IS YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS PRESENCE BRINGING YOU MORE CUSTOMERS?

How visible is your beauty business online? Can people find you easily and what do people do when they visit your website? Do your prospective customers engage with you on social media? What impressions do people get when they try to learn more about your business?

My husband and I are planning a short getaway. I researched the area where we will stay to book a day spa experience for myself and a facial for my husband. I found the whole process quite revealing which is why I decided to write this article. 

Here is what I learned from the perspective of a consumer when looking for a beauty business online, and my suggestions for you to help your beauty business stand out.

• Get professional photos of your business and proudly display them on your website, Facebook, Instagram, Google places, and True Local business listing.

• Make sure your website is up to date. It has to look fresh, clean and must be easy to navigate. Fancy slideshows, music, and graphics are not necessary, they can slow down the website and frustrate the user experience. It's easier to just hit the back button if the website is too slow.

• Have social links clearly displayed so people can connect with you on social. Your social posts should be about you and your business. Make it fun, engaging, relevant, interesting, educational and informative. Give value and be generous with your information, for every promotional or sales post you do, you need to give four info-valuable posts. 

• The blog on your website is essential for SEO (search engine optimization) and to keep your clients engaged, informed and educated. SEO means how high up does your business display in Google search results. Top search results give the impression of the business being more popular. When you are competing with dozens of beauty businesses online, first impressions make a huge difference. Make sure your blog has weekly updates to keep Google happy.

• Include personalized posts on social media and on your blog. People would like to get to know you and your staff, to make that connection. It’s a great way to break the ice and to build rapport so when your new clients come to see you, there is already an element of trust and connection. 

• Your website’s home page is the front window of your business online. Make it easy to read, uncluttered, beautiful, fast, and tell a story of why customers should choose your business. 

• Share great content on your blog and social media, useful information, interesting tips, and more information about treatments. Your social media needs to be updated at least twice a week and your blog weekly. Google loves content and displays websites with fresh and engaging content higher in search results. 

• There is nothing worse than trying to read information on mobile devices that is designed for a large screen. Your website must be mobile-friendly. Google gives preference to mobile friendly websites and "punishes" those that and not optimized for mobile by displaying that website further down in search results. 

When was the last time you tested how your business visibility rates online?

During my research, I googled “beauty salons” and the area where we plan to stay. Over 100 beauty businesses were listed near the area I was looking at. Pages and pages of search results. So I refined the search results to “spas” and of the 100, only 9 came up on Google. Eventually, I refined my search to 7 spas who had a website, and I looked at these to determine where I would like to go.

Of the 7 websites I have visited, 3 look tired with old information, poor quality images or no images of the salon whatsoever. Only two websites had interior and exterior images of the salon/spa and both were blurry and of poor quality. Other websites I looked at had fresh and bright stock images which made the website look attractive, but it's clear they were stock images which tell me nothing of the beauty business itself.

I was looking for something I felt I had a connection with, so displaying a gallery of salon images on your website is essential. I wanted to see the reception and the rooms as well. I was looking for an example of where I and my husband would be relaxing and enjoying our treatments.

Next, I checked out the location of each spa on Google. I wanted to see where the spa was located and how the salon/spa appeared from the outside on Google and if any of the spas had customer reviews. Out of the 7 places I was researching only one had excellent images on Google. Images of the spa interior, and exterior and also had some customer reviews. The rest of the spas were not listed on Google business.

I then looked at the salons' social media pages, most were on Facebook and some on Instagram which was great. It helped me get to know the business a little better to help me decide where I would like to go and visit. The social pages had nice images of motivational quotes, and some products, but no images of treatments or interesting beauty related content. Nothing to tell me about what the spa offers, except specials which were now irrelevant as they were posted before Christmas.

Social media management and managing your online presence in this competitive market is essential to make sure your business rate highly on Google. Promote your business online and let people know what you offer and where customers can find you. Long-gone are the days when all you needed was to place a single listing every year in the Yellow Pages for people to find you. Today, people search online and on their mobile devices so it is important that your business is highly visible online with fresh, new and interesting content.  

Let me help you with creating an engaging online presence to boost your Google ranking. Email me for a price list.

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HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR FEAR OF SELLING

Selling is a skill and a mindset, it can be learned even if it does not come naturally. One of the biggest things that can hold you back from selling more products is, fear of selling. For some, talking to people and making suggestions comes easily, for others that are more introverted, it can be a whole new learning curve. Most beauty practitioners are caring, gentle people and by nature can be an introvert. So to stand out, and put yourself out there can be uncomfortable to downright painful. What's at the core of these uncomfortable, painful feelings is our fear. 

FACING OUR FEARS

know your fears

There are many difficult and frightening times when we have to face our fears. And, the surprising truth is, we all come face to face with our fears eventually. Here are just some examples of what people fear the most:

• learning a new skill
• death
• loneliness
• being in an unfamiliar place
• a new job
• becoming a parent
• public speaking
• getting up on stage to perform
• making a difficult decision
• approaching new people
• handling a difficult situation
• fear of failure
• fear of ridicule
• fear of rejection
• selling retail products

UNDERSTAND THE FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE

When you experience fear, your body is primed for flight or fight. You can either back down, hide, or run away, or you can be courageous, stand tall and take action. The difference is knowing when is the time to back down and when is the best time to take action.

