Harriett finally had her dream come true. Her own hair salon. While she brought many of her clients with her when she moved, it was just barely covering the bills. Conventional ads in the paper weren't working too well and she was not getting enough referrals, either. When she read about how teaching sells, it started her thinking.
Why not use some of the slow time in the salon and hold a free hair care clinic? She decided that on Tuesday mornings, no appointments would be booked until 11:00 a.m. That would allow her to spend between 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 to hold her clinics. She put together her information together how to maintain a healthy scalp, how to properly shampoo your hair, how to deal with split ends, etc. Then she spread some flyers around and told some of the women's groups in town. She put the coffeepot on and waited.
Two people showed up. They listened politely, asked a few questions, and at the end just left. No new clients. No appointments. While some people at this point would tell themselves that this wasn't going to work, Harriett had faith in herself and prepared to do it again the next week.
This time, one of the women from the previous week brought two of her friends, two more had heard about it from one of their women's groups, and three more showed up who saw the flyers. Eight people. This was more like it! At the end, she simply mentioned when the next clinic would be, what the salon's hours were and that all of the products used in the demonstrations were carried in her salon. She did not ask for appointments or give a sales speech on the products.
Afterwards, several women stayed to ask more questions and this time Harriett got two appointments and sold some of her hair care products. One of the women told her that she had a friend that wanted to come, but works during the day. That prompted Harriett to schedule an evening clinic and advertise it to the business groups in town. Soon, the evening sessions were being filled also.
Harriett created several new clinics based on the questions that people asked her and rotated them throughout the year. She had many repeat visitors when she advertised a new clinic and some brought their friends with them. It wasn't too long before Harriett's Salon became known for the place to go if you really cared about having a healthy scalp and hair.
Listening To Feedback
While all three business people used different methods to teach their prospective clients, there were some common themes running through them.
- They all taught people information based on their skill set
- They listened to the questions people were asking
- They created new products/services based on those questions
- They created new opportunities to teach.
- They never tried to sell their services or products
- People began asking to do business with them
- These concepts are scalable regardless of your business