#4 of ClipperGuy’s Top 10 Tips for Managing Your Appointment Book

Tip #4 of 10 in the series: Rebook aggressively.

Rebooking is the art of getting the client back on the appointment book before they depart from THIS haircut experience.  Rebooking is the single most important non-technical skill ou will even want to develop in the haircut industry.  Rebooking is truly the skill that separates the pros from the amateurs, so to speak in the haircut game.  Effective rebooking will place you in the top 10% income bracket in your respective category in the business.

What is an effective rebook rate?  Working down from the top… You should be 80% occupied; with 80% repeat request rate and 80% of the clients through your chair should be rebooking (more on occupancy and request rate in a later posting).

Rebooking will not fit the life and lifestyle of all your clients.  The busier you get, the more you build, the more open to and welcoming of rebooking your clients will be.  The more enthusiastically they will participate.

Rebooking is easy.  Don’t ask, just tell.  If you are running at high levels of chair occupancy, say north of 60% occupied, it is easy to pitch the rebook.  “Thanks to you and your enthusiastic referrals of your friends and family my book fills fast.  In order to insure you get the time and spot you desire it is best for you to book NOW before you leave.”  It is that simple.  Just say it.  They will jump at the thought.

For newer haircutters with lighter books just tweak the speech a bit. “Thank you for all your great referrals of family and friends. I am getting busier every week.  The best spots go fast. In order to get the time spot you desire, let’s get you on the book NOW before you leave”.

One of the biggest benefits of aggressive rebooking is the ability tom manage and condense the client cycle.  If a haircut is a 4 week haircut you do not want the client to be stretching to six weeks.  Forgetfulness, busy schedules and tight books makes for longer visit intervals.  You need more clients to be the same level of busy. A 4 week client gets cut 12 times per year.  A six week client gets cut 8.5 times per year.  That can be a difference of nearly 50% greater revenue per year just from that one single client.  Do you need a better argument?

Become an aggressive rebooker and watch your income soar.

Your appointment book is your interface between you and the world of your clients.  Your appointment book does way more than just tell you who to cut and when to cut them.  In this 10-installment blog post series I will share my top 10 tips for managing your appointment book.  You can extract the maximum value to you and your business from this powerful resource and tool.  I welcome your comments and discussion.