You decorate the salon…
You start to hire a team…
You open a salon…
You start attracting clients…
And then…
You realise you’re no longer a therapist or a hairdresser anymore, you’re a business owner!
Oh no!
Today I want to share with you the 4 corners of your business you should always be focused on and why.
We are in an amazing creative industry which is so inspiring, passionate and full of some of the most amazing people you will ever meet. The trends, collections, new techniques, products and skills develop at the speed of light, we are one of the most innovative and creative industries. Which expands into fashion, health, fitness, photography and so much more, all of which we need to incorporate into our salons everyday.
But here is the problem…
The very reason our industry is so amazing can also be the very reason you fall down. There are simply just so many distractions, opportunities and demands of our attention. It is only natural that we gravitate towards what we know, but this can draw us back into our comfort zones. The creative needs to be of equal importance to the business elements and although maybe not as enjoyable to begin with, as the business owner this is where your focus now needs to be. You need to make that shift from therapist/hairdresser to business owner – you need to become the #ItTakesAPro.
What’s next?
Lets dive into the secret, when I mentor my clients I teach them about the 4 corners of their business. They should always be working or focusing on these 4 corners at any time. Let me give you a simple overview of what that looks like:
The first corner is your PRODUCTS & SERVICES. From a business point of view, you should always be reviewing the services and products you offer making sure they meet the needs of your clientele. But let’s just take one step further. As the salon owner you also need to know the business costs and profit margins in pounds and percentage of each of the products and services you offer. These numbers should be the root source from which you make all business decisions from – the numbers.
For example, a Shrinking Violet Booster Kit costs £195 and consists of 25 full body treatments! So the cost per service is £7.80 per full body treatment and a salon’s RRP for a Shrinking Violet Body Wrap on average is £80 – £99 per treatment, that’s a staggering profit of over £90 per Wrap per hour, ask yourself what do your other treatments cost and what revenue and profit do they bring in? So to clarify that’s over 90% profit per treatment! WOW!
(*Based on £99)
The second corner is your MARKETING which will feed down from your numbers giving you a simple guideline on what you need to promote and when, not only that but it will also highlight to you the profit margins you have to play with. This is also where you want to get creative. I don’t often advocate offers or money off, but when you look into these numbers you can build promotions by batching treatments and services together or creating bespoke services for a limited time and so on. As well as the numbers when it comes to marketing you should have a crystal clear vision of who your marketing to, with your client avatar live in your business. You want to get your whole team on board and aware of your ideal client. And lastly from a numbers perspective, set your marketing budget and stick to it – don’t allow yourself to be caught up in the moment.
Another example here would be to offer a course of Shrinking Violet Body Wraps on an offer of say “buy 6 get 1 free” – this way the client pays upfront for a course of six and you are in charge of any client last minute cancellations! Or up sell another treatment whilst the client is already tying up the treatment room for an hour with the Shrinking Violet Body Wrap on, a half price Faith Lift Facial as a special one off offer, leads to the clients enjoying two treatments rather than one, and paying for two treatments on a discounted rate (of course!) for future appointments. Your clients time is key, so coming in to the salon or spa for one appointment rather than four separate ones is a win win, for time critical clients who value their weekends with their families.
Your third corner is your TEAM. Working on your team and having the right people in your business is crucial if you want to scale and grow. Having the wrong people can be very time consuming, counter-productive and most of all very expensive. We want to make sure we have the right team who we can invest in to grow our business and drive the culture forward, so even when we are not there the ship sails smoothly. Make sure you have training plans in place to nurture and grow your awesome team members. But the sooner rather than later you can deter the wrong people the better.
And finally, my favourite and area of expertise – SYSTEMS. Once your other three corners are in place you now need systems in place to begin to lay the foundations for your business to scale and replicate. This sets the standards, policies and processes in which you expect every aspect of your business to be conducted. This will save you immeasurable amount of time in training new and existing staff whilst creating consistency feeding into and building your brand awareness. Having these systems LIVE in your business is not only a tangible asset but will be the key to having freedom and lifestyle from your business.
A new Task system will be launched here soon! Watch this space!
If you want to learn more about these corners and how you can implement them into your business immediately, then come and join me on Tuesday 4th September at 10.00am where I am hosting a 60 minute FREE training session – “4 Secret Steps You Need to Take Now to Scale & Grow Your Salon, Whilst Living the Lifestyle with Freedom & Income You Deserve”.
In this free training session you will learn:
- The foundation to scale and grow your salon.
- How to be the owner and not a therapist/stylist
- How to be free from your Salon
- How to gain full control of the salon, even when your not there.
- How to build lasting assets for the business.
- How to stand out from other salons in your area.
- New Task system launch!
Become the #ItTakesAPro you were born to be
