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[ 00:00:05

]Welcome to the Hair

Hustle Podcast. I'm Heather Podlesny, your salon coach dedicated to helping

stylists master the business side of beauty. Whether you're starting your

journey behind the chair or you're a seasoned pro looking to level up, this

podcast is for you. Each week we'll dive into the tips and tricks you need to

run a successful salon business with topics that will change the way you work

and earn. From budgeting hacks to help you keep more of what you make to time

management tips that will keep your schedule stress-free and the strategies for

boosting your retail sales and nailing that next promotion. Get ready to build

your dream business without burning out. Together we'll cut through the noise

and get to the root of what makes your salon thrive.

[ 00:00:47

] So grab your shears,

turn up the volume, and let's hustle. Welcome to the Hair Hustle Podcast. This

is episode 10. And I am so excited to be here with you today as we kick off

this December. If you can believe it. As we begin to round out the year, I want

to say thank you so much for being here with me on this last few months of the

year. I appreciate you coming to listen. Also, we are going to talk today about

creating seasonal promotions that attract and that get you sales. Now, I know

that you're all excited to be here with me today. I'm so excited to be here

with you today. I know that you are like Heather. I already have all of my

retail promotions lined up.

[ 00:01:31

] It's the beginning of

December. And if you do high five, I am so proud of you. You can keep

listening. It's a short, fun episode. And maybe you can even get some tweaks to

really move through some product or even increase your add-on services for your

team or for yourself. This episode could be very beneficial for you. And then

if you are like, 'sister', I am so far behind. This is for me. I am so happy

you're here as well. Let's dive right into it. In this episode, I want to share

five tips that are creative that can either elevate the promotions that you are

already running or there's something that you can simply start right away. You

can start them today because you don't have a ton of time.

[ 00:02:16

] We're going to get you

going because let's be honest, December is one of the busiest months for

salons. Why are we not making it the most busy month for salons? Why are we not

making it the most profitable? Let's get started with tip number one. We are going

to do a countdown to Christmas. So if you have not started this, this is

similar to my 12 deals of Christmas. If you're like, I can't do 12 deals of

Christmas because I don't have that kind of time. That's a-okay. You could do

the 12 days of Christmas and like list them off and then someone could pick and

like take advantage of what those would look like. But also you could do a

countdown to Christmas. How fun would that be to have it be seven days in

December?

[ 00:02:55

] Where you simply build

excitement. A couple of examples for days and things that you could do would

simply be, purchase a gift card of $100 or more. You get $20 in salon bucks. We

don't always recommend 20%, but it's one day and it's one day only. And it's

not like an annual commitment because it's simply the seven days that you're

counting down to Christmas. Also, maybe a free conditioning treatment with any

color service. We can post this on our social media, hoping to engage with some

guests that maybe need to get in last minute. And we can put them with some of

our newer, less seasoned stylists. Also buy two retail products. You get one

free.

[ 00:03:37

] Those would all be

something that creates a sense of urgency because it's one day we're counting

down to Christmas and you can follow along. It'll also help your social media

engagement and it will create urgency. The first year, I will say I've had salons

do this for years. The first year, I've had salons do this for years. The first

year, I've had salons do this for years. I do feel like it's a little bit

lighter because it's getting used to it. But at the same time, the more that we

do it, the more guests start to love it. And so the first time that you do it,

don't ever feel like it's a flop. Tweak it and go from there. Next tip, holiday

glow up package. Let's get a holiday glow up.

[ 00:04:13

] Everyone who comes and

sits in your chair wants to be glowed up. Let's be honest. A couple different

things that you can do is you can create a bundle package. So that would be

like a service and a service. And then you can create a bundle package. So that

would be like a service and a service. And then you can create a bundle

package. So that would be a retail product wrapped up into one. And I really

love to focus on blowouts this time of year because I feel like it can actually

capture people's attention to want blowouts all year long. Of course, they're

going to want to get blowouts this year. They have family pictures. They're

seeing all of these people that they haven't seen in years.

[ 00:04:40

] And maybe they're

seeing, you know, family members that they don't even really like that much.

