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The Holiday Mistake That Looks Like Success · Salon Success Secrets — The podcast for salon owners who are done hustling harder and ready to break their revenue ceiling.

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever finished December thinking we did it?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: The salon was packed.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Your team worked hard.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Guests bought gifts.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: You had some of your biggest days of the year.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Then January arrives, and the schedule has holes, and the bills keep coming, and your team is exhausted.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you're wondering, how did we work that hard and still end up feeling like we're starting over?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you might be thinking, gosh, Jen and Lindsay, it's only October.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Why are we talking about December?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: But what we know is we've got to get it set up now.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is what we are talking about today.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because when we plan for the holidays, you know, we tend to ask, how can we make the most of November and December?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: But there's actually another question that we need to ask.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's what will the decision we make now create for us in January?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that gift card promotion, that retail order, you know, that guest who leaves without their next reservation, that extra appointment we squeeze into an already full day.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of those decisions has a next chapter.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And a full schedule can make it easy to overlook that next chapter.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, welcome back to the Salon Success Secrets.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking about how to turn holiday momentum into a stronger business.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we'll walk through a few places where salon owners can leave money, you know, future appointments and team energy on the table, and what you can start doing now to change that.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So let's start here.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when an owner says, we're booked solid for the holidays, what else do you want to know before you call that a win?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the first thing we have to think about is what does a successful holiday season actually look like?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easy uh to see the busyness and think, all right, yes, we're busy, finally, you know, finally we're doing well.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: But when you really think about that, you you have to look at all factors of it, right?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are we busy, but are we building for what's next?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Are the guests that we're currently seeing, are they reserving their next reservation for January?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Are the guests that we're serving, are they create, are we giving them an experience so exceptional that they want to come back for more, that they want to take home that home hair care, that skin care?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, what would it look like if we knew factors and we had data before just viewing it from being a standpoint of being busy?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and when you think about it from that standpoint of just being busy, I think, you know, you know, what else do you want to know before you call that a win?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that stands out for me, Jen, is just even thinking like, well, do you have people who are, you know, marking off four hours for a cut and color that they could get done in a split appointment with somebody, you know, in there?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are they just stretching out time because you know they're believing the story in their mind that they're stressed about something else?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're actually, you know, putting a whole bunch of time on their schedule.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I just think there's so many things um to look at during this quarter to really set yourself up for success in you know, January and February and March in that first quarter of next year that really we need to take into account.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think truly when we're looking at our holiday plan, it needs to include what happens after the holidays.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Cause right now I think we're so focused on like getting prepped for that that we really need to have that future thought as well.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Liz, you were just telling me about a uh gift card story from a salon owner.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'd love for if we share that with everyone because it was a really great story.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think um, you know, and I have permission to share this, which is great.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh not that long ago, uh worked with a salon owner who did some incredible sales of gift cards during the holidays.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So November and December, you know, that was the one thing that we were trying to come up with.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: What was the exact number?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it was close to$100,000 that she did in gift card sales just during a short time.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And specifically, a lot of those sales came in on one day that they would do like a massive gift card sale.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, you might be listening thinking, gosh, 100,000, like that would be incredible to have, you know, or you might be looking, listening, thinking, yeah, we do that already.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And really, no matter where you're at in your story, I think um you can relate to this um just from a place of don't even think about the number, just think about like the lesson behind this.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And this is truly why she was like, Yeah, it's okay for you to share this because I want other salon owners to know this, you know.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: She sold all of those gift cards.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden in January, like, you know, you're like celebrating, you know, during that November, December time frame.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then in January, she called me and she's like, Help.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I can't make payroll.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on, I don't know what to do.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, I there were several factors going on um in what caused this.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the biggest things that happened, um, I wasn't a part of setting up her gift card promotion.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: She just had reached out after she had already run this gift card promotion.