laneimageconsultingIf you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ll surely have noticed how passionate I am about colour! I was thinking the other day, what makes me so passionate about it, and it’s got to be because it allows the creative side of my personality to come out.
In the past, I never really thought of myself as a creative person. I was better at science and maths in school, not art and design. I don’t remember anyone ever telling me I wasn’t creative. I guess it was just the choices I made in my studies that hemmed me into a box that didn’t allow me to be creative, so therefore I believed I wasn’t.
Everything changed when I started to explore colour analysis. It brought out my creative and feminine sides. I relaxed when I was doing colour analysis and felt great doing it. A love affair lasting more than 20 years began, and I still love it to this day. 🌈 ❤
Colour analysis was the primary foundation I grew my business from, and today I want to show you how you can use it to grow your business. Here are my top tips:
1) Start where you are confident.
This is especially for you if you’ve been in business a while and things haven’t taken off for you yet.
If you’re confident with colour analysis, then I believe that is where you should focus all your attention. Focus on getting clients through the door using colour analysis alone. Don’t try to offer multiple services straightaway because juggling them all will only overwhelm and confuse you. Start by selling one thing only, one thing that you love.
If that’s colour analysis, start there.
It’s what I did. I did have add-ons of styling sessions, wardrobe editing, and personal shopping, but I only talked about colour initially to get people through the door. It was where I felt comfortable, and I knew I could totally transform my clients just with colour, which gave me confidence!
Why is colour so transformative to clients?
Colour is probably the one thing we have in our arsenal as image consultants that can make the most significant impact on our clients in the shortest amount of time. Colour is used everywhere in styling: clothes, makeup, hair, accessories, shoes, glasses and jewellery.
Colour analysis sessions are a fantastic feel-good way for people to get to know you. There’s no need to take measurements or discuss how to hide more sensitive areas like bottoms, thighs and tummies as you would in styling sessions. They’re a fun, easy service to offer, which both stylist and client can enjoy.
All in all, colour analysis sessions are a great way to help clients to get to know, like and trust you ahead of booking in for styling and other sessions that might touch on areas of their bodies that they don’t like.
What about my other services? Do I stop offering them?
You can still have all the details on your website, and you can still talk about them from time to time in your social media posts, but the idea is to become known for just one thing initially.
I talked non-stop in my marketing about colour analysis and very little else. I soon became known as an expert in it. I was even known locally as the Colour Lady! Most of my happy colour clients came back for style sessions, wardrobe audits and personal shopping experiences. They even brought their sisters, friends and husbands with them as additional paying clients!
The flood gates open once you become known for your one thing.
2) Colour is visual and one of the easiest ways to draw people in. Use it to your advantage!
If you’re online, colour is an incredible way to attract people to your social media profiles. Every social media post you share should have a hook, a story and a call to action. In the styling world, our best hooks are the pictures that we share.
For example, you can share pictures of you draping a client and photos of a client in a drape that’s one of their best colours vs one that really isn’t. You can share beautiful pictures of trending colours and colour combinations from nature as inspiration for outfits.
If you’re confident with colour analysis, it’s not difficult to talk about it in your posts either. For St. Patrick’s Day, you can talk about how to find your best green, and for Valentine’s Day, your best red. You can talk about how to adapt on-trend colours to suit you whatever colouring you have, alternative ways to wear colours that you don’t really like, how to wear black. The possibilities are endless!
Even though the focus of my work has shifted away from colour analysis to coaching and mentoring other stylists, I still talk a LOT about colour because it’s such a great hook to capture people’s attention.
3) Colour changes in fashion and people. Use it to get clients to come back to you!
As we age, our colouring changes. During my 20s, I was darker, but as I’ve got older, my hair is lighter, and my skin and lips have lost some of their pigmentation.
I’ve had clients who’ve experienced much more dramatic changes as they’ve aged. I recently re-rated a client, who 20 years ago had very dark hair and now has snow-white hair. She came back to me because her original best colours were not doing it for her anymore. When I first analysed her, she was a winter, but now she’s lost some of the contrast; she’s more of a summer/cool. She was thrilled with her re-rate, and I was delighted to gain more repeat business!
Don’t forget that colour changes in terms of what’s in and out of fashion too. Talk about both changes in your marketing and how you can help your clients to adjust.
4) Make colour a journey for your clients, not a one-off consultation.
When I first had my colours done, I didn’t really get it. It took me a couple of sessions to properly understand my colours and combine and wear them. The same will be true for your clients, so invite them to come back for follow up sessions.
Research shows that people forget more than 70% of what was taught in a training session after just one day*, so spread out the learning for your clients across more than one consultation. You could even sell them additional sessions where you concentrate on makeup, introducing colour into their wardrobes, where to find clothes in their best colours, and advanced colour sessions where you talk more about contrast, for example.
If you can open your mind a little and think creatively, you can offer so many options to encourage even more business.
5) Talk about your own colour story.
Your own story is so powerful in attracting clients. Share it with them. You can talk about what colour analysis did for you; how it transformed your life. Explain why you love it so much and why you recommend it to everyone. Talk about how colour analysis works and what your best colours do for you. If you wear cool colours, what do they do for you that warm colours don’t? Using your story gives your audience relatable examples.
And there you have it, my top tips to help you use colour analysis to grow your business.
What do you think of them? Are you using colour as much as you could be?
I offer various resources to help you on your colour journey. Check out the links below.
My 5 Weeks to Online Colour Expert program gives you everything you need to know about taking your colour analysis consultations online so you can serve clients all over the world.
My Colour Analysis Made Simple training is for you if you’re looking to get started with colour analysis or have already been trained in colour but are still confused.
You can also buy my Online Colour Analysis Starter Pack and Seasonal and Tonal Colour Palettes.