No matter how successful your salon has been in the past, the events of 2020 has likely left you second-guessing. There are many things about the way you conduct business. As with most service-based companies, the lockdown disrupted your salon’s income without warning. This caused you to take strides to secure the future of your salon business success. What we’ve learned is the need to be flexible and able to pivot at a moment’s notice. You just never know how some unforeseen circumstance can suddenly wreak havoc on your salon business. Luckily, our industry has many great experts and leaders we can learn from. Today, we have Candy Shaw to provide some great tips to help pivot back into success during times of turmoil.
Huddletime with Candy Shaw
On this week’s Huddletime, Ronit interviewed Candy Shaw, who is a successful salon owner and the creator of Sunlights Balayage. This is Kaolin-based lightener developer that is exclusively for balayage hair painting techniques. For those who don’t know, Candy literally grew up in the beauty business. She is the daughter of former world-champion competition-hairdresser Jamison Shaw. As you’ll see, she has a level of experience and insider knowledge that is virtually unparalleled.
Candy is highly revered for being an expert in balayage education. Her many successful decades in the industry have more than qualified her to advise on this topic. Her expertise as salon owner, stylist, and manufacturer provides unique experience and perspectives that can greatly benefit any salon owner. Here is a closer look at some of the great tips she offers. These will surely help salon owners and solo stylists continue to pivot and build salon business success.
Tips for Salon Business Success
As with any business, staying successful over time is a major task. This is especially true in a service-driven industry such as beauty salons and spas. These types of businesses are typically based on novelty and innovation. Therefore, you must go above and beyond to uncover the best methods of remaining successful. According to Candy Shaw, some of the most important areas are as follows:
Make Decisions Quickly
One of the top things Candy wants salon owners to know is that most decisions need to be made quickly. While some decisions can potentially be delayed for a while, those are usually the unimportant or non-urgent ones. However, if you are faced with a major decision that’s affecting your business, you should be acting on it as soon as possible. If you take too long, your indecision could adversely affect your business. Moreover, Candy points out that sometimes making a decision simply means you will do nothing. Not all decisions require you to act, some decisions require you to refrain from doing something. Either way, refusing to make a decision is the best way to remain stagnant. You won’t always get it right, but as a leader, you must be willing to take calculated risks and accept any potential consequences.
Leveraging the Numbers for Salon Business Success
Salon owners need to learn how to crunch the numbers and use them in their favor. For example, if a customer visits your salon 3 or more times, they will likely stay for the long-term. Knowing this, salon professionals should be going the extra mile to ensure customers are coming back at least 3 times. This could mean you do things such as offer rewards and other incentives, to entice them into coming back. Offering a coupon or discount if they book their next appointment within a certain time frame is another great way.
Optimize Your Time
Finding the best ways to optimize your time can be life-saving to businesses that are struggling. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic caused most salons to limit the amount of people in the salon at one time. It also limited how much time they could actually spend in the salon. Given the fact that many salons had to close their doors for weeks or months at a time, having to limit the amount of customers you can take can be downright catastrophic. Nevertheless, there were plenty of things salon owners did to optimize their time and also make sure they got the most out of themselves and their employees. In our interview, Candy’s explains how many salons used her unique systems to get through some of these challenges. For example, her coloring system is well known to simplify applications and processing. In addition, her speedy cutting techniques have literally saved an array of salons from losing valuable profits.
Invest in Social Media
Until recent years, many salons enjoyed customer loyalty at much higher rates. They did not invest much time or energy into social media or the internet in general. However, with new online technologies, potential clients can come across your salon without even looking. This has created more competition in the salon industry than ever before. Even more magnified by the pandemic. As a result, more and more clients are looking for salons that are safe and have the highest standards. In fact, clients have started to rethink their loyalty to brands and businesses of all kinds. Salons must now be able to prove they offer the best stylists, amenities, comfortability, entertainment, and safety. These are requirements in order to develop and maintain their clients. Investing in social media is now more important than ever. Candy asserts that building a brand with a unique voice is one of the best ways to draw customers in.
Check out our article – 9 Expert Tips on Social Media for Salons
Create a Salon Culture
Lastly, Candy shares that creating a unique salon culture is an excellent method of setting yourself apart from the competition. This can be based on the types of styles you are skilled in creating. For example, the types of services or amenities you offer, or even what you are doing for the community. Remember, with the present pandemic many people are more isolated than ever. Therefore, creating a unique culture is an excellent way to make people feel like they are valued and belong to something special. If you are using some of your profits to donate to local charities, then make this a part of your culture. Hang signs in the salon and post things about it on social media. Hold charity drives and ask customers if they’d like to donate a few dollars to help feed the community. This will attract those who are invested in local charities and want to support you and see your salon thrive.
In Summary
If you wish to become a successful salon owner for the long-term, learning to pivot and change is essential. Although change can be difficult at times, it’s vital to appease your customers, staff, vendors, affiliates, investors, etc. No more wasting time and energy trying to maintain the status quo. It’s time to readily embrace all these variables. Pivoting your business this way could mean the difference between being around for decades or just a few more months. Take heed to these tips and you will be well on your way to becoming a powerful leader. One who can make tough decisions with ease and keep your staff motivated regardless of outside circumstances.