This the season of clients rushing your doors to make sure their lashes sleigh (we had to! 😉) for the holidays. While the season may look a little different this year, there’s still a huge opportunity to grow your clientele and boost sales. Although this time of year is an exciting time for most lash artists, it can also be a mixed blessing. There is a lot of stress that comes along with planning for the holidays in the beauty industry. We’re here with some tips that can help alleviate that stress, help you take on the chaos, and put you on the right track for a successful holiday season.

Take care of yourself:

Especially taking quarantine into consideration, clients will be preparing to see family and friends they may not have seen all year. They want to look their very best and depend on you to make it so! That means you have to set aside time to take care of yourself so you can deliver the best lashing service you can. As your book begins to fill up, strategically place blockouts on your schedule to ensure you get breaks between clients so you can stretch and refocus.

That said, we do advise pushing time off to the beginning of the new year and onward, after the holiday rush has subsided. The holidays provide tremendous opportunities to bring in money, as it is the most crucial quarter for this industry – don’t do yourself a disservice by reducing your availability. If it’s absolutely necessary, make sure you block off any vacation and personal time before November begins. This way there will be no disruptions, your clients won’t be surprised, and you’ll be able to maximize your time as best as you can.

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Rev Up Your Clientele:

As we all know, schedules book up fast this time around. The traffic is higher and everyone tries to fit everything at the last minute. We need to make sure that our clients are fully aware of how vital it is to prebook. During this hectic time, people’s minds are focusing on so many things all at once, making it even easier to forget booking that next lash fill or lift. It’s up to us to keep our guests on a consistent maintenance schedule and make sure they can get in to see us.

You will also want to proactively help your clients plan ahead, particularly if they might want to up the drama of their lash look for any special events. Walk them through specifically how much time they should book for their next fill in order to achieve that look.

Odds and Ends:

It’s so important for both lash studios and solo lash artists alike to take stock of their inventory before the rush. By doing this, you ensure that you’re fully prepared with seasonal items, retail products, giftcards, and gift bags – no last-minute store runs or overnight shipping required! Plan out your promotions, client holiday gifts, and inventory needs now, then order early to avoid shipping delays in a year when all major postal carriers will be overwhelmed with package flow.

Holiday shoppers love convenience, so think in terms of becoming your clients one-stop-shop. Also keep in mind that a large percentage of shoppers start before November (and even more so this year!), so the earlier you take care of this, the better. Do you offer items that make great gifts? Start promoting them early and help your clients knock out that to do list.

Update your service menu if needed and determine what your seasonal promotions will be, if any. You can schedule your holiday marketing content through programs such as Later (for Instagram) or MailChimp (for email marketing). Take care of these before the holiday rush begins, as once it does, you will be too busy lashing to be creating new material.

Lastly, make a great impression by setting up your holiday decor right after Thanksgiving. It may not seem like much, but creating a festive environment can really resonate with your clientele. Many lash studios and artists make the mistake of only discounting their services during the holiday season instead of the months to follow. Rather than discounting services in December, when clients are more willing to pay full price to achieve their holiday glam, incentivize them to visit you in January when things have died down a bit. Coupons like “Book a fill the week of December 6th and get 15% off any fill in January!” encourage business immediately as well as in the future.

Retail:

As we mentioned, clients shop earlier and earlier for gifts these days. Think of the number of clients that are coming in and out of your lash studio. Seize this opportunity by helping them cross off their list with your retail selection – they may even pick something up to treat themselves, too!

Think strategically about discounting any products – it can be better to bundle items, and use more intentional and inspiring language. For example, consumers tend to react better to a “buy one, get one free” promo versus “half off” or “50% off” promos (even though the last two are exactly the same thing). Giftcards are another easy and popular way to earn more revenue during the holidays, as they are a great option to offer clients that have difficult people to gift for. Consider adding a bonus for gift card purchases over a certain amount (e.g., receive $10 extra with every $100 gift card).

Teamwork:

If you are a lash studio, plan to have a team meeting in order set expectations and standards for your team, as well as a clear holiday plan and schedule. Here you can explain promotions, answer any questions they may have, and ensure proper coverage is in place. Don’t forget to reinforce your COVID-19 specific safety protocol to continue keeping both your team and clients safe. Team preparedness is always key to a smooth operation. It is important to delegate tasks to free up time for other necessary tasks. This helps to alleviate you from doing it all but it also enforces a teamlike mentality. Even though it is important to focus on the tasks ahead, it is essential to keep yourself and your staff motivated as well as feeling appreciated. Make time to express gratitude to your staff for all of their hard work they’ve put in and their resilience handling this wild and unforeseen year.

We encourage you to utilize these tools for a successful holiday season. From all of us here at Eupinklash, we wish you the best of luck and all the good cheer this holiday season!