Help promoting aesthetics business

[Christradv]

Hi all,

I have been a practitioner in Botox and dermal fillers for around five years. I have a converted treatment room in my house and very occasionally go to independent hair salons who taking bookings from their clients on my behalf (and take a small cut). I have been a registered nurse for many years, attend lots of training and consider myself good and passionate about what I do.

I have a website and Facebook page (both of which I update every few months, but by no means frequently). I am consistently fairly busy and do well via word of mouth (with most of my clients becoming regulars).

I am hoping to make this my full-time job but now like I am at a bit of a dead end. Many of my competitors seem to have very active Facebook pages and seem to be getting busier by the day. I would appreciate the views of anyone on how to take my business to the next level.

Some thoughts I have had:

– increasing my online presence. I have already paid for SEO to ensure that my website is ranked highly in Google, but could be more active with my Facebook campaigns etc. Only slight issue is, I am not very technical and I'm aware that people are sometimes reluctant to make public the fact that they like a Botox/dermal fillers business. What type of posts would be best? Ones asking followers to share or like (eg competitions, offers) or just information about services, procedures and offers?

- linking up with more salons (hairdressing, beauty, massage). I quite like this idea in theory as if they are reputable and have your leaflets they can easily sell to their captive clients on your behalf (albeit for a small cut). But, this has never really taken off for me and I just get the odd one here and there. Has anyone had much success with this?

- organising a leaflet drop in the more wealthy residential areas of town. I did this at the beginning and it is quite costly and not very targeted, but it did bring some success and at least gets your name out there.

- websites like Groupon. I was approached last year by Groupon but decided not to take him up on the offer as I thought it might cheapen the product and it only made sense economically if the customer then ordered lots of other services that were not part of the heavily discounted offer.

Any thoughts on the above and any new ideas would be much appreciated. Many thanks for reading!

C x

 

[Annoying Donkey]

- linking up with more salons (hairdressing, beauty, massage). I quite like this idea in theory as if they are reputable and have your leaflets they can easily sell to their captive clients on your behalf (albeit for a small cut). But, this has never really taken off for me and I just get the odd one here and there. Has anyone had much success with this?

You need to know your numbers. If you get a lot of repeat business then you can afford to pay better commissions, maybe even 100% or more of first treatment. And make up for it on the backend repeat business. People will refer more if it's worth their while.

Also reward clients who refer. Discounts on future treatments or cash or personalised gifts - find out what individual clients like and buy gifts specific to them. Personalises your relationship.

How about regular free coffee mornings. Invite your 10 best customers or 10 who are the most social and ask them to bring a friend. Maybe have some sort of educational presentation, but make it social rather than salesy.

- websites like Groupon. I was approached last year by Groupon but decided not to take him up on the offer as I thought it might cheapen the product and it only made sense economically if the customer then ordered lots of other services that were not part of the heavily discounted offer.

IMHO you're better off paying higher commissions to salons and referrers. Groupon tends to attract the price conscious, who don't tend to be loyal. They'll always be looking for the cheapest deal.

 

[Nochexman]

Do you record your customers' contact details? If you do, ask your customers for referrals. They can be the best way to pick-up new business.