Salon tries to improve to get new customers

Owners David Kafer and Jason Hall of Red 7 Salon in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois.

As with many salons, Chicago’s RED 7 SALON has seen a downshift in guest frequency. However, the number of new clientele coming through the door remained steady—reporting 220 new clients in September 2008. Co-owner of both the Chicago and Evanston, Illinois locations Jason Hall, explains how they’re still seeing growth in these unusual times.

“One of the things I feel a successful business needs to do is constantly evaluate the business; see where you’re missing the mark and where you can improve,” Hall says. When the salon’s numbers started to drop in November, Hall decided to be proactive about the situation and looked at what the salon could implement that would have a great impact in the perception of the service, but wouldn’t have a deep impact in the bottom line.

“It really encourages me when clients pull me aside and explain that all the new initiatives that we’ve added to a service have made the difference,” Hall says. “It’s working and I’m proud of what we’ve done and continue to do.”

Among RED 7 SALON’s top value-added initiatives:

Complimentary hand masques
“We always offered a complimentary hand massage while the service was being done,” Hall says. “We’re still doing this, but we ramped it up a bit. Now we’re performing complimentary deep-conditioning hand treatment masques.”
Cost per client: $0.10

Deep-conditioning hair treatments
All clients getting a hair service are offered a free deep-conditioning treatment.
Cost per client: $0.25

Make-up match-ups
For every color service performed, colorists bring the client to the make-up station and do a lip make-up match-up that complements the new shade.
Cost per client: Less than $0.10

Complimentary cocktails
“We used to just serve wine on special-occasion days, and on Saturdays we would serve Bloody Mary’s,” says Hall. “We ramped that up a notch, too, and we now offer complimentary cocktails, wine and beer at any time.”
Cost per client: Relative to consumption

Product giveaways
If a client spends more than $50 in retail, they get a free bar of RED 7’s private label soap.
Cost per client: $2.50