The Aspiring Stylist with Tracey Franklin

Welcome to the Aspiring Stylists Podcast with Tracey Franklin. Where to begin, grow and aspire to become the best stylist you can be. Whether you're thinking about becoming a stylist opening a salon, or developing your skills as an experienced stylist the next step of your beauty career starts here. Each week we'll discuss strategic ways to design, plan and execute on becoming a stylist that excels behind the chair and above the bottom line. Here's your host, Tracey Franklin.

You're probably wondering what your clientele is going to look like when you graduate beauty school, you might even be thinking I've built a clientele, I've got a couple handfuls of people here at the school that have come and seen me several times. So I can definitely count on them to follow me. And I'm just going to say that's probably not accurate. A few might, but in my experience, people go to the school because they like going to the school for whatever reason that is maybe they like the price, maybe they trust the school, maybe the school is a lot of fun, and they enjoy meeting new people. But what you're not going to have is a bus full of raving fans arrive on your first day of work, you might be thinking, I've got a lot of friends, and I've got a lot of family. And so I'm good to go. Well, I'm going to tell you right now you need to be ready for the crickets phase of building, because that first month, there's going to be a lot of excitement, there's going to be a lot of chatter about oh, she just graduated, she's ready, I want to go show my support.

And then you're going to find this law and this law is going to last and so you're gonna be really happy to get creative about how you build your clientele. So I'm not saying all this to discourage you, I mean, it can be done, but it does require a lot of work, I'm going to take you back to my first week behind the chair. And please be reminded that I went to a really successful salon that was owned by somebody that had been doing here in my community for a while. So it was an established salon. On my first day behind the chair. I had zero clients, no clients at all. So you know, walking out of that salon that night, I felt very defeated. And I will be lying to you. If I told you that I wasn't questioning every decision I had made up into this point. Because you know, it was a little shot to my confidence, you know, it didn't feel great.

So day two, I show up. And I have two clients, so I'm feeling a lot better. Obviously, they were both haircuts. But that was okay, I was still a little slow at the time. So it took up a decent amount of my day. And I spent the rest of the day cleaning and shadowing and just doing that kind of thing. So day three rolls around, and I'm back down to one client, I'm experiencing those same emotions of failure, like what have I done? Have I made the wrong decision, there was a misconception that I had allowed myself to believe that I was going to experience this instant success. And it doesn't matter what field you go into instant success is not a thing. And that's just as true for the hair industry. No matter what type of Salon you go into. I heard from one of my mentors, if you have entered the beauty industry, then you have given up your right to be shy. And those are very true words. So you have to show up for yourself and be willing to talk to people about who you are and what you do. And that takes a little bit of courage for those of us that might be a little bit more introverted. I'm a very outgoing person. So business cards were always in my purse, you know, I still feel like business cards are a really great way to build clientele. And especially if you have left a lasting impression, you know, they've got that business card to kind of remind them later. How do you ask people to trust you, you're just at a beauty school, you don't have a lot of experience. You haven't made a name for yourself yet. So how do you ask people to trust you? Well, I think one of the best things that you can do is just to show up looking really, really nice. Everywhere you go in those early days, make sure your makeups on point. And most importantly, make sure that your hair looks flawless. You are a walking billboard for your future clientele. So give them something to ask about. Make sure that you look like someone that they could trust with their beauty needs. Make sure that you look like someone that has the type of hairstyle that's going to make them ask, Hey, where did you get your hair done? That is one of the best things that you can do for yourself in those early days is just look, the part, one of your biggest obstacles in the early days to getting those clients is just going to be your lack of experience. You know, that's going to be one of the first questions that people that don't know, you ask. So say you've handed him a business card and you're inviting them in to come experience. One of the services that you offer. One of the first questions that they're going to ask you is oh, how long have you been doing this? And when you say two weeks, they're probably going to run so you Gotta kind of give them something to go on, you know, I'm so excited, I just got my diploma. I'm so excited to work on people, I can't wait to try all these great new things I've learned, or whatever it takes attitude is essential when you're building your clientele, you know, you'll get to a phase of your career where I feel like you can be a little bit more selective about maybe the type of services you book and maybe the days and times that you booked, but in the beginning, you need to be wildly available for people at lots of different times. Now, I'm not saying you have to sit at the salon every single day from open to close, but maybe one day, you're there, you know, early in the morning and late at night, and maybe the next day, you're just there for the morning shift. So you got to make your schedule work for your life. But you also have to look at the opportunity that lies within those different timeframes. So for me, I knew that I wanted to work on a high end clientele like I've mentioned in the past.

