5 Salon Reports to Run Your Whole Business

Running the salon "better" and more profitably is the number one priority of most salon owners today.  The best way to improve your business is by using the tremendous tool that most of you already possess…HairMax.  Although HairMax contains over 75 reports, there are really five "key" reports that you should focus on going into the new year.  If you just run these reports, and use them to improve each of these areas of your business…the results will be extrordinary. Let me explain…

Report #1: Client Retention Report

Retaining clients should always be of paramount importance to salon owners.  Clients that are lost have the biggest negative impact on the future growth of the salon.  The "average" salon usually has a retention rate for first-time clients of about 30% and a retention rate for regular clients of about 80%.  The fastest way a salon can grow is by improving these retention rates.  This report should be printed every six weeks, for each employee, to help identify opportunities.

Report #2: Client Referral Reports

The most cost-efficient way of getting new clients is by referral.  Clients who are referred to your salon already have an implied "trust" factor built-in – because their friend already gave your salon "the seal of approval".  Therefore, you retain referred clients much better than other clients who came in because of some other form of marketing.  Another huge benefit is the non-existant cost associated with obtaining the referred client.  This report should be run every 2 weeks to identify clients who are referring other clients.  These clients should be rewarded for their efforts.

Report #3: Activity Trend Report

This report gives you all the statistical information you need to make quality decisions for your salon.  It measures activity over a six-week time period and gives you  information such as rebooking rates, color %, new client counts, request rates, average ticket, retail sales %, etc.  This report should be run every week, by stylist, to help them monitor their progress in meeting their weekly goals.

Report #4: Inventory Status Report

This report will give you everything you need to know about your retail and professional inventory.  It tells you how much inventory you have on-hand, what is selling (and what is not), where you are losing products due to theft, how much you spend on professional products, etc.  Salon owners are always balancing having enough product on the shelf (so they don’t run out) with minimizing the total dollars tied up in inventory.  This report helps you in maximizing those inventory goals.

Report #5: Cash/Sales Summary Report

This report is a perfect report to provide to your accountant.  It gives them sales information, deposits, gift card sales and redemptions, sales tax collected, over/short information etc.  You can run the report for any time period and simply hand it to your accountant.

These five reports will provide you with all the information needed to run your salon business more productively and profitably in 2009.  There are other reports in HairMax that will give you additional detail, but these primary reports are the real building blocks.  Run them consistency and work on improving each area of the business.

Best Regards, Steve