Worldwide Salon Marketing

The salon business – are you INSANE??

For all the hair stylists, nail techs, beauty therapists and massage therapists reading this – something to think about. How long did it take you to become good at your trade? How many years did you spend studying, on-the-job training, attending professional development seminars, doing exams, going to demonstrations? In Australia, for example, a hairdressing [...]

The salon business – why only 5% will ever make serious money – an example.

It’s a depressingly common theme; starry-eyed hair stylist or beauty therapist wakes up one morning and declares “I’m a really excellent stylist/therapist, I’m going to open/buy my own business!” And that’s where the trouble begins. Sooner rather than later, the reality that being in business is so NOT about being good at what you do [...]

Do you make these TWO common mistakes in your salon business?

I haven’t had anything to be grumpy about for a few days. So I was delighted to be given a reason to be grumpy today, with an email that had me shaking my head in wonder. About 16% of new Inner Circle members resign from the program in the first 90 days, return their Toolkit [...]

Have you ever heard such bleeding-heart nonsense as this? A grumpy letter to ‘Carlos’, whoever you are…with thanks to Monty Python.

Good grief. Very few salon & spa owners have a background in business, so it’s little wonder most are confused and muddle-headed when they get this sort of idiocy delivered to their in-boxes. Several Inner Circle members have forwarded me email from somebody purporting to be ‘Carlos’, pitching a series of ‘Salon Doctor’ seminars around [...]

The Salon Business – at least your clients don’t HATE you!

It can only be the money. I can’t for the life of me imagine what else could possibly be attractive about running a business like a bank, where an entire army of customers almost universally loathe you. I actually feel a bit sorry for the banks. The fact that they’re in business to make a [...]

Salon Business Management – what would YOU do if this was happening to you?

In my part of the world, there’s a critical shortage of qualified stylists. So the state government, in its wisdom, has come up with a stunning solution, which, according to its detractors, will dumb things down so that anybody with a pulse can become a hairdresser! Under the proposed new law, hair stylists will be [...]

Salon Business – harrassed salon owner wants to get off the tools; can you help?

It’s a Catch-22 that almost all salon owners face: ‘how can I get off the tools so I can work “on” the business more, when I’m too afraid of losing money/worried about what the staff will do/can’t work out what to tell clients…’ blah blah blah. There’s no easy answer, as one of our Inner [...]

Accurate Thinking in the Salon Business – Do you choose your customers, or do they choose you?

“Most business owners think the purpose of getting a customer is to make a sale. But smart business owners know the purpose of making a sale is to get a customer.” Dan S. Kennedy, marketing guru, millionaire-maker, and one of my mentors for more than a decade. In any business – and the salon business [...]

Salon Business – How to Think Outside the Box; includes example

Most owners of small businesses get that ‘can’t see the wood for the trees’ feeling from time to time. I’m no different, so I know that when you’re wearing the blinkers, it’s hard to recognize opportunities even when they hit you over the head. Not so for Mark and Shelly Gibbs, Inner Circle Premium members [...]

Salon Marketing – Different Country, Same Challenges

Every owner of every salon thinks that their business is somehow ‘different’, the problems and challenges they deal with every day are in some way unique. And it always makes me laugh when a salon owner tells me ‘this wouldn’t work for my salon because my salon is different…’ Er, actually, it’s not. Yesterday in [...]

Salon & Spa Business – more Lite members upgrade to Premium

Jet lag is a terrible thing. It’s 4.30am, and I’m writing this from the UK where I arrived yesterday, grateful that my 27-hour flight from Brisbane was over. (Made a big travel breakthrough though. Changing planes at Dubai’s city-size airport, I boarded a gigantic Emirates A380 – these things should be too big to fly [...]