You can succeed during this recession if you have a well thought out plan and a bit of persistence. When things are a little tougher, it simply separates out those who are prepared to work harder and more creatively.

Customers are your personal recession buster - but only if you focus on them more completely, deeply and consistently than ever before. Think about it this way - your Customers are the source of all revenue for your salon or spa; your Customers write your paycheck. It makes sense to build and deepen your relationships with them always, but it's never more true than in times where they are buying less. Your Customers are looking for new solutions. Your Customers want help. Your Customers need you.

Five Ideas

Here are five ways you can focus on deepening your relationships with your Customers, starting right now.

• Get in touch. Stop by, make a call, send a handwritten note, send an email (in that order of priority - the further up this list the more valuable the contact will be). Let them know you care, take the effort to be connected.
• Stay in touch. Don't make this contact a one-time event but part of an ongoing process of staying in touch.
• Ask how you can help them. No strings and no qualifiers. Do you appreciate it when someone offers to help you with something? So will your Customers, even if they don't take you up on the offer.
• Educate them. Send an article, share an idea. After you know how you can help or what their challenges are, it will be easier to determine the best things to share based on their interests and needs. The goal is to engage your customers. Talk about them, ask about them, provide ideas for them and communicate in terms of them.
• Focus on serving not selling. People buy from those they like, trust and respect. Sales will come. Focus on the person, building the relationship and serving them.

A Final Thought
A recession calls for additional effort from your side to attract new customers, hold on to existing ones and increase the dollar amount that those customers spend.

Use these ideas so your salon or spa will survive the downturn. Only businesses with a solid foundation and foresight survive the inevitable bad times that go along with managing a business. You want to be one of them!!

These are just five ideas - let us come up with fifty-five more for your business. Call or email me for a FREE 45 Minute Consultation to discuss how we can help you beat the recession! 866.288.7353

With almost 20 years experience in new business start-ups and transformations, Ana Loiselle-Donahue is a specialist in finding new sources of revenue and growth for companies of all sizes. She founded theSECRET in 2004 to help businesses flourish through creative - and powerful - new solutions; including brand development, strategic financial planning and employee training. She has already helped numerous companies improve their performance through innovative business practices. Her process is based on six key steps - Systems, Economics, Compensation, Retention, Education and Teamwork. Ana's background includes a long career in the salon/spa industry as a product sales representative, educator, management consultant, and spa owner. Her leadership foresight was influential in making her former business, Anna Luis Salon & Day Spa a two time National award winner of Salon Today's Top 200 Fastest Growing Salons. She holds a license in both cosmetology and aesthetics; making her more then just a consultant but a true mentor and coach.

2 Responses to “Recession Buster #2: Five Customer Relation Tips to
Help Your Business Thrive During Times of
Economic Meltdown & Crisis”

1. LeVonne Says:
   November 26th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

   This is just what I needed to see and hear. I will take advantage of the advice and offer. I'm most certain I will have company. Thank you for the positive information in a not so positive economy.

2. Cindy McCormick Says:
   December 1st, 2008 at 7:02 am

   It's Monday morning, I have a little down time, and this is exactly what I needed to read! Time to make a few visits and phone calls! Thanks for the great ideas SpaBoom!

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