In all American cities, if not in all world cities, the hair stylist industry is very competitive. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the number of barbers, stylists and cosmetologists to be 722,600.
There are a ton of statistics for the number of hair stylists in every metropolitan city in America.
But here is what I know as a son and nephew of a family owned barbershop-hair salon combo chain in Tampa, Florida. There are more stylists than people wanting hair services on a regular basis.
Plus, this is something hair stylists already know. It's hard to get new hair customers and it's easy to lose your current hair customers. On one hand, hair customers are loyal to their stylists-customers swear their stylists are the best. Then, on the other hand, one bad hair situation or an expected personality clash situation may flare up and dissolve the bond between the hair stylist and customer.
Then, the hair stylist adds up the lost revenue of one or more steady customers exiting the door. The hair stylist may discover that two lost customers equal $700 or more per month in lower income. And if the lost was due to a hair faux pas, the stylist knows bad news travels fast in the community.
The stylist realizes that all Facebook and Instagram customers and friends will find about the bad hair treatment or the the personal spat in the salon. This is why I am not a fan of trying to build and grow your business on social media. There is not enough privacy.
This is why 321 Biz Dev LLC began working with white collar small business owners using podcasting as a prospecting and business development tool. Now, in 2021, 321 Biz Dev LLC has extended podcasting support to traditional small business owners such as hair stylists, restaurants, plumbers, HVAC companies, tattoo artists, boutique shops and network marketers.
Here is a highlight of podcasting advantages and disadvantages.
Let me cover the disadvantages, first. Podcasting is a crowded market place dominated by big name celebrities and influencers. 321 Biz Dev LLC, so far, is one of the few consulting firms supporting small business owners, helping them grow their brands more affordably than paying big city radio stations $5,000 - $10,000 for 15-30 second radio slots.
There is one thing podcasting and social media have in common: big names do not care for other podcasters and social media account users uccess. I noticed this on social media, too. For example, if a business owner has a big presence on Facebook, and you are a business owner too, the big name business owners wants nothing to do with you because your overtures to connect should not be allowed. Meaning, the big name only wants business to flow one way...to the big name.
Here are the podcasting advantages, with a caveat, or a disclaimer.
Recording a few episodes focusing on the key product or service benefits and features saves the business owner lots of time and is powerful.
Here are a few examples:
Your message is ready to distribute to the public, on-demand. Meaning, if you are out and about and you meet someone, you can chit-chat for a couple of minutes to see if there is some initial interest in your product or service. If there is some interest, you can text your 321 Biz Dev podcast episode link from Spotify, Pandora, iHeart, iTunes, Google Podcast and from up to 10 other podcast platforms.
There is no need for you to verbally repeat the same message over and over again. This is very tiring. You are already spent a couple of hours preparing for the 321 Biz Dev podcast episode. You know exactly what you want to say during the episode recording. It's Lights, Camera, Action without the Lights and Camera.
During your short time with the contact, you are listening to the person you will send the episode. Before you send the episode, you learned about something the contact likes or dislikes. You can spend about 30 seconds highlighting this part of your 321 Biz Dev podcast interview to the contact to affirm to the contact your product or service might be a good fit.
Finally, with 321 Biz Dev's sales system training, you can develop a contacting and prospecting strategy to connect with 20-30 potential new hair care customers per day.
In fact, item 4 is an activity hair stylists and all business owners should implement and master. Using podcasting delivers the ability to spend a short period of time with potential clients and leave them with a 25-minute message contained in your 321 Biz Dev podcast episode.
Oh, by the way, please get permission to call back the contact in 24-48 hours after you have sent the podcast episode link. 321 Biz Dev covers these small, but important details in the 321 Biz Dev sales system training.
Hair stylists should always look to add new hair customers to avoid situations where some customers may leave unexpectedly.
Interested parties can contact me, Rick Nappier, CEO, at (726) 999-0999 or Yeilyn Rodriguez, VP, Business Development Specialist (bilingual) for English or Spanish contacts, at (786) 697-3400.
321 Biz Dev LLC offers a 6-hour sales system training course to help traditional small business owners successfully transition to running productive, profitable businesses. The training is ideal for independent contractors.
Business owners can also complete a 5-minute Questionnaire by clicking the Services tab on our website. Also, click the About tab to learn about 321 Biz Dev LLC.
Please click HERE to hear the podcast episode version.
I hope readers enjoyed this article.
Rick, CEO
Yeilyn, VP
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