Time, Talent, Treasure. If you have 5 minutes of spare time will you help me out

[fairview]

This seems to be the best place to post this but please move if there is a more appropriate place this should be. I am a relatively new member. I only have 13 posts so far. I only have 13 posts so far because I know how to use the search function and nearly every question I have had so far had been previously answered. Anyway to get to the heart of the matter....

Hey everyone, I need your help. I started a new job at a barbershop the week before Thanksgiving. I'm an old school barber but my fellow co-barbers are prehistoric school barbers. They sit around all day and complain about how things aren't like they used to be. The only marketing they do is to wait for a new shop customer to happen upon the place which sadly is a rare occurrence.


Could you all visit my FB page here send me a friend request and give me a like while your at it. My daughter who set this all up says this is important to have as many likes as possible. If you can get any of your friends to do it, that would be awesome.


This is my website. Just visiting that would help also (She says that traffic is important on that). Honestly I have no idea what she is talking about at times. She is much smarter than I am about these things


Thanks everyone


Frank

[GhostHawk]

Fairview I could be wrong but I get the impression that most barber shops are drying up and blowing away in the wind.

If you want yours to survive, you need a gimmick. Something that gets hordes of people to not just visit your facebook and web pages, but to actually step foot inside your shop. And once you do, you need to make sure that they are welcomed.

You need to target those upwardly mobile young men who have not yet accumulated wifes and great debt.
In other words, they have money to spend.

You might consider beard grooming, custom beard shaping, or something on those lines.

I wish you the very best of luck sir.

But I am afraid that you are a dinosaur and the big rock is already falling, may have already fell.
I don't use a barber myself, my wife and I learned to cut each others hair with a Flowbee. Saves us hundreds each year.
(Attaches to vacuum cleaner, has a cutter head, vacuum pulls hair up cuts off excess, the cut hair is neatly gone.)

[Nueces]

Fairview, I hope you guys make it. I still enjoy going in for a haircut. As you suggested, it's not like it used to be. My barber is a female about my age (67) and operates alone. There is rarely anyone else in line. So the old flavor of a bunch of guys is gone. But she has a sense of humor and sure beats a crotchety old fud who won't listen to how I want my hair cut. It's a nice, peaceful 30 minutes.

I really like being able to make an appointment online, 24/7. Take a look at http://www.appointy.com for the software. My shop is in an older part of town, near a favorite old restaurant. Now that I live way out west of town, this is an excuse to come in and meet a buddy for lunch. With an appointment, I can plan tightly because I never have to wait in line. She takes walkins, but also honors appointment times. If I needed another barber, this would be necessity #1.

[fairview]

Agreed!!! Most barbershops are dying on the vine but amazingly there are a few privately owned old school shops that are absolutely thriving. The ones that are thriving are doing so because the barbers in the shop are constantly reinventing themselves to fill a need that Great Sucks doesn't or the expensive high end franchise shops can't. These amazingly successful barbers find or create a niche and then exploit it. They don't stand there an tell there customers I don't do hot lather shaves and then sit in their barber chair and piss and moan about their dwindling business. Really, your a fricking barber. If you don't want to do hot shaves, enroll in the 300 hour fast track program and become a cosmo. Women don't have beards. Hell I'm a cosmo and I do shaves. I love to do shaves. These fricking barbers rarely shave the neck with a razor unless the customer asks for it. They just whip out the Wahl Super Shaver. The only time I don't do a neck shave with a cut is after the customer informs me not to do it. It's part of customer service.

The website and FB are just part of the equation; the beginning of the equation. Now I need to link my chair to the community-local high school to begin with; community center with back to school support day, sponsor a car wash, tuxedo rental shops for wedding groups to start the guys out It's all about trying things. If what your trying to bring in business with starts to feel like your beating your head on the wall, stop, the pain will go away, it will feel better, and then find a new wall to beat on. That may be a softer one and it may collapse and be the open door to success.

I don't know how to run a barbershop. I do know how to run the business. If you want to be successful the business needs to be perceived as an indispensable part of everyday life. Once it's not the business fails to flourish.

I'm an old fart for sure closer to 60 than 50 but I'm not an old fud - at least not yet and when I become one, I hope that when I wake up that day, it will be on the wrong side of the ground.

However in the mean time, I surely could use your help in increasing my traffic to the web site and likes on the facebook page. More exposure can never be a bad thing. Thanks to all who are helping me out.

Frank

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

where are you at ?
I can't imagine how a FB 'like' from an old man like me, in MN would help.
FB has a lot of groups...you need to join and post in those groups that are local to you...maybe you already are ?

Anyway, local to me, there are a lot of FB groups "life in Glencoe", swap-shop groups, garage sale groups.

Glencoe had 3 independent Barber shops, 2 recently closed. If a new one was setup, and offered a "free" first time haircut, you'd be knee deep in customers...and some will probably come back for more, if they were happy with the cut.
good Luck,
Jon

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

OK, I see McKinney TX

[fairview]

where are you at ?
I can't imagine how a FB 'like' from an old man like me, in MN would help.
FB has a lot of groups...you need to join and post in those groups that are local to you...maybe you already are ?

