Stop Focusing on Attracting New Clients
I'm Tiffany Nadolny, your host of the Spa Business Building Podcast. I'm a licensed esthetician, massage therapist, and solopreneur in my day spa. With nearly two decades of experience in the beauty and wellness industry, I've learned a few things about building a career and maintaining longevity.
Outside of the treatment room, I'm a wife, mom, to the human and fluffy kind, plant enthusiast, and book lover. Join me while I share my experiences and insight on attracting clients, maintaining and building a thriving business while achieving work-life balance. So whether you're a new Solo Spa Boss or seasoned, this podcast is for you.
Welcome back Solo Spa Bosses to the Spa Business Building Podcast. I'm Tiffany, your host. And in today's episode, I want to talk about showing your clients some love and really nurturing that relationship that you have with them to extend their lifetime value.
So typically, I'm seeing that most of our efforts are going in to only attracting new clients. And I totally understand where that's coming from, especially if you're a brand new business. Because when you're starting with nothing, when you're starting at ground zero and you have no clients, you have to attract new clients.
But the moneymaker really is in nurturing the relationship that you have with your current clients. Because it takes more time, energy, effort, money to put in to attracting those new clients, that cold audience. But when you have built that relationship with your current clients, when you've established that trust that they've already come to see you, when you keep that momentum going, when you show them love, show them appreciation, they're more likely to become super fans of you and your business, and they are going to tell everyone and anyone about you and how great you are.
Which, what is that? That's less effort that you have to do when you have people spreading the gospel about you. Then you don't have to put so much time and money into trying to attract new clients, because you have people who are doing it for you.
So harnessing that power that your current clients have to spread the word is really where it's at. Now, here's one thing that I hate about businesses, is that they usually have a new guest special and only a new guest special. And as a current client, you get nothing.
Cell phone carriers, cable companies, they are guilty of this. And, you know, when I was first in business, I was always also trying to attract new clients. But then I started thinking how much I hated it when my cell phone carrier would give me three years of a good deal and then nothing after that.
So what usually happens is when you get nothing, then you'll go somewhere else, right, where there's a good deal because you don't feel valued as their client. So I decided that I was going to really love on and nurture the relationship that I had with my current clients. And I really think that it's important.
And I think that there are three things that you can do to help build and nurture that relationship to grow your business and keep yourself busy and make more money because people buy from brands that they know, like and trust. So you are building that no like and trust with them. And when you keep building it doesn't stop at the first visit.
You have to continuously make those efforts to keep them coming back. And there are three ways that you can do that. Number one, exceptional customer experience.
And what does that mean? The customer experience starts from the very beginning when they're looking for you, when they're on your website, and it never ends. The customer experience never ends.
So what does that experience look like in your business? Go back and see from the beginning as if you were a customer. What does it look like to find you on just on Google, on social media?
What is it like to book an appointment with you? What is it like to arrive at your business? How are you greeting your customers?
What does the space look like? What does it smell like? Is it inviting?
What is the service like? Is it calming? Are you listening to their needs and wants?
Are you anticipating what they might need? Once they come out of their service, how are you greeting them? How are you talking with them?
Are you educating them? Are you talking to them about their home care and their after service experience? Are you following up with them after the service?
Are you sending them an email? Are you sending them a text message? Are you building that?
It's like building a friendship, essentially. But you're nurturing that relationship and it never ends. So every time they come in, they should be getting an exceptional customer service.
How are you elevating that in your business? Number two, having a referral program, incentivizing your guest, referring others to you. Everybody likes an incentive, whatever that may be for your business.
Maybe it's a discount, maybe it's an upgrade to a service, whatever that is. But people like to be rewarded for things that they've done, for good behavior. And you can do that with a referral program.
For me, I've been offering 15% off because I have so many different services in my business. I'm a day spa. So I offer 15% off the first service for a new guest.
And then the referrer will also receive 15% off. So depending on how many they can keep referring people and keep getting 15% off, and that's okay by me because I haven't had to market because they are doing it for me. So think of it like that.
Like you're not paying for advertising and flyers and, you know, all sorts of different ways to promote your business because your clients are doing it for you. So as a thank you, that 15% off, that's like marketing. So go into it with a mindset like that, and I think it'll help you really appreciate that 15% discount that you can give your guests.
I think another way that you can really nurture that relationship is by building in a loyalty program. Now, this can be a little bit more tricky because you will have to track some things. Now, there are programs that you can use.
I do believe that Square has a loyalty program. I used to use it in the past, and I cut it out of my expenses. It can be a little costly when you're first starting out, but there are simpler ways.
You can use just a simple spreadsheet, and if your client list isn't huge, you can just keep track of how much they've spent through Square and then offer that incentive. So you can do something that's quarterly or buy annually and give them discount and upgrade a free product. Whatever that is, whatever works for your business to incentivize them to purchase more, or for all of their purchases that they've made.
Now, you can do a referral program and a loyalty program in one and kind of build something like that if you want to do. But I really think that it's a great way to say thank you. And I really think that that power of appreciation and thank yous to your clients goes a really long way.
Now, in the past, so I have a really great group of loyal clients that come in every single month. And I like to reward them at the end of the year or around my anniversary or something like that. I have done gifts in the past where I gifted them all their favorite essential oil.
So I have aromatherapy in my business. It's complimentary. And my loyal guests, they have their favorites.
And I remember their favorites. That's elevating the customer experience, right? They're remembering those things.
If you can't remember, write it down on their profile and keep track of it. But when they come in and you're like, oh, would you like your aromatherapy today? Is it this one?
And they're like, wow, they really care. So the usual today. So I would gift them their favorite essential oil.
I've given them little goody bags with, you know, candies and lip gloss. And I've given them like a $25 off spa voucher at the end of the year to say thank you, little things like that to show the appreciation. And my clients have been coming back to me from the beginning for nine years.
Some have fallen off and some I have had the entire time. And I really think it's because we have that relationship. And I value the money that they spend here and I show them that appreciation every day, every visit.
And I try to remember those little things that may not seem like a big deal, but they really do matter to your clients. They feel like they're being heard, being listened to, being seen. And sometimes that just means a lot to somebody.
So consider those three things in your business. I think that it goes a long way. So I'd really love to hear if you have any of these built into your business or any input that you may have.
Now, if you'd like to continue this conversation, you can find me over on Instagram at solo.spa.bosses. You can also go to my website, spabusinessbuilding.com. You can find me on Facebook as well, Spa Business Building.
And then all the places. Make sure that you are checking all of those out, but I'd really love to chat with you. I have a free Facebook community.
I'll link all of those in the show notes, so it's easier for you to find. Now, I do have a brand new membership coming up. I'm so excited about it.
It's a great place for support. We're really learning and diving in to the foundations of keeping your business going, building your business, growing your business, all the things that you need to do to set your business up for success, because we're solo business owners. We're doing it alone.
And I've created this space to give others support because I've been there, and it can be a lonely place. So I hope that you will join me there. So you can find that information on my website.
But that's it for today. Until next time, friends, stay fabulous, stay inspired and happy business building.
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