Navigating The Salon Seas: How Not to Fail

It is generally presumed that hair salons and barber shops are a couple of the more recession-proof businesses you can own. After all, everyone wants to look put-together whether they are at work or looking for work and attending job interviews or networking events.

Having a good head of hair is so important to many people, as the hair is one of the vital parts of a first impression since it's so close to your face and eyes. Yet, there has been quite a run of salon failures in the last few years since the Great Recession, which seems to defy the "recession-proof' theorem.

Let's take a quick look at some common reasons for the failures and offer up some steps to overcome these issues so your salon will be standing tall years from now.

As autopsies are performed on many of the recently failed salons, there are some common causes of death:

Bad customer service.

Poor oversight of finances - including pricing of products and services to balance competitiveness with profit.

Licensing (or the lack thereof).

A failure to adapt to a changing business climate.

With these causes in mind, here are some practical steps you can take to make sure this does not happen to your business:

Embrace realism. Patience is a virtue. Be accurate in your startup costs and reasonable in your pricing model in your current market. The idea of making a profit by Year Three is a quaint one now, especially in an uber-competitive industry.

Consistency. If you have a service or product that is unique to you and your brand, don't give into what your competition may be trying to get customers away from you. Stay your course, and what you consistently offer will resonate over time. But like above, patience in a virtue.

Fair pricing. Charge what your services are worth, and don't get into a price war with the competition. If you charge a little more but provide value to your customers, they will tell their friends.

Promotions to get customers in the door is one thing; continually adjusting your prices to the market will cost you in the long run.

Hire the right people. To provide the quality customer service you need to succeed, make sure you hire people who love what they do and don't just see this work as a job. Passion and enthusiasm for the work will carry over in treatment of customers, and that will help the image of your business.

Don't take things so seriously. No matter what might be happening behind the scenes, be professional, nice and polite to everyone you encounter in the salon. Being approachable and pleasant can go a long way, so save any frustrations for after hours.