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Underbooked? How to Stay Consistently Busy
One of the challenges of being a self-employed lash artist or lash studio owner is that business isn’t always predictable. You may be booked out for weeks and then suddenly face unexpected gaps in your schedule. Since you only get paid when you have clients, this can be anxiety-inducing to say the least.
The key is to have strategies in place to take advantage of your down times and to build your business so these lulls happen less often. Here are a few things we’ve found helpful:
Never Slack Off on Marketing
When you’re super busy, it’s easy to forget all about marketing. This is a problem because it means you aren’t actively finding new clients to prevent future periods of slow business. Whether it’s renting a billboard in your neighborhood, maintaining an active social media presence, or polishing your Yelp account, marketing should be an ongoing effort. Paying a marketing intern or signing up for an outsourced social media service can quickly pay off in steadier business.
Check out our 5 most overlooked marketing tips here.
Actively Secure Repeat Business
It’s often easier to get existing clients to come back than it is to find brand new customers. The way to do this is to be proactive about wowing your clients, while also making it easy as pie to re-book. Offer stellar customer service, and offer to rebook at the end of every single appointment. Offering a referral program is a great way to get existing clients to refer their friends.
Offer Additional Services or Sell Product
Offering add-on services is a great way to ensure you are steadily booked throughout the year. When lash business is slow, you will have your permanent makeup, lash lift and tint, or nail customers to help full out your schedule. Use your slow times to get further training and certifications in these additional services, or add experts in these areas to your staff if you own your own lash studio.
Sell retail kits to your clients to earn extra cash during slow periods! Click here to learn more!
Use a Professional Online Booking System
At our Denver, CO lash studio, we love Vagaro, but there are several salon and beauty scheduling services to try. Using a professional online booking system makes the entire scheduling process so easy for you and your clients. Best of all, it eliminates a lot of problems that could turn off potential new clients and hurt your business. You won’t accidentally double-book clients, and neither you nor your clients will easily forget an appointment thanks to the automated email and text reminders.
By building your business during both busy and slow periods, you will soon say goodbye to your underbooking problems.
Tell us in the comments below how you stay consistently busy!