Who Are You? Not who do you want to be, but who are you right now? What’s your identity? What’s your brand? Countless salons and spas haven’t given these simple questions any thought, resulting in poor sales and even shuttered doors.
Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your employees and your services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.
When we talk to our clients about branding, we hear salons and spas tell us that their location determines their brand because ‘location is everything.’ But what good is location if customers walk through the door only to find you’re not who you say you are? And what if you don’t have a good location, but can provide world-class service?
Maybe taking a step back and thinking about other industries might help you answer this question. Start by asking yourself: if you were a car, what kind would you be? Are you a sports car or a minivan? There’s nothing wrong with being a minivan, people absolutely need minivans and you can make a lot of money being one. But if you’re a minivan pretending to be a Porsche, you’re going to go broke.
Some factors like location may have an influence on who you think you should be, but there are thousands of salons and spas in middle and working class neighborhoods that aren’t interested in providing a ‘Groupon’ experience just because of their location. Their clients may not have all of life’s luxuries, but their spa experience allows them to feel like queens.
As a provider of management software to salons and spas all over the world we have a very diverse clientele of all sizes throughout an array of economic classes. Although our software allows you to be who you are, we didn’t quite figure out who WE were until recently and spent thousands of dollars on wasted marketing. But thankfully, we’re quick learners. After doing some soul searching we recognized that we’re the beauty industry professionals. We’re never going to make emoji’s you can redeem for coins or the latest Candy Crush game. We connect with owners and operators that have a real business sense, regardless of their size or who their clientele are. While we may not be as ‘cool’ as a bunch of beanie wearing college kids… we’re ok with that. Once we defined our brand, the business followed.
If you’re still not sure who you are as a salon or spa, or not sure your software allows you to be who you are, we’re here to help.
About the Author
Stephen is Head of Product at ProSolutions Software and has worked exclusively in the salon and spa industry for over 20 years. He teaches classes at ProSolutions’ annual workshops and is always available to listen to client requests and suggestions that make Transcend the most robust salon and spa software on the market.
