Marginal Gains Within The Salon

In this episode Nathan Plumridge follows on from last week’s podcast about costs and how they’re killing the salon industry. This week he focuses on marginal gains: What are they? These are something that top sports teams and individuals use every day in order to make them grow and make them the best that they can be. Just making a small tweak and increasing your potential by 1% can make a huge impact over time. There’s a great opportunity to use this in the hair industry and Nathan explains how.   KEY TAKEAWAYS If you think about your bank account; if it grew 1% interest more each year and your compounded that interest over 10 years there would be a lit more money in your bank account. That’s just simple maths, that’s what good investment is, it’s all about investing the interest and compounding that down over a period of time. Instead of setting really crazy goals that aren’t achievable, what about if you focus on 1% growth every week? Value it, look at what’s happened to the business in three months. Suddenly 1% a week will make a 12% increase in three months. That’s huge. Imagine that over 5 years, what’s the potential? The first port of call for me is the client journey from start to finish. Stand at the front door of your business and think about what you could change. Is it tatty, could you change the imagery to make it more eye-catching to guests walking past or in. How does is feel when you walk through the door, could this be tweaked? First port of call is the front desk: See, Smile, Say Hello – the three S’s. How do your front of house team/stylists/assistance look? Are they professional-looking? What language and key words do they use? Do you make a good cup of coffee, can you tailor your drinks menu? Can you change the level of consultation? Could you get more from that client? Would they rebook more often? Would they buy more product? I beg you to buy a book called ‘Profit First’. It’s so hard to make a profit now. So, start taking 1-3% of your profits every week and put it away into a separate bank account and let it disappear from your mind’s eye. That will grow and at the end of the year you may get some cash to show over your accounting profit by the end of the year.   BEST MOMENTS ‘A smile is a pretty big marginal gain, if you smile all day every single day, it could change your life for the better and give you an even better life. People would think you were always happy.’ ‘This can be applied to every part of your life. Living cleaner, drinking more water, sleeping better. The difference you feel each morning is better.’ ‘I think this is 100% doable, and every day this is being done by some of the biggest and best individuals in sports and business.’ ‘If we all start doing this now, you’ll be killing the costs, it’s not going to be an issue and maybe your business will grow this year.’   ABOUT THE HOST Welcome and thank you for reading this, I’m Nathan Plumridge salon owner and Hair Stylist. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years and have been a salon owner for 23 of them. I have been fortunate enough to work and learn with some of the biggest names in the industry and this has given me the experience and drive to now be here with you sharing my experiences.   CONTACT DETAILS www.hairlifeshow.comInstagram is @nathan.hairlife Email me at [email protected] show was brought to you by Progressive Media