Five common mistakes salon owners make

Building a successful salon or spa business requires not only time, money and the appropriate skills, but also clever management, direction and a good means of support. It is important for salon owners to keep a good eye on the market, note upcoming trends, and maintain a good understanding of what their customers want. When it comes to growing the business, while most salon owners are careful and utilise their salon management software to help them make the necessary changes, there are some that make mistakes that can often have quite the opposite effect to that which they desired!

Take a look at this rundown of five of the most common mistakes salon and spa owners make, and how you can avoid them.

Stealing the salon limelight

Some salon owners feel that in order to make a good impression on their clients, they must always be present. They believe that if they are not there, their clients will feel let down and as though they are not getting the full experience, mainly because they have worked so hard for their clients to rely on their services rather than the salon’s. Unfortunately, while this might make salon owners or senior stylists feel like a bit of a celebrity and that they are of the utmost importance, it makes far more of an impression if your salon is able to run just as smoothly and successfully whether you’re there or not.

Not setting clear managment goals

Many salon owners make the mistake of setting up their business and allowing it to simply run at the same monotonous pace, without a clear business and management plan in mind or making any plans for the future. Every business should have clear goals set that they can work towards and a well thought-out marketing strategy in place.

You should be constantly measuring how well your hair or beauty business is doing, not simply by ensuring you are making a good return or growing steadily, but by comparing your business to your competitors’, and using the data you collect to devise smart marketing strategies and setting achievable targets. Your salon management software can be used to help you locate some of the information you need and provide the marketing tools needed to push out your campaigns.

Following the wrong hair and beauty trends

A great number of fashion and beauty trends come and go; some stay around longer than others, make comebacks mere months later, or get pushed to the side and dismissed before they’re even tried. It is up to salon owners to be able to differentiate between these trends. With every trend comes a product or service you can offer those who are keen to keep up with it, but before you go spending hundreds in order to be able to provide the treatment to your clients, you have to be sure they’ll want it. While some trends are certainly worth investing in, others might not be particularly cost-effective, and are better to simply let lie. Following the wrong trend can cost salon owners a great deal of money, which could ultimately cost them business, as they may not be able to afford to treat their regular, reliable clients to the level of service they deserve. You must do your research before you invest in a trend.

Working in your salon business

Salon and spa owners must understand that with the right support in the form of hard working staff and advanced management software, they can afford to take a step back from the salon. If they are to focus on growing their salon, they must learn to work on their business rather than in it. Your strong, reliable employees and software should enable you to find the time you need to evaluate your business and work on strategies to improve it, rather than simply remaining as another stylist on the shop floor. In deciding to grow a successful business, you may have to become more of an entrepreneur than a stylist, so it’s worth aligning your focus with your goals!

Forgetting you’re in the hair and beauty business

When growing your salon or spa business it can be easy to begin to focus only on what you can do to bring in more money. It is important to remember that while you want to increase business, you don’t want to do so at the expense of the quality of experience you offer. Don’t sacrifice anything to grow your business, but concentrate on enhancing it instead.

Your clients visit your salon to be pampered, to relax and feel special. As well as making them feel good, you’ll also be teaching them how to feel good on their own too by introducing them to new techniques and products. As soon as you forget that, your salon business will suffer, no matter what you try to increase your intake.

Now that you’ve learnt from these mistakes, perhaps it’s time you invested in a quality salon management software, so that you can begin to work on growing your salon business! For more information the services i-Salon Software can provide, explore our website, or get in touch with us today.