They want to look their best. So this is the time where we could do like a

blowout, a gloss and a retail product, maybe for one set price. It doesn't

necessarily have to be a blowout. It doesn't necessarily have to be a blowout.

It doesn't a discount but it can be featured in that bundle and especially for

your newer stylists who have lighter books this could be a really great

opportunity for them to also grow. Another example in the holiday glow up

packages is simply an express menu. If you are a seasoned stylist, and you're

like, 'I do not have any room in December coming up with a holiday express

menu.' It's very simple, quick add-on services that you can offer anywhere from

$15 to $25, and it can be conditioning treatments, it can be a gloss, it can be

little things that do not take a ton of time but they have very high impact.

[ 00:05:38

] I want you to think

about doing those things because then this way number one it builds confidence

in your guest, but then also it puts some more money in your pocket which we

absolutely love. Third tip is going to be gift cards. Did we offer gift cards?

What does that look like? I know that some of you have already offered gift

cards and you probably want to be like, 'Heather, stop talking about gift

cards.' But I'm not stopping talking about gift cards. If you have one great.

If you do not have one, something that you can offer is bonus bucks. Very

simple, clean, easy. It can be if you purchase a $100 gift card you get $10 in

salon bucks back and that $10 in salon bucks could be used January 1st to

February 28th, something along those lines.

[ 00:06:22

] They can use it on

retail anything like that. That's always a fun one. You can also offer 10% off

gift cards to create a sense of urgency. Only offer them for one week or

something like along those lines and here's a little bonus for you. Make sure

that you are contacting every single one of your top clients, partners,

spouses, moms, aunts, whoever it is-whoever would want to purchase for your

guests. Think about contacting those people to make sure that they are aware.

We all experience gift buying burnout when you're like I have no idea what I'm

going to get this person or I have no idea what I should buy whoever it is.

Make sure that you are contacting like spouses and things like that to make

sure that they could look like the hero at their Christmas because they stuffed

their wife's stocking with a gift card to their favorite hair salon.

[ 00:07:21

] Who wouldn't love that?

Do not forget about those people. We want to make sure that we're talking to

them and that they know the deals and discounts. Next tip: self-care sale.

Everybody's very into self-care right now. This one's a little fun tagline to

help you with your retail sales, so it could be Self-Care Saturday. If your

salon's open on Sunday, great. It could be Self-Care Sunday. It could be

Self-Care Wednesday. It really doesn't have to even start with an S. However,

for the entire month you could have a self-care promotion. You could offer

discounts on retail for services booked on a lighter day. So maybe Fridays just

don't seem to be the day that we are busting it out in December this year.

[ 00:08:03

] So we could have

self-care Friday and book a Friday blowout and you get 15% off a retail product

of your choice. That's for a lighter day on the books and in your salon. So if

you have newer stylists that are not booked on certain days or certain times or

certain days are lighter, this is the perfect way to get people in and

especially with that blowout. A blowout is a great way like we had just talked

about. People want to look their best especially for the holiday season and

it's a great way just to get your team booked as well. Next and last, number

five, is something that I call the Nutcracker Hop. So everybody can benefit

from this. I don't care if you have a promotion, whatever it is.

[ 00:08:49

] This is a really fun

promotion that's for your team and for your guest. You simply need to go to

some type of store, so you can go to a Christmas store, you can go to a dollar

store, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, all the things, and grab a nutcracker. So we're

going to grab a Christmas holiday-themed nutcracker. We're going to pick it up.

You probably pick one up for 10 or $12. We are then going to take that to the

salon and we are going to designate days, or we may do from December 2nd all

the way until you know Christmas Eve. And we are going to designate days for

that. So we are going to designate days for that. And we have a nutcracker hop.

[ 00:09:22

] What this means is that

every single time a stylist sells a product, the Nutcracker hops to their

station. This promotion was so fun and super successful. And you can even do a

bunny hop. And I've done a bunny hop during like spring, and it's very successful

then as well. With the Nutcracker hop, you have to make sure that you have

someone behind the scenes. So if you've got a buddy, a friend, a mom, a sister,

a son, something that has someone that helps you behind the scenes that can

call the salon during certain times, even if they have to put calendar

reminders and every time they call whoever has the Nutcracker on their station,

the stylist gets a gift card and the guest gets a gift card and it can be a

five-dollar coffee card, simple things, nothing crazy.

