Excellence in hair styling and coloring is just a small part of a bigger puzzle called customer attraction and retention. The bigger part of this puzzle is everything else you do before, during, and after appointments. That includes your marketing efforts, discipline and knowledge, the vibe in your salon, the after-sale services you offer, and the value your clients get from you and you only.

Salon business owners who adopt the right entrepreneurial habits make success in this industry seem so easy and straightforward. It will be easy for you too if you start behaving like them. To help you with that, we have shared below 7 notable habits that define successful salon entrepreneurs.

1.They serve anyone, but they target a specific someone

Successful salon owners understand that a salon designed to attract everybody ends up appealing to no one. They serve anyone who steps into their salon, but they are never conflicted as to who their target client is. That means their salon's interior décor, the music they play, how they design their marketing strategies, and the brand image they create, everything relates to a specific group of people. They cut out a niche for themselves by making their salons stand for something; be something useful for someone. They look for unique pain points in the market, in real people within the market, and find unique solutions for them.

How can you get your perfect target client as successful salon owners do?

Do you have a favorite client? A client you just enjoy serving? Someone for whom you get hair and beauty solutions naturally? That's your perfect client.

Now, who is that person? What's their gender, age, preferred services, type of hair, and social standing? Where do they work, live, worship, or shop? Which social media platforms do they spend most of their time on? You are highly likely to meet more people like them if you track them all the way back to where they spend their most time.

What music do they like? What about the magazines they like? What about the topics they like to converse about? Which products do they order? How do they like to pay? How woke are they in terms of environmental conservation? Create a salon that the perfect client feels most at home in.

2.They invest in employees' happiness and satisfaction

Top salon entrepreneurs know this fact for sure: Employees are the heart of any successful people-based business. If employees are unhappy, making clients happy will always be a tall order for them. That's why these salon owners invest their time and money in employee happiness and satisfaction.

How to treat employees like successful salon owners do:

Create time for your staff members. Listen to their challenges in the workplace and solve as many of those problems as you can.

Create a family in the workplace where everyone has everyone's back. Build a safe space where your employees feel safe to share their personal fears, stress, and challenges. Most importantly, make genuine efforts to lend a hand whenever called upon to.

Give employees all the tools, education, inspiration, and products they need to be on their A-game at all times.

Never overburden your employees. Hairstylists and technicians are technically artists, geniuses for that matter, and a genius should never be rushed.

Show up and step up whenever your employees need your wisdom, expertise, and leadership. If a client is too demanding for a stylist to handle, step up. If there are conflicts between employees, step in.

Arrange frequent personal meetings to discuss individual employees' career growth, their role in the team, and your role in helping them grow as artists.

3.They invest in efficiency tools

Great salon owners know how valuable time is. That is why they leverage salon software to automate repetitive and tedious management tasks. As a result, their staff members easily focus on the core salon chores.

One key benefit that these salon owners get from investing in salon software is automated scheduling. Clients schedule their own appointments remotely, and that eliminates the need for receptionists to stay at the phone all day. It also eliminates the dreaded queues and long waiting hours at the salon.

Do you want to leverage salon software as successful salon owners do? If yes, invest in one that:

Integrates all your calendars so that you, your employees, and clients can view all schedules and appointments from one place.

Enables you to keep an eye on product stock and inventory.

Can execute automated email and SMS marketing campaigns

Has a secure POS system that monitors all client transactions and allows clients to prepay for their appointments.

Provide easy payment checkout to clients and accept credit card, UPI, and other payment modes.

Generates paperless invoices and emails them to clients.

Can analyze and synchronize inventories across multiple locations and then give comprehensive sales and revenue reports of each location.

Has a good payroll system.

4.They never stop learning and evolving

Being rigid, comfortable, old-fashioned, and know-it-all are some of the top causes of salon business failure. Great salon owners understand this fact, so they are constantly evolving, learning, and adapting. They understand the cliché "becoming number one is easier than staying number one". They know that with new salons mushrooming all over the place, new styling techniques coming up, and technology evolving fast, the only way to stay ahead of the game is to keep up with these changes.

