Business Mistakes Salon Owners Must Avoid

Some of the best lessons we learn, we learn from our mistakes and failures.These are some of the business mistakes we must avoid if we are to grow a profitable business

Unfortunately, learning by trial and error in today’s competitive and changing business environment is just too costly.

The beauty industry is rapidly changing. Business costs continue to rise, it seems like it is getting more difficult to find quality hairdressers, we face an economy that is struggling, staff turnover, price and commission wars, and the list goes on and on.

Business practices that may have worked in the past are now outdated.

Salon owners are especially vulnerable to these challenges. Learning how to meet and overcome these obstacles by trial and error is just unacceptable. If we are to avoid these obstacles we must identify these challenges and  seek out solutions.

The following tips will help you take preventative measures:

Denial ––Far too many salon owners want to stay in their comfort zone due to a resistance to change, because it requires effort and new thinking. Sometimes we must develop  an open mind  and measure our own strengths and weaknesses willing to admit our faults and mistakes and seek help. Overcoming the fear of failure is a challenge many owners are unwilling to take.

Complacency —– it is much easier to keep making excuses to fail rather than put out the effort to meet the heavy challenges of salon ownership. You can hope things get better or you can take action and find solutions.

Seek Out Help — especially in the area of developing powerful business skills. There are many excellent resources and business coaches available that can help you.Meeting these challenges alone can be frustrating and extremely costly. I do hope you visit my web site with educational resources that will help you. Click here.

 Failure to Develop Your Business Skills: Most of you already know how to do hair: but how many of you know how to manage your team and promote your business. Owning a salon is a business and must be run as a business. A recent study showed that 94% of all business failures  were due to poor business management skills on the part of the owner.

Poor Hiring Decisions — hiring the wrong people can be devastating and lead to salon walkouts. Make sure you  develop your own Staff Development program or follow mine. Click here.

 Identify and Avoid Customer Loss — failure  to monitor your customer return rate, and referrals of your staff. Keep in mind,negative word of mouth advertising is a huge detriment in trying to build and grow your business. Read my chapter on Keeping Customers.

Poor Planning and Organization — Lack of careful planning and organization is a huge time waster. A trial and error approach to building a successful business is just too costly in terms of time.money and energy spent.

Despite these growing challenges, well managed salons will survive and prosper.

Salon owners face difficult and many business challenges, learning by trial and error is just too costly. I do hope some of these tips will be helpful.