Nett Knowledge Blog

Have you ever witnessed a disaster about to occur and know that you are incapable of stopping it?

Or pictured in your mind what is about to happen as a baby grapples for the breakfast cereal and in the process, pushes the milk aside?

Last week, I experienced that particularly helpless feeling. I came upon a documentary while channel surfing on cable television, about the story of a young couple living in the UK, resolute in opening their dream salon.

I reckoned myself a voyeur, peeping at a hole, watching other people’s lives as the documentary depicted the couple’s burgeoning financial involvement in the project. I watched the looming catastrophe, my hand over my mouth and I wanted to scream

“NO….don’t do it!”

FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS. Fell of your seats yet? That was how much they shelled out by the time of their opening day. A huge part of that sum was backed by their investors, who apparently have loads more money than sense.

An astounding almost one MILLION dollars. That was how much it amounted to. The salon looked amazing, and it had one famous ‘celebrity’ hairstylist that they hired. They went to Europe to attend trade shows and spent quite a fortune for pricey Italian fixtures and fittings.

Finally, the thrill of opening day. A brief rush of customers in the first two weeks – almost all of them family and friends. And then reality struck, hard. I could see it happening right from the beginning. These people actually believed that old nonsense about “Build it and they will come.”

Er, no, they won’t. Like a deer in the headlights, they’d  had been blinded by the ‘bright shiny objects’ of starting and running a business, oblivious to the harsh reality; that without customers, you don’t have a business. All you have is an expensive liability. In all that half million pound spend, not a penny had been set aside for marketing – the only thing that gets customers in ANY business.

Within two weeks, they were facing bankruptcy. The investors had finally woken up. You could have fired a cannon through the salon, without a chance of hitting anybody.

I kind of felt sorry for the…kind of. As harsh as it may sound, the failure that they experienced was warranted. Not too long ago, what one did was get in the car, drive to the library and research like mad. You attend seminars, wherever they may be held, and hired the right consultants if you’re smart.

Now, all the knowledge you need to avoid making such dumb mistakes is staring right back at you from your computer screen.

You don't need to feel the pain of doing your salon marketing all wrong, just follow the steps of successul salon owners and marketers and you'll avoid these nasty hidden surprises