How can you learn, evolve, and adapt as successful salon owners do?

Invest in regular refresher courses for both you and your staff members.

Be active on social media. Look at what top celebrities are doing with their hair and what the industry leaders are saying with regard to hairstyling and beauty.

Watch YouTube tutorials on new, better styling methods.

Attend beauty and fashion events to get an idea of where the industry is headed.

Sharpen your people skills all the time. Slangs change all the time. Topics become controversial and sensitive overnight. You must be up-to-date with these changes lest you offend some of your clients.

Sharpen your management skills. That includes project management, time management, HR skills, and communication skills. There are tons of online resources to help you with that.

5.They are consistent in how they pamper clients

Their success comes from coddling clients and being consistent at it. They always welcome clients with a smile and ooze positive vibes from start to end. They know their regular clients by name, age, tastes and preferences, and hair/skin type. If a client loves a quiet seat in the corner, for example, these salon owners save that seat for the client. They make clients feel like they are hanging out with a loved one.

Do you want to be successful like the big salons you admire?

If a client wants to open up about things going on in their lives, listen. If a client wants a quiet time, don't force conversations.

When a client sits in your styling chair, always give them your undivided attention.

Train your employees to treat clients with respect.

Be respectful of schedules.

Talk to clients about pre-booking their next appointment before leaving. That makes them feel wanted.

6.To them, marketing is endless, boundless, and limitless

They know that marketing is a mindset; that open-mindedness is the secret ingredient of successful marketing. If they try one marketing technique and it fails, they rise up again and do it all over again. They also know when to switch between different marketing approaches. Most importantly, they constantly look for unique marketing approaches. They don't copy what competitors do.

Do you want to succeed in your marketing as well?

Don't be monotonous. As much as you should post photos of happy clients and employees on social media, it is important to occasionally switch things up by posting fun videos instead. Tell your brand story in these videos. Give potential clients a taste of your sense of humor, style, personality, and positive vibe. Humanize your brand.

Work with local Instagram celebrities to market your salon. Successful salon owners work with brand ambassadors who match up with the values and style of their ideal clientele. Do exactly that.

Never tire of posting educational blog posts on your website. While at it, invest in local SEO in order to make your salon business visible on Google.

Invest in Instagramable salon interior decor. Successful salon owners know that clients love creating user-generated content in salons with extraordinary interior decor.

Send out monthly (non-sales) newsletters. It is important to remind clients to book appointments and buy your products, but you should sometimes send them fun and educational materials. Successful salon owners do that to create a good rapport with clients.

Use consistent colors in your social media profiles, websites, emails, loyalty cards, and all your marketing materials. Big salons use this trick to create an identity for their brands.

Make a habit of incentivizing and imploring clients to give you positive reviews online.

7.They are keen on financial planning

If you are like most salon owners, you are in this business because you are passionate about making people look great. Not many people in this line of work are comfortable working with numbers. But make no mistake: Owners of the top salon brands you admire find ways of going around this problem. They respect their finances just as much as they value their art, if not more. Here are some of the things they do.

They don't choose arbitrary prices. Every price they set is advised by market analytics and proper reasoning. They have a formula that factors in costs of supplies and products, overhead expenses, salaries and commissions, taxes, insurances, marketing costs, and business profit goals.

They have clear financial goals and strategies for achieving those goals. They tailor their marketing around achieving these goals.

They work with accountants to ensure financial compliance. However, they are always hands-on with regard to account reviews.

They respect their money. They take care of it.

Conclusion

Running a salon is somehow frazzling, mainly because you deal with new and highly demanding clients every minute. You have to be at the top of your game every single day. You have to assimilate your workers and make them conform to your brand identity. None of that is easy. The good thing is that you can run your business smoothly and sustainably if you follow the footsteps of the salon owners who succeeded before you.