ARE YOU READY FOR 2012
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS
The Health and Wellness Industry is no doubt still one of the fastest growing industries in the world! With this in mind I am sure you are feeling like competition is getting stronger, the spa goer is more educated on different types of treatments and service expectations are much higher than they have ever been.
So with this in mind lets look at a few new year resolutions for the changing needs of our Industry and to keep ahead of the pack!
Before you read this article please take five minutes and answer the following questions:
1. Would you change your business model in any way?
2. Would you like to have higher profit margins?
3. Would you like more motivated staff and higher turnovers?
Start with the basics! Yes, analyse your business for a few hours and ensure that the basic fundamental business systems and procedures are in place before you start looking for any complicated strategies and marketing plans to make your business grow.
Check your business against some basic fundamentals listed below and implement any systems you are not currently following. I promise you that if you take them seriously and really put them into action, you will see the results and your business will change.
- DAILY BUSINESS ANALYSIS
This is one resolution that can dramatically change your business. If you are not analyzing your business DAILY then I am not sure why you are in business in the first place.
The analysis should give you the following information:
- Total spend per client per day. You should always aim to achieve a total spend of higher than R800 per guest.
- Service vs. retail %. Here you should aim for 40% of retail to service turnover. This is an area this particular salon can improve on in a huge way. So here the manager would book retail training, set higher incentives and more motivating incentives to get staff to achieve this percentage, etc.
- Percentage of unsold hours. This is so important as it can easily show that your booking system is not very efficient. You should aim to have only 20% unsold hours as the internal booking hours is part of this. Internal booking hours is the time spent on training, meetings, etc.
- Specialized treatment bookings. This is really a money and profit centre IF these treatments are sold. This way you will monitor and set incentives accordingly.
- Complimentary hours sold. Often you are not even aware of the cost implications of complimentary treatments and also how many hours of profit time they take. Again this will make this stand out and ensure that you manage this correctly.
- Machine courses sold. This is vitally important as it can show you how your equipment investment is working out or not working out and you can also plan specials and promotions around these.
- HAVE WEEKLY STAFF MEETINGS
Start now and if you are not having weekly staff meetings where you give your staff feedback and let them know where they stand and where the business is heading. Share figures with your staff. If you keep your companies turnover figures to yourself you are not making your staff a part of the business. Your business can only grow if your staff make it grow and by making them a part of the business by not hiding what the business is doing is the first step. Share each individual staff member turnover figures with all the staff and in this way you can help praise excellent achievers and build those needing some help.
Ensure your meetings are not boring and only your voice is heard. Give different staff members different sections of the meeting to cover and then have an open forum where you go round the room and each staff member has their say over the previous week.
- CONSOLIDATE YOUR PRODUCT RANGES
If your product lines are not giving you a minimum of 40% margin, its time to clean up and clear out. Why should you promote and sell ANY product that is not growing your bottom line???? So either call in your product supplier and negotiate the coming years pricing or choose another product line.
Make sure you do not have 6 or 7 product lines as this makes it difficult for both your therapists and guests to choose. Keep focused but do keep a good selection!
If your product margins are good but the product is just not moving, call in your supplier, book training, promotions, do everything in your power to make it work first before you run and quickly change product ranges.
4. CLEAR OUT THE NEGATIVE ENERGY – QUICKLY!
If there is a staff member that is negative, get rid of them once and for all. Remember one rotten fruit will contaminate the whole bunch in time. Pls don’t wait and start the process immediately to clear your business out of negative energy.
- BOOK EDUCATION CLASSES
Managers and owners – have you booked your business classes??? Why should you not be attending education classes for our industry and growing your experience and knowledge? I cannot stress the importance of knowing how to run your business efficiently and effectively and you can only do this with additional education.
Book every single member of staff on refresher training for the product houses you stock. Make it compulsory salon policy that they attend yearly and ensure to get feedback from them on their return. I have a form I give staff where I ask them to list 10 new things they learnt at the training they attended. This gives you an idea of what made an impression in their minds and then you can build and work on it.
Please do not assume your staff are adequately trained or they have been working with a product house for 20 years so they know exactly what is going on….. Don’t be fooled, technology and ingredients progress quicker than we think and you can never ever know everything!
- PLAN YOUR PROMOTIONS FOR THE YEAR or at the very least 6 months
If you plan your promotional calendar with your staff and suppliers a year in advance it makes it easier just to simply implement the promotion every month or quarter or season.
Decide whether you will offer monthly, seasonal or quaterly promotions and then make each staff member in charge of that promotion, from the ordering of the promotional stock to the printing of flyers or posters to the sms the promotion message to clients to the incentives for the staff, etc.
This takes a bit of pressure off you to always do everything and you may be surprised at the pro-activity of your staff. Always be sure to give parameters in which to work for example you can allow them to order the promotional stock but if it comes to higher than R2000 they have to get your approval.
- PLAN AT LEAST ONE FUNCTION
Plan a salon birthday cocktail function, a charity fundraiser, a 2 hour 40% sale, a bring a friend and win! A WHATEVER….. the point is do something, just one function per year where you go out of your way to do something more, different and bigger and get your clients involved and remember to give them adequate notice!
- PURCHASE A PIECE OF PROFITABLE EQUIPMENT
If you don’t already own a piece of equipment that generates high profit then you must seriously and carefully analyse your business. The fact is that consumers WANT machines that produce results! So act quick and invest in a results driven machine. If you are not sure what to choose as there is so much choice out there, we have a quick questionnaire that can help you make the correct decision for your business individual needs.
- GET ON-LINE
If you salon is not computerized and you are not able to receive and send emails or go on the internet, then please sort yourself out and get with the program! Technology is power today and I can assure you that your business will benefit from a salon computer programme and internet accessibility. IN FACT I AM HOPING YOU ARE ALL READING THIS SAYING: “what year is she living in”. sad truth is that over 50% of our data base have no email address.
10 COMPLETE YOUR STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES MANUAL
This is no doubt the MOST valuable operations asset you can give your business and the sooner you get down and complete this manual the better it is for all your staff. This manual is the bible of your business and clearly outlines all service standards and clearly explains exactly what is expected of each staff member. If I can motivate you to do ONE important change in your business this year I would like you to draw up your S.O.P manual. Once it is done it will be of no value if you don’t train your staff on each procedure and implement strict evaluation systems.
I hope that you have found at least one resolution to make in your business for 2012! Should you need any further assistance with any of the above points, you can email Marisa on marisa