Business going down the pan - any ideas what to do please?

glicky · 1 December 2006 at 8:47PM

Hi, I wonder if any of you can help me with some ideas!

My friend is a freelance hairdresser and over the past year has lost so many clients (she says this happens, but usually new ones have replaced them ... she's just not getting any new one's anymore).

She's very, very depressed about it because she hardly has any money coming in! I've suggested she post some leaflets in people's letterboxes, but is not very positive about it ... she says leaflets don't work

Does anyone have any ideas as to what she can do to promote the business and get some new clients please?

I've also suggested sending Xmas cards with her card in it to the clients who don't come to her anymore. What do you think about that? Again, she's very negative about all my suggestions, but that's her anyway, she's always negative about anything I suggest. She feels that I should be helping her out because I've known her for 30 years and she's too depressed at the moment to deal with it, so here I am, helping her. I said I'd type the leaflets up, but need them to be quite powerful so people don't throw them in the bin.

So, to go over it again.

1. What do you think about the leaflets?

2. What about the Xmas cards with her card in it for clients that don't come to her anymore.

3. I would be very grateful if any of you have any ideas please. I haven't got a clue.

Looking forward to hearing from you and thanks in advance. :beer:

Spendless · 1 December 2006 at 8:55PM

Hi

my mum is a mobile hairdresser. Why has she lost lots of clients? eg my mums clients are mainly elderly.

many people (around here anyway) like mobile hairdressers as they are far cheaper than salon prices. I would have thought an advert in the local shops/newspaper to be enough to get some more customers.

HugoSP · 1 December 2006 at 9:08PM

Firstly, does she know why the clients are leaving her? Is this indicative of the business, or is she losing them for specific reasons?

Secondly, is she a mobile hairdresser or not? Could she offer this as a service and do out of hours etc to fit in around peoples' work? This way mothers who need to get several childrens' hair cut won't need to trapes to her salon past all the shops with them all saying "mummy I want......"

Thirdly, how is she on price compaired to other people?

Are there any competitors setting up, what to they offer that she doesn't

Basically she needs to consider how she is going to take her business forward, rather than shoving cards through doors. Although your idea is a good one, she needs to consider it as part of the relaunching of her business rather than simply remind people she's there.

If she's as disponant as you say she is then she needs to sort herself out first. She needs to have the motivation to get her business back on track, even if it's just to regain her income. I am self employed and money is my main motivator at times, especially when I want to spend on materials for my own house. If a job is getting me down, I just think of that big fat cheque waiting for me when the job's finished!

To run through your ideas

1. Leaflets are fine, but she needs to target the right people. If she is aiming her business at salon customers who spend a lot of money on their hair then leafleting housing association tenants aint going to work. If she is offering family discounts and can travel to the clients premesis then housing association, council estates and family occupied private housing be a good bet, as would the elderly, who live on their own in old peoples' bungalows, in their own houses, sheltered accomodation and retirementd homes.

2. Fine, but what different things iss she going to offer? Clients have stopped going to her for a reason, either out of habit, or because they have ceased to be satisfied with her, or that someone else fits the bill better (cheaper, conviniet appointments etc). Can she guage why these people are leaving her and respond to the reasons?

3. Further ideas as suggested above. There is bound to be a free business advice centre near her, she could try the local Chamber of Commerce as her first port of call.

Good luck

Counting_Pennies_2 · 1 December 2006 at 10:14PM

If she has no objections to cutting children's hair and being mobile, I would suggest she put leaflets in all the places children go to. i.e. soft play, libraries, health visitor rooms, etc and advertise.

I pay £5 for my son's hair and £25 for mine through our mobile hairdresser.

If you advertise the fact that you are happy to go to their house or for them to come to you I am sure people will come running.

I was so relieved to find a mobile hairdresser, as trips to a salon are horrific with a toddler if it is me having mine cut, and my son would be much happier sitting in his highchair with a stack of nibbles watching teletubbies than be sat in a strange salon.

hth

domestic_goddess · 1 December 2006 at 11:47PM

I think the leaflets would be a good idea. The best people to target are the elderly and young families with kids. I am looking for a mobile hairdresser now as hairdressers are a nightmare with young kids.

Good luck to her

Mics_chick · 2 December 2006 at 2:19AM

I've finally found a mobile hairdresser but I looked high and low for one before I got lucky!!

My first thoughts were after reading your post were:
Is your friend depressed anyway?
Is there something else that could be making her feel so down?
Could this be affecting her business?

Does she know why her old clients have stopped using her? If not, I think it would be worth ringing say 5/6 of them and seeing what their reasons are... If they're all different reasons then she's got nothing to worry about but if 3 or more of them come up with the same reason, such as too expensive or whatever then I think she would need to address that issue first.

I think the leaflets and the Xmas cards are both very good ideas but I would add an extra incentive by offering a money off voucher as well. It wouldn't need to be anything mad I think 10% would be enough or even 5% if that's all she could afford.

Customers are fickle! Some will stay with the devil they know because it's familiar, friendly, predictable, etc but others will swap loyalties if they save tuppence! Nothing wrong with that (especially on this chat forum!) but adding a little extra to coax people should help to rebuild her business. Even if she is only covering her costs by offering this discount, at least she will get some repeat business from it and her client list should start to grow again.

