I haven't posted in a while, but this morning I came up with an idea which is highly unlikely that I will ever execute so I thought why not share it here.
I think some of the worst run businesses are hair salons. So, this morning as I tried to push the thought out of my head I came up with my own ideas for what I would do:
- online booking system (make your appointment online)
- staff profiles online (read about who will be cutting your hair)
- online recent popular cuts - so you can browse before you go in
- massage when you are getting your hair washed (some places already do this) with an upsell opportunity for a full massage at a later time
- follow-up phone calls 4 weeks after your appointment to schedule your next cut
- free product samplers when you leave the salon in a nice gift bag with a special x% off to encourage them to buy at the salon rather than elsewhere
- and #1 ... why does every salon seem to allow their migrant employees to take their customers to their new location? Shouldn't the Salon owner try to stop this? Together with the follow-up calls and online profiles, i think this could provide a great method to transition this customers to another hair stylist at the same Salon. Good for the salon, bad for the employee who left!
I also thought of some of the key metrics of the business, which essentially becomes profit per chair. Consider any salon has a limit to the number of chairs available on a per day basis, which then limits how many appointments, stylists, etc. So, any salon owner without profit-per-chair, and profit-per-stylist reports, would be in the dark.
I don't plan on opening a salon anytime soon, I won't bore you with additional ideas for my "Super Salon". On the other hand, if someone already knows of a salon that does all of this, I would love to be a customer!!
