As we begin the holiday season, we’re also gearing up for our industry’s favorite time of the year: Busy Season! This month, we’ll discuss a few key things that every salon needs to do in preparation for maximizing the profit potential of Busy Season.
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Prepare
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Check all equipment, make sure everything is working properly. This is also a great time for intense detailing of your beds while your salon traffic is still slower. Do any beds need to be re-lamped? Evaluate your pricing structure – just prior to Busy Season is the best time to make pricing adjustments or increases. Give your salon a facelift, make sure everything is perfectly clean and ready, and your supplies are well stocked. Initiate your advertising plan ahead of time – it can take a few weeks to roll out a new campaign, so you should have it all scheduled well in advance.
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Education
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By this time of year, you should have chosen the products you will be selling for the upcoming season. Make sure you are offering various price points that will appeal to your salon’s entire clientele. Most lotion and product manufactures offer free in-store and online training, as well as ongoing support to ensure that your team has all the key elements to sell every product on your shelves. Ask your distributor partner what benefits your lotion manufacturer offers.
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Remember: success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.
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Staffing
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This is probably the biggest difference between an average salon and a super-salon. You should always strive to keep your staff motivated and self-sufficient; but in the upcoming months, this is more important then ever. Do you have enough staff? Do some shifts require more then one employee? Selling opportunities can be easily missed if you are not staffed correctly and your employees are cleaning beds and checking tanners into rooms. Make sure that going into season, you have not only enough staff, but key people on key shifts to maximize profitability.
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Salon Tours
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There is no time more important than now to have all of your staff review and practice their Salon Welcome Tour. With lots of new tanners coming in to prepare for the holidays, many of whom are new to your facility, it is important that your staff knows the correct way to greet customers and show them the differences in your equipment, products and packages. Making your new tanners feel at ease and welcome in your salon will make the difference in whether they consider trying your competition, instead.
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Promote
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Specials, coupons, Groupons and ads – Busy Season is the time when salons spend the most money on advertising and promotions. But, are you turning those coupons into sales dollars when people come in to redeem them? My suggestion is to have set add-on packages that correspond with each coupon and review these with your team, so they know exactly how to handle a new customer with a coupon and upsell the coupons into larger packages and memberships. You spend money on advertising to get them into your salon, and now it is up to your staff to ensure you retain these customers, that they purchase add-on products and upgrade their memberships. Review and role-play with your team the different possible scenarios that could arise when a customer brings in a coupon, and teach them how to overcome objections.
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Every salon is in business to make money! Make sure you and your team are ready for the holiday rush and make it the most profitable, yet. Every person who walks through your salon’s door is an opportunity. Educate your team about utilizing all the ways to capitalize on that.
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