Maybe she should start her leaflet drops in the areas where she still has customers - kill 2 birds with 1 stone - she has to be in that area anyway so she won't be making a special trip just for leaflets and if she has 1 loyal customer there she is more likely to get new ones, I think!

She has a good friend in you if you are willing to help her with this but tell her she will need to put some effort into it herself if she's going to get anywhere with this - SHE is the ONLY one that can DO THIS !!!

Good luck to yourself and your friend MC

verysagey · 2 December 2006 at 2:28AM

I definitely agree with some of the other posts. If she is losing buisiness then she has to find out why. If you dont know what is broken you cant mend it.

It may be something simple such as people moving away etc. but if she rings some of her clients and asks them straight, then she can move on.

Wallowing in self pity - with all due respect - as she sounds like she is, is just not going to get her anywhere.

You can give her advice but if she takes that is up to her. I too think it sounds like there are other issues here.

you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink!!!

flossy_splodge · 2 December 2006 at 2:41AM

could/would you be prepared to make the phone calls for her to ex clients and wrap it up as a marketing exercise? Also ask some of the clients she has retained what the good things are they see in her business.
I went to a hairdresser last week and will never ever go there again.
1.they had a sign outside saying 25% off but when it came to time to pay they claimed that was only with walk in appointments! Didn't say so on notice.
2.The cut was very average
3. the price was above average!
4.the tea was AWFUL
5. I got charged for a senior stylist altho I had not booked for one - reason being they 'lost' my booking.
Now I know I should have tackled all this but I was so shocked at the time I paid up, left but will let every one i know what happened!
I reckon most important of all is to ask if customer is satisfied and judge how heartfelt their answer is! Can tell you a lot.:eek:

glicky · 2 December 2006 at 1:51PM

Thank you to everyone for your replies. :beer: :T

Most of you have asked the same question "what is it she is doing that is making her lose these clients"? I asked her the same thing and she said "nothing, that's just the way it goes, some move, some get fed up etc".:rolleyes:

Well, me being me, I said to her "OK, some of them, but not most of them and then I went on to say the reason why I think she lost a lot of them". About 10 years ago she joined this spiritual group (not spiritualist, but spiritual) and she was so taken with it, that's all she talked about. Cutting a long story short, I told her that her clients don't want to hear all about that, they want to speak about themselves, they don't want to hear all this spiritual stuff etc. I also told her that this "group" changed her and her clients didn't know her anymore. That's the short version of what I said.

She tended to agree with me and it was a wake up call for her what I said. Mind you, I had a "wake up call from her at 5am with her panicking about her future, so I gave her another sermon on what she has to do differently"! :eek:

So, I am going to type up the leaflets and she is coming over here to do it with me ... hallelujah! :j I've put an advert on Gumtree and I'm still racking my brains to see if anything else can be done.

I really do appreciate your help with this and if anyone lives in the Ilford, Woodford/surrounding areas, I'm sure she'll give you a big discount for helping her out!

I hope I'm not being too demanding, but any more ideas would be helpful.

finding_mcflappy · 2 December 2006 at 2:13PM

It sounds like your friend may have got into the horrible downward spiral that many freelancers experience - I used to be one myself (although I wasn't a hairdresser) and have had a few downward spirals too.

This is how it goes...your number of clients inevitably goes down from time to time - sometimes you can say to yourself 'that's OK, it's all part of being self employed', but other times it really hits your confidence. You start to wonder if you're any good at what you do, because if people don't want you any more, then that must say something about your skills, mustn't it?

So right at the time when you need to get out there, to be bold, extrovert and ooze confidence because that's how you get more clients, you feel like doing the complete opposite. So your number of clients continues to drop and with it goes your confidence.

What is so heartbreaking is that the freelancer's skills are usually very good, what they lack is marketing skills. And if you go out to learn marketing skills, you tend to get the kind of techniques that work for big business, rather than the ones that work for tiny one-person businesses. E.g. leaflet drops can work, but you need to drop a lot of leaflets to get much of a return which can be quite soul-destroying if your confidence (and budget) is already quite low.

Generally, for people-based businesses such as hairdressing, going out and talking to people works best. More importantly, giving them a chance to get to know and like you. If I was looking for a new hairdresser, I'd be much happier going to one that I knew. liked and trusted (or a friend of mine knew, liked and trusted) than a total stranger.

If your friend has got to the point where she can't face this (been there, got the t-shirt!), then how about her getting either a temporary job or a part time job? Many freelancers fight against this because it feels like a failure, but it isn't at all. It gives you a steady source of money for a while, which in itself is a huge stress-reliever. And because the pressure is lifted for a while, the pleasure that you used to get from just doing the work (e.g. just hairdressing, rather than worrying about clients, debts, money, doing the books) starts to come back. So when you got back to full-time freelance work, you're back to your old self.

Hermann · 3 December 2006 at 11:36PM

I think your friend is extremely lucky to have you as their friend ! :A

You seem to have identified the problem and come up with a solution. Well done.

I'm sure you are right about the spiritual bit being offputting.

The mobile hairdresser I know has very loyal customers who stick with her long term. I'm sure that is usual for this business, so something has put her customers off.

I hope all you need to do is get her to follow your advice.

If she won't I think it's time for her to find alternative employment!

Business going down the pan - any ideas what to do please?

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