Make the season bright with sure-fire merchandising and promotion strategies.

The decorations are up, clients have their orders in and radio listeners will hear about it nonstop throughout the last two weeks of November. The blow-out holiday event that Salon Bliss in Gurnee, Illinois, has slated for the first weekend in December will no doubt trigger an avalanche of sales income just as it has for the past seven years.

"Last year we did nearly $88,000 in business during the event-close to $40,000 in retail alone," reports owner Lisa Ruley. "For a normal weekend, we're more in the $15,000 range."(Related story: Holiday Case Studies)

A similar seasonal happening has been glowing and growing about 30 miles south in Arlington Heights, where Frank Panzarino, owner of Adam and Eve Salon and Spa, is approaching his third Holiday Customer Appreciation Day. This year Panzarino hopes to hit $20,000 in sales, up $5,000 over last year. (Related story: Holiday Case Studies)

Ruley and Panzarino are not in this alone. Partnering with their BSG distributor sales consultant (DSC), Alex Katsoolias, has been key to the careful preparation necessary to pull off a successful event. Together, they brainstorm on ways to pair product promotions with service sales, discuss the advertising and marketing strategy for the event, set a timetable, map out display ideas and crunch numbers to ensure the salon maximizes the event's profi tability.

"BSG works with me to support the event and promotions because I buy so many of the holiday deals," says Ruley. "My DSC attends the event from the very beginning to the very end, helping us with anything we need."

Katsoolias recommends developing a "holiday spectacular" gradually, year by year. "This can start as a three-hour event or even just a retail center with a collection of gift ideas," he says. You can expand it each year by incorporating everything that worked well while adding new components. Zano Salon and Day Spas, one of Katsoolias's larger, multiple location accounts, has been doing something special for the holidays for 15 years and now runs it for a full month. "We still meet each year to discuss changes, but they're pretty much on autopilot with it by now," Katsoolias reports.

Product companies provide another direct resource. "An Aquage representative is always here throughout the event to answer questions and talk to people about their hair," says Ruley.

At Makeovers Salon and Spa in the Boston suburb of Easton, owners Edward and Norah Blum count on both DSC Linda Niemiec and their Joico rep Lisa Elliott to help with everything from the planning and decorating to day-of-event management.

"I encourage every salon owner to partner with their manufacturer," says Elliott. "At Joico, we love to support our salons. Norah at Makeovers was so pumped up just by the display we did that now she has new ideas for product promotions throughout the rest of the year. We want to help in any way we can-from staging a visually appealing display to customizing promotions. We enjoy working closely and personally with our salons."(Related story: Holiday Case Studies)

THE HOLIDAY WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
How this season drives sales year round.

Sure, your holiday event will jump-start your end-of-year profits, but that's not the only way it can work for you. Be smart and plan your event with an eye toward the coming year:

• Include a bounce-back incentive that brings clients back during normally slower January and February.

• Encourage referrals by offering something special for clients who bring in a friend.

• Demonstrate mini-treatments that introduce clients to upservices.

• Tuck a new sample-size product into goodie bags.

The team approach works well because each member contributes an important piece:

• The product company creates packages and promotions, making it easy for the salon to offer clients great value on product combos and save time by providing wrapped items. The rep also can come up with staff incentives that motivate the team to sell.

• The DSC monitors the year's sales figures to identify the salon's top-moving products and determines which packages have the greatest likelihood of success. * The salon owner is welcome to work on a strategy to customize or position promotions to zero in on client needs and the salon culture.

• A retail specialist can be a huge help with these events. "I'm an idea person," says Edward Blum of Makeovers. "But our brilliant in-salon retail specialist Jessica has marketing expertise, knows how to price everything and guides us toward profits. Her whole world is numbers and working the deals."

Overall team commitment is critical not only on the big day but leading up to it as well. "You need the right script for your staff to talk to their clients about this," Katsoolias says. "They should invite their clients enthusiastically: ‘Hey, come on by! We'll have all kinds of giveaways, raffles and goodie bags!'"