And so I knew that that particular group of people were probably going to have to come in after 5pm. Now I did have kids at home, so I couldn't be absent from home every night until 8pm. So I chose a couple nights a week that I was at the salon until 8pm. So that I could cater to that clientele.

Building a clientele of people that you don't know is a bit challenging and can feel a little bit intimidating, right?

Like what am I just supposed to walk up to strangers and say, Hey, I'm a hairstylist and expect them to just come visit my salon the next day, like no, that would be great. But that's not exactly how it works. When I first became a stylist, that person to person contact was the main way that I met people that was through small business get togethers, joining the Chamber of Commerce and going to their after hours events and handing out business cards. I know that sounds you know, like a little old school. But I think we're gonna see a huge resurgence of that in 2023. I think people are really longing for that face to face contact. And I think that's going to be a great way for people to meet each other. Now we have social media, and I just feel like that market is so oversaturated no matter what community that you're in, you know, there's just tons of hairstylist trying to build a clientele. There's tons of every type of profession trying to build a clientele and using social media to do it. And I definitely think it has its place. And I think it's important, but I think it's important to realize that that is not the only way to do things where you position yourself as a stylist is really important.

Like think about your ideal clientele. If you want to work on a luxury clientele, then you need to know what type of establishment those people can be found at what restaurants do they eat at what social clubs, are they a part of how can you get an invite to one of those events? What gym do they work out at, you know, they're probably someone that takes really good care of themselves.

So maybe that's a great place to find somebody that you want to offer a high end service to marketing yourself in the beginning is a little bit tricky because people rely so heavily on social media. But there are a lot of old school techniques that I still feel like have value today. 15 years ago, I created a flyer I put it up at my local university and I offered a discount to anybody that went to that university, and I got a lot of clientele.

From that. I did some radio giveaways, I partnered with one of my local radio stations. And every Wednesday morning for eight weeks, they gave away a gift certificate to a winner. I still have clientele from those types of giveaways and those types of promotions. 20 something years later, I'm just here to tell you that it doesn't have to be all glittering glam.

There are a lot of traditional ways of connecting with people that can still really help you grow your clientele today. So now you've gotten some clients, right? You've got a few people on your book every single day, you're starting to experience some success. All of your efforts are starting to pay off.

Well, how do you grow that network? Because clearly, a few clients a day isn't going to be enough. And I think one of the best ways to grow your clientele after you have a few people that you can rely on is referrals.

Ask that client to send you their friends and their family but don't just do it in any particular way. Look at that client and say, hey, I want you to know how much I appreciate you trusting me to do your hair.

And I have so much fun every time I see your name on my book.

I light up like a Christmas tree and I can't wait to see you and I am still growing my clientele and I would like to have more people like you in my chair. Now would you be willing to do me a favor and then pause? Okay, you've given them a task so you pause and you wait for them to answer and then once they do you ask them Hey, can you help me grow my clientele by handing out a few of my business cards to your friend and family? If they come in and say you refer them you're gonna get a discount on your next service. I would love to have more people like you in my chair. Can you help me it's as simple as that boom, you flattered the client and now they have agreed to help you and I just really feel like that is one of the best ways it referrals is definitely one of the best waits to build your clientele. So are you ever done?

The answer's no. People move, people die, people change their mind about you, you're always going to have this constant revolving door of clients. So no, you're never done. But I do think that you can attract more of the type of clientele that you want to have. And that's going to mean some of those other clients drop off, you know, when you're experiencing a lot of success, you get to raise your prices, you know, you can expect certain people to no longer be on board with your new pricing structure. And so they're going to fall off. And that's when you will start the rebuilding process all over again by trying to attract those ideal clienteles. And so your book looks more like something that excites you every single day. So that's a good thing. So clients dropping off, don't look at that as like a setback or anything like that. Look at that as an opportunity and an open door, or an more ideal client to take that spot.

Thank you for joining us on this episode of The Aspiring Stylist Podcast with Tracey Franklin. If you enjoyed listening and you want to hear more, make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. The Aspiring Stylist Podcast with Tracey Franklin is a Morgan Franklin Production. Today's episode was written and produced by Morgan Franklin editing and post production by Mike Franklin.

Want to find out more about Tracey and the Aspiring Barber and Beauty Academy go to aspirebarberandbeauty.com