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I think that there's some coaching companies inside of our industry that um promote the idea that you should do like buy$100, get a$25 gift card, buy$150, get a this, get a, you know, and it just like incrementally goes up.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And she had gotten herself into some trouble with gifting some gift cards.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: So yes, she sold almost$100,000 in actual money, but she owed people, I can't remember what the number was exactly.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't quite 50% of that, but it was almost near 50% of that.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So she almost owed$150,000 in services.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So when you factor back out the commission, she still owes more than what's coming in.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, truly what happened was this salon owner had to get a bridge loan to be able to cover her payroll for that.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, you know, that's why she was like, please share the story, like help salon owners know, like, don't be giving away gift cards to get that cash flow in.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, somebody had offered her this idea as a way to inject some cash into her business, you know, like do a big gift card promotion, gift these things.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: You'll get people in when you're not busy in January and February, which can have good meaning, but you have to understand the math behind it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so when she understood the math behind it, she realized, gosh, that is kind of a lose-lose, especially if I'm not setting my team up on how to like maximize that visit when the person comes in to return to get those, um, to redeem those gift cards.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so, I mean, it ended up fine.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was obviously a lot of panic, a lot of understanding numbers, a lot of understanding cash flow.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that was something that we were able to work through with them with some cash flow problems that they were encountering, and you know, really helped turn that situation around.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: But it felt pretty detrimental until that point.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, Lindsay, that leaves me thinking, okay, so what as an owner, what do we need to think about for launching any kind of offer like that?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I think what comes to mind for me is you have to understand what game you're playing, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: The short game would be like just to collect cash because you're hurting on cash flow, but the long game would think about, okay, this cash flow is here now, but I'm already hurting for cash flow for so guess what?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna hurt me in the long run on the long game to have that cash flow problem as well.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think when you think about that, you have to think about all factors before you create an offer like that, as like, hey, if I'm playing the long game, how is this gonna impact me later?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Truly.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think that it uncovered so many things, you know, in that conversation, which was a lot connected to our guests, you know, like like you mentioned, when you are playing the long game, you do start to think about that guest result and um, you know, not just being like, hey, you want a discount on your next service, you know.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh buyer types is something we talk a lot about inside of Salon Business School.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when you start to heavily attract discounted buyers, they're always chasing that next discount.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: But when you attract a buyer who truly cares about, you know, their look and uh, you know, maintaining that result and you know, creating the next thing, whether it's a small little subtle tweak or you know getting their length and thickness goals or whatever that might be, um, it even just sets up those next conversations beyond like start to not worry about uh gift card sales as much as you do.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do we set up these future reservations, which is we obviously think should be one of the most important things that you're focusing on during this third quarter?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I think it like you were just saying, the the beauty pros really helped to set that up.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: We have the beauty code, you know, talking all about that.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have your hospitality host that comes in and and uses the beautiful love checkout to finish and complete that booking.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: But as leaders, how can you how can you make sure that's happening?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the most beautiful thing you can do is to make sure it's being consistent.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: When you see opportunities, have those coaching moments.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, instead of, hey, do you want to rebook today, Lindsay?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, Lindsay, I'm so excited to see you in six weeks where we're gonna do X, Y, and Z based on the skin tone analysis we did today.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's having those coaching conversations that truly not only say you set your team up for success, but set the guests up for success too.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that you mentioned that, Jen, because I think often in our industry we hear when somebody reserves, it's like, I'm getting really busy.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna want to get to the next appointment set up with me because I'm really busy, you know.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so the way that you mentioned to do that is so beautiful.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, another thing to think about this time of year is like making holiday gifting easier for your guests.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, like instead of it being like gift sets are back in, you know, you can be like, hey, obviously, you can talk about, you know, your recommendations with the guests when um you're at that portion of the guest journey, but even just remembering to connect in, like, hey, you know, Susan, I noticed that you mentioned you have a holiday party this weekend, just so you know, our this little lotion package or whatever is one of our favorite gifting items this summer this summer.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: You guys are already back at summer this holiday season.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that could be a great gift to take if you're looking for something.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: If not, no worries, you know, but just like looking for ways to plant those seeds that make it feel like a win for your guest and not a win for you.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think this is the time of year to be having those conversations with all the amazing beauty pros on your team so that they have the words to use when it comes to pre-booking, when it comes to gift giving, all of that.