As 2016 draws to a close, it is time for salon owners to begin considering the strategies they want to implement in the coming year to grow and improve as a business. SALON TODAY found a wealth of effective leadership plans in the articles on avedameansbusiness.com. Here we compiled five tips for ensuring that your salon is leveraging its strengths and taking advantage of all opportunities. 

1. Recognizing Opportunities for Growth

When Aveda rolled out its new skin care line Tulasara in August, Pure Aveda Salonspa owners Michele and Ric Wilson used the launch as an opportunity to revamp their spa menu and how they talk about skin care in the salon and spa.

With the help of their Aveda Salon Development Partner (SDP) Jessica Hoshall, the Wilsons and their employees in the Mount Dora, Florida-based salon and spa have been preparing for the new products and reworking their spa menu for the past six months.

“Bringing in the line was a labor of love for Pure,” Hoshall says. “The entire spa menu was transformed as well as treatment protocols and consultations.”

The Wilsons requested an overhaul of their spa with the launch of Tulasara, seeing an opportunity for growth, and a way to service their guests for more effective results.

Read more in the Aveda Means Business article, “Launching a Product the Right Way.”

2. Achieving Recognition, Year After Year

In January 2017, Salon Today magazine will publish our 20th annual Salon Today 200 issue! This elite list of fast-growing, innovative, forward-thinking salons makes up the cream of the crop in the beauty industry.

Getting on the list is tough—salons must go through a lengthy application process, which includes answering multiple essay questions in a variety of categories, and providing documentation of growth, if they choose to enter that category.

While it’s an honor to be named to the Salon Today 200 even once, some salons have achieved this feat multiple years. Aveda Means Business asked five salons that have been named to the Salon Today 200 for five years or more how they continue to grow and achieve benchmarks in marketing, customer service, education and more, year after year.

Here is advice from Kara Kemp, Salon Coordinator of Tangerine Salon and Spa in Murfreesboro, Tennessee:

“Creativity and communication are an investment far reaching beyond any number you can’t crunch on the front end. You have to have a strong business structure in place, and then listen to your team. And then sometimes, you just have to take the gamble. Communicate, stay focused and have fun!”

For more tips from Kemp and four other Salon Today 200 consistent winners, read the Aveda Means Business article, “Winning Top 200, Year After Year.”

3. Launching Campaigns to Bring in New Guests and Maintain Current Clients

When Aveda distributor Neill Corporation launched their recent color campaign in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, they targeted four salon groups to execute the promotion and give their summer business a boost.

Three of the salon groups were in Dallas, and Lemongrass Salon Spa represented Fort Worth with four locations in the area.

The promotion focused on hair color, offering $25 off a first color service to new clients or existing clients who had never tried color, and was promoted for two months– from June 1 through July 30. (The $25 offer is valid through November, giving guests ample time to redeem.)

Rick Cheek, owner of Lemongrass, says, “It was a good opportunity to reach folks who just come in for hair cuts and blow-dries.”

For more on this campaign, check out the Aveda Means Business article, “How Color Captured 173 New Guests.”

4. Never Underestimating the Importance of Will Power

This year’s Serious Business theme, “Will You?” challenges attendees to dare to find the will to follow through.

Aveda Means Business chatted with Debra Neill Baker, principal at Neill Corporation and Carol Augusto, executive producer of Serious Business, to learn more about the event, which takes place January 15-16, 2017 in New Orleans.

“Will is the strong desire to do something, it’s action-oriented,” says Neill Baker. “Everything boils down to will power, self mastery and the power to control your own actions. The past two events were about getting ‘Naked’ or vulnerable, and then ‘Intimacy.’ These have led us to action. You can’t just think about it anymore. You have to do something.”

For more on Serious Business 2017, go to the Aveda Means Business article, “Where There’s a Will, There’s Growth.”

5. Knowing the Value of Setting Personal and Professional Goals

Vivian Yeh, owner of four locations in the Houston area (three Josephine’s Salons and Spas as well as Posh Salon), has always loved makeup and how it can transform her clients’ faces. She has taken many of Aveda’s makeup classes, and recently decided to complete the course for runway makeup.

“I had a personal goal to get out of my comfort zone and represent the salon in an artistic way,” Yeh says. “I had already completed Aveda’s makeup foundation classes, so I was eligible to take the runway class with Global Makeup Director Janell Geason.”

Upon completion of the two-day class in Minneapolis, Yeh became part of the Aveda makeup team. She let Geason know her availability during New York Fashion Week, and the next thing she knew, she was on a plane to New York City.

Learn more about Yeh’s Fashion Week journey in the Aveda Means Business article, “NY Fashion Week: A Goal Gets Real.”