How does the 24 hour rule apply to your Spa?

If you have heard me talk about LinkedIn, then you know how much I love the 24 hour rule. What is it? It is the amount of time you have after meeting someone and exchanging business cards or simply contact information, to reach out and connect on a social network. Why 24 hours? Because your new connection will usually still remember you, simply send the generic invitation to connect - no explanation is needed. After 24 hours, you have to remind the person where you met and why they want to connect.

In the business context, LinkedIn is the most obvious place to connect - especially since their email is generally on the card making the invitation easy! Do you collect business cards at your spa as a way to build up an email or snail mail list? Take those cards out of the container each day and connect to your clients within 24 hours. Building stronger relationships with your clients will help you retain their business and expose you to their friends and connections opening up new lines of potential revenue. What if your clients aren't on LinkedIn? Should you give up and wrap the cards in a rubber band for that rainy day? No!!! Open up FaceBook and look for them in the largest network of people in the world!

Your Spa must become an active connector, building relationships on contemporary platforms for communication. Start with LinkedIn, shift to FaceBook. Whatever you do, start implementing the 24 hour rule!