Hair Business
Using Your Website To Gain Clients
By Marquetta Breslin
Oct 16, 2005 - 8:21:00 AM

Obtaining new clients is actually very easy once you have that first customer under your belt. The key is getting them to commit to that first appointment with you. Once they see that you are one of the best, it's very easy to keep them.

An important rule of thumb is to treat every client as if they were your only income source. After all, there is a lot of value in just one client. Consider this: if you do someone's hair once and they like it, you just made, say, $100.00. But if you keep that same client for 3 years and they are faithful, that one client is actually worth around $2,000!

The trick is getting people to take that first step of letting you do their hair. If after that you're still not able to make them a lifetime client, then you may have an issue with "people skills" or the way you braid.

The bottom line is that you have to do whatever it takes to start getting clients in the door. When I was initially trying to get new customers, I bought signs and put them on my car. I ordered 5,000 business cards and left them in the malls, Subways, shoe stores, etc. Since I was hungry for new clients, I simply dropped a business card wherever and whenever I could.

You will find that word of mouth is your best friend, simply because it's a way of gaining credibility. When you have other clients to validate your skills, you don't have to "sell yourself". Instead, the new client already has confidence in you because of what she has already heard. Let's face it; if you are really good, even strangers will ask your clients where they got their hair done! You will find that after doing about 15-20 heads of hair, the news of your skills will spread fast - and will catapult your hair braiding business.

The Key to Your Success: A Business Website

Out of all the things I did to gain new hair braiding clients, nothing worked better than having my own website. I can't stress enough the importance of setting up your own place on the web. Websites are very easy to get up and running, and very affordable if you keep it simple. Your site will be fairly basic as long as you just have photos, your location, some graphics, etc.

How much does it cost to set up a website? You can get yours up and running for about $300 - not counting the template, which we sell for $77.00. Having your own website lets people know that you are serious and gives them a sense of confidence in your services. Once you have your site up, people from all around the country will be able to see your braiding and weaving skills, and 95% of the time when they see pictures of your braids and weaves they are sold.

Having a website will do wonders for your business - trust me! We had people calling us from all over, simply because they just happened to find us on Google or Yahoo and were searching for a hair braider in their area. The response to our site was huge. Again, out of all the things you do to start and run your own hair braiding business, make sure setting up a website is your number-one priority.

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