Six salon and spa owners tackle SALON TODAY's Question of the Month, which asks them to focus their business priorities for 2013:

If you could only focus on one area of your salon or spa business for 2013, what would it be and why?

"Without a doubt, we are going to be focusing on education, education, education!! I believe that in order to maintain continuous growth in our salon, I have to maintain a committed structure of training the young stylists who are the future of our industry. Youth brings passion, passion breeds creativity, and both will bring and keep new clients.” –Richard Daly, Richard Salon, Smithtown, New York

“The #1 thing we will focus on is education.  At Randolph Salon, it’s our belief Randolph's Salon that education is the wheel that drives the business.  Education is not only about keeping stylists on-trend, it's about a new talent that needs to learn some basic principles, the front desk team learning to make retail offerings, and it's about owners stretching out of their comfort zone to grow their business.  Bottom line, education helps us learn better, earn better, and live better.”—Mary and Scott Randolph, Randolph Salon, White Lake, Michigan

“For my salon, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, I am completely focused on keeping my business sustained.  I have learned that remaining viable as you climb the mountain-- or reach the top--can actually be harder than getting there.  While building a team and building a business are not easy feats--keeping both sustained is a huge challenge because you have to constantly reinvent, reinvigorate, and repackage to keep your team motivated and clients intrigued. So, for 2013, every single thing I do to invest ... in my team's education, in my facility, in marketing, in technology ... will be with a mindset to keep my business viable and sustained for the future.”—Ginny Eramo, Interlocks Salon Spa Cosmetics, Newburyport, Massachusetts

“Education, because it motivates staff, energizes them and helps them grow. This in turn energizes clients and creates buzz about our devotion to our craft.”—Deb Sayles, Rituals Salon & Spa, Leominster, Massachusetts

“We will be working on each staff member’s productivity, referrals and retention for this year. We have 2012 reviews and 2013 planning sessions with each staff member this week. We have a terrific base of business and great retention, now we will refine how we gain as much business by concentrating on those objectives.”—Larry Kane, Jonathan Kane Salon & Spa, Flossmoor, Illinois

"Undoubtedly, one of the most challenging isssues in the beauty industry today is New Client Retention; and at New Identities Hair Studios of Tampa, we are unfortunately no exception. Since 2007, New Client Retention has eroded to approx. 17% nationwide; whereas 2006 New Client Retention formerly was reported as approximately 29% nationwide, according to Summit Salon Business Center. Our #1 Initiative for 2013 is New Client Retention, and by having a company-wide awareness of this downward trend (mentioned above), we are using this information to create a strategy to combat it. As a result, we have re-tooled our overall guest experience, in a number of ways. We regularly use Secret Shoppers, encourage our guests to submit (anonymous) feedback via internet or U.S. Mail, and are constantly evaluating the details of our guest visit--from check-in to check out. In addition, we've enlisted various agressive incentives to drive referrals, 1st time guests, retail sales, and pre-booking. We have a current company goal of 50% New Client Retention. Ambitious, I know, but having a strategy in place to move towards that goal, along with getting the entire staff to buy-in, makes it achievable company-wide."--Marc Rockquemore, New Identities Hair Studios of Tampa, Tampa, Florida