Simon Townley x Slick: A Guide to Tackling Rising Costs

Simon Townley’s 3-step plan to tackle rising costs

Are rising costs keeping you up at night? Not sure how you're going to afford to pay for things like increasing bills or staff wages?

We spoke to celebrity hair stylist and Matrix ambassador Simon Townley to help hair and beauty professionals tackle the rising costs of the industry.

For exclusive access to top tips and expert advice from Simon and the team at Slick, you can watch the full Facebook Live below.

Pressed for time? We got you! Read on for Simon’s three-step plan to tackling rising costs or watch the Hair Socials live below.

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Step 1: Increase bookings to generate revenue to cover costs

You cannot cut all costs, especially those that generate revenue. Instead, you need to generate more money to cover costs and that whitespace in your calendar is wasted opportunities for extra revenue!

To make more money, Simon fills empty slots in his calendar, here’s how:

1. Win new clients with Google Reviews: “I even get clients from abroad visiting our salon! When I ask them how they heard about us, they tell me they searched ‘Best hairdressers in Burnley’ into Google. Google reviews are so important for attracting new clients.”
2. Use texts to communicate salon availability to clients: “I use Slick’s text messaging service to promote stylists who are under-booked. My Slick Business Coach even helps write the text for me!”

For more of Simon’s tips for getting bums on seats, watch the video.

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Step 2: Charge deposits and be firm with your cancellation policy

If you want to protect your business from no-shows and cancellations, it’s important to charge deposits and have a clear cancellation policy.

Not sure if charging deposits is right for you?

Simon was in the same boat before he joined Slick but, has seen a big decrease in no-shows since making the transition.

Why Simon charges deposits:

“Now we’ve had covid, deposits are becoming more and more normal. We started off by charging something small like a £5 deposit. Your clients make appointments with you in order to receive your services, the deposit is their contract.”

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Step 3: Invest in a reliable system

You might be thinking, why spend more money when I should be saving money?!

A system is an investment in your business, not a cost. Why?

Watch the video to find out how Simon saves money and has grown his business by investing in a reliable booking system.

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3 reasons why having a system helps Simon run a successful business:

1. Make extra profit from marketing tools: “The proof is in the pudding. With Slick you can spend as little as £10 on marketing and get a return of £300. Say the software is £80 a month, in a month I’m still up on one text messaging campaign. The system pays me money to use it. It sounds ridiculous but it’s true!”
2. Stay in control of your business wherever you are: “As a salon owner, it felt like I still had control of my business even though I wasn't in-salon and couldn't oversee everything going on. I still felt my sanity was there because I had other things to play with and other ways to contribute and help the salon thanks to the booking system."
3. Know your business inside out! Use reports to stay on top of your finances and identify areas of your business you can cut costs out of: “I am learning more and more about my business the more I go into it. It's almost like having an accountant as well at the end of the year because I tell you how much I've taken by card or cash, how much of my stock I have left and I've already done half my books."

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Try Slick for free!

Sign up for a 30-day free trial with Slick using code SIMON30. Or, book a call with our team here to find out how Slick can help your business.

More salon owner secrets from Simon and Slick

For more tips from Simon and the experts at Slick, you can watch the replay of the Facebook Live here.