We recently connected with Raquel Mcdougall-mccown and have shared our conversation below.
Raquel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?
Word of mouth is the best thing for small businesses, When I first opened BodyByRaquel I was just doing travel massage on the side of working for another company. My first client from that point was someone who wanted me to travel to their house for massage, they recommended me to a friend and so on. Thats not how I got all my clients but the first few absolutely. These few gave me the courage to open my own location to expand what I do; I was able to do more esthetics in my appointments. The biggest way I get clients is from clients I currently see and recommend me to others, or friends who refer me to people they met. I have gone from business to business with flyers and coupons and that has brought me a few people but staying consistent on social media has helped the most. reminding clients, they want to come back, you can also post these on to separate groups online to meet people. All of this has been extremely helpful, but word of mouth is the best thing you can do for any small business.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
BodyByRaquel focuses on selfcare and relaxation. I provide massage therapy, facials, waxing and other esthetic services. My focus is to help my clients feel renewed and refreshed after their services. Massage therapy not only relaxes the body but it can relax the mind and soul as well, the same with facials I have a lot of people I talk to who don’t believe in facials being as relaxing as massage or it just being about beautification. Thats not true, facials yes will cleanse and beautify the skin, but it is also about wellness. In facials you get the relaxing head neck and shoulders massage, you get a hand and arm massage, and what everyone’s favorite part ends up being the facial massage. We hold out emotions, stress and worries in our bodies and on our face, focusing on the face is just as much of a physical stress reliver as full body. During my massage and facial services everything is customizable, I want you to end up with the service that makes you relax and feel like a better version of yourself ready to take on the world.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
For me the “brand” I try to foster is connection, I try to make each client feel heard and listened to. Esthetics and Massage is a form of therapy where clients will often tell me about what they are going through, new things happening in their life, stresses, ext. Giving them a space where they can let go, get it off their chests then relax after, I think that is the best way of foster loyalty, for your client to know you are welcomed in this space, free to get anything off your chest and let go.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I believe what helped build my reputation is just the hard work and dedication I have to making my business grow, I am constantly, going to different businesses to let them know I’m around, partnering with different groups to do events, I am trying to get my name out there as much as I can because I truly believe in what I do, I believe in helping others, I believe it is important for you to take care of yourself and your body. Believing in what you do and being willing to do the hard work to get you where you want to be, that is how you build a great reputation as a business owner,
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @BodyByRaquel
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/BodyByRaquel
- Other: https://Fresha.com/BodyByRaquel
Image Credits
I took all the photos