On a beautiful spring Saturday morning Ann sits on her deck drinking her morning tea and checking her email from her smart phone. She gets an email from her salon reminding her that it has been 5 weeks since her last color and cut. She has a big presentation on Wednesday and decides it would be good to look her best, so she links to the salon website directly from the email.
At the salon website she logs into the Online Scheduler to book an appointment. At login Ann is given information about a new shampoo and conditioner that will extend the life and eliminate fading of the color service she receives regularly. “
Hmmm, sounds good.” She looks at Tuesday’s salon schedule and sees that her favorite stylist, Brandon, has an opening at 6:00 pm. Perfect! She schedules the appointment. At the same time Ann is reminded she is probably running low on the mousse and hairspray she uses, and asks if she’d like these products reserved for her on the day of her appointment. Ann reserves the products and adds the new shampoo and conditioner to the reservation. She logs out and returns to her email to see that there is now a new email from the salon confirming the plans she’s just made for Tuesday.
Monday morning Ann receives an email requesting confirmation of her appointment and product reservations. Ann’s husband is running low on the gel he uses and has asked her to pick one up on Wednesday, so she adds it to her product reservation and clicks to confirm her appointment. In the salon, the appointment changes color in real time, letting them know that Ann has confirmed.
Ann arrives for her appointment on Tuesday and the receptionist, Julie, greets her and checks her in using an iPad. The salon software alerts Brandon that Ann is here and lets Julie know that Ann likes mint tea and usually wants a cup first thing. Julie says to Ann, “
While you’re changing into your gown, can I get you a cup of herbal mint tea?” Ann answers “
yes please” and thinks to herself how amazingly pampered it makes her feel that Julie always remembers every little detail and personal preference.
A few moments later Brandon greets Ann in the reception area and walks her to his station to have a consultation. They decide that for spring they’ll add a little “more blond” to her highlights. Brandon goes back to the dispensary and with his iPad checks the previous color formula to make the appropriate adjustments. While doing this, the software lets him know about the products Ann has reserved and reminds him that the last time Ann was in they talked about her son who had the lead role in the school play. Brandon returns to apply Ann’s color and asks “
how did your son’s play go?” After a chat about Ann’s family, Brandon talks about the benefits of the new shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair. He adds a suggestion for a thermal styling spray that will also help to extend the life of her color. They talk about the importance of the proper care of color treated hair to keep it healthy.
After applying Ann’s color, Brandon escorts her to a comfortable chair where she will sit and process for 30 minutes. Brandon asks if she would like to use an iPad to read a magazine or surf the net. Ann says, “
That would be great, and can I get a refill of that tea?” Brandon says “
of course” and adds, “
While you have a few minutes free, you might want to pre-book your next appointment. With Mother’s Day coming my schedule is really filling up.” From the iPad, Ann promptly schedules her next appointment five weeks in the future.
Brandon takes a moment to attach a note to Ann’s ticket saying “
I suggested to Ann that she try the thermal styling spray today” and sends it to the desk. Then he flags a note for the shampoo person to use the new shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair.
Thirty minutes later the shampoo person escorts Ann to the shampoo bowl and explains that she will be using the new shampoo and conditioner today and again reinforces the benefits of the product. Ann returns to Brandon’s chair having had a relaxing shampoo, and Brandon cuts her hair as discussed in their consultation. When Brandon is finished cutting Ann’s hair he shows her how to apply the thermal styling spray and finishes her style.
Brandon escorts Ann to the reception desk where her reserved products are bagged and waiting. He says, “
Julie will take good care of you Ann. It was great to see you again.” Julie opens Ann’s ticket, sees that Brandon recommended thermal styling spray, and asks if she would like it added to her ticket today. Ann, pleased with the results of the styling spray, happily replies “
yes please!” Ann leaves the salon impressed with everyone’s efficient attention to her comfort and needs. She is glowing, having had another wonderful experience at the salon.
Successful salon management involves keeping a tight ship and making sure you know what your clientele wants. Here are several great tips to help you manage:
Trends
Keeping up on current hairstyle trends in your area is a must. Make it a priority to know what looks are trending so that you and your salon can stay current by learning new techniques to appeal to your market.
Look and Listen
Pay attention to your clientele. To what they say, and moreso what their body language says. What does it say if a customer says they love their new look, but you never see them again? Some people are hesitant to voice their opinion, so you have to watch them closely. If their body language is telling you something, or their facial expressions look concerned or disappointed, politely offer another option.
Pricing
While you may not want to offer your services at prices so low that customers see it as sub-par work, you need to make sure you aren’t charging so much that they can’t afford to come back a week or month down the road. Look for a balance between too high and too low.
