The whole
process of running a salon can be broken down into four stages. First, you
start the salon with all the great ideas you have. In the second you try your
best to attract more customers and earn good profit. In the third, you would
have reached some kind of constancy, in terms of customers, profit and
reputation. It’s when the fourth stage comes, where you think about expanding
your salon into multiple locations.
Unless you had
so much resources — both monetary and human —, you would have started a
single-location salon itself. As it happens, it’s the fourth stage that
everyone’s confused about. The last time we checked, most salon owners don’t
understand the right time to expand their salon into multiple location. And, if
you ask us, we can’t give a ready-made answer yet.
As both of us
know, salon business is really dependent on many factors, on your side and the
customers’. It is thus unlikely that an impulsive decision to expand your salon
business would help you succeed. Instead, a number of factors must be
considered before taking steps to broaden your scope. In this article, we would
be talking about indeed the right time to expand your salon.
Let’s Talk about Current Business
We hope you are
not planning to leave the current salon/spa when the second one opens. So, we
must talk about the current one first.
The first
question you should ask yourself is this: how is my salon performing right now?
We don’t expect
you to have a clear-cut answer, but you will certainly have an idea to start
with. Your salon may be getting a good amount of visitors every day, you may
have some dedicated professionals working at each sections and you may even
have crossed the estimated profits last month. In short, as someone who’d
dreamt of starting a salon one day, you would be satisfied with the
performance.
Factors that Matter the Most
But, as experts
say, starting another salon is more than what meets the eye. There are a number
of factors that you should consider before just jumping in.
Take note of
the following.
-
Ensure a Seamless Business Workflow
Every business
succeeds when there is some level of automation involved. As the salon owner,
this is quite an important aspect. To get the basics right, the salon should
work perfectly fine even when you are not at the location. In most cases, what
we have seen is that the business is hugely dependent on the manager. If the
manager leaves, there will be minor to major issues in the overall workflow —
also affecting the ultimate profit margins.
So, before you
stick onto the decision, make sure that your current business goes like
clockwork.
-
Do the Analytics (Don’t Underestimate Potential)
Error of
judgement is not really helpful when it comes to expansion decisions. Before
you make the decision to expand, you need to ensure that you are getting the
best out of the current outlet. For instance, you must know how much customers
you are retaining and whether your staff is offering
impressive service. This is an area where a salon management software with
customer records system can help. Through techniques of data analytics and
prediction, you would know how much your current outlet is really worth.
If you think
you are not utilizing the most resources you have at the current outlet, do
that.
-
Let’s Consider the Odds
Let’s review
the story once again. You started out a salon in a convenient space, it started
attracting more customers and it became a success (as you say it). But, have
you considered the peripheral factors that have contributed to that outcome?
For instance, the lack of beauty salons in the area could have helped you. Or,
a potential organization or education institution could have contributed
several hundred customers to your client list. And, you never know if any of
them is available at the next place.
We would not
recommend expanding unless you succeeded solely because of the excellence of
your service.
You Should Expand Your Salon, If
To view things
from the positive perspectives, you should look at some signs first. If you can
see the following signs in your establishment, it’s the right time to expand to
a new location.
-
Your Slots are All Booked
The next time
you open your salon appointment software,
take a deeper look. Check for the number of free columns you find every day. If
you cannot find many free hours for any of your stylists, it’s the right time.
It means that people are rushing to your salon and could not find available
slots. To confirm this, you can do a simple thing:
Connect Google
Analytics with your online booking system and analyze the behavior. If a lot of
people visit the page but leave without booking, your assumption might be true.
In that case, the strictness of slots is a great reason to expand the salon.
-
You don’t have Enough Space at the Salon
This is rather
a physical constraint that may force you to expand the salon into an extra
location. There are times when you cannot put enough number of chairs and other
equipment for smooth functioning. At such a point, if your regulars are getting
tired of waiting, you should think of expanding. This is probably the only sign
that means multiple things.
It means that
you are making the most out of the current space. It also means that your place
attracts a lot more people than you expected earlier.
-
You have Less Churn and More Acquisition
If you are
running a membership program for your salon, it’s the best way to track down
the progress as well as the potential future. Once again, you should have got
at least a free salon software in the
first place. You can thus track how many memberships were added in the past
weeks, in order to analyze the popularity of the place.
If there is
less churn and consistent number of members each month, you can expect the same
in your next location as well.
Summing Up
We hope you got
an answer for when you should expand your salon into multiple location. To sum
up every bit we said, it’s about management. Unless you can allocate someone to
manage the next location, you have to bring the current salon space to
clockwork. Of course, you can get the help of some brand-new technology such as
the salon management software like Miosalon and membership tracker. And, once
you think your absence would not impact the current salon’s growth, you can
expand with confidence.
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