Fear is not always a bad thing. Fear can be very useful because it cautions you and alerts you to danger. If there is no immediate danger to you or the people around you, such as selling a product to your customer, then you can take control of your fear. But too often, we allow our fear to control us and to control our lives. Do not let fear allow to control you. If you do, you will miss out on the life changing opportunities and you may never experience life to the fullest. You need to stay calm, take control of your feelings, weigh up the options of the situation and then make a rational decision that will help you and serve you best.

MY STORY - HOW I BUILD MY CONFIDENCE

One of the things that have helped me overcome my fears is learning how to get into the right state of mind, where I can control my decisions, and my fear is no longer controlling me. Many years ago, I attended the Anthony Robbins “Unleash the Power Within” weekend, which was absolutely life changing.

On the final night of the workshop weekend, we were given the option to challenge ourselves, to majorly step out of our comfort zone, face our fears and do the fire walk. I didn’t want to do it at first. The fire pits were white hot, and radiating incredible heat when we stood near them. I saw all the people in front of me doing it, they didn’t get hurt, and when they overcame their fears and did it, they were jumping around with joy and their friends ran to them to congratulate them. The incredible sense of power and achievement they exuded was inspiring. I thought if they can do it, so can I.

So then, I made up my mind I will do it, and I started focusing and getting myself into the right state of mind as we were taught. This meant I wholeheartedly knew I will do it, I saw myself do it in my mind and felt the exhilaration of having done it. I felt an intense belief in myself in every fiber of my being. Then, I went for it. And I did it!!! What an incredible experience it was!

REINFORCE AND REMEMBER YOUR SUCCESS

Enjoy the feeling of success and file them away so that you can tap into them when you need them again. This was an extreme way to teach us how to overcome our fears, to be brave and to just do it. The most important thing is to reflect on your success and how it makes you feel. Enjoy the feelings of success and file them away so that you can tap into them when you need them again. The feelings of success are the kind of experiences in your life you want to file away and remember. Your successes give you more confidence. The more successes you create in your life, the more confident you will become.

MISTAKES WILL LEAD TO SUCCESS

Success does not happen straight away. Sometimes we have to make mistakes and learn from them before we succeed. The light bulb was not invented overnight. It took thousands of experiments to make it work. Each failure, however, will bring you closer to success.

 

In sales and customer service we are challenged every day to talk to clients, to educate and to make product and treatment recommendations. From time-to-time, we also have to deal with difficult situations. For example, having to call your customer if you haven’t seen them for some time to invite them back in; approaching a new customer; making product recommendations and asking for a sale, or dealing with complaints and unhappy customers.

Instead of focusing on your fear and how uncomfortable it makes you feel, remember your previous successes you had, tap into those feeling that made you feel confident, then focus on the client in front of you to determine their beauty needs and what the solution is. Then teach them how to get the results they want.

Here are practical tips for facing your fears and building your self-confidence.

1. Take control of your fears

When you are faced with having to sell products and it is making you feel uncomfortable, take a deep breath and count to ten as you slowly exhale. Focus on your breathing. This will help to distract your mind from your discomfort. Do this once or twice until you feel calm and collected. If this does not help, you need a change of scenery to divert your mind. Go outside, get some fresh air, have a drink of water, close your eyes and tell yourself everything will be all right. After all, what’s the worst thing that can happen? There is no real physical danger. The world will not end if they say no. Remember the answer will always be “No” if you don’t ask. The answer will sometimes be “Yes” if you do ask. Which gives you and your customers a better chance of success?

2. Check your self-talk

Whenever you feel yourself thinking a negative thought, delete it, erase it and create a new positive statement. Listen to what you are saying to yourself. Are you saying things such as, “They probably can’t afford it”, “I don’t want to appear pushy” “They probably don’t need it” “I don’t believe in my abilities to help them” “I really hate selling”? This kind of negative self-talk will drive your behavior, your attitude and contribute to low self-esteem and low confidence. This kind of self-talk will lead to failure. The good news is, you can and have the power to change it. Whenever you feel yourself thinking a negative thought, delete it, erase it and create a new positive statement.

•  “They probably can’t afford it” - “What if, maybe, they can afford it?”
• “I don’t want to appear pushy” - “I want them to see I care and want to help”
• “They probably don’t need it” - “I know if they use this product they will see the result they want”
• “I don’t believe in my abilities to help them” - “Let’s just try it out to see if it works?”
• “I really hate selling” - “I love helping people solve problems”

For more examples of how you can turn negative self-talk, to statements that support you and help you succeed, read: How to change your attitude - Changing your attitude can change your life

3. Control your imagination

Imagine that you are a confident and successful retail seller, you are making product recommendations and the products are just walking off the shelf. This is how professional athletes train to win the race. Before they do it, they visualize themselves doing it, and winning. They see themselves coming first across the line. Only then are they ready to run and win the race. The only thing that sets them apart from their competitors is their mind. They train not only their body to improve their skill, but they also focus heavily on training their mind, to believe in themselves, to believe they can and they will do it.

