Be a beekeeper not a zookeeper. Who, what, when, where and why do your customers buzz?

“Your best work, comes with a narrow focus. That’s exactly what a beekeeper has, every day – just bees. Unlike a zookeeper (who tends hundreds of different animals) a beekeeper has a singular focus, and knows his bees, inside and out. That’s exactly as it should be with him, and with you and your customers. Why? Because having a hive doesn’t guarantee a yield of yummy honey and nor does having a salon.

So who is she? You know, your ideal customer. Can you describe her? And her friends?

To delight your customers, you can’t serve them … like they’re just anyone. You need to know them and treat them like they’re the one. And that means narrowing your descriptions down (way further) than just an age range, gender and income.

Remember though, your ideal is not a ‘wish’ customer. It should be firmly based on your current ‘best’ customers. Why? Well you can wish all you like that your ideal customer will spent $3,000 with you per year, but unless that’s truly reflective of who you’re actually serving, leave it off the list.

Second, if your salon positioning is strong, you should be attracting customers who fit with your specialty talents, services, style, cost and culture. If those customers aren’t visiting you yet … you may want to reconsider your services, ambience, how you market and who you hire – to do a better job of bringing your salon strategy and positioning to life.

And finally (before we get into the nitty gritty of the how-to), your ideal customer profile should be narrow, but very deep. The profile must reflect the attitudes, behaviours, motivators and preferences of a collection of similar individuals, rather than a true-to-life snapshot of a single customer you’d love to serve…”