Take Control of Your Business

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR BUSINESS

Here are some quick business building (saving) ideas that need to be put in place ASAP to turn a business around.

Why not operate this way all the time???

Cash crunch?

Try these things:

- Get relief from your landlord. Send a letter asking for a rent adjustment till the business gets back on its feet. Ask for six months free, or four months prorated over the next 18 months. They don=t want you to go out of business!

- Inventory - return everything is not a hot seller. Get a credit and use the credit to buy only the hot selling items and items needed for the most popular services. Redo the retail displays with product info, theme displays, baskets etc . . . so the retail area still looks full.

- Any inventory you can=t return put on a sale table and get rid of it for 10% over cost. Put a big sale sign on the table and mark it down!

- Vendors - call them and tell them you need 90 days on this bill and will keep current with all present orders. Have them hold the old bills for 90 days and pay COD for current orders. Do not fund the cash flow of your business with your vendor=s products!

- Review all of your staff costs. Who can go? Whom can you cut back? Who is doing things you can do? Cut the assistants, receptionists, cleaning people, anyone whom you can cut back. Feel bad about it? Would they feel bad if they left you for a higher paying job?

- Take no money out of the cash drawer or petty cash. Period.

- Check for cash problems at the front desk. Is your inventory count correct? Is your cashout correct each night? A $100.00 theft takes $ 1000.00 in sales to make up the net profit!

- Stop all marketing that is not directly tracked to increased sales. Get rid of the image ads. Only work on internal marketing. Get the referral program going, get the phone calls going to new customers and customers who have not been back in a while. As the owner call customers who have been coming for a long time and have stopped recently. Find out why!

- Sell gift certificates at a big discount - great cash flow and 25% don=t get redeemed!

- Talk to your 20 best customers. Offer to sell them $ 1500.00 in services for $ 1200.00 up front. This will make you a fast $ 10,000.00 or more!

- Look at your professional fees. Make sure your accountant and attorney aren=t costing you more than 2% of sales. Use them for consulting, not data entry!

- Look at every expense category. Where can you cut? How can you give your customer more value without spending more money?

- Close the salon during slow times and days. Consolidate slow days and save utilities, hourly wages, and effort.

- Find new staff that is willing to come in and help turn the business around. Give them a year end bonus (spelled out in advance) when the turn around happens. Make the same deal with your present staff. They need to know where you are going. Ask them where expenses can be cut.

- Get those old customers back in. Send them a one time irresistible offer. Limit it to the next 30 days only. Don=t do any specials during the holidays. You will be busy anyway.

- Raise your prices NOW. If you raise prices 20% you can lose 20% of your customers, save 20% of your time, and still make as much money!

- Get rid of all magazines in the front waiting area and only have style books. Discontinue any consumer magazine subscriptions.

- Have an empty station? Turn it into a styling station the customers can use for that final touch up they like to do before leaving the salon. Stock it with product and make sure they know the product is available for sale as well.

- Get behind your front desk and see what is going on.