One way to use Local Lead Finder. Local Lead Finder is a $10 Google Sheets template I built that turns any Google Maps search into a lead list: every business, with phone, website, rating and reviews. This post is one use case for it: setting up group hair deals for wedding parties. I’m not a wedding planner; this is the playbook I’d follow if I were, run for real with the template. Other ways to use it are listed at the end, or see all 18 lead generation ideas.
You’re a wedding planner and you want an offer your couples can’t get from anyone else. Search for wedding hair group deals and page 1 is written for brides: Yelp and The Knot directories, salon bridal package pages, WeddingWire promotions, and brides asking Facebook groups who’s affordable. None of it tells a planner how to find salons willing to give a whole bridal party a group day. And the usual route is scrolling those directories one salon at a time.
Here’s exactly what I’d do if I were a planner in Chattanooga. I ran it for real with Local Lead Finder, a $10 Google Sheet I built that pulls every business on Google Maps into a spreadsheet. You’ll leave with 284 independent salons, the 41 bigger ones to call first, the towns they’re in so you can match them to your venues, and the message I’d send.
The offer: the whole wedding party, hair done together, at one salon, at a group rate. Weddings are on weekends, but rehearsal dinners, bridal showers and “day before” pampering often aren’t. A lot of salons have a slow weekday. Bring them 8 to 12 guests on that day and a group rate is easy money for them and a perk for your couples.
TL;DR
- One “hair salon” search across 73 Chattanooga areas found 325 results, and 284 are independent salons you can pitch a group day.
- The sheet can’t tell you which weekday is slow, so that’s the first question in your message.
- Don’t trust the busiest list blindly: Honey Bunny, near the top, is a wax studio, not a hair salon.
Who this is for
- Wedding planner: you get a group hair day to offer couples, and a list of salons to set it up with.
- Day-of wedding coordinator: you can line up a salon near the venue that takes the whole bridal party in one booking.
- Wedding venue coordinator: you can find the salons in your own town to recommend for rehearsal and “day before” hair.
- Bridal shop owner: you can pair your dresses with a salon that already said yes to groups.
- Event planner: the same search works for bridal showers or any party of 8 to 12 that wants hair done together.
Before you start
- A Google Places API (New) key
- Local Lead Finder set up in your Google Drive
- Local Lead Finder itself
- Your city, like Chattanooga, Tennessee
- A list of the venues where your weddings usually happen
- A short message that asks about their slow weekday
Don’t have a Places API key yet? How to get one free. Haven’t set up the sheet? Setup takes 5 minutes.
Step 1: Pull every salon in your city
Region: Chattanooga, Tennessee. Find Areas filled the AREAS tab with 73 areas: the city plus nearby towns like East Ridge, Hixson, Signal Mountain and Ringgold.
Then “hair salon” in Search in All AREAS. 325 results, each with phone, address, rating, review count and website.
Step 2: Keep only salons that could host a group
- Salon suite buildings (6): each stylist rents a private room. Great for one bride, no good for ten bridesmaids.
- Barbershops (16) and chains (16): wrong fit, or no one local who can agree to a group rate.
That leaves 284 independent salons. Now the question is size.
Step 3: Find the big ones
The sheet doesn’t list how many chairs a salon has. Review count is a decent stand-in: a salon with 1,000 reviews has had a lot of guests, which usually means a lot of stylists. 41 independent salons have 100 or more reviews.
=SUMPRODUCT(('hair salon (AREAS)'!A2:A326<>"")*NOT(REGEXMATCH('hair salon (AREAS)'!A2:A326,$H$1))*('hair salon (AREAS)'!E2:E326>=100))
From that list I’d skip the ones that aren’t hair: Honey Bunny is a wax studio. I’d prioritize names with “Salon & Spa” (Mbellish Salon & Spa in Ringgold, for example), since a spa side means more space and more services for a bridal day.
Match the salon to the venue
Couples don’t want to drive across the county on their wedding weekend. Group salons by town and match them to where your weddings happen:
176 of the 325 are in Chattanooga itself. If you plan a lot of weddings at venues out in Ringgold or Hixson, the local salons there are your shortlist.
“The leads showing interest are the leads that matter.” (Alex Hormozi, $100M Leads)
You only need three or four salons that say “yes, Tuesdays are slow, let’s talk.” Put your time into those.
