5 easy ways to improve business in january

January is a notoriously quiet month in the hairdressing industry, but Salon Evolution's director Steven Gunnip says now is the time to follow his five quick and easy tips for a successful business in 2018. Perfect Your Skills 1. During quiet periods or long stretches with no clients, salon staff should use the time to perfect their skills and knowledge to deliver a broad range of treatments and services tailored to an individual client's needs. This will ensure every time they see a client, the treatment is as near to perfect as possible and the client leaves knowing it was money well spent. Every single minute of business time should be fully maximised, whether the salon is busy with customers or not. Therapists should continually practice their technique, particularly when there is free time in the salon to ensure clients return and recommend the salon to others. It’s a good idea to put a training schedule in place and manage the process to ensure you get the results you want from your team. Comb Through Client Records 2. Go through client history records to determine who has visited recently and who has not booked in for a while. Examine the treatments these clients previously enjoyed and offer incentives and promotions, or recommend new ones to entice them back to the salon. Implement Personalised Solutions 3. One of the most important parts of the business process is acquiring new clients from your direct market. At Salon Evolution, we work with a range of brands across the hair and beauty sectors to encourage new clients into salons at times when they need it most. We do this using personalised solutions to ensure salons maximise all areas of the business and increase customer potential, which leads to a motivated team and a heightened all-round client experience. We don’t believe in the hard sell – all of our team is equipped with low profile selling skills and uses a combination of information and education to ensure maximum results. Incorporate Smart Deals 4. Encourage clients into the salon with 'two for one' offers as opposed to half price deals. This way people can either share with a friend, or enjoy individually and then come back at a later date for their freebie. This will ensure you receive the full price for a treatment and inject additional capital into the business during a quiet period, with the added bonus of the extra treatment being enjoyed by a new client or by someone who will come back to the salon in the future and could lead to them becoming a loyal customer. Structure is Key 5. Devote time at the start of the year to put structure in place across the whole business. It is important to consistently keep up-to-date with all of the correct systems to maximise efficiency. Running a successful business can require a lot of processes and procedures, but having these in place early on in the year will help operations to run more smoothly as the year progresses. Steven Gunnip is director of Salon Evolution and is a business and marketing specialist.