With the hustle and bustle of the ‘golden quarter’ now a distant memory, many salon businesses experience softer demand, missed appointments, and slower days. But Q1 (January to March) matters more than you think. What happens in this financial period sets the tone and shapes the rest of the year and ultimately impacts business growth and overall success.
Here, Zenoti Growth Partner and Business Coach, Barbara Khattri, discusses the importance of Q1 to annual growth and profit, and how, with the right combination of auditing, planning, and data analysis, it can become the most strategic season for retention, relationship-building, and sustainable growth.
1. Check What Really Makes you Money
“This is a critical first step in setting up a profitable year for your business, making sure that your chairs and profits are full this financial quarter. Conducting or repeating the traditional October ‘harvest’ profit check early in Q1 enables you to audit your top five services with fresh eyes, before diaries fully fill. By understanding which services genuinely deliver the strongest return per booked hour, you can make smarter decisions on pricing, promotion, and capacity. The result is a calendar where every hour booked in 2026 is intentionally positioned for profit, not just activity.”
2. Plan The Year so Work Flows Evenly
“This is about swapping ‘random months’ for four clear seasons, so that promotions, pressure and profit are spread more calmly and consistently across the year. This approach smooths out pressure on teams, helps to avoid last-minute discounting and creates more predictable cash flow. When effort and investment are spread intentionally across the year, businesses benefit from steadier demand, more controlled costs and healthier margins. The result is a calmer operation where profit is built consistently, not dependent on a handful of ‘good’ months.”
3. Leave Space for New Clients
“Ring-fencing weekly ‘new guest space’ and building simple offers around your hero services so growth becomes intentional, not accidental. This ensures that first-time visitors can access the business, even during busy periods. When this availability is paired with simple, well-structured offers built around hero services, salons can attract the right type of new client without relying on discounting to get them through the door. This helps to protect existing revenue while creating a clear pathway for growth, allowing teams to convert new guests into loyal, long-term clients in a controlled and sustainable way.”
4. Reconnect with Past Clients Without Discounting
“Using January and February as relationship months, inviting lapsed clients back with thoughtful reviews and extras based on key data from Qs 1-3 of 2025 instead of price cuts. This date driven approach means that you can identify clients quickly, and re-engage with them to strengthen loyalty, restoring from an existing audience, without having to offer hefty discounts or eroding long-term profitability.”
5. Use Your Numbers to Feel More in Control
“Using your numbers to feel more in control turns data into a practical leadership tool rather than an overwhelming task. Building a 100-day seasonal dashboard with just a few key metrics, so that over time these small incremental weekly tweaks compound into greater clarity and consistency and confidence in decision making, resulting in a calmer, more connected team and a more predictable, profitable year.”
