MBA2190 Q&A Wednesday: How do I get more clients into my barbershop?

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Yeah, but we'll be with family.

You're in a good mood. What's your deal?

What's my deal? I saved at Metro with no activation fees, and I got one line of 5G for just $25 per month. Kept the phone I love and a 5.5year price guarantee on my top tuxt.

And data detour to Metro. Get that more for your money feeling only at Metro by T Mobile. Just bring your number. $30 first month and $25 after with autopay not available if with Metro or T Mobile in the past 180 days. So Hakeem asks on Q and A Wednesday today, how can I get more clients into my barbershop? Well, I actually want Hakeem to rephrase this question, or I want to challenge him to rephrase it. Because ultimately, what you're trying to do is grow your business and make more money. And that's really what we want to. So let's talk about what are some ways that Hakeem can make more money with his barbershop? And actually, there are three ways he can do it. It's just three ways, but obviously there's different strategies and techniques and efforts he could do in each of these ways. And we'll discuss these and share some ideas and make sure it not only applies to his business, but also your business. So there are three ways that Hakeem can grow his business to make more money. Way number one is get more clients. Like you said, just get more people through the door. Right? More customers. And this is the most common way people try to grow their business. I just need more customers. I need people to pay me money so that I can make more money. And it makes total sense. But you also have to remember that especially for a physical business like Hakeemsa, a barbershop, there's a limit to how many customers he can take. So say, for example, he has three chairs in his barbershop. It takes about 30 minutes for each cut. He can only take six customers an hour. If his barbershop is open, like, let's say 12 hours a day. He can only take 72 customers if he's absolutely flat out doing a haircut every single second of the day. All his barbers are doing 12 straight hours. But just for the sake of example, that's the maximum amount of customers he can get Every single day. 72 customers a day. You can multiply that 72 customers by how many days? Hakeem's barbershop is open throughout the year. And basically, that's the cap. So we gotta think of other ways to make money than just bringing in new clients. Here's the second way that Hakeem can make more money. Raise prices, right? Charge more. So, say, for example, his haircuts cost $40. If he raises prices by 25% and charges $50, he's making $50 per haircut. Or he's charging $50 per haircut and making that kind of revenue 50 times 72. You do the math. You get the point. So charging more. The third way Hakeem can make more money and grow his business is actually having each customer spend more. This is different from raising prices. This is actually like what's called the cart size or average reven. By getting each of your customers to spend more, your total revenue is going to be more. So just as an example, maybe his haircuts are $40, but he has other things he can offer so that on average, people are spending more than $40 because they got a shave, they got other services, things like that. So let's recap. Getting customers through the doors. One, two is charging more, raising your prices. And number three, getting each customer to spend more money every time they go into the barbershop. The total cart size or revenue per customer. So actually, out of these three, getting more clients to go through the door and haircut is actually the hardest one. The easiest ones to do are raising prices, and then the next easiest one is actually increasing the revenue per customer. Why? Because he already has customers. He's been in business for four years, and he can easily implement the other two and drastically improve his bottom line. But the first one's going to take time. It's going to take effort, it's going to take money to bring in customers with marketing. So I'm the kind of guy that likes to recommend things that can get immediate results, right? So you have momentum, so the action can get things going. There's a lot of different ways you can market to bring customers in your local area, whether it's Google Ads, local search, local marketing, all kinds of stuff. But let's talk about the other Two options, because this is what's going to get your results immediately, because you can implement it tomorrow and make more money raising prices. So many people don't like to raise prices because they feel like their current customers are going to get upset, especially regulars. You know, people are going to the barbershop every single month or every couple of weeks, or new customers that walk in and just look at the price and say, well, I can get a haircut for less with a barber that's down the road or the one I usually go to. That's a real challenge, right? But it's only a challenge because you're comparing apples to apples. You're saying a haircut and a haircut. So you need to change the game a little bit before you raise prices. What does that mean exactly? Well, there was a barbershop that I frequented back in the day when I was living in San Diego that was not cheap. It was actually about $20 more than the typical barbershop. But it was a different experience. Small, low cost things this barbershop did, that made it worth me going there versus other places. And this place didn't take any appointments, right? So I had to walk in and wait sometimes 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour before I can get a haircut. What are the little things that changed the experience for me and made it highly competitive and worth paying more? Number one, the waiting area was a blast. Okay? You had this big TV that was playing old sports documentaries and things from my childhood, things that I grew up on, like Michael Jordan airtime and things like that. So I actually didn't mind waiting because it was entertaining. Instead of some dusty old magazines, I was watching nostalgic videos. Number two, when I sat down, the cashier or assistant would offer me a drink, like a soft drink or coffee. This cost the barbershop cents, right? It doesn't cost them much. They're not even a dollar and they're able to charge $20 more because of this ambiance. In the back of the barbershop, he had old arcade games and pinball machines that had unlimited credits so you can go ahead and play some games. So basically, people used to go to this barbershop to have fun, not just get a haircut. And so that way the price of admission, a haircut being $20 more, was well worth it. It was fun. They got drinks, they got to watch some really cool videos and play video games like they were a kid again. So basically, the barbershop owner flipped the script, change the offering. I don't just Sell haircuts, I sell a good time. And for most of the people that were there, you know, it was the end of the week. They're looking forward to the weekend. They want to get a nice fresh haircut. And it was a good way for them to unwind, really. So waiting an hour somet was actually not bad at all. It was actually fun and something to look forward to. So that's how you can raise prices, change the game a little bit, change your offering. You're not just a barbershop, you're a club for men. You're a place where guys can come and unwind and have a good time. All right, let's talk about the third concept I talked about where you increase the cart size or the value per customer, meaning each customer spends more every time they go to the barbershop. This one, you got lots of options. Now, a lot of services, businesses like barbershops and others, maybe even your business, the mistake they do is that they don't offer anything else other than their core service or maybe a few other things because they think, hey, not a lot of people are going to like this. Well, you got to think about your audience in different segments. Some people will like this and they'll spend money, but you'll offer other things for other people that will like this. And eventually what you do, you'll cover your whole audience with different services that they'll like. So eventually everybody is buying something other than just a haircut. So let me give you an example. Let's say you have a middle aged man that's getting a haircut. Well, you can't just have them just get a haircut and leave. Give them other valuable offers that they would love to have and buy during their visit. Maybe for a middle aged man, some vitamins or supplements that will help strengthen their hair because they're at that age where they might be losing it up top. And you would know most because you cut their hair every single month or every couple of weeks. So having something on hand that can help this type of demographic from your audience get value from you beyond just a haircut. You'll have clients that have beards and they like to take care of their beards. So yes, they'll get a haircut and maybe even a beard trim. But also you can sell them beard oil beard grooming tools like combs and brushes. Maybe you have somebody young that is not losing their hair or is not into beard oil or beard care, but they're into hair products. This is an easy one, right? Gels and shampoos and hair creams, things like that. If you really want to really turn up the dial, think about the services you're offering. Men like to feel good too, right? Facial massages, head massages, hot towels and face moisturizers. There's even barbers that do something pretty cool. They do partnerships with other local businesses, like new restaurants that open up. The restaurant gives them a coupon that they can give their customers. And if the customer comes into the restaurant with the coupon, the barbershop gets a kickback. Every barber, when you're sitting in the chair, asks you, what are you doing this weekend? What do you got plans? And if their client says, hey, I'm trying to go on a date or it's an anniversary or special occasion, suggesting that restaurant that just opened up that's trying to earn people's business may not be a bad idea. So your job is really to increase the value you offer the customer so that they can spend more every time they come to your barbershop. Gas, snacks, tolls. This trip is draining my wallet.