Neglecting to promote consistently and continuously is one mistake novices make, Katsoolias says. In addition to scripting your team, the salon should get the party started with e-mails to the client base, notification on the salon website, signage in the window to encourage walk-ins, newspaper and radio advertising and invitations to the town's mayor, chamber of commerce representatives and press. Whoops, did someone say "party"? That's another common error. Katsoolias says he's seen salon staffs let the "woo-hoo" get the best of them.

"When Salon Bliss held its first event, they made it a big bash and 100 people showed up, but they didn't sell anything," he recalls. "The next year we positioned it as a selling event, and from there it really took off."

TIME LINE

The bigger your event, the farther out you need to plan, but the experts recommend that even small-scale players should start strategizing in July or August. Wait too long at your own peril, they caution. Don't worry, you still have time to make an impact for 2010. But be sure your 2011 holiday promo and event planning is underway by the end of the summer.

"By the end of October and into November, our packages frequently have sold out," says Lisa Elliott, Joico territory manager for BSG Northeast. "We distribute our pre-order forms in September, and those are the first orders filled. To take advantage of the promotions, you should let your rep know about three months ahead."

This schedule ensures the best outcome:

• July/August-Meet with the key players for initial planning.

• September-Order product inventory and holiday packages.

• October-Set in motion your advertising and marketing initiatives.

• November-Put up your holiday decorations with signage about the event, and talk about the event to clients.

To achieve maximum profits, choose a date for your event between Thanksgiving through the first two weekends of December. Catch people when they have the holiday spending spirit, but before they've already spent so much that they're beginning to hold back.

ANGELS AND ELVES
Your team's buy-in is key to jingling the holiday bells.

You, your DSC and your product companies are all working hard to kick your end-of-year into high gear. As with every profit-building initiative, though, your team members are the fuel that revs the engine.

"Engaging your team will make the difference between selling out of your holiday promotions and having to break them apart in January and turn them into open stock because they didn't sell," says beauty industry consultant Tom Kuhn, adding that "engaging" doesn't mean overwhelming.

"Today's new rules of engagement are about winning hearts and minds," Kuhn continues. Calling the current time "The Age of Too"-as in too much to do, too many choices and too much information-Kuhn advises, "Think simple, visual and often."

1. Keep your message simple. Whittle down your hand-outs to your team so you can fit everything on one page-the event description, details about promotions, product benefits or script to follow.

2. Be visual. "Your staff needs to see it to act on it," says Kuhn. Tricks like color-coding idea categories and "talk bubbles" to script conversations will resonate with team members more than verbal direction. Provide product photos and other visuals to help them talk to clients.

3. Repeat. The ideal, Kuhn says, is to present an idea four times, four ways. "If you want it to stick," he says, "repetition is key. Outline your promotions on event calendars, discuss them in one-on-one huddles, post them in your break room and go over them in your pre-holiday staff meeting. Use every channel of communication you have."

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!

While service promotions play a role in your holiday event, much of the focus naturally is on retail. And we know some stylists do not consider retail the most fun part of their work. Industry coach and Strategies founder Neil Ducoff encourages owners to point out to the team that holiday events depart from everyday retailing because it's just that: a sales event. Give the people what they're coming for.

"People are there to watch service and product demos, have some food and wine and shop for holiday gift items," Ducoff says. "Right now everyone's sensitive about spending money. If they say they might come to your holiday event, and you don't give them a preview of the cool gifts you'll have, don't complain that you're short on cash for your next car payment! This is your opportunity as a service provider to put your best foot forward. Any time you have a chance to show up and talk to a client, you should. Think about what happens when you go to a party and people find out you're a hairdresser: you take over the party! Everyone wants your attention; they're all asking your opinion about what to do with their hair. At this event, you have the opportunity to recommend an upservice and book it right then and there. Prebooking should be a big goal at these events."

Kuhn agrees that the ultimate motivational component is the "what's in it for me" piece. Make sure staff members understand how robust holiday sales will benefit them now and later. Says Kuhn, "A fully engaged staff member not only can have a record-breaking paycheck during the holiday season but also set the stage for a very successful 2011."