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Learn to love your numbers

excited woman sitting at laptop
Do you want to grow your business, attract more clients, and make more moolah? Duh – of course you do! But how well do you know how your salon, spa or barber business is performing? Can you recall last week’s KPIs on the fly? If not, do you think you could spot a downward trend and tackle it before it runs away on you? Maybe not.

Learning to crunch data is all about kicking guesswork to the curb so you can work smarter, not harder. The thing with your numbers is they can change in a instantly, and if you’re not keeping a close eye on them, they can seriously impact your business. So if you feel like you need a little coaching towards learning to love your business stats, read on.

Focus your energy

The thing is, numbers can be really overwhelming when there are so many to look at – you really need to know and understand what you’re looking for. That’s when the magic happens! To help get you kick-started, the reports and KPIs you need to have your eagle-eye on are:

• Number of clients
• New vs existing clients
• Returning clients
• Rebooking %
• Visit frequency
• Upselling.

Focusing your energy on just a few key statistics each week is much more manageable and sustainable in the long run for a busy business owner. Leave the nitty-gritty reporting to the end of the quarter or year, or if something is raising a red flag.

Consistency is key

Let’s face it, if you’re not consistently checking your KPIs how can you possibly spot trends or alter your approach to how you do business? Make it a habit to spend half an hour on a set day and time each week to sit down with a cup of coffee or a glass of bubbles (we won’t tell) and go over your numbers.

Once you’ve established a routine, it will be much easier to sit down and go through your stats. The glass of bubbles might help, too!

Share with your team

Take time each week to catch up with your staff, share last week’s highlights and lowlights, and praise team members for a job well done. Likewise, let your staff in on the KPIs you’ve set for the business! It will help give everyone a common goal to focus on. After all, your team needs clear expectations from you, and your numbers can help inform those expectations.

For example, if you want to increase your number of upsold products, set goals and targets for your team to strive for. Maybe the previous week they sold 13 products and you’d like them to sell 18 products a week. Setting a target of just one extra product a day is an achievable target they can work towards.

Heart-throb for results

What’s the kicker that will teach you to love your numbers? Seeing your results soar. That visible success that’s so sweet you can almost taste it! Being able to see your hard work payoff is the biggest reward you could ask for.

If that doesn’t get you hooked on your numbers, nothing will.

Caitlin Adamson

Caitlin Adamson is a passionate creative and analytical thinker who brings her love for the written word to the marketing world. She brings her fresh outlook to the Shortcuts team and strives to create strategic and engaging collateral to help salons, spas, clinics and barbers to tackle their business endeavours with confidence.