Anyway, local to me, there are a lot of FB groups "life in Glencoe", swap-shop groups, garage sale groups.

Glencoe had 3 independent Barber shops, 2 recently closed. If a new one was setup, and offered a "free" first time haircut, you'd be knee deep in customers...and some will probably come back for more, if they were happy with the cut.
good Luck,
Jon

Don't look at me for that answer. I just listen to my smarter than me daughter. Oh that really hurts to admit that. I sent her to the nation's best graphic design college, she has an absolutely successful design business and has set up a bunch of these things for new start ups which even though this is an old shop, I am a new start up inside the existing shop. She tells me what I need to do and without too much cholking on being told what to do from that little whipper snapper of mine, I do it.

[geargnasher]

I used to live near Justin, Tx and the only person who ever gave me a decent flat top owned the barber shop there. He cut my hair twice a month for four years until I moved. I tried probably a dozen places where I live now and they were all terrible, so I gave up and now just pull my ponytail around to the front once in a while and trim the end with scissors when it gets a little frizzy. A good barber is like a good dentist, doctor, lawyer, or mechanic: Hard to find, and invaluable. Fairview, I wish you luck.

Gear

[waksupi]

I would suggest an ad in the local shoppers, some fliers put up at grocery stores, and where ever else you can find a public bulletin board. Many more will see that kind of advertising than a Facebook page, or a website.

[gon2shoot]

Some of us old codgers that still go to barber shops don't use social media (tell the kids it's the spawn of the devil).
perhaps a sign advertising your free coffee and opinions would help.

[NC_JEFF]

I still prefer an old school barber shop, I've gone to the same shop since my first haircut over fifty years ago. I showed up for a haircut a few months ago and found the shop closed, my wife and I drove over to Great Clips since they were open and cheap. I had to describe what I wanted three times to the young lady and she still couldn't get it right. I was polite and paid my bill while inwardly I was burning all bridges that led back to this place. Worst haircut I can remember. Never even crossed her mind to trim mustache, eye brows, ears (he, I'm old) never shaved my neck (did the whole cut with a single pair of clippers) never put a pair of scissors in her hand, never picked up a comb as a guide once and of course, none of that "tonic" that makes you smell like "I just had a haircut". My barber shop may have changed hands a couple times over the last fifty years but I still get a real barber shop haircut every time I go in. I'd be going there right now but the thermometer outside says 1° so I'm staying in.

JD

[BruceB]

My single experience at a "Great Clips" was very different from the above.

The lady was very competent, did a nice job without any repetitions of "what I wanted", and performed a very neat re-shaping of my (LONG!) beard and mustache.

In fact, I'm going back there in about three hours.


JOKE: Obama and W are in a barber shop, and both haircuts-and-shaves are just about complete.

Barber to Obama: "Do you want some of this new aftershave/cologne we have?"
Obama: "NO! My wife will think I've been in some *****-house!"

Barber to Bush:" How about you, sir? Cologne?"
Bush: "Sure. MY wife doesn't know what a *****-house smells like."

[CastingFool]

The new owner of the barber shop I have used for years (I was in the Guard for 22 yrs) was trying to boost attendance on Wednesdays, so she started offering a military discount on Wednesdays. I don't know if it has helped, but it may be something to think about.

[bedbugbilly]

I wish you the best of luck. I'm 62 so my view point is from there . . . at home in MI, I get my hair cut from a gal at a beauty parlor . . why? Because she gives good "service" - I have a beard and she trims it all, hair, beard, eyebrows, etc. I've gone to her for many years and she's like a sister . . . but . . . here in AZ, I end up going to a Great Clips . . which I hate . . . different person cutting each time, they ae usually younger gals who run their mouths all the time talking to the other girls cutting hair . . NEVER trim my eyebrows - I have to ask them to trim and shape the beard, etc. - plus, it's not cheap as they charge for hair and beard (which is OK if they did a decent job).

They accept "on line reservations" over walk ins which *** me off to no end as I'm sick of all the "hi tech" **** . . . I just want a "decent" hair cut.

So what does it boil down to? The gal back in MI gets my business every two to three weeks because she gives great service . . is familiar with how I like my hair cut and beard trimmed (and I'm really not that fussy at all) and she and I have a pleasant chat at the same time.

In the end . . . it's all about "service" and "knowing your customer".

How do you get new customers . . . you work at it. Put ads out there telling the public what you have to offer which is good service and a good hair cut at a reasonable rate. Put out fliers which are a pretty inexpensive way to get business. Maybe stuff them under windshields with a $2.00 off coupon?

Another thing is to take a good look at your facility. Is it clean? Is it inviting? When a customer comes in is he greeted as a "valued customer" or just "another customer"? Is there smoking allowed in the shop (which today will drive a lot of folks away - I won't go to a shop where it stinks like smoke and I'm a former smoker). And . . . I won't go where all the barbers want to do is "b _ _ ch" about everything that's "wrong".

In other words . . . you have to "sell" and "market" your service to get new customers coming in and then you have to give good service to keep them as "repeat" customers . . . not sit and wait for them to darken your door step.

