Getting More First Appointments With Ideal Clients
This week we brought back CEO/Co-Founder of Frontline Selling, Mike Scher. He came by to share some insights on how his team is able to dramatically increase the number of appointments with prospective new customers for their clients. Mike shares the company’s story and how it got its genesis on their great-looking website this way,
“Every business has a story to tell. Our stories are powerful and we want to be able to tell them to people who are interested in buying our products and services. The key to successful selling is being able to tell our stories to more people more often.
The fun part is – that’s the business we’re in. We help our clients get more first appointments with people who are genuinely interested in talking to them – so they can sell more. It’s what we do every day. And we are very, very good at it.
Mike gave some examples of their approach for speaking with administrative assistants for key decision makers, tips for email contacts, recommendations for follow-ups, and how to leave a voicemail that is much more likely to result in a call back. We talked about some case studies where his clients have achieved significant growth in new customer acquisition that allowed them to (in fact, necessitated them to) add to their staff to handle the new growth. In fact, Mike shared the fact that the LOWEST level of growth his clients have achieved is 50% over previous new customer sales levels compared to prior to engaging their insourced/training or outsourced inside sales solutions.
Midtown Business Spotlight: Liz Covin/Vivid Salon
In our new Midtown Business Spotlight, I caught up with Liz Covin, founder of Vivid Salon. We’re partnering with Vivid so going forward, listeners of Midtown Business Radio who mention they heard about Vivid from the show get a 50% discount on their first appointment with the salon.
We talked about Vivid’s innovative compensation/career track model that allows hair stylists to not only hone their craft, learning from world-renowned hair experts, but also build a business that offers a significant income within a few years’ time.
Liz said this about the salon: “Vivid is a full service hair salon in Morningside/VA Highlands. We will celebrate our 6 year anniversary on April 1, 2015. We currently have 11 stylists and 3 front desk/support staff. Our stylists start with us as an Associate accompanying an upper level stylist for 6 months then start behind the chair full time and working their way through our performance based level system. Everything we do is performance based, when a stylist reaches their customer service goals 3 months in a row, they earn a promotion/pay raise and move up to the next level. We have 5 levels in our system offering stylists about a 10 to 12 year career path to earn beyond a six figure income. Our ongoing referral program is built in to help stylists grow their clientele offering a reward to existing guests when they refer friends and family and rewarding those friends as well on their first visit.
We are a Redken Elite salon meaning we only use Redken hair color in our salon and we offer Redken and Pureology brand hair care to our guests for their at home needs as well. Being brand loyal to Redken and Pureology, awards us top level continuing education for our stylists and support staff as well. I’m very thankful for my relationship with Redken and Pureology and my business consulting group, The Summit Salon Business Consulting, my business coach with The Summit, Marti Nelson, my local Redken/Pureology rep, Ms. Dale Potts with SalonCentric and all the other business partners endorsed by Redken and Pureology and Loreal Professional. Without the village of support offered from these companies, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be in business. And our current team of stylists, support staff and salon manager, Brian Holman, are by far the most amazing group of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”
Special Guest:
Mike Scher, CEO/Co-Founder of Frontline Selling 
Liz Covin, Hair Stylist, Founder, Vivid Salon 
