There’s likely been a time you were looking at your salon numbers and thought “Why aren’t I making more?” When you start to get lost in the day-to-day shuffle of servicing clients it can be easy to forget that there’s always room for growth in your business... and your bank account. With a few simple strategies, you can take your income to the next level and start maximizing your earning potential to make what you’re worth. Here’s how to get started.

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Grow Your Client Base

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The simplest way to increase your earnings is to get more clients, but you don’t want a revolving door of customers who become one-hit wonders. This is why retaining your existing clients is key to maintaining maximum profits. Keep your current roster of patrons happy and you’ll be one step closer to a more satisfying bank account.

Loyal customers tend to spend more, so consider implementing a loyalty program to reward those who keep returning. Also, make sure to stay on top of your reviews so you can keep track of what people love about your salon experience and understand how you can improve.

If you haven’t set up a Google Business profile yet, you’re missing out on a major client magnet that’s easy and free. Aside from word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing, being discoverable on Google is one of the best organic channels for getting new faces in the door. And speaking of WOM, a referral program is a fantastic opportunity to encourage new and current clients to sing your praises and book their next appointment.

Fill Your Calendar

Just because you have a hefty database doesn’t necessarily mean clients visit you as often as they should, and this is why your calendar is central to your earning strategy. Take a close look at recent weeks and months and try to notice any patterns – for example, are Mondays always slow or do you tend to have empty slots early on Thursdays? Once you have an idea of the times you need to fill, you can advertise your availability or even offer discounts to attract clients during those times.

Keep your calendar full by taking advantage of the captive audience you have in your chair. Make sure you encourage clients to rebook before they leave the salon, but just in case you forget, GlossGenius’s seamless salon POS system allows you to check clients out quickly, ring them up, and make another appointment all in a few steps. With a friendly prompt as part of your payment process, you might start to see something near a 100-percent rebooking rate similar to the experience Matthew Landis shared.

Do What Your Can to Minimize No-Shows

On the topic of no-shows and cancellations, minimizing the opportunity for people to forget their appointments or simply bail last-minute will vastly increase your earnings. There are a few approaches you can put into play that will help mitigate those drop-offs. You always want to try and get ahead of these things by sending clients friendly reminders about their upcoming service, but one of the best approaches is to clearly communicate your cancellation policies on your website – it’s perfectly acceptable to require a card at booking and keep it on file so you can easily charge a no-show fee.

Should you be faced with the occasional disappearing act, social media will be one of the greatest assets to help you quickly plug in empty places or sudden openings. GlossGenius has tons of templates designed to align with several branding styles that allow you to quickly market last-minute openings to all of your followers.

Rev Up Your Retail 

Don’t let your inventory go to waste – we mean that in more ways than one. First, literally keep track of your products and their expiration dates – you’re losing money if you consistently have to toss products that have outstayed their welcome. Gone are the days when taking inventory meant counting rows of products and checking off numbers on a clipboard. You can know exactly what’s in stock at all times (and when you need to re-order) with GlossGenius’s easy-to-use inventory management system.

Once you’ve got your inventory sorted, you’ll be in a much better position to start creatively marketing and merchandising your products. Give away free samples, set up a stunning retail display, and start upselling the items you use during your services to get those products moving.

Attract Higher Gratuities

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Retail and services aren’t the only ways to max out your profits – gratuities can go a long way when you consciously try to go above and beyond for your salon visitors. To increase your gratuities as a beauty pro, the Client Notes feature in GlossGenius’s all-in-one booking and payments app is your secret weapon. Clients will undoubtedly be impressed by your attention to detail – whether it's remembering their color formula or recalling their dog’s name – and it’s all thanks to a simple feature that only takes seconds to set up. At the end of the day, people just want to feel special, so you can also try one of these seven easy ways to ensure your clients feel the love and see how it rubs off on your tip-earning potential.

Raise Your Prices

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If you already feel you’ve tapped every strategy to ramp up your income, and you’re starting to feel the burnout creeping in, it may be time to consider raising your prices. If your calendar is constantly full, your products are flying off the shelves, your clients are tipping you extra, but you still can’t seem to scrape by, you’re selling yourself short on your service charges. If you’re still not sure whether to increase your rates, answer a few questions in our price raising quiz and we’ll point you in the right direction to max out your profits.