It’s November! And, we know that means the busy Christmas period is fast approaching. In just a number of weeks hairdressers worldwide are about to be back-to-back with clients, getting them ‘festive ready.’ We’ve spoken to a few inspirational salon owners to get some advice on how they prepare the salon and team for the December mayhem.
Staff
What’s a successful Christmas in the salon without your team?
“Make sure you have regular meetings in the run up to Christmas, even in those manic weeks during December you can send out a video into a shared group with all the team to allow everyone to analyse the week ahead.” – Stacey Whyte, Cheveux Salon
“Our apprentices are in every day together and our Saturday girl works the whole of Christmas week. We have a little sit down and go through all the general jobs they need to do and be on top of and allocate them each an area for them to look after so that the salon is running efficiently and kept looking clean and tidy.” – Rory Mason, Rory Antonio Hair
“We’re running some fun holiday incentives for the team when it comes to retail and meeting targets, it helps to add a festive buzz in the salon at Christmas and motivate the team” – Lydia Wolfe, Jack & The Wolfe
Stock
There is nothing worse than trying to calculate a formula to recreate that tube of colour you don’t have in stock.
“We have been ordering slightly more product than we usually do since the summer, we now have a stock cupboard that we just keep replenishing so we don’t have an insanely large bill to go out in January! Instead we have spread the cost over the months currently!” – Brooke Evans, BE Ironbridge
“We change the stock delivery to weekly rather than monthly so we can make sure we don’t run out of anything. Plus, there’s nothing worse than having loads of Xmas gift sets left over in January!” – Rory Mason, Rory Antonio Hair
Client behaviours
Do you see clients more inclined to spend during this period? Treat themselves to some retail, maybe upgrade their service with a treatment?
“Do some research on your clients buying behaviors. we may be seeing clients tightening up on some of their spending but still wanting to look great or gift great! One example is in the salon we have a promotion running where if the client spends over £50 in professional products they receive a gift card for a free blow dry with our rising star stylist in January.” – STACEY WHYTE, Cheveux Salon
“Throughout the year we always try and make sure that we keep on top of our email list ready for the Christmas period so that we can send out some Christmas marketing.” – Krysia West, Perfectly Posh Hair
Extended hours
Yay or nay? We know your busy as it is. Is it worth opening Sundays and doing the extra late night in December? Clients may be thrilled, but are your staff?
“We have optional extra days if the staff want to work them, a couple of us are doing some Mondays. This means we don’t have days where we’re “over booked” there’s nothing worse than the client feeling like they’re being rushed or the stylist themselves feeling burnt out.” – Rory Mason, Rory Antonion Hair
We are pretty busy in December so we have been post out availability (or lack of) for the last month to encourage clients to book in advance.” – Brooke Evans, BE Ironbridge
“It’s a case of not over-booking or extending our opening hours and just being happy with being fully booked within our normal opening hours.” – Lydia Wolfe, Jack & The Wolfe
“We start taking Christmas bookings in September and then I can plan as a salon owner how many extra hours and days we can open.” – Krysia West, Perfectly Posh Hair
The Christmas break
How much time do staff get to recover from their month of mayhem? Do you have them back in on Boxing Day? Or do they get a few days or even a week to catch up with friends and family.
“We’ll be closing between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve to give the team a proper break and the chance to spend time with their family and friends.” – Lydia Wolfe, Jack & The Wolfe
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