As fun as owning a salon can be, it comes with various challenges that owners must overcome to attain success. When you first open your doors, you may have to perform many of the tasks independently depending on the size of your team. Plus, you need to have an on-going budget to avoid potential money problems. Improve your understanding of the common challenges salon owners face and how to solve them by reading this article!

You're the Boss

Being your own boss is a give-and-take position. While many love the idea of not taking orders from someone else, it also means taking on extra responsibilities. Additionally, you have to search for new talent to add to your team, which also has a lot of give and take.

Hiring Staff

Recruitment is a skill every business owner needs to have since the perfect amount of help keeps a salon running smoothly. If you lack employees, you can’t serve many clients, but with too many, you may end up paying staff to sit around. Work out the ideal number of workers you’ll need as you begin the hiring process.

When the time comes to welcome new members to the team, create postings on job-finding sites and ask current employees for referrals. Consider attending a career fair for students fresh out of beauty school; they'll have different techniques plus new ideas.

When it comes to the interview process, remember to ask all applicants about their skill level, values, and why they think they're a good fit. You'll find some individuals with the skills you need and others with the values, but your top contenders should have both. Narrowing down who you hire should take some time as you fully evaluate each potential employee.

Pro Tip

Before scheduling an interview, read through each applicant's resume. Consider also having everyone submit a portfolio with pictures of their work. You could also request they include a written explanation on their technique. This way, you won't waste time interviewing since you'll only select the best individuals for these conversations.

Training Staff

Another common challenge salon owners face is a weak team. Consistent communication is vital to ensuring everyone understands the daily plan plus business goals. Once you've hired new employees, you'll have to train them—even if they have years of experience. Every salon is different, and your team needs to understand expectations, makeover trends, as well as:

• The cost of services and products
• The current hair trends
• The best way to engage with customers

By neglecting proper training, you risk your salon crumbling from within; everyone should know how to best serve the customer.

Resolving These Issues

While both hiring and training may take some time, they're vital to your success. Remember, it only takes one employee with a bad attitude to impact the workplace for everyone. Thus, an extensive hiring process is essential. Similarly, poorly trained individuals may become easily confused or fail to provide clients with the assistance they need.

Combat both challenges by carefully managing your time. For example, if you need extra help, don't overbook your shop, and instead leave a bit of free time for yourself to search out then train the ideal employee.

Problems With Booking

Whether you frequently overbook or struggle to find new clients, you have a problem. Another challenge you may face in this area is clients forgetting about their appointment, which comes at a cost to you. While it was a simple mistake on your customer’s behalf, missed appointments mean losing money.

It's also worth noting that customers calling to make appointments can create a challenge for your salon. If the shop is busy, a caller may get frustrated waiting for someone to answer the phone. On the other hand, you can't help clients when you're booking appointments. Consider offering online booking in addition to hiring a receptionist to keep things simple.

How To Quit Overbooking

Avoid double-booking your clients. While this may seem more efficient to you, it leaves your customers feeling frustrated—they came on time to their appointment and had to wait. Instead, keep a physical or digital datebook readily available whenever clients schedule an appointment, and ensure you have stylists available at that time.

Finding New Customers

Whether you've just moved your shop or plan to open for the first time, you need to build up a client base, and this can feel difficult or even frustrating at times. Try easing the process by promoting your business on social media. For example, if you offer special services like waxing or nail design, then show this off.

Some salon owners even implement referral programs to offer discounted products or services to customers who refer them to new customers. This becomes especially helpful as it helps you retain existing clients while also attracting new ones.

Pro Tip

Another challenge many salon owners face is not possessing the customer’s ideal products. Aim to have various haircare and other body products on your shelves to keep everyone satisfied. At Bombshell, you can purchase products like high-quality wax and post-wax oil that are safe for all skin types!

Challenges With Money

Nobody wants or likes to have money problems, but sometimes unexpected things happen. As a salon owner, you may have to increase prices if you pay more for a product, but this could impact revenue. Plus, equipment can break without warning, which could be a major blow to your budget.

Problems With Pricing

When it comes to pricing problems, you have two things to worry about: what you pay for products and what you charge your customers. As you buy products or equipment for your salon, look around at all your options to find the best price.

When it comes to charging clients for products, have a conversation with them about potential price increases. In doing this, they understand the price change which helps prevent frustration.

Pro Tip

Create an ongoing budget to have an accurate track of your cash flow. This would work much like a personal checkbook, as you'd note when you make purchases for the business as well as how much revenue you bring in. Not only does this make it easier to purchase products and equipment without worrying about the price, but it also keeps your business financially healthy.

By taking note of all these challenges, it becomes easier to avoid mistakes as you search out ways to make your salon the best one around. High-quality products that are safe for everyone are vital and help you retain customers, so shop at Bombshell Wax. All our wax is gentle on the skin which makes removal less painful for your clients. No challenge is unsolvable; make your salon a success today!