4. Be Courageous

Sometimes we just need to trust ourselves that we can do it, and then go ahead and just do it. To silence that fear, make a decision you will do it right now, step up and make that move. When you are talking to your customer, and you know they will really benefit from using that product, start by saying “I know a way on how you could improve (insert condition). Would you be interested?” then go ahead and explain to them how your products will help and how the product works.

You can overcome your fear of selling. It takes practice, a positive attitude, an intense desire to help people achieve results and being in control of your imagination and self-talk. The skills and knowledge acquired while you are learning to become a successful seller are transferable to all facets of your life and will help you grow not only in your professional capacity but in your personal life as well. Overcoming your fears makes you more confident in yourself. Overcoming your fears can help you achieve the happiness you seek.

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So step outside of your comfort zone, because this is where the real magic happens.

How Can a Brick and Mortar Business Compete With Online Retailers

People shop online for reasons other than to save money. They shop for convenience and because it is engaging, fun and entertaining. Some local retailers really need to lift their game in order to attract the customers back to their stores. 

Sadly there many brick and mortar retail stores that are simply dull. Inadequate product selection, tired looking displays,  poor customer service creates an ordinary shopping experience. Watch how long people stay and browse in your shop. If they are in and out quick, not buying anything, then you haven't engaged them.  If a business has little to offer in retail or they stock cheap and poor quality products, their customers take their business elsewhere.

Besides products, customer service is another area where brick and mortar businesses can further develop. Visiting stores, I have dealt with staff that simply do not have the skills to offer excellent customer service. Some are downright lazy and don't know how to answer basic questions about the products and services they sell. 

To stay in the game and cater to demanding customers, small businesses need to make the shopping experience a fun, engaging and a pleasurable experience. Deliver a shopping experience that will give the customer 'something to talk about' with their friends. An experience that they will look forward to, over and over again. 

How can this be achieved? 

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS

Know your customer demographics, their needs and wants. If they are not buying from you, they are buying elsewhere. Find out where and why? Is there a need you have failed to meet? And if you get the answer, ' I bought it elsewhere because it was cheaper' don't give up. Ask them, ' what would compel you to buy the product from us at the RRP?' and keep asking questions until you get the ideas you need to make the necessary changes. 

Some ideas to think about are:

- how you can make it more convenient for them to buy from you

- how you can you deliver expert advice

- what you need to do to follow up and offer great support

- what incentives can you offer

- how can you engage them even more

- how do your customers get the chance to try before they buy

- and how can you make it more fun and exciting for your customers

KNOW YOUR TRADE

Study the retail businesses, brick and mortar as well as online, see what makes your competition successful, and what makes others fail. 

Study your own business, look at it critically to assess where improvements can be made. Sometimes you may need outside help as you are in the business every day it will be hard for you to see areas for improvements. What training and courses can you do to help you manage your retail service better?

STAFF TRAINING

Are your staff attending regular training to keep abreast of industry trends? Do they keep updated with the latest product knowledge so that they can provide the best and latest service and advice? Many small businesses don't send staff to training because they see it as an expense. It's a well-known fact that not training your staff will cost the business a lot more in the long run. 

PRODUCT OFFER

Do you offer a good selection of products and services to meet all your client's needs? Do you offer the best quality products, with a good reputation? Many businesses choose cheaper products thinking it will be easier to sell.  This is a mistake, especially in tough times, customers seek out quality, they want value for their money.

POINT OF DIFFERENCE

What makes your business unique? Why SHOULD customers buy from you? These are critical questions that most small business owners have no answer for.  Successful businesses know this well and communicate it effectively to the consumers.

BUSINESS PLANNING

Do you have a well thought out and documented business, financial and marketing plan, updated yearly? No one should be running a small business without these documents, these are critical to the business success and survival.

MERCHANDISING

Is your business retail area designed for maximum impact? Is your retail and merchandising updated regularly and is current? Do you have a show-stopping display? Are customers encouraged to engage with the products before they buy? How?

What makes their shopping fun and exciting in your store? Why would customers choose to buy from you? Differentiate yourself from your competition and especially the online competition.

CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE

Are your staff immaculately presented, well spoken, approachable, friendly, informed and can close sales consistently? Do they actively work at building a long-term customer base for the business? What expertise can your staff offer your customers that customers cannot get elsewhere? In the small business, your staff ARE the business. 

Is there a future for brick and mortar businesses in Australia? 

In my opinion, absolutely! However, they cannot continue doing what they have always done and expect to survive. Times have changed, and local retailers are not only competing with their local and national competition but international via the online presence as well. And this will not go away. In fact, shopping online is fast becoming a fact of life. 

So my advice to small business is, shine above everyone else, make your business stand out. Make it really interesting to shop in your store, give your customers something to talk about with their friends. Your local customers do want to support you, and they don't mind spending a few extra dollars. 

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