5 Crucial Tips on Running a Successful Salon in a Small Town

Are you planning on opening a salon and are confused about where and how to start? Don’t worry; we are here to provide you with some important tips that you would want to consider before you begin your salon journey.

Beauty Industry India has been growing rapidly, and in 2018, this market was valued at INR 901.07 billion. It is expected to touch INR 2,463.49 billion by 2024. Thus, the scope for success exists if you have a solid salon business plan at your disposal.

How to open a Salon?

Salon business is a service-based business. The location of your salon business is of crucial importance for its success. Therefore one should start hunting for a good location quite early. Another important factor determining the success of a salon business is the skill set of the employees. If your staff is well trained and efficient, the quality of your services automatically becomes superior.

The cost involved in opening a salon –

• License
• Renting or buying a place.
• Salary to the employees.
• Beauty equipment (hairdryers, chairs, sink, mirrors, etc.)
• Stock of cosmetics
• And, am Insurance

This is a list of fixed and operational expenses that you’ll incur while starting your salon business. It’s suggested to record all your cost data in an excel sheet so that you can keep track of these expenses. Making entries in an excel worksheet will also help you to manage your budget and money better.

Steps to open a Salon

• Craft a solid salon business plan.
• Conduct market research
• Choose a location
• Apply for license and permits
• Buy or rent a place
• Maintain an inventory
• Hire employees
• Market your services on social media and have a website.
• Build a strong relationship with your clients

5 crucial tips for running a salon business

1. Have a Business Plan

Creating a business plan is often overlooked by first-time business owners. A business plan works as a guidebook for business owners. It helps in optimising your operational activities in a way that makes it easier to achieve your day-to-day objectives. Writing a small business plan is not an uphill battle. Here are some of the points that you should include while crafting a salon business plan-

• Describe what your business does or will be doing.
• Have a clear idea about the structure of your salon business.
• Mention your business’s short-term and long-term goals.
• Write about the major tasks to be performed on a day-to-day basis.
• Discuss the unique strategies concerning marketing, financing, investing, and operating activities.
• Define the main objective of your salon business.

The points mentioned earlier are some of the essential elements of a business plan. You can add other points depending on the type of business you are involved in. Therefore, before starting a salon business, it’s advisable and vital to have a salon business plan ready. Having a salon business plan will assist in comparing your business’s actual performance with the standard performance. This will also help you identify the deviations and prompt you to take measures for correcting those deviations.

2. Carry out extensive research before deciding a location

Finding a perfect location for your salon business could be daunting, especially when you’re trying to build your business in a small town. However, this doesn’t mean that it’ll be hard to scale your business in a small town. All you need is a location, which is easily visible and accessible to your potential customers. Some of the factors that could influence the location of your salon business are;

• Population density
• The number of competitors operating in that area
• The cost involved in building or renting an office in that particular area
• Ease of access.

Thus, one should consider the factors mentioned above before deciding the location of their business. You would want to be located in a well-populated area (especially with your target customers), easily accessible by the customers, and with minimum operating expenses. Further, it’s advisable to not settle in the area where similar services are already being provided.

3. Discover your USP and potential clients

Knowing who your target customers are and building a strong relationship with them helps you to remain in the market for a longer period. You can research your local clients by carrying out an online survey or you could also engage in a door-to-door survey (but this surely would be time-consuming). Through this research, you can identify your potential customers’ requirements, likes and dislikes, money that they spend on salon services, how often they visit a salon, etc. Having an idea about your target customers’ needs can help you shape your salon service accordingly.

Just providing what your target customers want is not sufficient at times. Because your competitors would have done the exact research when they first started, they already have a loyal customer base and are doing quite well. So, what makes you stand out is the question here. What will prompt the customers to choose your service over others?

It’s important to define your unique selling proposition (USP) before setting up your salon business. It could be anything, ranging from good offers to providing unmatched superior quality. So, figure out what makes you different from your competitors.

4. Hire the right people

Defining the right people is subjective. As a salon business owner, you could hire freshers as well as professionals depending upon your budget. Initially, it is expected that you would have a fixed budget. Thus, hiring fresh and efficient talent would be the best option for you. You can train them and emplace them into your salon.

5. Strategically market your Salon service

It can take years to build a clientele. However, with a proper marketing strategy in place, one can build that clientele quite fast. If you plan to start a salon business, you should consider yourself fortunate to be living in the age that we’re living in right now. Why? Well, of course, it’s because of the two reasons, i.e. internet and social media.

Social media has allowed us to connect with our prospective clients for free and instantaneously like never before. Although, keep in mind that everyone is using social media today, including your competitors.

So what you need to focus on is not just posting ads on social media but on how to utilise social media to be competitive in a market where every other salon owner is already on these platforms. To strategically market your salon business, you should consider the steps outlined below-

• Find a niche – Provide specialised services and target a specific clientele.
• Branding – To attract your target clients, you’ll need to build a strong brand.
• Generate Traffic – Once you've completed the other two steps, the next task is to start hiring models or micro-influencers. These models or influencers convey the main message that you have in your brand to your potential clients.
• Have a website- Push the traffic generated from social media to your website. There should be continuity between your social media platform and your website. Your website will drive your potential customers a little bit deeper into what you do and what you have to offer.

A few additional tips...

These were some of the tips that one should always keep in mind while starting a salon business or any small business, for that matter. Furthermore, we have made a list of a few bonus tips that you would want to give thought to-

• Design the ambience of your salon.
• Keep your office clean and organised.
• Offer discount on services
• Send thank-you notes to the clients.
• Before setting up a price range, consider your skills and experience.

Also read:

1) How to open a salon? Here's what you need to know
2) Tips to Understand Your Market while Starting a Small Business
3) Tips for Businesses to Overcome the Covid Blues - Revival Tips for Businesses
4) What are the keys to success when operating a small scale business?
5) OkCredit: All you need to know about OkCredit & how it works.

FAQs

Q. What are the market opportunities for salon businesses in India?

Ans. The salon industry in India is thriving, and as per the KPMG’s report, the size of this industry is around 10,000 crores. It was expected to grow by 80,370 crores by 2019-2020. However, due to the Covid-19, these businesses are expecting a fall in their revenue.

Q. What legal documents are required for setting up a salon business in India?

Ans. Following documents are necessary for setting up a salon business in India -

• Business registration form (PVT Ltd, LLP, sole proprietor, etc.)
• Trademark
• GST number
• Shop/Commercial and establishment license.

Q. How to meet the capital requirements for starting a salon business?

Ans. There are various sources of funding available for starting a small business –

• Small business loans
• A loan from Family and Friends
• Self-funding.
• Private investors.
• Crowdfunding