The Stylist’s Toolbox.com

Are you trying to build your referral business? Wondering how networking really helps to bring in new clients? We (me included) tell you to get out there, put yourself in the path of your right people, tell enough people what you do and the right people will recognize you and become your new best clients. 

Nice in theory, but you might have a few questions about how to put in into practice. Among them:

*I meet people all the time. How can I turn them into clients?

*Isn’t networking for people who work in banks and sell insurance? How does it apply to my salon business?

*Just because I’m asking for referrals doesn’t mean anyone is telling their friends and family about me, does it?

*How does using Twitter bring me any new clients? Aren’t I just talking to people who already know me?  

The second in a series of free (yay free!) workbooks by Rock Your Day’s Dave Navarro arrived yesterday. It’s called 7 Steps for Networking with A-listers Fast (with free workbook). It’s filled with actionable things you can do today to connect with people who CAN help you grow your business. It answers those questions you might have about how networking works, why it works and how you can use it to grow your own business. What’s more, the workbook walks you through putting a plan into place that you can start using today. 

 7 Steps for Networking with A-listers Fast (with a free workbook) can help you create a plan that will:

*Get more referrals wiithout really asking

*Leverage value-added services to turn people into paying clients

*Use Twitter to connect with your target audience

*Network like the big dogs so other people really will talk you up to their friends.

It’s good stuff and most of the ideas here can by applied to your salon business. Check it out by clicking here and let me know in the comments how you are going to use what you’ve learned. We can learn from each other, after all.

Thanks to a heads up from Modern Salon, I’ve been checking out Sam Villa’s website.  Sam is Redken’s Platform Artist of the Year and a true genius when to comes to hair.

In all my years in distribution, no other platform artist had the fan base and following of Sam. Didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing, there were a group of stylists that were going to be there.  His work is revolutionary, truly out-of-the-box, but still accessible to actual working stylists.

Sam’s website (SamVilla.com) is packed full of education, snapshots of Sam’s work, pics from the Redken Symposium and stylists testimonials. But what really got my attention was Sam’s video education clips.

Sam demonstrates great cutting techniques for shears, wet hair, adding texture, curly hair and twist cutting via short (4 to 5 minute long) videos. But I particularly liked his Hot Tips.

Sam’s Hot Tips are short videos with easy, but brilliant cutting and styling tips – cutting techniques to make fine hair look fuller, fringe shapes to enhance different face shapes and cutting curly hair.  Simple little things that make the difference between a good haircut and an amazing haircut.

Could be the best 38 seconds you spend today.  Check it out!

Sam Villa.com