May’s opportunities: Getting new teen clients and two chances to convince Moms you’re the salon for them.

Every contact is an opportunity to anchor clients to your salon, making May one of your best months for business building. May has many prospects, including Mother’s Day and prom.

“Prom night is a big focal point for family photos, and an opportunity to make both daughters and moms look great,” says Tom Kuhn, CEO of Qnity Inc., a Minneapolis, Minnesota, business and training company for spas and salons.

Planning Musts

If your marketing plan isn’t finalized, Kuhn has research and tools to help. From his previous six years of experience as a co-owner of Juut Salon, he says quarterly promotions are not frequent enough and monthly programs are too tight: by the time you update your website and Facebook, order products and set-up tracking, the month is over. He created an eight-season calendar, with each season representing six weeks. In this scenario, prom and Mother’s Day fall in Season Three (April 1 through May 12), and planning should start the week of March 26.

“Client count and the average ticket tell you everything you need to know about your business,” says Kuhn. That’s why he recommends salons focus on the following:

• To increase average tickets, order retail gifts and gift cards for Moms and cosmetics for prom goers; put promo power behind prom add-ons, like waxing.

• To increase client count, create a plan for rebooking prom clients; ask them for referrals to lure the guys.

To get stylists involved, Kuhn created “The Q Plan,” a simple 5 x 7 card. One side is a “vision board,” on which stylists post photos that represent their vision for the season; the opposite is a place for them to list specific goals, along with action steps.

“Ninety-five percent of stylists are right-brained, and this harnesses their focus,” he says.

Ideas that Work

At Zona Salon in Boston, stylist and Qnity Ambassador Robert Lingoes says prom updos are now salon “spectator sport,” with all the stylists gathering to watch the creation. Everyone should have updo skills, and he says the salon is well-prepared via classes given by Aveda artists and stylists who have worked the New York runway shows.

“This is a huge opportunity to get prom goers, and many Moms book on prom day, too,” he says, noting that the current trend is low buns and soft updos.

In Friendswood, Texas, Bruce Mc- Gaha says the salon is bringing in an Oribe educator for his established Moutons salon, and an Enjoy educator for his youthful Loxx salon. Through April, the salon will post daily Facebook specials, including packages that involve other services, such as teeth whitening. He’s also promoting the Moutons gift card for Moms with a 22 percent discount if clients “reload” a $500 card bought the previous holiday season.

Other winning ideas: The mall, prom-fashion runway show, a blog that showcases your prom styles and the letter contest, in which clients write a short essay on why Mom deserves a makeover or a spa day. The latter always get local media coverage.

“Every Tuesday, track the results of the previous week, and you’ll know what succeeds,” says Kuhn.