Did you know that only 5% of salons in North America are profiting? We want you to be in the 5%, and you can be if you implement the right systems and strategies.
We sat down to meet with Tara Main, owner of Salon Skipper (an online coaching platform for the salon and spa industry), and ask her for her top tips to grow your salon business. Besides her years of hairdressing and educating experience, Tara took a bankrupt salon and had it breaking even within 30 days. The salon is now over 5 years strong and still growing.
Here are her top 3 tips to growing your business.
- Be open minded. New ideas and opportunities for your business growth may come in the way of changing your compensation structure, offering new products or services, trying new marketing approaches, being introduced to new ways of generating revenue, etc. So many salon owners are accustomed to the “old” way of doing things and, quite frankly, these old ways just do not work today and that is why so few salons are profiting. For example; paying 50% commission is just not possible these days, if you want to make a profit. New retailing opportunities can generate more income than you had even imagined. You must be open to hearing about these new ways of doing business and even try implementing some of them. Had we never been open to learning about foil highlighting, we would all still be using the cap ;)
- Coach your team. I am a firm believer in open book management which means sharing the numbers with your team. I want a team who feels like an integral part of my business. How are you doing with new client attrition, client retention and retail sales? Your team members should not only know how they are performing, but also what the goals for best practice are. Believe it or not, sharing the numbers, encouraging them to be the best they can be and providing them with coaching as to how to get there will lead to loyal employees and a thriving bottom line.
- Never stop marketing. Even if money is tight, you can never stop marketing. In fact, you should be spending 5% of your gross revenue on marketing/advertising and promotions. If you need free and cheap marketing ideas or ideas on how to retain clients (and get them spending more money, you can get my e books at salonskipper.com (one book is even FREE!)
Let’s face it, retaining an existing client is far less expensive that attracting a new one BUT you have to keep bringing them in (Goal: 10% new clients monthly) and therefore, you must continue marketing. The Salon Skipper coaching package also contains lots of videos on marketing with purpose and a marketing/promotions calendar.
If you need to get a hold of Tara to help build up your salon or spa business get in touch with her at www.salonskipper.com or email them at Info@salonskipper.com!
Until next time!
Tara