As a salon business owner, you must know how busy the salon can get during the holidays. An overflow of bookings occurs as everyone wants to look the best to attend various events. Some clients come for a simple dye, while others get a full spa treatment to rejuvenate their look.
Of course, the busy atmosphere may end up exhausting your employees. So they may not be open to taking bookings, leading to loss. This is why it is essential to have a great salon business plan.
The best business plan for hair salon management can easily help you work efficiently and profit. So are you wondering how to have a successful salon business during the holidays? If yes, here’s a guide to help you.
How To Build Your Hair Salon Business Plan For Holiday Season?
Here are the top 15 tips for developing the best business plan for hair salon management during the holidays:
1. Plan Early
It is no secret that the salon business can get pretty busy during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it is better to plan to ensure you are well-prepared to manage the customers. You must do an inventory to check if you have enough supplies to last you well during the holiday period.
Ensuring that your employees are well-rested and prepared for the busy times is also essential. You can do this by checking the monthly schedule of your employees.
A good timetable will help ensure that no one is overworked before the holiday season. It will also allow you to remember which employee will be taking a leave and when to have a backup for that day.
2. Schedule Promotions Beforehand
Many owners wonder how to have a successful salon business during the holiday rush. A key thing you can do is ensure that your promotions are planned before the festive season begins. If the salon business offers deals during Christmas, ensure that the alerts are sent before December.
Early alerts act as a call to action for those who want to book an appointment. The deal also enhances the customer’s desire to get a treatment they’ve been longing for. You must also send out friendly reminders of early bookings to ensure no slots are left empty. Such appointments will also help you reduce the workload during the overflow.
3. Avoid Bringing New Changes
The salon business will get relatively tough as the holiday comes nearer. This is why you should avoid making new changes to the shop. Leave the new projects for after the holidays and ensure your policies remain the same. Regular customers can easily get annoyed seeing new prices and rules during the busy period.
You should also avoid hiring new trainees as they may increase the workload of your current employees. Some people already have experience in the industry while others don't. Your workers will also be pretty busy, and they won't have the time to show the trainees how things work.
4. Have Some Gift Packages Ready
Many people leave their holiday shopping for the end and get disappointed when supplies run out in stores. Such people try to satisfy their needs by shopping at places with free holiday gift packages. You can pair your top seller treatments with different sets.
Stocking trios is one of the favorite gift items to give your clients. You can also include festive cards in the package. If you cannot manage the gifts, it is advisable to give discounts to clients. It will help you gain more new customers and ensure that people return for more.
5. Extend The Salon Business Hours
Opening up the shop late and closing up early may work well for you during normal days, but that is not true for the holidays. Customers hate it when they have to adjust their work schedule to ensure they fit your timings. So you must offer flexibility by extending the salon business hours.
You can open the shop early and close late to finish maximum appointments in a day. If you cannot extend the opening time, you should at least be flexible with the closing hours. Besides that, ensure your clients know the new timings by sending text alerts and updating your social media account.
6. Be Present At The Salon
Another how to have a successful salon business tip is managing your team by being present at the salon. There may be unexpected events that will require the intervention of a powerful authority. Your presence will help your employees be confident and reduce their worry in such a case.
Seeing the boss at the shop will also boost the morale if anyone feels overworked. It will also help you improve the connection with regular customers and ensure they return for more.
7. Decorate The Shop
Maintaining the holiday spirit is also necessary to ensure your clients cheer up when they enter the salon. Decorating your shop is the top way to do this. You can get some festive lighting outside the salon to easily help people find the shop.
The lights also serve as a good indicator that the salon is still open at night. Also, get durable salon equipment to offer a comfortable experience. Omysalon is a good supplier to help you with this. You can choose red and white colors for Christmas. Some midnight blues and silver décor will be suitable for Thanksgiving.
8. Increase Security
If you don't have more than one guard at your salons, consider hiring some new ones. As things get busy, customers can lose their patience and lash out at your employees. Some people behave rashly when a treatment they choose doesn't live up to their expectations.
Most people use a loud voice to create chaos, while some may damage the shop. So you must have good security to contain the situation and ensure minimal loss of supplies. Being ready for unforeseen events is always better than being ill-prepared.
9. Promote Slot Availability
A key step of how to build your hair salon business management plan is remembering that there will be some last-minute cancellations. Many clients cannot make it to their appointments due to shopping or the arrival of guests. In such a case, you must be ready to promote slot availability.
The best way to improve awareness is by posting about it on social media. You can share the information on Instagram stories for fast response. It will help you avoid losing out on profits and make your business plan for hair salon management a success.
10. Take Care Of Yourself And Your Team
You may not get enough time to worry about your diet during the holiday season. Of course, it is essential to energize yourself by having food and keeping yourself hydrated. So start some healthy eating habits before things get busy to form a routine.
Taking care of your team is also necessary if you don’t want the employees to get sick. You can do this by ensuring that they get adequate time for lunch during the day. Also, stock the salon kitchen if you have one to make sure the staff can get snacks or coffee easily.
11. Make Sure Your Online Salon Shop Is Restocked
As a hair salon business owner, you may have an online shop to sell hair products. If you experience a high volume of sales on the website, you must ensure it is updated with the latest information. For instance, temporarily remove the out-of-stock items so that clients don't spend time browsing them.
You should also pin the latest arrivals on the home page so customers can check the new collection. A good delivery system is also essential to ensure clients receive their goods before the festivities begin.
12. Promote Your Team
This is another step to ensuring a successful salon business plan. Many regulars prefer to use their standard stylist for the treatment because of trust issues. Of course, the employee may be fully booked. This is why you must promote your team on social media.
Publish posts about the recent treatments and styles your other employees have worked on. It will allow them to gain visibility and help you manage bookings more easily.
13. Ensure Customers Don’t Leave The Shop Unhappy
Some customers may not create chaos at your hair salon, but they may still be unsatisfied with the results. So you must get their feedback on the spot and ensure they don’t leave the shop unhappy. It will prevent them from leaving a bad review.
The best way to do this is by offering a hamper to the customer to get their favor. You can also give them a discount on the treatment to ensure they give your salon business a second chance.
14. Encourage Positive Habits
The holiday rush may stress your employees even when they are not overbooked. This may affect their mental health and ability to work. So you should encourage positive exercises to help them reduce stress. For instance, tell them to take deep breaths when things get hard.
You should also maintain a relatively close relationship with them. This will encourage them to come to you if they face trouble due to work. Resolving the issue may help your worker destress.
15. Reward Your Team
Finally, the final tip for how to build your hair salon business is rewarding your team. You can take them for a company dinner after the holiday period is over, and bookings return to normal. This will help the workers feel appreciated and satisfied with their jobs.
You should also ensure that everyone receives their share of tips if you have a system for that. It can improve the morale of the employees additionally.
Final Thoughts
This is everything you need to know about how to have a successful salon business during holidays. These tips will help you create an efficient plan to ensure the shop makes profits without overworking the employees.
