How To Be A Good Salon Manager | Can You Be The Best?

Are you a looking at how to be a good salon manager in your own business or one that you manage?

Zolmi Salon Software have put together everything you need to succeed as a successful salon manager.

We will also cover how you can develop your career in salon management through better skills and training.

But it isn't as easy as you might think..

Being a hair stylists or nail technician for instance are very different roles and within these roles you do not have much exposure to how to manage a salon business.

Are You Really Aware Of The Full Responsibilities Of A Salon Manager?

We will find out how to be a good salon manager, what does a salon manager do and how you can become the best.

• What is Salon Management?
• What are The Duties Of A Salon Manager?
• How To Manage Client Expectations In A Salon?
• How To Manage Salon Staff?
• How To Manage Time Effectively In A Salon
• How To Manage Salon Inventory
• How To Manage Salon Finances
• What Are Salon Manager Requirements
• Our Top Salon Management Tips

Why not checkout our salon manager job description to find our more details about this important management position.

What Is Salon Management? [Definition]

Salon management is the day to day management and overseeing of a hair, beauty or nail salon operations.

Carried out by either the salon owner, director, manager or assistant manager; it involves ensuring there is profitable business growth through whatever business levers might be available.

These can include; improved client loyalty, developing the right services, selling the best products aligned to your client base and a great marketing strategy.

Salon management also involves the management, recruitment, training and retention of staff.

What Are The Duties Of A Salon Manager?

Ensuring you manage and plan your day effectively is an essential component on how to manage a successful salon business, if you don't do these things, you are likely to be successful.

Here are some of the duties a good salon manager should perform within your business:

• Staff management - including recruitment, training, scheduling and payroll
• Inventory management - ensure that both back bar and retail products are stocked and this includes no overstocked which can reduce cashflow
• Manage customer experience - deliver the best experience to clients throughout the salon experience
• Maximizing appointment schedule - utilizing salon management software to maximize efficiency
• Health & safety - is your salon a safe place for both clients and staff?
• Financial management - managing end of day (cashing up), carrying out banking and liaising with the accountant to ensure your a fully tax compliant
• Salon marketing - develop your annual marketing plan and ensure it is aligned to different events through the year, such as winter and spring

How To Manage Client Expectations In A Salon?

Without clients, you will have not have a business.

Delivering the best salon customer experience isn't just about customer services, it's about the end to end experience from website through in-salon and ease of after care.

Clients want to be pampered, cared for and listened to.

This is why you should ensure your team are carrying out a proper needs analysis is essential to setting the clients' expectations and thus improving your customer experience.

It is quite simple...

If your team are not using a combination of their creativity and needs analysis then you are failing as a salon manager.

Your team needs to be able to deal with conflict where they are able to clearly explain to clients why a hairstyle of color may not be suitable for them instead of going ahead and doing something they know is wrong.

How To Manage Salon Staff?

A good relationship with staff is essential as salon teams are a very close working environment and issues can arise between staff frequently if the salon is not managed correctly.

Remember to lead by example,

do not get involved in ‘small talk’ or gossip with other staff about your team as this can lead you to be in compromising situations.

As a good salon manager, you will be expected to carry out the following tasks in relation to managing staff.

• Recruitment - Posting vacancies, sourcing applicants and interviewing
• Staff Onboarding - this is a new area and this involves your new staff member being welcomed properly into your business
• Mentoring - ensure that they also can be the next manager within your salon or spa.
• Motivation - wouldn't you want your salon or spa to be the best place to work?
• Training - ongoing training is essential and going to trade shows or having in-salon product training by suppliers is an easy way to do this.
• Setting Sales Goals - as we with business it is essential everyone knows their goals, especially when it comes to sales
• Appearance Standards - if you have personal appearance then you need to monitor this
• Disciplinary - yes bad things can happen, such as lateness and absenteeism; so be prepared

How To Manage Time Effectively In A Salon

This is an essential and often overlooked part of salon management.

Maximizing the appointment schedule within a salon can improve your bottom line and customer experience.

Rest breaks, training, vacations, 7 days a week opening,

can all put pressure how to to manage time effectively in a salon.

There are various ways you can manage your time effectively in a salon and that can be through using salon software to manage your staffs schedule and automating many of the daily tasks within your salon. You can also use

There are two ways which manage time effectively in a salon and this is through:

1. Salon inventory and management software - this is become the more common way for salons to be manage their schedule easily and hassle free. As a salon manager you are able to see what slots of free

1. Paper appointment book - this is getting less and less in salons, as more move to cloud based salon booking software but still is in 70% of salons globally.

There are many aspects you need to become aware of when your are looking ideas how to manage effectively in a salon.

How To Manage Salon Inventory

Salon inventory is a key element to the profitability of a salon. Ensuring that you have the correct level of stock is essential as if you get it wrong it can reduce your retail sales and

Keeping tracking of your inventory, either through using salon inventory control sheets or via salon inventory software then it should form part of your daily role.

How To Manage Salon Finances

There re various aspects you need to be aware of when managing the finances of a salon these could be:

• Wages & Commissions
• Rent
• Chair Rent Collection - if you run a salon of both renters
• Suppliers
• Insurances
• Marketing
• Banking & Merchant Services (i.e. credit and debit card payments)

But as part of your daily tasks will be the end of day reporting to ensure you books add up, this is where you will take away your daily float (i.e. the amount you start with every day) . But you will either do your own book keeping in house and you can use software like xero.com or quickbooks.com or have your account manage the process for you.

What Are Salon Manager Requirements

There are very few requirements globally on how to become a salon manager but this can change wherever you are in the world. For instance in Germany you need to hold an master friseur apprenticeship to become a salon manager, where as in the UK, there is not requirement.

Our the US you don't need to have a cosmetology license to run a hair salon, thats if you don't cut hair or deliver any services.

Many people have the mis-understanding that you need to be a hair stylists to become a salon manager, we have seen excellent salon mangers where the manager is a business manager and not from a hairstylist or esthetician background…..this can be a huge advantage when it come to things like customer experience, marketing etc. Not being involved in the creative aspect of the business can focus the salon manager on generating new clients etc.

Hands on experience often beats any college diploma from a cosmetology school

What skills salon manager skills

• An eye for detail
• Excellent Interpersonal skills
• Excellent Organizational Skills
• A Team player
• Natural Leader
• Excellent Project Management skills
• Excellent Numeracy
• Customer Focused
• Adaptable
• Dependable

Our Top Salon Management Tips

1. Deliver a great customer experience for your clients
2. Look after your staff, as Richard Branson says: “you look after your staff, they look after you”
3. Keep an eye on your competition, not just your head to head competitors but all
4. Plan for the future, this could be your marketing plans, keep up to date with the latest trends
5. Learn - never stop learn both in your skill as a stylist and managing a business

Are You Ready To Be The Best Salon Manager?

Taking these easy to follow steps will improve your career prospects, help you find gainful employment and ensure you manage your salon professionally and profitably.

Do you have any tips on how to be a good salon manager? Tell us in the comments below...

Citations

The “good manager”: Masculine or androgynous?
https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/255597

What is a global manager?
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christopher-Bartlett-8

Are you a strategist or just a manager?
https://europepmc.org/article/med/10119710