What is the Biggest Concern For Salons Going into 2009?

Well, the results are in from the poll that I took a few weeks ago.  And for all those salon owners that participated, I just wanted to say thanks.  Look, we’re all busy but if you can’t take the time to answer a "one-question" poll…you really need to ask yourself why.  As usual the Pareto principle was at work here, (20% of the people…generated 80% of the responses). 

But, I do have to say the results were pretty alarming.  I had over 300 salon owners respond to a poll that asked a simple question.  That question was "What is your Biggest Concern Going into 2009?".  Over 75% of the salon owners chose one of the following as their top concern.  Here were the top three answers:

33%   – Running my Business Better and More Profitably

25%   – Getting Enough New Clients

17%   – Finding Quality Staff  

Just a few years ago, that same poll produced results that were dramatically different.  Selling more retail was number two in that poll.  Getting quality staff was number one garnering over 40% of the responses.  So, what does this tell us going into 2009?  Answer: Finally salon owners are getting serious about running their salons as a business.  They are also finally getting serious about finding new clients (i.e. marketing).  These are good things.

I think we can all safely say that a lot of things slide during good times.  Business owners rarely improve their businesses during boom times.  They think that the business is better because the sales are going up.  But in reality, the business may be getting worse and it tends to come out in spades when the economy takes a turn for the worse.  Your HairMax salon software is a perfect tool for you to use to improve your business. 

The salon owners that "tighten up their ship" over the next 12-18 months will emerge as the winners.  Poorly run salons with no clear methods of attracting new clients or staff will go out of business.  Staff will leave these salons and join the better run salons…adding additional revenue to these new powerhouses.  Great salons will continue to take market-share from their competitors. 

Salon owners that fail to learn the basic principles about running a successful business will struggle.  Salon owners that fail to learn how to market their businesses…will see their business shrink or go under.  Over the next 30 days, I will be creating a series of teleseminars designed to help you with these areas of your business.  For those of you that have never heard of teleseminars, they are essentially audio programs that you can listen to over the Internet. 

I will be posting the first teleseminar on this site over the next few weeks.  It is free.  Listen to it at your leisure.  But do yourself a favor…listen to it.

Best Regards, Steve