coinralph

99.5% of my customers are college students. They are in town for approx. 7 months out of the year. I am considering setting up Electronic Funds Transfer. Not sure if it would be appropriate for students since most are gone for 5 months out of the year. Does anyone have an opinion? What is the best way to set it up? Thanks

ralph

The Spook

Well, I don't think a year-long EFT would necessarily be a good seller, but you should certainly have the option.

Some ideas:

• You could offer a 12-month minimum EFT and a 6-month minimum EFT (no joiner fee; the 6-month would cost a little more per month due to the lesser commitment).
• You could offer open-eneded EFTs where they can cancel anytime after 2 months, but they must pay a joiner fee ($25-$40).
• You could offer a discount for people that renew their monthly unlimited membership before it expires.

We currently do the first and third option above. The price for a 6-month minimum EFT is $30/month. The price for a 12-month minimum EFT is $25/month.

A single month of unlimited in our base bed is $42 for the first month. If they "renew before their month expires", they get an additional 25% off. Some people like this because there is no commitment, but they still get EFT-style pricing. Of course, the price is a little higher (though admittedly, not much higher than a 6-month membership in our case, which is why the 6-month memberships aren't that popular here).

Steve Underhill

I have worked with many salons in collage towns. EFT memberships work in any market. Students can freeze memberships during the summer months. As long as you offer a price structure that includes the EFT membership and the Membership is your best deal it will work well. Remember most students operate on parent funds.

__________________
Stephen Underhill
Consultant
steve@smuconsulting.com

coinralph

Thanks Spook. How are you administering your EFT? Do you do it yourself? If not, what company would you recommend? Thanks.