HOW TOOPEN AHAIR SALON

26Top Tips Inside

Learn The Steps To Success

1. Learn how to be a hairdresser

2. How is your salon going to be different?

3. What is your salon price point?

4. Develop your business plan

5. How to fund your new salon

6. Choose a great name for your salon

7. Choose an awesome location

8. Ideas for salon design & fit out

9. Check out your competition

10. Get insured

11. Develop a marketing plan

12. Choose a great logo

13. Get a website2

14. Create social media profiles

15. Get salon software

16. Open a business bank account

17. Choose a credit card partner

18. How to recruit your team

19. Choose product suppliers

20. Health & Safety Inspections

21. Create review website profiles

22. Organise an opening event

23. Look after your staff

24. Look after your customers

25. Keep track of your finances

26. One last tip for you to find

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3

Learn HowTo Be A Hairdresser

Well we might be stating the

obvious but you might want to

train to be a hairstylist before

opening a hair salon…

But this isn’t essential!

As long as you employ a good

manager or Creative Director with

experience as a hairstylist then you

don’t need to come from the

industry.

In fact, we know hair salons which

have a multi-million turnover

where the owner is not a

hairstylist!

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DHow Is Your Salon Going To Be Different?

First of all, there are 86,000 hair salons in the United States

alone, so you need to make sure you have something different

making sure salon stands out from the competition.

To create a differentiated products or services why not think

of…..

● Target specific ethnicity

● Children only hairdresser

● Organic / Bio only products used

● Celebrity clients

● Specialist in a certain service such as hair extensions

● Walk-in onlyDIF

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What Is Your Salon Price Point?

Your price point must be relevant to where you

have chosen your location (and obviously your

staffing + rent costs):

● High end – industry leading hair stylists

● Low price – high volume

● Discounts for certain groups such as

military or nurses

● Cash only

Most importantly….

When setting your salon prices, you need to

remember to include in your pricing; the cost

of back bar items, such as shampoo,

conditioner and colour.

You will need to roughly set prices prior to you

building your business plan.

How Will You Pay Stylists & Technicians?

Commission Only

We you only pay commission on appointments, usually around 50% - 60% goes to

the stylist.

Salaried

You staff get paid per hour regardless of bookings

Booth Renter / Chair Renter

You take a monthly rental for the chair and it is up to the stylist to find their own

business

NB You must check with local staffing laws on what is legal in your country or state

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Develop Your Marketing Plan

Together with your business plan, you should develop a

marketing plan this ensures that your salon has the maximum

impact when opening.

If you do not have a marketing plan you may not be as focused

as you should be.

We would suggest you look at this hair salon marketing plan

template to build a great plan.

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Develop Your Business Plan

Why Develop a Business Plan?

● It is essential when starting your business.

● Focuses you on what you have to deliver

● Keeps you aware of your budget

● Could help you get funding

● Allows mentors to provide advice

Read more from our blog post on Opening & Owning A Hair Salon

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Develop Your Business Plan

Mistakes Often Made in a Business Plan

● Your Salary

● Marketing Costs

● Back Bar Costs

● Insurance

● You are not going to have a busy salon from day one…

so don’t put the same revenues on day 1 as on day 50!

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Ho

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un

d? Are you able to fund the business yourself from

your own savings?

If not, you could also ask friends and family before going to ask

the bank or other business finance company.

But if you are going to talk to the bank, ensure your business

plan is done (as mentioned before), nothing worse then the

bank asking for financial projections and you don’t have a clue.

Some especially relevant places to get funding for your new

salon:

● Your Savings

● Friends and Family

● Credit Union

● A Bank

● Your Landlord

● Peer to Peer Business Lending

● Grants

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REMEMBER as a result of you borrowing money…

you have to pay it back!

So make sure you are able to deliver your business plan.

There are other ways you can start to run your own business

without huge capital outlay

There are other ways you can become your own boss:

Become a booth / chair renter

Look at leasing a a salon suite. This is popular in the USA with

providers like Sola Salon Suites and Phenix Suites

Open a home salon. If you have room open a salon in your

spare room or garage

NB We don’t endorse these and it is what is right for youHo

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Choose A Great Salon Name

SA

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with for your business and the most important.

When choosing the name of your salon, check

the following;

Check Domain Name Availability – ensure that

the domain name is available, if your domain

isn’t available…..

don’t go with the salon name

but………...

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Choose A Great Salon Name

SA

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you can also add your city or town to the end of

your salon name, like taylortaylorlondon.com has

done as an example.

Make Sure People Can Spell your Name – don’t

make it too difficult to remember or to spell!

Check your chosen business name with people to

see if they can spell it or recall it

Check No-one Local Has Same or Similar Name –

this is essential, you don’t want to be giving

business to a competitor

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Choose An Awesome Location

It is all about location location location but

sometimes from previous experience, if you….