Variety
Think about turning your hair salon into a full service salon. Look into offering facials and other spa services, as well as manicures and pedicures. Also, be certain you cover all of your bases with hair by offering cutting, coloring, styling, and texture services and even some specialties like extensions.
Dress Code
Set a dress code with clear and defined limits for your staff. If in doubt go for all black or even neutrals. In addition to helping hide hair color stains, black is a very universal color that is easy to fit into any wardrobe style.
Environment
Your customers are looking for a warm and inviting salon so that they feel comfortable. It’s important that you provide them with a welcoming environment that is clean and well kept. Remember that first impressions are everything!
Controlling Overhead
Another important factor in successfully managing a hair salon is to keep tight control of your overhead. Do your research and know what retail products your clientele will purchase to avoid having a surplus of merchandise.
Limit the number of employees your salon hires to just what’s needed and then hire accordingly as you grow. While it is sometimes a good idea to have stylists that specialize in a specific area, it is also important that most stylists have the necessary skills to meet most every customer’s needs.
You can also improve your bottom line by reducing office work or eliminating overly redundant employees. Ask yourself, are your stylists really too busy to take time between clients to tidy up themselves? That would lessen the need for a cleaning crew or for them to come as often. Also, consider salon scheduling software to help eliminate the need for a dedicated receptionist or as many receptionists.
What other ideas can you think of to help effectively manage your salon? 
We all shutter at the thought of an IRS audit but sometimes it’s unavoidable. To lessen your chances of this nightmare happening to you, study up on the practices that make the possibility of an audit more likely.
Salon owners and booth renters: Consider the following to help reduce your chances of the A-word:
Cash Transactions – Businesses that have a lot of cash transactions, including tips, are among the most audited. Be sure and keep detailed records, including your tips and don’t forget to declare income.
Unprofitable Businesses – If your business doesn’t earn a profit for three out of five years, the IRS may consider it a hobby.
Business Expenses – As tempting as it is to write off personal expenses as business expenses, don’t do it. The IRS will dig even deeper if the records aren’t clearly separated.
Round Numbers – If all your amounts have zeroes at the end, such as $2500, etc., it may be a red flag, as the IRS may think that your business is estimating versus using actual figures.
High Deductions – If your business has relatively high deductions compared to the amount of income it generates, it might raise a red flag. Keep careful records to show all such deductions are legitimate.
Home Office Deduction – For some reason, the IRS is particularly interested in enforcing the provision that involves the deduction for a home office. Carefully weight the benefits of such a deduction over the increased likelihood of an audit.
The Right Help – Other suggestions to help avoid an audit include hiring professionals to help. A certified accountant is worth the expense and using a good bookkeeper and payroll service will make the recordkeeping and tax preparation a breeze.
Have you ever been audited? Any suggestions to help others avoid an IRS visit?
As a “Creative”, as I like to call hairdressers or any artist in this or other mediums, we thrive on making people happy with what we create. We live for chance to make others look their best and to be appreciated for these efforts. However, this gift of talent in one area is often met with a lack of aptitude on the business side of things. We tend to take things personally and have a hard time asking for the compensation we deserve in exchange for our time and effort.
The only way to successfully thrive, let alone profit, in any creative field, including hair, is to separate the creative side from the business side: To think of the business as its own living, breathing entity that has to be fed and nurtured in order to survive, let alone flourish. The creative side is just what you do, and hopefully love doing, in order to feed the beast (the business) and therefore feed yourself (and your landlord, bank, etc.).
So, what are some ways to help with this balance? First, come to grips with the fact that this industry is all about increments of time, and since time is money, you need to charge enough for the service you provide in a certain amount of time in order to keep the business happy and healthy.
If it takes you a half hour on average to do a men’s haircut, for example, that half hour of your time needs to have dollar figure attached, thus attaching a value to the service itself.
The same holds true for more complex services, especially those that have direct costs associated. Take color for example. The pricing for your color service needs to take into consideration how much time it typically takes to perform that service PLUS the direct cost for the color itself. In this case take an average of how much actual color a specific service requires and add the time it takes to perform that service.
To figure the hourly rate needed to sustain your business, add up your business overhead expenses (rent, business insurance, utilities, towel service, wages, etc.) and divide that figure (per month) by the number of hours you aim to book per month. This model will work for a single chair salon or a chair rental situation. In the case of a multi-chair salon, divide again by the number of filled stations. That amount is what you have to (or each station has to) charge per working hour just to keep your doors open (or rent your station). It does not take into account any taxes that will be owed, any sort of a draw for your for own living expenses or commission owed to other stylists, let alone any profit.
Now, refigure this hourly rate taking taxes into consideration, your living expenses (if you are a booth renter) or commission to other stylists (if you own a commission salon) and add 20% for a low-end profit. That’s your starting point for pricing. Anything more is icing on the cake…and anything less is killing your business.