What's been the best tactic to attract the BEST customers?

[Hailey]

Hey Beauty Community! I'm Hailey from the seller community team. 

My friend is a new hair salon owner in a small town (made the move from working at a salon in the city to running her own biz out of her house). I was wondering if you had any tried and true methods for attracting fantastic customers?

I thought that by asking here, it might also help anyone who sees this thread 😊 

[Hailey]

@Bronze_Palms @SiBellebeauty @ToriHairnSugar any advice? 

[SiBellebeauty]

Hey,

I own two beauty salons and I would say 95% of our clients are our dream clients. I am very active on social media, being true to myself so I attract people that like me (although my team of therapists do most of the treatments).

People buy into people and you will find your people if you show up and stand out. Give clients a reason to choose YOU!!

Hope that helps x 

[Hailey]

I love this and totally agree! I think my friend has found and kept all of her best clients through her being very herself on her social accounts. Its a great reminder to keep it up even when times get busy! I will pass this along. Thank you @SiBellebeauty 

[Doran]

Cool people hangout with cool people.  So ask for referrals!  Ask your favorite clients to share your work on social to help get more of their friends in.  Also, don't be afraid if someone isn't a good match for you to "fire" them as a client.  The longer the relationship goes on and isn't working the more of a problem it will be.  Sometimes personalities just don't match and we all know that right away.  Refer them to another salon instead of twisting yourself in knots trying to solve something you just can't.

[Hailey]

Referrals are the best! She actually ran a referral competition in attempt to give back to her current customers while trying to get new ones. It was simple: every person you refer who books, your name goes into a draw for a complementary cut + style 

Such great insight around "firing" clients who arent the right fit! I will pass all of this along @Doran thank you!

[ToriHairnSugar]

I have to agree with the other ladies replies - my salon runs off my regular ladies. Great salon retention and referrals. I always ask my new clients how did you find me and majority of the time it’s from asking their friend where their hair is done and they send them my way. Others are google searches - then they look at my socials. 
I wish your friends the best of luck 🫶🏼

[Hailey]

Thank you so much for this @ToriHairnSugar !!! I will definitely pass this insight (and well wishes) along to my friend 😊 

I think you're all so right in that referral business generates the BEST new customers. Just thinking now - my partner is a contractor and his best clients are referrals from other customers who then check his instagram and website for picture evidence of his work lol . The interest he generates from Google is never as good of quality. 

[Bronze_Palms]

Thank you for the tag! I would say reach out to all of your followers on social media. Talk to them about what you offer and see if you can answer any of their questions. They followed you for a reason; I would consider social media followers "warm leads".

[alejandro-ref]

Hi Hailey, congrats to your friend on the leap.

A few things that work well for salon owners in smaller markets:

1. Turn her first 20 clients into VIPs. Small-town salons run on word-of-mouth. Give those first clients a real reason to bring friends — something like "bring a friend, you both get 20% off" beats a generic flyer.

2. Focus on rebooking, not just first visits. The best customers book every 6 weeks for a year. Square Appointments has automated rebooking reminders — pair it with a small loyalty reward (free treatment on the 5th visit) and keep them coming back.

3. Be everywhere locally. Every Facebook community group, Nextdoor, local moms group. Not spamming — answering hair questions, posting before/afters, becoming a known face.

4. Make referrals automatic. Most salons tell clients "refer a friend, get $50 off" but never track it, so rewards get forgotten and the program dies. I built a tool called ViralRef for this on Square — clients get a unique link, both sides get rewarded automatically. If your friend wants to try it, DM me and I'll hook her up with a free 3-month beta.

Excited for her new chapter.

— Alejandro, Miami

[PinkStudioSpa]

Hi Alejandro,

Thank you for sharing this. I really appreciate how practical your insights are, especially around referrals and retention.

I’m the owner of The Pink Studio Spa here in Massachusetts, and word-of-mouth is a big part of how we grow, so your approach with automated referrals on ViralRef definitely caught my attention.

I’d love to take you up on the free 3-month beta to test it within my business and see how it integrates with Square. I’m especially interested in using it to track and reward referrals more consistently, since that’s something I’m actively working on improving.

Let me know the next steps to get started. If it’s a good fit, I’d also be open to sharing feedback and potentially being a case study.

Looking forward to connecting!

— Grace Yetunde
The Pink Studio Spa

[alejandro-ref]

Hey Grace,

Thank you, it would be a pleasure to have you on the beta. The Pink Studio Spa sounds like a great fit, especially with how much referrals already drive your growth.

Here are the next steps:

1. Sign up at viralref.com
2. Send me the email you used to sign up
3. I'll flag your account as a beta tester so you get full access
4. I'll personally help you set up your first referral program

And yes, if it ends up being a good fit, I would love to feature you as a case study down the road.

Looking forward to working with you.

[Sheli]

Wondering how your friends business is doing?? Knowing your target market as been key for my salons marketing. Keeping the brand modern has also helped.