While everyone is now used to visors, social distancing and PPE, partners Noel Halligan and Corey Taylor have been looking at the true effects Coronavirus has had on their business.
“The worst thing that you can do right now is lie,” says Noel. “That is lying to yourself about your business costs. Then, you inevitably lie to your guests and put on a happy face when you know that you are under charging due to reduced capacity. Or even worse, you avoid looking at the numbers which means the financial impact will catch up with you. Everyone’s business has changed and it’s important to acknowledge what works and doesn’t work anymore.”
Noel and business partner Cory offer these tips on ensuring your business in on track for the rest of 2020.
1 Get to grips with your new fixed and variable costs so you have a much clearer idea of the path ahead.
2 It’s hard to see the picture when you are inside the frame. Now is the time to reflect and regenerate with absolute clarity.
3 Look at how you are utilising your space. If you were 50% booked up before, then you have plenty of room to grow, even now.
4 Get clever and get creative.
5 When answering the phone you could double your turnover by changing the question. Instead of offering your peak times of evenings as a first option, give two options, choosing your off-peak times with the most profitable stylist. “We have 10am on Tuesday or 1pm on Thursday available, which one would you like?” If they can’t do either, then offer a peak time. When we did this we saw our income rocket.
6 The logical thing to do right now is to tighten up and stop spending. However, this is risky. We must think in abundance and give as much as we get. Since we’re returned, we have offered 100 free haircuts to local charities. They can do as they wish – raffle them off to raise funds, give them away to a key worker or simply reward a team member. It might seem like a lot, but this means 100 new guests through the door.
They will be treated like a superstar and receive an incentive to return to us within a few months. We already have a few new clients from this!