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when you think about, you know, like you said, Lindsay, not our holiday sets are here, just like really like, hey, we have our blonde.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm coming up with something crazy off the top of my head, specifically for blondes, the blonde magic right over here.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have our frizz control right over here.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anyone else that you're shopping for that you have left to shop for?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Just little things like that, and teaching your team can really impact and create a great success for everyone.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, also as a as the leader, as the salon owner, you know, thinking about the people who are delivering the experience this time of year, you know.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because typically salons there's like a higher volume of guests that you're seeing.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes there can be unclear expectations about shifts or, you know, missed breaks, or, you know, maybe there's support that's feeling a little weaker, whatever it is, it's like compounding the pressure this time of year.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Really showing up as the leader and carrying the energy that you want your team and your guests to experience this time of year is probably one of the most important things that you can walk into this season with, you know.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're thinking about your pre-shift or your huddles, you know, uh this is the time to really get clarify those priorities and, you know, identify who's gonna need help and ways that you can specifically make the guest experience even better because your team, you know, helping them raise the energy is what's also gonna raise the guest energy.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the guests are under additional pressure this time of year as well.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so looking for those opportunities to work together as a team, but then also recognizing specific acts of teamwork or hospitality that you've seen in your company will really raise everything around you.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just think as a salon owner, it's great to ask yourself this time of year like, what tends to slip first when your salon gets busy?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you protect that so it doesn't happen?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So one action before the next episode is I'm gonna invite you to choose an opportunity to look at.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: So look at your holiday promotions.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't done them yet, this will be the perfect time to start there.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And think about the long game.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is the end result that you want from those holiday promotions that almost reverse engineer it and think about okay, is that gonna get me to where I need to be?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that we don't have to end up like the person that um sold a hundred thousand dollars in gift cards, you know, and then with your team, Lindsay was talking about our pre-shift huddles, like or just if you see someone that needs some support on a conversation, you know, helping your team understand the next appointment conversation and what that looks like in the chair and in the sales process.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: What could be missing that could prevent someone from coming back?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, help your team and just helping them to understand a simple question is who do you have left to shop for?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: That question right there can plant so much freedom and the guests because they're like, oh my gosh, I still got to buy for my sister-in-law Lindsay.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got uh thank you for that reminder.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so just giving them the imagination that everything is an opportunity.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, if you need extra coverage or, you know, someone's gonna be out or there's a support issue, have that in place before those peak weeks show up.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you think about it, just ask yourself, hey, what would make the biggest difference in our salon right now?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that question alone could give you so much material to work with.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, when you're considering what action item you want to take based off of the ideas that Jen just gave you, I think, you know, an additional one you can add to that is just what energy do you want to bring as the salon owner to your team?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, just watch how that trickles out.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's Newton's law of energy.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is energy, nothing is left out.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't make that up.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's just like gravity, you know, you can't decide you don't like gravity, and then you can jump over to the moon, you know, if you're gonna you're gonna fall off if you drop, if you jump off of something, you know.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: So um, everything is energy, nothing is left out.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just practice your own energy over these next few weeks and see what happens.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, as you're listening, you probably already know which part of this conversation your salon needs most.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's taking another look at your holiday promotion, like we just said.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's helping your team recommend that January reservation, or maybe it's even making sure that your people, people, and your team, they feel supported before the busiest weeks arrive.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So choose one and put it into action this week and ask yourself, hey, what do I want January to look like?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what can we do now to help create that?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that question actually is also what shaped November's salon success calendar?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we built the playbook, the holiday playbook around these pieces and, you know, the pieces that we talked about today.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So gift cards, retail gifting, holiday services, pre-booking January and February, and keeping your team culture strong through the season.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So if having that plan laid out would help you put these ideas into practice, you can find the subscription details in the show notes or visit salonsuccesscalendar.com.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: And when you subscribe now, you'll get access to all previous months' calendars along with November's calendar.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you can start preparing before the holiday rush.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: So for now, take the one idea your salon needs most and bring it to your next team conversation.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us on Salon Success Secrets.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next week.