● Have a great product

● Superb customer experience

● High marketing visibility

● Delighted existing customers

….then location doesn’t always have to be the

biggest thing...

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Choose An Awesome Location

…. Just make your salon easily findable online

and make it the go-to salon in your area.

Here are two top tips for negotiating the lease

on your premises;

Ask for a rent free period, so three to six

months..this allows you to build your customer

base…

or you could also ask for assistance with the fit

out of the premises,

landlords are willing to make an investment if

you sign a good lease term.

And remember…

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13Making sure your salon looks great and great design doesn’t always cost a fortune….

you can do it on a budget.

There are plenty of hacks on YouTube and Pinterest on how to turn Ikea furniture for example into

unique pieces which will make your salon stand out.

Don’t make your salon look like it has been chosen from a hairdressing supplies catalogue.

Try making your own chairs, choose mirrors from local flea market etc, use your imagination and be

creative.

Salon Design & Fit Out

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14Check out these Pinterest Boards we have put together to inspire you…..

Salon Interior Ideas – See a wide range of salons from around the world

Salon Exterior Ideas – First impressions count, make sure your salon looks good from the outside as well

Salon Reception Desk Ideas – Give a bold and striking welcome with a welcoming and sleek reception

Salon Mirror Ideas – Make your salon stand out from the crowd with these inspired mirrors

Salon Chair Ideas – Don’t make you salon look like a salon supplies catalogue with these chair ideas.

Salon Design & Fit Out

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CCheck Out The Competition

● No good business person would not check out their competition;

● Check their website – what information does it have on it?

● Where are they on Google when you search for “hair salons + your

location” – are they at the top, if so you need to be there as well

● Their Facebook and see what they are posting and the comments

from their Followers

● Even book an appointment to see what their customer experience

and product is like this is who you will have to compete against.

● If you are in a larger city or town, check out who you would like to

compete against, many people travel further to visit a hair salon in

larger cities.CO

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Get Your Salon Licensed

In some countries (or even in different states

within the USA) you need to have a certain type

license when you open a salon, either as an

individual or premises.

If you are not a hairdresser and opening a salon,

you need to make sure you employ licensed staff

(if a license is needed), do some research online

for this or ask on some hairdressing forums in

your country or state.19

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Get Insured

This is very important..if not

essential, treat insurance as an

investment and not a cost!

Many things can go wrong in a

salon, whether it might be a cut

with the scissors or an issue with

hair dye, just make sure you have

the correct insurance in your

business. Avoiding this investment

could if something goes wrong

have fundamental issues for your

business.

Insurance is there for the bad

times and yes they sometimes

happen.

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Develop Your Marketing Plan

Together with your business plan, you should

develop a marketing plan this ensures that your

salon has the maximum impact when opening.

If you do not have a marketing plan you may not be

as focused as you should be.

We would suggest you look at this hair salon

marketing plan template to build a great plan.

Choose Your Logo

Once you have chosen your name, make sure you get a good

logo.

Simple and clean logos always work best with a modern font.

Italics, handwriting type fonts aren’t good, as they are not

very clear for people to read.

There are various places where you can get a logo

designed….

Choose Your Logo

We have put together some places where you can find

designers to assist you with your logo:

Fiverr.com – this marketplace can be a bit hit or miss but you

can find designers who will create a logo here for low cost

99Designs.com – allows you to post a brief online and get many

designers pitch their ideas to you.

Upwork.com – post your brief online and then invite people to

pitch their ideas and porfolios

Local designer – this is often the best choice, you can sit with

them, give them direction and inspiration to deliver your perfect

logo. Find someone local on Behance.net

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Get A Website

This can make or break your salon. If your

website isn’t ranking well in Google search

results, you won’t be the success you

dreamt of.

Being at the top of Google search results

and map results will generally ensure

business success!

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Get A Website

There are many ways to get online these days

WordPress – you can choose such to manage

it yourself and use WordPress for instance

and buy a specially designed ‘theme’.

Website Builders – services like Wix.com and

Weebly.com which will get your online very

quickly and easily but…..

you won’t be able to take your website to say

WordPress when you want to leave.

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People like to check out Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat for

your latest salon selfies etc…

so make sure you set up your Facebook (although at time of

writing Facebook was seeing user declines) and Instagram

profiles as a priority.

Make sure that you are setting up your Facebook profile you

choose the profile as a local business and not any other

profile type, as you won’t show up on map results etc.

Create Social Media Profiles

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Get Salon Software

This is essential for any salon, whether large or small and

often forgotten when people are looking at how to open a

salon.

