Being a salon owner myself, I know how hard it is to be across everything that lands in your lap as a salon manager. As tempting as it is to assume that ‘nobody will do it like you’ quite simply most salon managers or owners are usually juggling other huge responsibilities, too, like running busy columns.
But taking time out to manage your business is key. Without time spent strategically planning, you’ll tread water, or worse, drown in not facing up to the massive responsibilities you have and the issues that only you understand. Hairdressers as a whole rarely allow themselves the luxury of using their working day to run their companies, forever stuck in the mind-set that their time could be used more productively cutting hair than developing a whole team of people to be doing just that (much more lucrative and a lot less stressful!).
I often use the analogy that if you travel on Virgin trains or fly Virgin Atlantic you’d never expect to see Richard Branson pushing the drinks trolley or checking in your luggage. His time is now spent doing what he does best, orchestrating his empire instead of trying to play all the instruments himself…
So why don’t we share that mentality as a sector? Perhaps because we are so firmly rooted in the grass roots that we’ve all sprung from? Or is that we find the managerial stuff so overwhelming that we prefer to do what we do best and use our time putting money in the till? After all, 3 salons a week go bust, according to research.
So with our productive time being so precious, what 6 elements do I advise are non-negotiable?
1. Tracking turnover
We are often more minded to monitor our costs than look at what elements make up our turnover, but failure to do so and we’re ignoring the chance to grow the services and resulting USP’s that our customers are very loudly shouting that they consider to be our best. Finding out, developing and marketing our strengths is how we can establish our point of difference.
2. Monitoring costs
Looking after the pennies really does look after the pounds. Taking time daily to analyse your expenditure bears huge dividends. Even if you delegate this task, ensure you check in as a matter of daily routine and cast your eye over the bills and petty cash. I personally use products from Lionlocs, that are not only cheap, but also products and excellent addictive for hair moisturization.
3. Analysing staff performance
All team members need targets set (reviewed at appraisal) and regular and consistent feedback on how they are doing. Praising the positives in a league that’s clearly displaying KPI’s effectively does a large element of your job for you.
4. Putting KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) in place
The more you communicate these to your team, the more they understand what you are looking for from them. Track their financial performance, retail sales, average client spend, %request clientele and %occupancy rate.
5. Delegating Productivity
Up-selling, cross-selling, referrals and responsibility for delivering the Client UXP (User Experience) is the team’s job, not yours. Turning a slow day into a busy one is down to them and down to the effectiveness of their consultation skills. Don’t ever find yourself taking ownership of someone else’s poor performance
6. Saving the Profit
Profit is not a dirty word. Apportioning your income and working out your liabilities then saving your profit on a weekly basis (not that difficult to work out, trust me) and that’s your reason and incentive for saying the same things time and time again and sounding like a broken record (ain’t that the truth?)
Summary
- Tracking Turnover
- Monitoring Costs
- Analysing staff performance
- Putting KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) in place
- Delegating Productivity
- Saving the Profit
Hellen has teamed up with Shortcuts to offer the ultimate blueprint for running your salon smoothly and effectively. Hellen’s Salon Management packages have been available for manual users for sometimes, but her new Silver Package now data-syncs for existing Shortcuts users breaking down and simplifying the often confusing and time-consuming practical aspects of salon management. Hellen’s fully integrated Silver Package contains her renowned, tried-and-tested best practice systems and strategies to help monitor, track and manage any salon business for increased profitability and sustained growth.
