Client consistency: how to keep your nail business busy all year long

OPI UK&I education manager, Belinda Price, shares ways to elevate your business and embrace new techniques to ensure your salon is busy with clients all year long.

Belinda Price, OPI UK&I education manager

To my mind, the busy salon season runs from Easter to mid-September, with a peak in the October half term and slight dip in June. While demand is high at Christmas, it is for a shorter duration.

What comes after are quieter months, with November and February tending to show lulls in bookings. These quiet periods can be avoided, however, with a slight adjustment to your mindset and a change in business strategy.

First, let’s talk about mindset. We are often so busy trying to work through summer bookings and ‘make hay while the sun shines’, that we may take our eye off the ball. Each new customer in the summer is a prospective regular client.

A client that books twice a year for holiday treatments might be worth £80 to £100 to the business annually, whereas a regular client may visit every three weeks for a gel polish manicure that’s worth up to £1,000 per year to your business.

So, how do we transition a client from occasional to regular? Give them an experience they can’t be without: one that offers great nails, amazing service, aftercare and comfort.

Sometimes, we can be in such a rush that the experience is forgotten, but it’s essential to be consistent to maintain the loyalty of clients for the rest of the year. You should use a product range that you and your clients trust. In my salon, Nailspa in Huddersfield, OPI GelColor is used for gel polish services, and we have welcomed the updated formula, with Intelli-Gel™. It offers quick and easy application, and may allow the team to fit an extra treatment into each day or offer clients greater care, which is factored into the service time and price.

OPI GelColor with Intelli-Gel™ technology

Using a high-quality product range and ensuring that removal is gentle reassures clients that their nails are in safe hands. Offering an upgrade, such as a strengthening treatment with OPI Repair Mode™, takes little to no extra time and allows for an increase in revenue and service value, without extending the treatment time.

Retailing’ can seem like a scary term, so consider ‘recommending’ when it comes to aftercare products. The practice shows clients that you care for their needs, even when their appointments are over. Selling a cuticle oil, for example, adds revenue to your business, makes return appointments easier and your work looks its best for longer. At Christmas, we give Nailspa clients a gift, such as the OPI ProSpa Oil To Go pen. This has doubled retail sales throughout the year, with more clients relying on the product and valuing the gesture.

Prepare for the busy season during quieter times, and ensure your team has up-to-date product knowledge. They must be aware that the objective is to turn occasional clients into regular ones. I consider an occasional client to visit three to six times a year, and a regular at least 12 times per year. Give measurable targets, for example: if you had 40 regular clients on 1 April, aim for a 25% uplift by April the following year.

Although it’s late in the season, we still have time to make positive changes that will keep columns full all year round. It’s there for the taking: you just have to slow down and realise it.

Follow Belinda on Instagram, and shop OPI here.

Client consistency: how to keep your nail business busy all year long

OPI UK&I education manager, Belinda Price, shares ways to elevate your business and embrace new techniques to ensure your salon is busy with clients all year long.

So, how do we transition a client from occasional to regular? Give them an experience they can’t be without: one that offers great nails, amazing service, aftercare and comfort.

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