Selling gift certificates is surprisingly easy to do if you take the right approach. It gives you money up front, your client has it easy when it comes to shopping for friends and family (give a gift certificate!), and it is a guaranteed way to get new clients in your chair…which could land you many more appointments for years to come.
Below are four best practices when it comes to selling gift certificates to your clients:
1. “Buy 3, Get Yours FREE” Gift Certificate Offer: Keep in mind that we all love to give gifts, but a lot of us like to reward ourselves with a gift of our own during this stressful time of year. Offer your clients three (3) $25 gift certificates that they can purchase to give to friends or family, and if they purchase all three you will give them a fourth $25 gift certificate for free that is theirs to use. They are going to be buying gifts for these friends of theirs somewhere, it might as well be at your salon! Besides, you open the door to retain a new group of clients in January and February when they start calling to use their gift certificates.
2. Use it as an excuse to contact old clients: What better way to reconnect with inactive clients who have not been to you in several months (or even years) by calling them with your holiday gift certificate offer (Buy 3 Get Yours FREE) and see if they’d like to participate. It may also open the door to getting them back in your salon as a regular client. Remember the value of a lifetime client* is worth thousands of dollars. One phone call may help add one more to your books.
3. Stocking Stuffer Gifts: Travel size product, small denomination gift certificates ($5 – $10) and certificates for a FREE brow wax or makeup touchup with their next service, etc., are smaller size gifts you can give away for free to clients and encourage them to give them away as stocking stuffers. Be sure to include your business card with each and every gift certificate you sell or give away – you want your new clients to be able to find you easily.
4. Display Your Offer! When you’re offering gift certificates, don’t hesitate or be shy about it…you should be proudly displaying your offer on your Facebook page, website, and on the mirror or door of your salon. Think for a moment how long your clients sit in your chair on average during a regular visit. Typically this will exceed 60-90 minutes (and even more for some of you). Having something in front of your client during that visit makes it much more likely they will at least ask about it to find out more. If they don’t it makes for an easy way to bring it up during your checkout by saying “You may have seen the special I posted on my mirror during your appointment, here is how it works____________”
Make the most of selling gift certificates – it is another revenue generator many people miss out on.
To order your own set of Image Studios gift certificates, click here.
Contact us today for more information on Image Studios Salons and how it is changing the salon industry as we know it.
