Too Many Salons? What are you going to DO about that?

There are way too many salons for everyone to make a decent living. About 25% of them need to go. The first in line are the ones with poor standards doing a shitty job. Next in line is going to be the mediocre. Does that sound like you? Hello, my salon friends. Phil Jackson here, your queen of salons, coming all over the internet with another dose of my Wise Owl Wisdom. How on earth are you? Achingly well, I hope, as we make it into October, my favourite quarter of the year, because this is where the real money gets made, my darlings. We need to set ourselves up for super, super profits. What's on your radar? What are you working on? What are you going to be putting out there across October, November, December to make sure that we capitalise, that we make as much money as we possibly can? Ready for the quiet bit. You know January or February or March is going to be a tough month, so let's try and squirrel some money away, shall we, for those slightly quieter times. Also, October, my favourite month, because not only is it your Uncle Phil's birthday, I know another birthday. Can you believe how completely ancient I am? But also we've got my Operation Done retreat over in Spain to look forward to as well. So more on next year's event coming up very, very soon. So what are we talking about today? Well, your Uncle Phil grew some balls, my darling. I did an episode last month all about how there are way too many salons for everyone to make a decent profit. And it kind of resonated a little bit in a way that I didn't quite expect. And I got some flack. I got a little bit of earache, I'll be honest with you. I also got some bullshit. Lots of people telling me that the best way that we could tackle the problem of there being too many salons was a load of regulation. Honestly, if you seriously believe that regulation is going to save our industry, please reach out and let's have an interview about it. Well, it won't be an interview. It's going to be a row because regulation is not the answer to this. We could do a whole episode about it if you want. Reach out and let me know if that would be interesting to you. Because, yeah, regulation, everyone thinks that that's going to raise the standards. Of course, it's not going to raise the standards, but it will line the pockets of a few people. And perhaps there's a knighthood or two in there for some people as well. So perhaps that's the real agenda. Anyway, what I was very pleased about, though, is that I had the potential with that episode to be extremely gloomy. And we came through it fighting and made it to the end without being too fucking miserable. So that's what we're going to be doing today as well. We're talking about the fact that there are way too many salons out there. The industry feels crowded. Lots of you are reaching for the wrong fixes by cutting your prices, cutting your profits. And today I want to kind of shift the conversation a little bit away from profits and away from marketing. And I want to start talking about your mindset a little bit. And there's going to be a theme to this entire episode. It's a piece of advice that I don't even know where it came from, whether it was given to me or whether I read it somewhere. But how you do this thing is how you do everything. And it's true in your relationships. It's true in your habits. It's true in your business as well. So those small but visible bits of sloppiness turn into a business which is sloppy. And clients read the whole business instead of those one-off details. What do I mean? Well, what I basically mean is I'm going to go through a few little areas of the business where perhaps you're letting yourself down a little bit. But unfortunately, the client doesn't necessarily remember your very best day, your highest standards, the day that you do an absolutely incredible job. What they remember, what they grade you on is when you are at your lowest. So let's jump in, shall we? And we'll try and keep a smile on our faces all the way through this episode too. I promise we'll have some chirpier episodes this month. Or maybe not. Perhaps I'll just be a miserable old cow for a whole month. First up, I want you to stop being cheap. And I don't mean about charging too little. I mean about the times when you're cutting corners and you think the client doesn't notice. And I promise that they do. The times when we swap in the product for the cheaper alternative to increase our profit margins. The time when even as something as tiny, and I had this in my own salon, I promise you, as tiny as going for the cheaper tea bags in the salon because they were a bulk special buy thing in Costco or something like that. And we switched brands. And I had three clients in one day complain that the tea wasn't as good as it used to be. Yes, I know it's a terribly British thing. But you'll know, you will know that if you live in a particular area, some tea bags work with your water and some of them just don't. And we switched from Yorkshire tea is the one that always works in our area because it's a very hard water area. And we switched to something else because it was on special. And yeah, I was being cheap. I was being cheap. I was trying to save a few pence. And actually, it hurt my business in a way that I had no idea. Way more disproportionate. And there are areas in your business where you're being cheap too. Ultimately, when I talked at the beginning about there's been way too many salons, it's the mediocre ones that are going to fail after the shitty ones are gone. It's going to be the ones in the middle. The middle of our market is an extremely dangerous place to be because it's where there's the most competition, where the margins are tightest. We've got to elevate that experience. And part of that means making sure there's something decent to wipe your ass on when I go to the toilet halfway through my appointment. Stop being cheap. Stop cutting corners. Price it properly. Price for an experience. Price for premium. Price for luxury. Price for the top end