The average check is the amount of money that the client leaves on average for one visit. And if the average bill is rarely used in the fitness industry, then for beauty salons, restaurants, medical centers, as well as complex facilities, it is the average bill that is one of the fundamental indicators.
The influence of the average check on the revenue of the establishment is great, at the same time, many owners do not pay enough attention to how much income they undergo on high-quality service to existing customers. As an example, we will give the growth of the average check in one of the cafes in Kiev:
3rd quarter 2011 3rd quarter 2012
average check 118.75 170.20
number of visitors 21645 21645
income 2,570344 3,683,979
As you can see, an increase in the average check alone can achieve a significant increase in income, and this is not an isolated case from practice.
As you know, customer satisfaction is the main goal of any beauty salon, medical center, complex. And perhaps the best way to ensure consistent profit growth is to focus on existing customers.
The growth of the average check of a beauty salon, medical center, sports complex is based on three bears:
- Your customers should perceive the VALUE of what you offer
- communication should bring the client a sense of caring about him
- and the promises you make to the client must be kept.
Then we could start philosophizing about how, what and why, but ... instead, let's get down to business. So, in order to increase the average check of your establishment, you first of all need to start with yourself - in order to change the habitual behavior of your customers, you have to change the thinking and behavior of yourself and your employees. After all, if you continue to work the way you worked, then you will earn no more than you earned.
The growth of the average check begins with the realization that improving the service to existing customers is the most effective, simple and reliable way to increase their income in the future. Only collective work to increase the average check and customer traffic will lead to the desired results.
Take care of the points of contact with the client. It is by using the points of contact that you will be able to convey ADDITIONAL VALUE to your customers. There are a great many points of contact: stickers, posters, flyers, lightboxes, showcases, articles, blogs, web site pages, videos, news on social networks. Points of contact are your "marketing" assistants, stimulating interest in ADDED VALUE from your customers. Many beauty salons, medical centers do not use or poorly use points of contact - this mistake is very, very expensive for them.
Drive impulse sales. The sales that the client makes at the time of the calculation, lay out the products so that they are available to the client when he stands at the reception. Shoppers are making impulse purchases at checkout more often than ever. We are talking about basic human instincts, and here we can offer: professional combs, accessories, tablets, napkins, make-up, varnish remover, etc.
Expand your range by adding premium services. Create ADDITIONAL VALUE with high quality materials, attractive additions that provide the customer with ADDITIONAL VALUE. Come up with an exciting name for your premium services and quote a higher price. You did it right if the client feels that he doesn’t pay too much for premium quality. In this case, with proper promotion, your average check will increase significantly.
Expand your assortment by adding new non-competing services. In order for the client to spend more, you must give him what to spend more on. If he already buys shampoos from you, and you offer him shampoo under a new brand, then this will not have a significant impact on the average bill. But, if you offer him a completely new product or service that does not compete and does not replace anything that the client buys, then both you and the client will benefit from this. It is important to remember that in order to sell something to a person that he has never bought, it must be presented in a special way. In other words, you need to talk about the problems that a new product or service solves and about the price that the client pays by wasting time, money, suffering from uncertainty, without dealing with these problems.
Develop a range of services to choose from. Many salons with a wide range of services have taken advantage of this idea with tangible results. First of all, we thought over a set of express services, services that can be provided in 20 minutes. We developed a menu of 7-8 such services to choose from and offered the client three services to choose from for the price of one 60-minute service. Customers love choice, control, certainty and ADDITIONAL VALUE and, accordingly, offers like this make them buy. The real beauty of this offering is flexibility. The client can choose different combinations to meet his needs and every few weeks the salon can change the menu items, the number of items, and the price per hour worked. Remember that every time you change something in the menu, you call it a different name and it seems to customers that this is a new offer, even if it is not new.
Develop packages of "better results". It's very easy to implement. Virtually every service provides better and longer lasting results with the right care. Proper care usually involves purchasing additional products. And only a small percentage of clients are interested in proper post-care, but this percentage can be significantly increased by developing “improved outcome” packages. Such packages will silently promote themselves by offering the customer ADDITIONAL VALUE.
Concluding the conversation about the average bill, we note that customers strive to acquire ADDED VALUE, so if you want customers to pay more, you must develop an offer with ADDED VALUE and use all points of contact with the client in order to attract his attention.
And don't be too smart. If your offer with ADDED VALUE is too complex, or if you have many offers at the same time, customers can get confused, and a confused customer does not make purchases.
ISMIe