|
|
|
A fab Article by Alan Forrest Smith at www.salonpunk.com
5
Reasons why most Hair Salons NEVER rise above the average.
1. EDUCATION. The problem is though
it takes more than being able to do a great haircut to balance the books,
find out break-even, handle reps, create great teams, and grow your salon
and that… is just to start with. Most salon owners
never go beyond haircuts. They cannot and will never be able to see it and
that saddens me. In other words, they
recognise the value of education in their business. DO YOU. Most salon
owners DON’T and never will. How about you and your salon? If you want to
see changes it might be that you need to make changes in your approach to
you hair salon business. Try this…
Listen and listen
good. I used to pay at least £200.00 for my scissors and never thought a
thing about it. My kit was worth around £2-3,000 at one point
easily. Solution? Get reading and learning,
simple. 2.
STRUCTURE. Ok, you want you salon
to grow, right? You create a plan. You should have a recipe for success.
That means as part of your structure you will sit and plan the next month.
Over that month you will set goals, targets, one to ones, motivational
mornings, takings, colour promotions, staff promo’s and a ton of other
stuff that add to your recipe or structure. You also need to know
who does what. Managers, seniors, juniors, receptionists,
accounts. Sickness and any other
procedure through the salon… IT NEEDS A GOOD STRUCTURE. No structure =
failure or average salon performance. Want to be above
average? Try this… ·
Read more books on
management. ·
Attend courses. ·
Speak to others. I met a salon owner
that when I asked him told me he took £18,000 every week. Guess what he
wasn’t lying, he really did take that kind of cash. He had no structure at
all. He didn’t have a clue as to what was going where. All he knew was
that he had a salon that bought him a flash Porsche, large house and paid
for private school for the kids. That is a one off. It
never happens that often. He employs great hairdressers and is in a very
wealthy area. The catchment is there for him. He makes big bucks. He felt
structure wouldn’t help him. Structure would do
this for him. Increase his takings from £18,000 to maybe £25,000 a week.
That’s what it does. Get a structure, raise
your salon above the average. Most wont, most don’t, YOU CAN. 3.
STAFF PROBLEMS. Around 10 years ago I
went from 8 Stylists to 1 and myself over a 2-3 week period. Takings dropped.
I couldn’t pay my taxes, I only just scraped through to
survival. The short answer is
you cant, sorry. The long answer is easy. Here’s is a
solution that has worked for
me very, very well. Let me tell you now I keep all my team. Very rarely do
we lose seniors. All have been with me for at least 5 years
now. How do I do it? It’s
dead easy, it’s not even a secret. Here it is. GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT. That’s it. Sound too
easy? It isn’t. Look you and me, we are both humans (no jokes please I am
human ;-)). We all have needs that have to be filled. Desires, wants, wishes they need to be filled. Here is an example for you. I set goal for my team. It was all done. The prize was one week in Europe fully paid by me. They could even take a partner and I would pay. Here is what we do
now in our salon. ·
Speak with my team, face to
face, one to one. ·
Ask them what THEY
want. ·
Create a job around their
desires and needs. ·
Bend over backwards to help
them get there. If you want to rise
above the average salon you really have to start to put your team first
and give them what they want. Fill those desires, let them reach their
personal goals and you will create a great loyal team that will stick with
you forever. Solution? Re-read the above and just do it. Pay peanuts… get
monkeys. Give them what they want. Easy. 4.
PLANNING. Fail to plan… plan to
fail. It’s that easy to understand why most salons never rise above
average. They don’t plan anything. They don’t understand planning, most
really don’t care. If you don’t plan, you are going no-where
fast. Let’s make this clear.
Planning and Structure we mentioned earlier are connected but not the
same. You can have structure but if you don’t plan with it and use it the
salon wont do a tap, not a bean to rise above the average. Question is… will I
ever get there? Doubt it. That’s the crux of planning. If you want your
salon to take £5,000 and you are only doing £2,500 you will never take
more if it isn’t planned properly. Your salon is a
journey. I have never been on a journey that isn’t planned. Plan it and
you are laughing. So…
Look, don’t expect a
miracle. Be happy if you can start a plan today and get it going. Just
make a start and you will progress. After six months you will be a
planning expert but you need to stick at it. Most salon owners never rise
above average. They hate planning, they don’t plan and that is why they
are average. Not you, just get it done. Solution? Get planning. If you want to get somewhere you
need to know where and how. Plans are for the successful thinkers. Do
it. 5.
OWNER IS A
STYLIST. Actually the truth is
it has taken me since 1989 to get off the floor. But my systems are in
place. I have a good structure. Good planning. A good stylist plan. I have
re-educated myself and guess what… our salon has had an overall increase
of nearly 30% since last may. What a happy guy I
am. Get off the floor and
here is what you have. A business that creates wealth for you and your
team. A salon that stands alone without you. Time to spend on other things
(I am at home in my office now and the salon is packed ;-). Time for my
family and kids. No late nights and no mad, crazy Saturdays killing myself
with a busy column. You can do it.
What can I say. I felt
disappointed when my long term clients didn’t miss me, I really did. They
asked where I was going, no they didn’t. They asked if I would be back,
they soon forgot, takings went up and I had too much time on my
hands. It will be the same
for you as long as you feel that you have everything in place. Salon is running
great now. We attract the best hairdressers in our area. We charge the
highest prices. We do everything right and it pays well. It just takes a
decent system and good planning and a lot of support. Solution? If you have done the above and all the other
points take a deep breath and let go. Keep a close eye on the whole thing
and monitor it all until its on auto-pilot. Not simple, easy or a dodle.
Hard work but can be done. “if you really, no I mean really want to rise above all those Joe average salons, read and learn, apply what you learn, copy other success stories and try it. I did and it’s worked. If I can do that, you can, Alan” Alan Forrest Smith. Salon Owner and M.D SalonPunk.Com. Disclaimer. Everything
you read here is based on my own experience. If you try it and it doesn’t
work I cannot be held responsible as I am only sharing my experiences with
you. It’s all based on my experiences and they have worked for me. You
need to apply ideas to your situation, set your goals in life and just do
it.
|
|
|