The Christmas season is almost here! Love it or hate it, it’s the busiest time of the year for the hair and beauty industry and a huge opportunity to dramatically increase the revenue of your salon, spa or clinic. The good news is it doesn’t need to be a stressful, crazy time if you’re prepared.
This guide covers how to create a strategic Christmas plan for your salon, spa or clinic to get prepared and make it your best Christmas season yet!
Step 1: Develop a plan for Christmas
If you’re not sure where to start, it’s time to sit down and have a planning session. There’s no need to feel overwhelmed, just follow these simple steps to develop your Christmas plan.
1. Write down what worked last year and what didn’t
If something worked well in previous years, repeat it again this year. There’s no point reinventing the wheel, plus it gives your strategic Christmas plan a starting point.
When it comes to the things that didn’t work in previous years, ask yourself why it wasn’t successful. This will allow you to see if there are any initiatives that, with some tweaks, are worthwhile trying again, or if the idea should be avoided altogether.
2. Ask yourself what a successful Christmas period looks like
Think about what a successful Christmas period looks like for you and your business. Is your team busy but relaxed, rather than stressed out? Have you increased retail sales? Are your clients leaving the salon feeling fabulous for the holidays?
Whatever you think of – write it down! This will help you to create a plan for Christmas that achieves your goals and what’s most important to you.
3. Set Christmas-related goals
Your goals should make your vision of the Christmas period a reality. Keep in mind that you need to create SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
For example, a SMART goal for Christmas could be to increase retail sales in December by 20%. It’s a specific goal that’s measurable, achievable, realistic and has a set time period.
4. Create your Christmas plan
Your Christmas plan should outline exactly how you and your team will achieve the SMART goals that you’ve set for the festive period.
For example, if one of your goals is to sell 20% more retail, you can:
- Get your product supplier to upskill your team on the products you stock. This will give them the skills and confidence to recommend the right products to the right clients.
- Motivate your team to sell retail with targets. If you use specialised salon and spa software like Kitomba, setting targets for staff is easy. Plus it allows each individual staff member to see how they’re progressing towards their goal.
- Help your clients cross gifts off their list (and enable you to sell more retail) by creating beautifully packaged retail gifts.
Make your Christmas plan visual. Mapping it out will help your team understand your vision and thinking. You can also add visual reminders throughout the salon as a constant reminder of what you’re all striving for.
Step 2: Prepare the salon
It’s important the salon, spa or clinic is ready for Christmas too. Here are some ways to prepare for the busy Christmas period.
Order stock
You can’t sell what you don’t have, and you don’t want to miss out on sales. Make sure you order your stock well in advance and get your team to make the shelves look beautiful!
Make your salon sparkle
Starting the busy Christmas period with a clean and tidy salon will feel great. Plus it’ll be easier to keep the salon neat throughout the month when you’re super busy.
Get festive
Decorate your salon, spa or clinic so your team and your clients are in the festive mood! And if you can, decorate the front of your salon so it catches the eyes of potential new clients.
Treat your clients
Christmas is a great time to thank your customers for their loyalty. So why not offer delicious Christmas cake to go with their coffee orders, or have bubbles and nibbles for clients coming in on late nights. You could even give your VIP clients a little Christmas present to say a special thank you for their loyalty.
Prepare gift vouchers
These are another great gift idea which your clients can quickly pick up as they’re leaving the salon. Make sure they’re beautifully designed and printed to make them feel special.
Step 3: Prepare your festive marketing
Start planning your Christmas marketing now. You need time to plan it out and ensure it’s getting to the right clients at the right time. The key activities you should be focusing on include creating a Christmas e-newsletter and planning out your social media.
Create your Christmas newsletter
This is the perfect way to inform all of your clients in advance on what’s going on during December.
Make sure you mention:
- Your trading hours. This is particularly important if you’re doing additional late nights or to let them know when you’ll be closed over the Christmas and New Year period.
- Your gift vouchers or Christmas specials.
- Let your clients know you have great gift ideas.
- Remind them that Christmas is almost here and they should book their appointments now. It’ll fill your columns early and ensure clients are looking their best for the Christmas holidays.
Social media
There’s so much to share at Christmas time, so make sure you take advantage of this by getting organised now!
Create a social media calendar for December and start filling it with ideas. This will make it easy to sit down and schedule your social media posts in advance, which will save you time so you can focus on your clients in December.
Here are a few ideas to stand out on social media this Christmas:
- A countdown to Christmas
- Wish your clients a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
- Hair or makeup ideas for the festive season
- Tips for looking after your hair and skin during summer
- Promote those beautiful gift vouchers you’ve created and your specials
- Showcase your decorated salon or your team Christmas party
Step 4: Organise your team
Christmas simply wouldn’t happen without your team. Here are three important things to consider when preparing your team for a busy and successful Christmas period.
Get your team onboard
Now that you’ve got a plan, it’s time to get your team onboard with your vision. Take them through the plan to making this an awesome December, and let them know what their role in making it happen will be.
Hold regular team meetings
Team meetings are the best way to communicate with your team all at once. It gets everyone together, engages them and gives you an opportunity to motivate them. Just make sure to keep meetings short, positive and regular during this time of the year to keep everyone’s spirits high and goals top of mind.
Make December fun!
Your team might be dreading the busy Christmas period, so it’s important to make December fun! Run weekly competitions with prizes to create an incentive for them to work towards achieving the salons goals.
You could plan a team event or Christmas party, such as a festive lunch or dinner, to celebrate everyone’s hard work and allow for some fun outside the salon.
Get Christmas ready now
The silly season doesn’t need to be stressful. Taking the time to create a plan and prepare your in advance will help make the Christmas period that much more enjoyable (and profitable)!
For more tips for preparing for Christmas, discover 10 festive ways to wow your clients, and take your profitability to the next level by reading our blog about how to make your salon more profitable this Christmas.
Do you have any tips for salons, spas and clinics to get prepared for a successful Christmas season? Let us know in the comments!
Read next:
- Top tips for creating a Christmas season of success in your salon
- 5 steps to make your salon rock this Christmas
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on 27 November 2017, and has been updated for comprehensiveness and freshness.
