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BUSINESS
DISPEL MYTHS
‘BUILDING A PROFITABLE BUSINESS’
By Narelle Lancaster
Times are tough they say for small business owners. Possibly rarely tougher. But just before you close the doors and throw in the towel know there are people making money in our industry and money is there to be had. You just have to know how. MYTH 1: OPEN IT AND THEY WILL COME
Before I worked in marketing I spent a few years working in salons and spas. One of my favourite myths is the open a spa and people will flock to your door and pay big money. You could make in a day what an average salon would clear in a week. And here I was, an hour out of Melbourne managing a luxury spa. The fit out was meticulous, relaxation room with a roaring fire and expensive, exclusive products and we were seriously flat out on weekends. Weekends. That was the only time we were busy. We would spend the rest of the week refolding towels in the cupboard, sitting in the empty lounge and waiting for the phone to ring. Tip #1 – Always research viability and locality of any business potential before you jump in.
MYTH 2: ALL I NEED IS SOME SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a great tool for communication. Between people. Social media is proving not so hot for companies and business. In the digital world most people don’t want ads popping up in their feed or care about your latest “announcement”. Have a look next time at a beauty brand you follow online. How many ‘likes’ or comments does it get? Yeah, thought so. Not so many. Sometimes social media can be useful to you (if you have the time to get it right – who does?) but what would be better would be a realization that a marketing expert who can prove they get results could give you a much better outcome which will lead to increased sales, awareness and profits. Salons should be putting aside 5-7% of turnover to reinvest in to marketing. Leading salons do at least this – that’s why they are leading! Tip #2 – See marketing as an investment and commit to getting some help with yours.
MYTH 3: IF I LOOK AFTER PEOPLE THEY WILL COME BACK
Sometimes people will come to you, sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they will stop coming and you’ll never know why. Don’t fall complacent with your customers. All customers need to be viable. I’ll never forget the time I was consulting to a 78
Beauty Biz Year 10 Issue 4
salon in Hawthorn and the kind hearted owner who had few customers and was very frustrated and drained by her business used to go out and buy her clients a latte out of her own pocket at the café next door. She would do this for almost every client – she thought she was getting their loyalty! C’mon. She was desperate and they were willing to take advantage. Tip #3 – You will win and lose clients regardless but happy staff, a great client experience and willingness to act on feedback will take you a long way.
MYTH 4: BE EVERYTHING TO EVERY ONE Be the best product pusher/prescriber you can be! Be the best therapist you can be! You know what? That isn’t really possible. Instead what are you best at? I think back to Prue who was a very good seller and terrible therapist – she made her bonus regularly but never got a rebook and she didn’t care. Money was what mattered to Prue. Then there was Nadine who was a fabulous therapist but hated the selling bit at the end of every treatment. It made her feel awkward and
most times clients wouldn’t buy anything but they would seek her out for treatments and exclusively want her every time. How do you manage a Prue and Nadine? You play to their strengths. Put Prue on finalizing sales, voucher and phone selling and reception bookings. Get Nadine to be rebooked and earning her bonus though treatments – she prefers this and clients want her. That way the ‘Prues’ and the ‘Nadines’ of the beauty world are a win-win and are happy, which in turn builds your overall sales, brand, customer experience and profits. Tip #4 – Realize the power, motivation and empowerment of people when you let the reigns go a little. Look forward to the rewards when you give them their opportunity. Narelle Lancaster is a Certified Practicing Marketer and Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, a lecturer in advertising at RMIT, an independent researcher and Director of MKTG – a marketing consulting agency. She also holds a beautician diploma and nearly failed her nails exam.