of the market. But deliver on it. You cannot charge for a Bentley and deliver a Ford Fiesta. Next up, you've got to get organised. It's so cute when you're in your 20s and you're an independent stylist or therapist who's running late or forgets that appointment. Or, you know, that little ditzy thing that you used to get away with used to be cute back in the day. For a salon owner, for a business that's charging decent money, for somebody who wants to make decent profits, it's not cute anymore. I promise it's actually really hurting your business. Your clients will give you a little bit of leeway. They will let you get away with it once or twice if you're running behind or you're a little bit disorganised or you haven't got the product that you need in stock. More than that, they're going to start walking. Because if we're going to be charging for that premium experience, you can't drop the ball. That means getting organised. It means no more running late. It means no more letting people down. It means every element of your business needs to be organised. Really good book, by the way. I might link to it into the show notes. Let's be honest. I'm going to forget. I won't link to it in the show notes. It's called Mise en Place. And it's all about how chefs organise their workstations, organise their kitchens so that they've got everything they need to hand. No clutter, no mess. And that's how a chef can cater for 200 people all ordering different things. It's because of Mise en Place. It's a discipline which is beaten into them in chef academy or wherever it is they go. And we need to start working that way. We need to be much more organised, much more slick in our operations so that we can deliver that consistently high standard. That doesn't mean we're losing our personality. It means that all of the crap is taken care of. But all of the stuff in the background is running beautifully so that you can personalise. So you've got the mental space and the emotional energy to be completely present with your clients. Next up. Oh, here we go. Stop being lazy. And I don't mean in your work. I know that it is. There are much easier ways to make a living. I know that it's brutal what we do. Massaging, standing, moving around a cutting chair. It's really hard work. Being nice to the general public is hard work for a whole day. I know. Trust me. That's why I don't do it anymore. Literally one or two days in the salon. I'm done. You know, I love the few clients that I've got. I don't want the general public anymore. They're exhausting. And I don't know how you guys still do it. Perhaps it's an age thing. Feeling me age. But the going through the motions in your business thing is something that I see a lot. Being lazy about getting to grips with your figures. Being lazy about your marketing. Just post to Instagram because that's what everyone else is doing. Being lazy about finally tackling your pricing. These are the things that are going to hold your business back. And it shows. And this is the area where owners are least likely to admit this to themselves. That's actually cutting corners by being lazy in some areas. So take a really good hard look at your business. What's the thing you've been putting off? What's the email that's oldest in your inbox because you still haven't dealt with it? What's the thing that you're not telling me about on our coaching call because you know I'm going to kick your ass for it? What's that thing? That's the thing we need to get to grips with. Bring it to the top of the pile. Bring it to the top of the list. Get yourself 47 post-it notes and put them all around your computer screen. And get the job done. Stop putting stuff off. And to that note. And my final point before I let you go and lick your wounds having been told off by your Uncle Phil. Is it's a very old-fashioned word. And it's something that I try and teach my kids. And it's something that I think we need in our businesses too. And that's what we call integrity. If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you say you're going to deliver on something, then for God's sake, deliver. You shouldn't be asked twice. You shouldn't be chased. If you're even something as simple as somebody opting in for something. And I had this discussion with one of my clients where basically they've got an advert out at the moment, which is collecting leads towards, you know, quite an expensive service. People opting in and giving them their contact details and then just not being contacted for two or three days. Do the stuff you said you were going to do. Because how you do this thing is how you do everything. This is the actual differentiator when there's too much choice in the market. So yes, there's too many salons, but there aren't too many salons actually delivering the stuff that they promise. Actually delivering the results that you promise. Putting your money where your mouth is and guaranteeing your standards. It's not the oversupply that's going to kill salons that are actually doing an okay job. It's the passable ones. It's the ones that are just about doing enough that are going to really suffer. So what do you think? What do you miss? What have I missed? Are there too many salons in your area? Are there too many salons in your markets? Why not reach out and let me know? Phil at buildyoursalon.com. Also reach out if you've got some feedback on the Build Your Salon podcast. If there is a topic you want me to cover, then please reach out and let me know. Because it's me and guesswork a lot of the time. These are topics that have come up from my coaching conversations, from my group coaching conversations. So I'm guessing what it is that you want. If there's something that I'm missing, please reach out and let me know. I'd love to hear from you. You know I love hearing from my salon owner pals anyway. My email address is scrolling at the bottom of the screen right now. Phil at buildyoursalon.com. Just a few short days until I'm coming all over the internet again with another dose of my Wise Hour wisdom. And until then, take care.