Step 4: The message
Set this as the WhatsApp message in SETTINGS:
Hi! I’m a wedding planner in Chattanooga. I’d like to offer my couples a group hair day: 8 to 12 guests at one salon, booked together. Do you have a weekday that’s usually slower? I’d love to talk about a group rate for that day.
Ask about their slow day first. That’s the part the sheet can’t tell you, and it’s the whole deal.
Mark every salon Outreached as you message them. When a salon says yes, note their slow day and group rate in the row, so you can offer it to the next couple without asking again.
Step by step
- Get a Places API key and set up Local Lead Finder.
- Put your city in SETTINGS > Region and run Find Areas.
- Search “hair salon” in all areas.
- Remove barbershops, salon suite buildings and chains.
- Sort by reviews to find the bigger salons. Favor “salon and spa”.
- Group by town and match salons to your usual venues.
- Message each salon about a weekday group rate. Mark them Outreached.
- Write each yes’s slow day and group price into the sheet, and offer it to your couples.
Common pitfalls
- Pitching salon suite buildings: each stylist rents a private room, so there’s nowhere to put ten bridesmaids. Take all 6 out before you message anyone.
- Treating review count as chair count: reviews are only a stand-in for size. A salon with 100+ reviews is a good bet, but ask how many guests they can take at once.
- Expecting the sheet to show slow days: it has name, phone, address, rating, reviews and website, nothing about schedules. Ask the salon which weekday is quiet.
- Taking the busiest list as all hair salons: Honey Bunny is near the top, and it’s a wax studio. Read the names before you send.
- Picking salons far from the venue: couples don’t want to drive across the county on their wedding weekend. Group by town and shortlist the salons near where your weddings happen.
- Searching before Find Areas finishes: it takes a minute or two to pull towns from OpenStreetMap. Wait until the AREAS tab is filled (73 areas here).
- Not marking Outreached: without it you’ll message the same salon twice. Outreached rows turn green and stay green in every future search.
Learn the Google Sheets formulas in this post
- 3 Ways to Count in Google Sheets: the basics behind counting independent salons and the ones with 100+ reviews.
- 3 More Ways to Count in Google Sheets: more ways to count with conditions, like salons per town.
- How To Sort A Filter: sort the independent salons by reviews so the bigger ones come first.
- 200 REGEXMATCH Examples in Google Sheets: the pattern matching that takes barbershops, suites and chains out of the count.
- Make a Quick Pipeline (For Sales and More): track which salons said yes, their slow day and their group rate.
Better Sheets has hundreds more tutorials like these. If you want to get better at Google Sheets, join Better Sheets.
Other ways to use Local Lead Finder
- How to Get Your Product Into Salons: a new shampoo, 284 salons: for beauty product makers who want their product on salon shelves.
- Selling on Consignment to Salons and Spas: a razor kit, 55 shops: for product makers who want shelf space without a wholesale order.
- How to Find Social Media Management Clients: salons using Facebook as their website: for social media managers looking for businesses that already post.
- How Many Small Businesses Don’t Have a Website? Real counts from 4 cities: for web designers and marketers who want real numbers.
All 18, grouped by who they’re for: Lead generation ideas: 18 local businesses to sell to.
FAQ
How do wedding hair group deals work?
A wedding planner books a salon for the whole bridal party on one day, usually a weekday the salon is quieter, at a group price. The salon fills a slow day; the couple gets everyone done in one place.
How do I find salons big enough for a bridal party?
Search “hair salon” in Local Lead Finder, take out salon suites and chains, and sort by Google review count. Salons with 100+ reviews usually have more stylists. Then call to confirm how many guests they can take at once.
Can the sheet tell me a salon’s slow days?
No. It has name, phone, address, rating, reviews and website. Ask the salon; most know exactly which day is quiet.
Can a salon suite host a bridal party?
Usually not. Salon suite buildings rent private rooms to single stylists, so there’s no shared space for a group. That’s why I took all 6 out.
How do I pick a salon near the wedding venue?
Group the results by town. In Chattanooga, 176 of the 325 are in the city itself, with smaller groups in Hixson, Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold, East Ridge and Soddy-Daisy. Shortlist the salons in the towns where your venues are.
How much does a search cost?
Each area is one Google Places request per results page, on your own Places API key. Google gives up to 1,000 searches a month free, and the sheet shows the most a search could cost before it runs.
Is Local Lead Finder a scraper?
No. It uses Google’s official Places API with your own key, and writes the results into your own Google Sheet.
Get the sheet
Local Lead Finder is $10, and free for Better Sheets lifetime members.
