Successful salons are adjusting their business model to meet changing client demands

By: Eve Oxberry, editor, Professional Beauty magazine 

As the demands of the typical beauty client have changed, the salons and spas serving them have had to adjust their outlook – and their treatment menus – to keep up.

During a seminar on industry trends at the recent Professional Beauty North exhibition in Manchester, for example, one salon owner commented that the majority of her business used to be facials and massage but clients are now predominantly coming in for lash extensions, nails and tans. “They only want to pay for things if it’s obvious they’ve had them done,” she said.

The salon in question had completely adjusted its business model to accommodate the change, retraining therapists, and weathering the financial storm better than many of its competitors as a result.

Knowing what your clients want, and meeting those needs even if that means offering services you don’t particularly enjoy, is the crux of any customer-facing business. Our focus on male grooming in the November issue looks at what men want, and more importantly what they need, from salons.

With the majority of male clients still relatively new to treatments, many will come to salons and spas with a problem to solve but no preconceptions about how to treat it. So therapists who understand the differences in how men’s skin, nails and minds work, and are confident in recommending treatments and homecare to offer a solution, will win their loyalty.