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Real entrepreneurs are open minded professionals who strive for new ideas, concepts in finding solutions.
As many of you are aware, the costs of owning your own business will continue to escalate, especially after the new proposed tax increases, new labor laws, minimum wage and overtime mandates, and more. These and other new laws will make your challenges even greater in 2019.
Two other factors causing more challenges facing salon owners and their workers will be rising business costs and the cost of living for both salon owners and their workers. Despite these challenges well-managed salons will prosper, provided the planning for the New Year starts now.
Start planning now to gain a head start growing your salon and improve profits.
The following tips will help you get started:
Goals —clearly define your goals for not only your business, but also your personal and finances. Without a roadmap, your salon will drift aimlessly. Review your past year’s profit and loss statements. Did you show a good profit in 2018? Were you happy with your staff? How about your marketing efforts? Did you have the leadership skills to inspire and motivate your team?
Did you help your staff to perform at high levels of excellence? Did you take any educational classes to improve your business skills? If not, where can you improve in 2019? Did your staff work hard to exceed client expectations?
Lost customers — are the easiest to get back; simply send a note with an offer by saying we miss you. If they do not respond, a phone call will be helpful. Always make sure you stay in touch with your customers, letting them know you value their trust, loyalty, and business.
Marketing — Start planning, your yearly marketing strategy for 2019, especially for the slower months. If you need more clients, stay focused on keeping existing clients and gaining new ones. Take advantage of social media and many resources to keep your regular customers and add new ones.
Staff Evaluation — Measure performance of each staff member based on return customers and referrals. All your efforts of attracting new customers will be meaningless if certain members of your staff are not performing. Negative word-of-mouth advertising affects everyone.
Overhead Expenses – The easiest way to improve profits is to evaluate and cut your business expenses.
Define Your Market – What type of client and income level do you want to attract? Do you want to attract a WalMart client or a Nordstrom client? You should conduct a demographic study and make sure you measure your results.
Despite these challenges 2019 can be a great year; you will probably win by default because many salons will fail because far too many owners are in denial and unwilling to change always looking for excuses to fail. You need not be one of them.