Salon software can help you;

● Drive more sales

● Reduce no-shows

● Improve customer experience

● Accept appointments online

Read our guide to salon management software

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Open A Business Bank Account

You need to put all that cash somewhere!

Look around for the best banking deals when choosing

your bank.

Look at things such as cost of cash handling, overdraft

limits charges and is there an Account Manager to

support you.

Choose A Credit Card Processing Partner

Research has shown that customers who pay by debit or credit card

spend more. If you are opening a bank account then you might want to

have your card processing contract with your chosen bank.

You can also sign up to credit card processing companies like

Authourise.net

Square.com

Paypal.com

Stripe.com

these services tend not to have a monthly fee like your bank might have,

which makes it ideal for a salon starting out.

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If you come from another salon then you might be bringing

some of your existing colleagues to your new salon.

There are always good places to list your salon jobs, such as:

salonjobs.co – is a growing salon and beauty recruitment

website offering totally free job listings

craigslist.com – the world famous free listings website carries

free recruitment ads in a wide range of cities

gumtree.com – is a listings site like Craigslist but you have to

pay for your job posting and very big in Europe

When posting your jobs, make sure to add in your website and

any images of the salon, so people can see if they would like to

work there.

Ensure you talk about career development within your salon,

this will ensure you attract great stylists or technicians to your

salon.

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Choose Product Suppliers

Which suppliers are you looking to have?

You can choose from an endless list of suppliers but make sure they

are at the right price point for your prospective customer.

Don’t stock expensive products when you have are low price salon.

Some of the things to should ask your supplier is:

● What onsite training do they do?

● Do they provide marketing materials and how often?

● Is there any marketing funds available for launch of your

salon?

● Does their website have a salon finder, to help promote

your salon?

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Health & Safety Inspections

Some states in the US require health check of the

premises prior to opening a hair salon, where as some

venues in the UK require a fire check and this is

especially the case if the building has had some

structural changes to it.

Check local rules and regulations for what you need to

do, your local government planning department can tell

you what you need to have done.

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Create Review Website Profiles

This is one of the most important things you will do on our ‘how to open

a salon‘ checklist!

If you don’t do this properly then you are cutting off a huge pipeline of

new business when you open a salon.

The two essential places you should add your business to are:

Yelp – love it or hate it, its the king of online reviews and if you are not

there, new customers will not find you when using their app to find a

salon.

Google My Business – This is #1 priority! Make sure you show up on

Google Maps etc using this tool specific for businesses.

Make sure you upload some nice photos of the salon before you open and

with no people in them. Don’t do fake reviews..Yelp knows!

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Opening Event

To make sure you get good coverage and create a buzz in your

local community, you need to make sure that you have a big

impact.

You should have an opening party and make sure you invite

the following people:

● Local Journalists

● Local bloggers and influencers

● Local Business Associations

These people will drive local awareness for you.

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Opening Event

How can you give your event a purpose?

Working with some of the examples below allows you to there is a

reason to come and those partners will be happy to publicise your

opening event.

It is an ideal opportunity to do it a low cost!

● Local Charities

● Create the event online

● Local Bands

● Complimentary Businesses

● Local Restaurant

● Local Wine Supplier

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Look After Your Staff

If you look after your staff they will look

after you (financially).

Make sure you offer ongoing training and

development, here are some simple and

low-cost ways...

Use your product suppliers to do onsite

training and keep staff up to date

Enter local hair shows, great for motivation

for staff and awareness of your salon

Provide soft skills training such as customer

services, up-selling etc.

Check out Udemy.com, SlideShare.net and

even YouTube for training courses and some

of them free!

Look After Your Customers

Once opening a salon, you need to make sure you look after your

customers. Remember the customer experience, which

includes..

1. How customers are welcomed on arrival to your salon

2. Do you just wash your customers’ hair or give a nice

japanese head massage as well?

3. Is your salon clean, including your toilets?

4. Do you offer complimentary drinks?

5. Send SMS appointment reminders to remind customers

of their appointment?

6. Complimentary magazines or wifi

7. Offer online appointment booking via your website

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FKeep Track Of Finances

Know your revenues, profits etc within your hair salon. Those hair salon

owners that know their numbers, always succeed, as they are able to make

small changes in their business to be able to drive more business and profit.

Many salon management software will manage this for you but for more

detailed analysis you could use some of these simple accounting software

products which produce the right reports for your accountant or

bookkeeper.

● xero.com

● QuickBooks by Intuit

● Sage OneFIN

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Watch A Video

Still want more information on ‘How to Open a

Salon’?

Watch this interesting video to gain more

insight.

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Click Here To Get More Updates & Help Your New Business

Belliata Salon Software is a leading provider of salon

software to salons, spas and barber shops.

Visit belliatasalonsoftware.com for your FREE scheduling

& appointment booking account.