How to Double-Down on your Salon Operations during the Holiday Rush
Salons often report bringing in twice the amount of business in any given week during the months of November and December, compared to all other weeks of the year.
In preparation for these busy times, it important to keep in mind that if the revenue is doubling, the operations is also doubling. For example, if you do almost twice as many haircuts and color appointments, that’s twice as many dry towels and quantities of shampoo you’re going to need on-hand.
Check out these helpful tips to plan for the inevitable holiday rush before it’s too late.
TOWELS — There’s nothing worse than arriving to a busy day and realizing there is a lack of dry or clean towels. Your brain starts frantically doing “washer/dryer” math like somehow you can magically turn over a load in 45 minutes…but nope, laundry does not take less time when more clothes are dirty (we can only wish for this).
During these busy times, it is imperative to make sure that this is a task that your operations team is on top of. If you’ve been considering investing in new towels soon, anyway, maybe now is the time to invest in those towels. This way you’ll have double your standard amount during the busy season and you can purge the older towels after the new year.
PURCHASE ORDERS — If you normally order products every other week, consider either ordering extra of your most commonly ordered products or, if possible, make time to do a run to your local supply store in between order to get the essentials.
RESTOCK BACKBAR AND SUPPLIES — All the other times of the year, someone may alert you that you need more shampoo and you can reasonably attend to that need within an hour or so. In these busy months, however, it may be more crucial to restock in an instant.
Rather than wait until you’re out and trying to juggle restocking in the busiest part of your day, consider restocking the backbar, color bar and prep midday and again before close.
CHECKOUT AND REBOOK — It’s hard to think of your small business being as busy as a major grocery store on a Saturday and requiring “multiple lanes” to check out, but it’s likely to happen with all the additional traffic coming through.
To prepare, consider additional mini-checkout stations just like our pals at Sephora and Nordstroms set up during the holiday season. If you use software that allows for mobile check out and portable payment devices, you can have guests breeze through the check out process without tying up the already busy front desk.
GUEST OPERATIONS — The front desk has a lot going on with the check out, rebook, towels, phone, counting the drawers, etc. If you have any team members looking for extra hours or former employees home from college break, consider having a “greeter.” Maybe they take coats, offer a beverage, note the client checked-in from the Inspire App and take a little of the work off the shoulders of the front desk.
CREATE ALL THE LISTS — As a “self-proclaimed Type A personality,” I put everything on a list, just short of “Go to bed” and “Wake up.” Now is the perfect time to go full Monica Gellar and create lists of everything that has to be restocked, cleaned, completed at open, completed at close and a mid-day list, too.
Leave no stone left unturned and don’t forget about the little things like barbicide, coffee, soap, etc.
COME TOGETHER — If you have a team huddle coming up, now is a good time to remind your team to work together for the greater good. Sweep each other’s stations, shampoo each other’s guests, communicate effectively and stay positive.
When you all work together, it can create a great experience for all the staff as well as the guests. The efficiency and effort will not go unnoticed by those around you.
A WELLNESS MASTER — This may sound as obscure as Gwyneth Paltrow’s “Conscious Uncoupling,” but while you’re pampering the entire city for their holiday gatherings, let a staff member in the salon pamper you! Some of their duties may be getting coffee for the team, orchestrating a group lunch order, putting relaxing aromatherapy items in the break room, remind people to remote start their cars…did we mention they’d get everyone coffee?
You can rotate who’s going to be the wellness master, someone new every day, and create a schedule. If you have the means, maybe the owner picks up the coffee or lunch tab one day a week over the holidays. Just a little something to take the edge off and acknowledge how hard everyone is hustling to keep things running smoothly and effortlessly in the midst of the chaos.
Shannon Wojtkowski began her salon career over 20 years ago by sweeping hair at 14 years old. She worked her way up the salon ladder by working the front desk, assisting and eventually behind her own chair.
Shannon spent many years living a double life, attending cosmetology school while also working at a salon nights and weekends and maintaining a full-time career in project management in the marketing and technology field. She’s the trifecta of awesome, combining her knowledge of salon life, marketing and technology.