4 essential strategies for successfully reopening your salon
Phorest has released the Let’s Get Back In Business e-book, a 30-page guide to reopening strong, staying open safely and getting your business back on track. This guide is designed with the salon owner in mind and is free to download for all salon owners.
The guide consists of four key topics and includes a range of tips and tools to help you prepare for your salon reopening with ease and success.
1. Managing your operations
It’s highly probable you will get a surge of requests for bookings once the lockdown lifts. To avoid exhaustion or burn out, you’re going to have to set clear and healthy boundaries, and the first step to that should be deciding on how many days per week you will open for initially.
You might think many salons will be opening seven days a week and for the longest hours possible. However, in a recent survey, Phorest found that that only 19% of salon owners are considering this option. Instead, the vast majority of owners are thinking about opening five or six days a week.
2. Communicating with your clients
Start thinking about who you will let book in first and how you decide who gets priority. While every salon is different, there are some options that you can choose from to get started, which include:
- Clients who had an appointment cancelled due to the lockdown
- Clients who purchased gift vouchers while your salon was temporarily closed
- Any of your highest spenders
Once you’ve made a decision on this, you’ll be able to manage your staff roster much easier too.
3. Your reopening salon finances
Building a monthly financial plan can be overwhelming, but right now, those projections can help you put exact numbers on the toll that having been forced to close has had on your salon or spa.
When you have a real understanding of said numbers, it makes it much easier to plan how you can get back on your feet. Not only that, but you can then communicate clear expectations to your team so that everyone works together to hit the goal.
In Phorest’s guide you can access a free tool to help you calculate your projections. As you fill it out, you will be able to take into account predicted sales and income, any loans or grants, all of your expenses, wages and overheads, taking into account PPE and everything else.
4.New revenue-boosting online features
Two of Phorest’s features will enable you to plug gaps in your revenue. The online store feature helps you to sell retail products online seamlessly, and will lessen the pressure on your staff to upsell as they adjust to the new safety protocols.
Meanwhile, the online gift vouchers feature provides your salon with another way to keep revenue coming in. Gift vouchers are a powerful asset for businesses and an uplifting gift for those who receive them. While the giver acts like an ambassador, the receiver, on the other hand, is often new to your brand and ready to embrace the experience fully.
Other topics in the e-book include social distancing measures in your salon, pre-appointment consultations, re-thinking your 5-star customer experience and managing overheads and service, helping you to stay confident and hit the ground running on reopening. To read the full guide, download your free copy here.
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