So many heads, so little time... pre-book for success.

Today's reality check:   "MY MOTHER was telling her hairdresser about her bad luck with men, after having just broken off with her boyfriend of five years. "You think that's bad," the hairdresser responded, "I had a customer who just found out her boyfriend was married." "You're kidding!" my mother exclaimed. "How long did it take her to find out?" The hairdresser thought for a minute and began counting on her fingers. "About eight haircuts."

Keeping each customer on your regular schedule for "about eight weeks" is an art.  Plan for the success of having full books by offering the valuable pre-book option to each customer every time they have finished another visit with you.  When I always offer, my customers will see it as a standard of operation and rarely leave without a new appointment. 

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What percentage of your customers reschedule?
What percentage of your pre-scheduled customers stand you up?
How often do you have your customers come in?

 

Set a goal to offer pre-booking to all of your

departing customers starting now.

Booth Renter or Small Business? Explore your own potential.

When I first opened up my little salon  I knew I wanted to own a business that 1) made money!!! 2)  would provide jobs for other people at a salon people actually wanted to work at.

Well, knowing what I wanted and knowing how to make all that happen were two different things. I had lots of experience working in salons that I didn't want to be like, but very little real working experience for what it takes to have an ideal workplace that is still profitable and a great place to work. 

As a small salon owner time flew by.   The highs were so fulfilling and the lows still make my stomach turn.  I was lucky enough to have strong support that pulled me through the tough times and a staff that made me proud all through the whole adventure.  At some point I realized I was absolutely consumed by the business.  My fear of not being able to direct my staff to success was compounded by the fact that I felt I had to do every important thing myself, including make sure the bathroom was actually clean.  It was driving me to the point of exhaustion.

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One day it hit me...  I am that salon owner I don't want to work for.  Yikes.  My next reality check: What has brought me to this place and how do I escape it?

 

It was time to sell and simplify. I had to look at what I had invested.  Do I own a JOB or do I own a Salon?  Does this place have any value if I am not at work? 

 

Some hard things changed. I took a really good look at what work I was doing for my clients, and what work I was still able to give may salon.  Through a business coach I learned what saved the day then and will still get me through the days ahead here in my private studio. 

 

What I learned there and practice "Smarter Not Harder" in my business today are some of the themes you see me write about .  Here are some tips for you s you grow your business into something valuable for someone else to buy from you some day:

 

Read the E-Myth Revisited.  NOW.  I listened to this book as I exercised AFTER I had sold my salon.  Big mistake.  What I learned literally brought me off my treadmill and to my knees.  I wonder: if I had simply read/heard this book during the Salon Owner days, would I still have my salon????

The ultimate goal of working ON your salon or spa should be to have it function as well as possible without you standing behind the chair and full time managing.  If you will do this, you will own something that is valuable to someone else. If your salon depends on you to function, don’t expect people to line up at your door to buy it, and well, good luck with that "vacation time".

Your new objectives should be:
1) To get your salon or spa to the point where it is NOT dependent on you!
2) Develop your employees to do things without your involvement.
3) Figure out how to give customers what they want, without having to go through you.
4) Have your employees take care of the day-to-day tasks, freeing you to focus on the more strategic issues.
5) Build a model for your business that ensures things get done right at the first point of contact.  

source: 2012 Milady

 

Getting your salon or spa to this point takes a new path of conscious, sustained effort and a lot of time. But, I am here to tell you I did it.  I worked hard, re-trained some of my staff, hired smarter, and and I was ULTIMATELY able to sell it for a nice profit.

Little Stuff & Our Loyal Fans.

On my first day of orientation in beauty school I was one of about 30 people that started. As we circled the room each person introduced themselves and projected what they saw themselves doing with their Cosmetology License once they graduated. The room was full of a wide variety of answers. Everything from powerful aspirations like I Will Change The World One Head At A Time to that one stereotypically "blonde gum chewer" that had been shoved into beauty school because she showed little intelligence or talent for accomplishing anything significant.

I probably wouldn't have stated anything that day that gave you any confidence in in me either. But by the time I completed the required 2000 hours I was one of 7 of that group that was still enrolled. One year later, I was the only one still showing up to work a salon. (And 10 years later as I stood in a full service salon of my own, the orientation teacher from school came into the salon and boy! did her jaw hit the floor. It still gives me a certain feeling of satisfaction!)

In fact, its very likely that if you had been able to tell me that day I wore my paper graduation hat into the administrators office for one last "Thank You for a great education" visit ,what the road to where I am now would be like I would have run the opposite way screaming!


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I'm sharing this with you today not to brag about my loyal husband that slapped hundreds of band aids on my self-inflicted scissor wounds, kissed my emotional hurts all better WAY to often, and encouraged me to jump back on the horse on a day I had destroyed someones hair... Or to convince you that even the mediocre and uncreative can find something more inspiring to embrace than just another job at another salon...

What I want you to hear today is "You can do it!"

Surround yourself with people that tell you the truth when you need to dig deeper and do better.

Keep close at hand the friends that sincerely praise your talent and encourage you to grow.

And keep making those clients that travel miles past many other capable salons to see YOU glad they came all that inconvenient way.

Your little stuff is going to be big stuff someday. I just know it.