Drive Your Success with Rebooking

“If you’re not getting 10 no’s a day, you’re not trying hard enough,” says DiGrigoli. While that might sound harsh, it’s actually good advice. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Follow these steps to increase your rebooking numbers:

1. Capitalize on holidays to rebook clients who are hesitant. Let them know that your schedule fills up quickly during the holidays and that you want to make sure they get in to see you. Always come from a caring place when discussing rebooking with a client. 
2. While prebooking gives you the control over your financial status, you should always give clients the option to cancel if something comes up.
3. Use any number of prebooking programs, but make sure to get properly trained. Salon owners should offer a variety of ongoing prebooking software training throughout the year. 
4. Prime yourself for success. Look at your book each day and zero in on your goals. If you have 12 clients booked that day, set a realistic goal of rebooking eight of them.  

At Your Service

At Diva Studio, Steven Brooks and team have come up with a creative way to maximize their rebooking strategies. They’re creating a new position called a Retail Concierge. Each concierge would be equipped with a tablet and act like a runner going from client to client during down times in services such as waiting for hair color to develop. They can rebook the client on their tablet before the next service begins or while a client is in the chair. This helps to cut down on the number of clients who rush out of the salon at the end of an appointment and forget to rebook. Understanding your salon’s service cycle and making the most of down time to rebook clients can increase the number of future appointments. Another great idea is to offer free makeup touch-ups after a service. This is a great time to discuss in-salon promotions and contests. The holidays are an important time to rebook for January and February, which are notoriously slow months in the salon industry, says Brooks. His advice: Offer clients an incentive to rebook for those months, such as a business card contest where each client puts their business card into a jar to be eligible to win a free year of blow-outs. The winner would be chosen at the beginning of January. This will get a buzz going and help fill the books. 

Neil Ducoff on Rebooking:
Have a system that links stylists to front desk at check out. The stylist can give their client a verbal and written pre-book maintenance cycle that lists their next visit date. This information then goes to the front desk where someone in Guest Services says, “[stylist’s name] recommends that your next cut/color be done on [date]. Do you prefer the morning or afternoon?”