Recent events have probably given you some time to have a good think about your business and no doubt there will be changes you want to make. It may be time to reassess how your business runs and make sure that it is working for you, in both a profitable way and a way that benefits your work/life balance.  Here we look at a few ways salon and beauty business owners can make some positive changes to improve their business profitability.

1. You work too many hours in your business and not enough hours on your business.

This is a common mistake business owners make, especially if you have employees working for you. It’s easy to assume clients will only want to come to you for their service, but you need to make time for working on the business not just performing the treatments and your therapists should be the ones working to full columns. Block out a couple of hours of your day to work on the business. Another idea is to tier your prices so that clients pay more to have you. We would also recommend that you only carry out your most profitable treatments. Your business needs to work for you, not the other way around.

2. Not charging enough to pay yourself a decent wage.

Did you just pluck your prices out of the air? Pitching yourself somewhere amongst the competition? Then you need to go back and do your sums and now is a great time to make that change and adopt a new price list that is profitable. Carl Hinder has a great pricing app that will help you crunch the numbers and work out exactly what you need to be charging to make a profit and pay yourself a decent wage. Copying the prices Karen down the road is charging isn’t necessarily the recipe for business success, there’s a reason many beauty businesses fail in the first few years. Make sure the numbers work for your business and then ensure the service and experience justify your prices. People aren’t usually that price sensitive, and if they are chasing cheap prices are these the clients you want for your business?

3. Low value treatments.

Some treatments take more time and have higher costs and so the ticket price might look good but when you take away all the other expenses including your time they don’t look quite so appealing. Either get rid of these treatments if you can, put your prices up or make them an ‘add-on’ that you only do in conjunction with other treatments.

4. Not selling enough retail.

This is the missed opportunity in so many businesses. Requiring very little time but a great return, you should aim to make retail a big part of your business. We have one very important rule to remember when it comes to retail, don’t assume you know what a client can afford. That is for them to decide. Make your recommendations based on their individual needs, what their concerns are and explain how the products will benefit them specifically. Obviously, retail products that you feel fit your target market and their price range but beyond that let the client decide what they are willing to spend on products and retail. It’s not being pushy or ‘salesy’ it’s offering your professional advice to help your clients achieve results.
image:istock.com/Melpomenem