When a storm is closing in, you can feel it way before the first thunder roars. It gets suspiciously quiet, the sky becomes grey and the wind suddenly kicks up. If your beauty salon is about to experience a true crisis, you experience a similar period of silence before the storm, surrounded by symptoms of the incoming disaster. It’s your last chance to make a change, so wise up and learn how to recognise the signs of a failing salon and determine what to do to save your business from an upcoming disaster.
Before we start talking about any particular symptoms, let’s establish one more thing - access to your salon’s statistics will be absolutely crucial here, as some syndromes are extremely hard to notice without a clear overview of your business data. If you use Booksy, there is nothing to worry about, as you have access to real-time, detailed reports on finances, appointments, the popularity of services, rebookings and employees' effectiveness. If you don’t, at the very least collect your statistics in an Excel sheet… or better start your free trial with Booksy.
Loyal customers are worth their weight in gold, as they are your most stable source of income, are more likely to purchase pricier treatments and recommend your services to their friends. Not every client will become your regular - and most of the time it’s not your fault, people seek different things and some prefer to change their stylist/technician/beautician every once in a while - however, if it looks as though you are losing your regulars and not gaining any new loyal clients, something may be seriously wrong.
What is happening? If you have trouble getting new regulars, begin with reviewing the quality of treatments your employees provide. Some of them may be in need of some additional training. Next, make sure your customer service meets the standards of modern salons - people tend to come back to the places that deliver not only a great final result, but a one of a kind experience.
However, if you struggle with gaining both new regulars and one-time clients, then that's a huge red flag. For this situation, you'll need to carefully look into every aspect of how your business is being run. Perhaps, there is something fishy going on behind the scenes. Keep track of the reviews - clients’ remarks may give you an idea on which area of your business is causing this sudden decline in your salon's popularity.
We all know that in the beauty industry there are peak and low periods. For example, you gain more clients by the end of the year, but there are a lot of free slots at the beginning of a new one. However, if you regularly monitor your numbers, you are able to track client flow very accurately. A gradual (but explicit) decline in the number of clients may be caused by - once again - general problems with the quality being offered at the salon. A sudden drop may be a sign of something even worse. It’s worth investigating whether your salon is being targeted online by a flood of fake negative reviews, your competitors are playing dirty behind your back or if there’s drama between one of your employees and a customer.
They happen to the best stylists and techs. A suspiciously large amount of ghosted appointments booked online may be a sign of an Internet troll or a childish competitor’s attack. However, if it’s your real clients who suddenly change their minds and don’t feel the need to inform you - once again, check out if your business is not being badmouthed. If someone is working on giving you a bad reputation, customers that believe in the rumours may want to cancel their appointments while avoiding the need to contact you directly. Out of fear of an awkward conversation, they simply do nothing - and feel justified, as they heard such horrible things about your salon or even you as a person.
When you are running a business, you have to know two things: firstly - the unpredictable happens and secondly - you should learn to predict the unpredictable. Crazy, I know. Therefore, most businesses operate in a way that guarantees them cash reserves, even if a recent period wasn’t too good for them. If you notice that over the course of a few months, you're left with little to no cash reserves after paying standard bills and without additional expenses, then there's something wrong. The fault probably lies either in the lack of business planning, having your prices set too low or overspending. Check your Booksy financial reports and analyse your latest spendings - maybe you are being too carefree with finances or too people-pleasing with your price menu.
You don’t even need an inventory check in order to notice that a number of your retail products have become dust catchers and most of them are expired already. They brought you nothing but financial loss and a headache. If you have far too many products than you can utilise, it may be a symptom of a few different things. Firstly, you may have difficulty making calculated purchase decisions - you got too excited about a new line from your favourite retail brand, or attended a trade show where everything seemed just too tempting to refuse. Secondly, if it is not buying too much that’s got you in this position, it may be your inability to sell retail - which is a shame because retail sales are an important part of your salon’s budget. Begin by making your shelves look alluring and then master the art of upselling if you want to keep your salon prospering.
Recruiting staff is rarely easy. Finding common ground between your expectations and those of your potential employees can be challenging. However, if you have been looking for a new team member for quite some time now and the interest in your offer seems to be close to non-existent, it is once again worth checking whether you have not fallen victim to badmouthing (face-to-face or online). What’s more, make sure you are being active enough when recruiting - sticking a “now hiring” note on your salon’s door definitely won’t do it.
As a salon owner, it is your duty to keep a close watch on your business outgoings, inflows and outflows. It’s usually rapid changes or ongoing tendencies in your statistics that are the most relevant symptoms of something wrong going on. If you want to be able to react and salvage the situation, you will need a reliable source of your business numbers. Try out Booksy, salon management software, which gives you not only real-time cash reports, but also an insight into the popularity of services, customer rebooking rate reports and work time analysis. Knowledge truly is power - don’t wait for the storm to happen. Nip problems in the bud with your digital assistant.
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