Yeah, but we'll be with family.

You're in a good mood. What's your deal?

What's my deal? I saved at Metro with no activation fees and I got one line of 5G for just $25 per month. Kept the phone I love and a 5 year price guarantee on my top.

Tuxt and data detour to Metro. Get that more for your money feeling only at Metro by T Mobile. Just bring your number. $30 first month and $25 after with autopay not available if with Metro or T Mobile in the past 180 days in today's, Listen to today's Q and A Wednesday, we talked about the three ways Hakeem can grow his business. His barbershop, get more customers, increase his prices by changing the game and creating a different experience. And number three, get customers to spend more every time they come to the barbershop. So we didn't talk too much about how to bring in new customers. So let's talk about that right now. One of the best ways I've seen this with brick and mortar businesses, including barbershops, is a referral system. And you don't have to complicate this. I've seen different businesses do this and you can do this in a barbershop setting where you could tell your customer, hey, bring a friend. And for every friend you refer to this barbershop, you'll get 50% off your haircut. Now this creates a viral loop because let's say I bring a friend with me, I get 50% off. My friend hears about this, like, oh, this is cool, I'll bring a friend too. They get 50% off. Now, not everybody's gonna refer a friend, but the point here is that when they bring in a new customer, they're basically introducing you to this customer that you can now have for life, right, to come in and get a haircut regularly, you know, month after month. So whatever the incentive is, whether it's like you earn a point and after five points you get a free haircut, whatever it is, the referral system really works because you already have customers, incentivize them to bring in more customers for you. And word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. When you have a local business, one of the easiest ways you can also get more customers is ask your customers to leave you a Google review. Every single customer say, hey, do you mind giving us a Google review? The barber I go to actually has QR codes on every mirror and basically the QR code just links to their link on Google to give a review. And he just says right then and there, hey, do you mind just scanning this QR code and giving me a Google review? Even just a star review, don't have to give a comment. And the reason why he's asking for this is because people find him through Google first and foremost and he will rank very high. If he's got lots of reviews and he's got lots of reviews because he just asked for them, he doesn't incentivize it in any way. He doesn't like ask, hey, can you give me a five star review? Just give me a review. And because he's such a great barber and the shop is amazing, he's got like over 5005 star reviews which has him dominating his local area. You don't get what you don't ask for, so you got to ask for every single customer. Thanks so much for listening to the hundred dollar NBA show. And thanks Hakeem for the question in today's Q and A Wednesday's episode. If you're listening and you have a question you want to ask, just go ahead and email me at omar100mba.net if you love the show and you want to support us, the biggest, most amazing thing you can do is share it. Share it with your friends and family on social. Tell them to go over to100nba.net so they can subscribe to the show and check it out. We're on every single podcast app, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Sister Radio, Google, Cast, Overcast, YouTube, you name it, we're on it. Before I go, I want to leave you with this I shared a handful of suggestions in today's lesson on how you can grow a brick and mortar business like a barbershop. But whatever you do, you got to experiment. You got to try things, and you got to keep on trying. Because the more you try, the more you do, the more you offer your customers, the more you test, the higher the chances you have of finding what works. But if you don't try, if you don't do things, if you don't experiment, you're just going to continue to get the same results. Even if you just try one new thing a month, by the end of the year, you have tried 12 different things. A few of them is going to stick, and a few of them are going to work, and a few of them are going to help you grow your business. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care. Of.

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