Up Your Barbershop Game
You look up from your shears and around your barbershop and suddenly, you notice something— the crowd is missing and the buzz about your business seems to have vanished overnight.
Maybe you’ve been losing your regular clients.
Maybe you’re having a tough time drawing in new ones, too.
Whether you’re a new barbershop or a staple in your community, it’s never a good sign to have zero people in your wings waiting for your skilled hands to give them a fresh new cut.
The remedy for this flat-line?
Up your barbershop game right away.
We realize that might sound both incredibly overwhelming and also super vague, but hear us out —with a few quick, simple tricks, you can bring your barbershop back to life, drawn in new customers, and ensure your clients are always coming back for more.
Check them out below!
Flaunt Your Barber Brand
Take a look at your shop. Now, at your social media. We’re not done yet, look at your website.
Ask yourself —do you have an established brand?
For folks that already have a pretty solid handle on branding, feel free to skip ahead, but if you find that you’re a bit lackluster in the brand department, this is for you.
Professional branding is what’s going to set you apart as a company, what’s going to be your identifier among your competition, and what’s going to keep people coming back to you.
Your professional brand is going to be a combination of tangible and non-tangible factors, mostly your brand is made up of things like:
- Consistent professional style and images you want to portray
- Your mission statement, ethics, and values
- Your overall goal for your company
- A set of established colors, styles, typographies, images, etc.
- The aesthetics of your barbershop (décor, atmosphere, etc.)
- The way you market yourself (tone of voice, personality, vibes, etc.)
If you’re struggling to really establish your brand, it might be time to consider working with a branding specialist or a consultant to move you in the right direction. A professional brand is something super recognizable for clients, and something that sets you apart from other barbershops — in short, it’s something that keeps people coming back for more.
Get Your Atmosphere Act Together
You know that people don’t just come to you for a haircut —well, they come to you for your barbering skills, but it’s about more than that.
If you learn only one thing from this article, let it be this: a barbershop visit is an experience.
Even if your customers don’t want to admit that it’s an experience, the most successful barbershops recognize that treating it that way is what people are really after.
What does this mean for you?
Make sure your barbershop atmosphere reflects that. Remember that brand we were talking about earlier? Your atmosphere is going to play a huge part in that.
We’re not saying it has to be mega-themed or super ritzy, but it should speak to the experience you’re trying to give your customers. A well-tuned atmosphere in any place of business is a key component in what keeps people coming back again and again.
Are you going for a retro, old-school barbershop thing? Make sure your atmosphere reflects that. Are you trying for a minimalist, clean-cut experience? Get your atmosphere on board.
Sure, people joke when they say things like “it had a certain vibe about it,” but in a lot of cases, this is true. Take note of your barbershop and try to understand what experience your customers are having now. Is it the experience you want to reflect?
If not, it’s time to get your atmosphere act together.
Amp Up Your Customer Service
Once again, a barbershop visit is an experience —that experience is going to have a ton to do with your customer service.
Try to go through the average client’s visit to your barbershop — what is their experience like? How are you — or your employees — treating your clients? Are you lacking in specific areas?
Try to go the extra mile — offer your customers beverages, complimentary snacks etc. Are your customers waiting for a while before you get to them? Provide them with the wi-fi password or other forms of entertainment. Whatever you decide on, make it unique to your shop and make it something that keeps people coming back.
You want people talking about your customer service — in person, over the internet, everywhere.
Make sure when they do talk about it, they’re saying something exceptional. That’s going to be a key difference in a one-time client and a regular who knows you’re going to treat them right every time they walk through the door.
Be Tight With Your Community
Try to invest yourself in your community. As much as your professional skill, brand, and atmosphere have to do with repeat customers, your activity within your community can also play a role in this.
It’s likely that you’re a local business, right? Being involved in your local community is going to be huge for your shop. Have marketing information on you at all times and be intelligent about how you hand it out to your community.
Get to know the people who are living in your town, city, or area and establish relationships with them.
Knowing people on a personal level is huge for businesses, especially barbershops. Often, people seek out services from the places they’re most comfortable, and if you’re harnessing the power of the relationships you’re building, you can bet you’re going to get return customers.
Utilize Your Social Media + Online Presence
This is going to be a part of your branding process. Ensure that your social media an online presence are both consistent with your brand and echo your values and mission statement.
Further, don’t be afraid to use your social media and online presence to incentivize people to visit your shop.
Offer online specials that folks can only get through following you on social media, host contests on your platforms, encourage referral programs through your website.
This kind of online incentive program helps your business in two ways — first, it keeps people active on your social media channels, and secondly, it can continue to help you harness the power of relationships to build your client base.
Always Be on Your Barbering Game (and Make Sure Everyone Who Works With You is, Too)
Above all, what’s going to keep people coming back to you is your consistent excellence. Make sure that, before everything else, you’re consistently taking the time to better your skills every day.
Attend symposiums, listen to keynote speakers you admire, learn from some of your idols, research, take extra classes – whatever it is, do your best to continue your education at all times.
Try to constantly offer new, trendy services while maintaining a firm standard of excellence on all of your staples, too. This is one of the greatest keys in drawing in new customers and keeping your regulars coming back for more.
