Are you forward planning for your hairdressing business yet?
Published
25th Nov 2020
by laurahusband
Now is the best time to start forward planning for your hairdressing business, explains salon business coach and mentor Penny Etheridge at Penny Etheridge Creative Business Consultancy.
We are fast approaching December when traditionally hairdressers are inundated with clients wanting to refresh their colour, tidy up their cut and get a gorgeous updo for the festive season.
Why is now the perfect time to start forward planning for your hairdressing business in 2021?
Once lockdown 2.0 ends we hope the same will be true this year and your column will be filled with clients desperate to get a hair appointment for Christmas Day and New Years Eve. It is for this reason that now is the perfect time to start forward planning for your hairdressing business. As Yogi Berra once said: "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else." Hair salon owners and those who run their own independent hairdressing business who want to consistently build on their success will challenge themselves by asking these two questions:- Where do I want my company to be one year from now?
- What do I want to achieve one year from now?
How to ask the right questions to find the right answers for your business
1. Do an annual business plan So many people I know use a business plan to access funding or loans. After that, they never give it a second thought. Your business plan is a plan, and for that reason it needs to be reviewed regularly. 2. Keep looking at your vision and create an annual vision plan
How does your current plan compare with your previous plans? Well, I should imagine after the unique circumstances of 2020, your current plan will be like no other. However, now is not the time to adopt a “wait and see “approach. Maintain a strategy for your business regardless of circumstance. If your plans need to be changed due to situations beyond your control, then so be it. But, still create a plan. Ask yourself: what areas need to be changed, developed or scrapped completely? Involve all your team in the development and establishment of a company vision for the future. Don’t be scared to commit to paper the vision you and the team share, as anything can and should be changed if it no longer “fits” within the growth of the company. The team need to be heard, understood and respected to ensure 100% commitment towards achieving the vision.
3. Set specific goals
Goals need to be refined and specific, so you and your team understand exactly they need to be. You will also need to decide the best route to take in order to attain your goals. Don’t be vague with goal setting. Targets, or goals that are allowed to be too generic such as 'improve my salon's retail' will not get the desired result. If you and your team know the destination but not the exact rout, the result will be either getting lost, giving up or not achieving the goals you were originally trying to achieve.
Everyone should know their targets, their skill levels and when and how to discuss current and future performance. The team should also be consistently empowered to take ownership of their own destiny and be aware of how positive outcomes will benefit themselves and the company. Communicating and mutually understanding specific goals within an agreed time frame will ensure attainment of goals and targets will be more easily achieved.Results of a “meta-analysis” recently published by Forbes shows that the establishment of “specific goals” resulted in significantly higher performance than the setting of general goals with no time frame attached.
4. Set a plan B
Even with your best efforts, you won’t reach every goal. Knowing this, allows for some variation in your plans. There should always be an alternative that addresses unexpected challenges or opportunities that are beyond your control. And above all don’t beat yourself up on every small mistake you make. Being in business is a learning curve and everybody makes a mistake from time to time. Be kind to yourself and learn to reward yourself when you do something well!