that. Landslide victory. (And we have an entire module dedicated to that in Thrivers Society.)
So what I want you to keep in mind is how you’re going to build your clientele in 2020, 2021 and beyond ‘cause there’s three kinds of clients I need you to be reaching if you’re going to build, grow and scale.
Those who are new to the area, and are looking, those who are in the area and are looking for somebody new, and those who don’t even know you exist. If we can triple down on those three, you’re going to win. This is where the marketing funnel comes into play and this is where you have to get really strategic in your business.
You can’t just stay on the hamster wheel. You got to get in the driver’s seat. There is no other choice.
So I have some really exciting news. If you want help building that hair stylist success framework, I’m hosting a free 90-minute online class coming up this Sunday, September 20 with replays available, but you need to sign up and save your seat at brittseva.com/success.
We’ll probably have six or 8,000 stylists sign up for this. You need to be a part of it.
In this high impact workshop, you’ll receive a PDF workbook to help you make your marketing plans.
Listen, my webinars are not just fluff webinars. If you’ve never been to one before, it’s not like you’ll see anywhere else. This is highly educational. You want to be a part of it. A deep understanding of the five roles every stylist or salon owner must master, your wealth plan, a deep understanding of the stylist archetypes, and we lay out the marketing funnel with strategic tips, start to finish, and you’ll fill out a PDF workbook to create your plan right along there with me.
You want to be a part of this brittseva.com/success. Save your seat. I’m so excited to have you.
You guys so much love, happy business building. I’ll see you on the next one.