[ 00:10:14

] It can be a lottery

ticket, a scratch-off, something like that to keep it light and fun. And then

even for the guest, it can be $10 towards the salon. Or it can be a voucher

that's like $10 to use in January, or maybe even a free treatment for their next

visit. Something fun and exciting for the guests that also gets the guests who

are sitting there that one engaged to possibly buy retail to keep the

Nutcracker on their station. So that one is a super fun one that helps to

generate retail sales. It keeps the mood up in the salon and the culture up as

well, which is something that we also have to keep in mind, especially during

this holiday season and the busiest time when everybody is really just

crunching the clock trying to get through.

[ 00:11:01

] A couple bonus tips of

do's and don'ts. Now that we have gone through the five seasonal promotions

that will attract and get your sales going, I want to give you a couple of do's

and don'ts for this process. First, we're going to make sure that we plan ahead.

I know that it's December and the planners who are listening to this are like,

'You're too late.' I'm already into February. And I love you because I love to

be that way. However, there's several of us that are not and that is okay too.

So please make sure that you're scheduling the social media posts that we talk

about. Make sure you have a calendar that says this is going to be the gift

card promotion.

[ 00:11:43

] If you have an email

list, make sure that those emails are scheduled to go out. Make sure that you

have it on your list. Make sure that you have it on your list. Make sure that

you have when you're out shopping with your family to pick up a nutcracker if

you decide to do the Nutcracker Hop. Another do is to make sure that you're

adding value to everything that you do, not just a discount. And I talk about

this a lot when it comes to offering certain packages that they don't always

have to be discounted, but they can be a feature. And some of these things,

instead of offering money off right there, they can also be redeemed next year

and we can create a voucher as opposed to a gift card.

[ 00:12:19

] So I want you to keep

that in mind. Also, you've already heard me talk about it. The silent

salesperson is your signage. We're promoting it everywhere. It's on our social

media. It's on our website banners. It's on everything. It's on every mirror.

It's on every single place in our salon. When you look, we should be able to

see some type of a sign that's talking about one of the promotions that are

going on. And also, lastly, don't forget to make it exclusive to create a sense

of urgency around some of these deals. So when you do a gift card promotion

that's 10% off gift cards, make sure people know it is for this week only. It

creates that, oh my word, well, I guess I need to buy it right now.

[ 00:12:58

] An urgency buyer is

someone who buys right then and there because they do not want to miss the

deal. There are a couple of don'ts, to be honest, but I want to talk about one.

You have, if you've been listening to this podcast, you probably have so many ideas

because I do spew out so many things that you can offer. The biggest don't that

I have when it comes to creating seasonal promotions, but also just creating

promotions all year long. So this is a something that you can take into 2025 is

to not overcomplicate it. And if something seems too hard or too much, we're

going to take it off the plate. We need to focus on if it's gift cards, we're

focusing on gift cards.

[ 00:13:40

] If we need to focus on

moving our box sets, then we need to focus on moving our box sets. Don’t

just keep layering on top of your team because there’s going to be

so many things going on that they just give up and they don’t

do anything. I want you to keep that in mind when you are planning these

promotions. So if you’re looking at your numbers and it’s

like, I have so many things, why are the box sets not selling? Why is this not

happening? It could simply be that your team actually has too much to talk

about that they don’t even know what to talk about. The

biggest don't when creating promotions is don't overcomplicate or overwhelm.

[ 00:14:15

] I sure hope that you

got something great out of this podcast. Way to kick off December with me.

Thank you so much for being here. Please do not forget, you can always reach

out to me via email, hellohetherpod at gmail . com with questions, any of my

social media platforms. And I am so happy to help you with any questions. And

please feel free to tag me in any of your successes or if you created a

promotion that I inspired you, please send it over. I would be so happy to see

it. Thank you so much for being here today and we'll see you next time. Go make

some great hair happen.