When you first opened your business, you may have concentrated your energy on doing one thing extremely well. You likely started with one location, and centered your offerings around one type of service. If this is the case, and you haven’t already begun to do so, now may be the perfect time to begin incorporating some form of diversification into your business!
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Even with the opportunity for greater profitability, everyone can be a bit reluctant to embrace change in their lives, especially when it comes to your business – your livelihood and those of the people you employ. The good news is that with expanding your business to include new products and services that are already in line with your current offerings, there is less risk involved and it will minimize your uncertainty.
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Before broadening your menu of services, it is imperative that you create a solid and strategic plan for doing so. Conducting research ahead of time is important and there are surely many valuable resources at your disposal. You might look into attending an industry trade show or scheduling meetings with different vendors.
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If your plans for diversification include similarities to your existing industry and service offerings, the skills and knowledge required may already be somewhat in line with the skillset that you and your team already possess. As a result, there may not be a need for extensive training or a requirement to learn new techniques that are completely outside your comfort zone.
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Whether it’s incorporating a new service or increasing your location size, ANY business – big or small – should consider diversification!
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Perhaps your salon offerings have been exclusive to UV tanning equipment and related products. Enhancing your list of services to include hybrid light technology with a combination of UV and red light will allow you to provide a new level of tanning and skin care results. Extending into the sunless market with custom airbrushing or spray-booths may also be an attractive addition. Doing so will allow you to appeal to a different customer base. And as an added bonus, these same customers might just end up using your UV-specific tanning equipment as well, even if it’s something that they may not have considered previously!
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As you plan to incorporate diversity into your existing business, an important item to consider is the software program required to accommodate your new services and/or products. You will need to determine if your existing program will meet your new business needs, and if not, what would be the process and cost involved with implementing a new one. Using the example above, if you are contemplating adding custom airbrushing to your salon, does your current system offer necessary features such as an electronic appointment book, a check-in option or an employee scheduling module? Do you have the ability to mark non-regulated services as exempt from the excise tax?
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For you, diversification may be part of a growth strategy such as opening another location, and not incorporating different products or services. Again, you need to make sure that you have a software solution in place that will accommodate this type of growth. Once you expand to a multi-location environment, it is crucial that your system is easily scalable, networkable and that it updates in real-time. You will also want to confirm that your software program has a utility available so that you can continue to operate your business seamlessly should an unfortunate situation such as an internet outage occur.
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Whether it’s incorporating a new service or increasing your location size, ANY business – big or small – should consider diversification! Times are changing – and having a salon software program that will help you grow will prove to be a key factor in your success.
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