My niece's husband recently took over a barbershop in the small town I'm from back in MI. He worked with the former owner who I have known all my life . . and he was "old school". Unfortunately, my niece's husband has no business sense. He smokes and allows it in the shop, he runs his mouth from the time the customer gets in the chair until he's done . . and usually about things he thinks he is an "expert" on but actually just makes himself look stupid . . . but he's still young. He has limited ambition and takes over 45 minutes to give a haircut because he can't work any faster nor does he want to. People don't have that sort of time to sit in a chair getting a haircut - they have other things to do. They have 3 kids and he still doesn't "get it" that the more "good" haircuts he can give the more he will make.

Another option for you as well . . . if you have nursing homes or assisted living centers in your area . . . try to make arrangements to give the men haircuts on one of your days off . . once or twice a month. My mother-in-law is in assisted and she gets her hair done once a week from a beautician who comes in. She has a "general expense" account that we put money in and the lady is paid directly out of that. In turn, the gentlemen in those places usually have families in the area and they need haircuts as well.

Certainly, the days of the $5.00 haircut are over . . and people expect to pay for the service they receive . . . and if they get a good hair cut, most would (or should) "tip" as well - I always do. If you have a good repeat customer . . . give him a $2 off coupon or similar once in a while to let him know he is appreciated . . . whether he uses it or not, he'll come back as he will feel "valued".

As CastingFool stated . . . the offer of a "military discount" is also a good idea. Here in AZ, there is a lot of retired military and most look for that "military discount" and shop where they get it. If you don't or can't do it all the time . . . then have special events . . "veterans appreciation day", "police appreciation day", "firefighters appreciation day", "teacher appreciation day", etc.

Good luck to you and I wish you great success! Just my thoughts which may not be worth much but after having been in business for many years, I applaud those who are not afraid of work and want to make a success of their endeavors!

[labradigger1]

I would let you cut my hair, if i had any that is

[Geppetto]

You know the face book likes and visits come in from a web marketing perspective. Google does all sorts of algorithms to figure out who comes up first on a search, so having FB likes and website visits is important because it bumps up where you land in a search. That way if someone in your area searches "Barber", you pop up higher in the search results. I think just getting your name out there is important. Make sure people know that you are there, Radio, TV and Internet basically covers all of the places people will see besides flyers and billboards.

[richhodg66]

My Dad lives in Decatur and and has a lot of old timer friends in the veteran's organization there, can't recall how far McKinney is from there, but it doesn't seem like it was very far away.

For most of my adult life, I have lived in GI towns with all the barber shops places like that have and I have found that Korean women seem to cut hair (at least military style) faster, better and cheaper than anybody else. Sorry if that sounds like a racial/cultural sterotype, but my experience seems to indicate that it's true.

[freebullet]

I used to live near Justin, Tx and the only person who ever gave me a decent flat top owned the barber shop there. He cut my hair twice a month for four years until I moved. I tried probably a dozen places where I live now and they were all terrible, so I gave up and now just pull my ponytail around to the front once in a while and trim the end with scissors when it gets a little frizzy. A good barber is like a good dentist, doctor, lawyer, or mechanic: Hard to find, and invaluable. Fairview, I wish you luck.

Gear

I'd pay a dollar to see a pic of Gear with a flat top and again with a ponytail lol. I wore a flat top for years, but I simply buzz it off now. After my last barber moved away it didn't seem worth it trying to find another good one. Flat top to ponytail is quite a reinvention of your self.

I couldn't imagine having much hair now. I stay cool much easier without it.

To the op-
A referral bonus of some kind can really simulate business. A website can help. Collecting email to offer reminders and special offers is helpful. Church bulletins are cheap advertising. Taking appointments can be helpful as well. Having a few specialties that you can market to differentiate your shop from others can be profitable. Add on services are important. If you cut someone's hair them might be willing to pay for facial hair trim, ears, brows and such.

When I paid a barber on a weekly or biweekly basis I expected their shop to be clean and inviting. You'd be surprised what some shops call clean. I'm not saying your shop isn't clean. Just that a lot of them overlook details that drive folks away.

Retaining folks that come in is top priority in a service business. Maybe ask them if there is any improvements they would recommend. You'd be surprised what a customer will tell you if you ask them. Tracking where you are getting your new customers is important to find out where you advertising efforts and dollars are best spent. If you have a new face you should ask how they heard about you.

I have no idea about your signage but I always liked the classic barber shop looks. Now a days they call it retro or whatever but you can put together classic signage and such on a budget over time. Your business is an extension of you and your desires, think about it and make it what you want.

[Texantothecore]

Barbershops used to have periodic drawings for guns. Currently you would give a gift certificate to the local gunshop.

I own one that was won at a barbershop in the fifties. My father-in-law never shot it.

As a human interest story it might even make the local news or papers.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

The question is: Are you a good barber? Here where I live there are barbers, but few good ones. I drive 18 miles to another larger town where there is a shop run by a lady in her 50s. It doesn't seem to matter which day I go---I'm usually 3rd or 4th in line. Building a good business is based on good service and workmanship. Your satisfied customers will spread the word. She did do the retirement home thing, but no longer has the available time.