facials

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Monday, March 23, 2015

“I want you back!”—discounts and postcards

Going through your client chart files is an important part of keeping up with your business. This is yet another reason it is so crucial to make charts on each and every client. Because I don’t want to clog my files with inactive clients, I will go through the files every 3-6 months. See Client Information Charts—Part I & Part II (links below).

I take out any client who hasn’t been in for 6 months and put their chart in a pile. I will send “I want you back!” discount post cards to each client who hasn’t been in for the last 6 months (or longer). I write down the date I send the PC and put these charts in a separate file. The chart of anyone who comes in from the post card will be put back in the active files once they have come in.

For those who did not respond, I 3-hole punch their charts and put in a notebook labeled “Inactive Clients.” If at some point in the future any of these clients decide to return to my salon, I still have their chart but the chart is not clogging my active files. I actually don’t ever toss a client file once it’s made. Each chart has a lot of information on the client and it may come in handy later down the road. At a future date I may send a long-lost client another discount PC. But if they don’t respond to this 2nd attempt, I won’t contact them again.

I didn’t put a place for an expiration date on the “I want you back!” postcards, but you certainly can. For clients who really aren’t frequenting my salon, I don’t put an expiration on their discounts thinking without pressure, perhaps they will someday return.

Every business has busy times and less busy times. Instead of getting nervous during a slow period, I do things—like going through my files—to stir up the energy and create more business. 

I designed and purchased these postcards at vistaprint.com

Also see: