A day in a beauty salon is quite busy, and it is necessary to be good at time management. Otherwise, there will be delays, your clients will become anxious or angry, and the whole business could end up on the brink of collapse if you are not careful.
From managers to staff, a beauty salon should run like clockwork. Below, you will find a list of seven valuable time management tips. Incorporate them and create a proper time management strategy so that your beauty business can go back on track.
Avoid Procrastinations
Procrastinations are the first item on the list. It is simple to lose track of time when you have the tendency to procrastinate by spending time browsing social media, chit-chatting with your coworkers (this also disrupts their work), and doing other work-unrelated stuff.
Spend some time identifying what leads to procrastination, and whether you can eliminate these distractions so you have fewer excuses not to do your work.
Schedule Appointments Using Tools
Interactions with customers can be quite taxing, and that applies to a stage where they are not even inside a salon but are booking an appointment.
A beauty salon would benefit from a scheduler app that can send reminders to clients about their appointments. Accessing a beautician’s profile and selecting a fitting time frame to book an appointment also eliminates the need of arranging the appointment over a phone call or coming to a salon in person and disrupting work.
Considering how many customers come in a week or a month, a scheduling tool that automates booking and eliminates certain redundant processes is a great investment to improve time management.
Delegate or Outsource
Struggles to finish work on time are not always related to issues like procrastination. In some cases, it is simply having too much work on your hands, and no time management tricks can help you circumvent the problem.
Outsourcing or delegating others to take care of certain tasks is the way to go in such situations. For example, if, in addition to running the salon and having clients of your own, you also take care of accounting, hiring an accountant would make sense.
In a similar vein, if there are too many customers and your current staff is overworked, do not push it and hire a new beautician or two and share the workload among everyone.
Establish a Routine
Establishing a routine is a good way to avoid time management problems. For one, you will have a clear idea of what your day is like, and you will have an easier time finishing tasks. It is recommended to create a schedule a day in advance. Or, if you feel like it, prepare one for the upcoming week while it is still the weekend.
Having a routine also comes with other benefits, such as not feeling lost as much. Jumping from one task to the next and creating a frantic atmosphere will not bode well. Instead, work on creating a routine so that you know what to expect when you enter a salon in the morning.
Watch the Clock
Not paying attention to the clock is another problem worth a shout. Busy beauticians go from one customer to the next. After finishing, they need to clean the workspace so that they can see the next client.
However, dilly-dallying even for a minute or two instead of cleaning the workspace can cause delays because your next customer is already entering a salon, and you forgot to look at the clock and did not realize what time it is.
It is common to check one’s smartphone to check the time, but it would also help to have a wall clock. A wristwatch is another consideration, though it might get in the way of your work.
Take Breaks When Necessary
Regular breaks should be part of your routine, particularly as a hairdresser or stylist who has to stand. For someone like nail artists, their job is a bit easier because they can do it while sitting down.
Having said that, overworking can be a real problem regardless of what your niche is. Adjust your schedule so that there is enough time to relax.
Take Care of Disruptions
Thankfully, disruptions in beauty salons are not that common. You make arrangements with most customers in advance, but there might still be some that come in at random and ask for an available appointment time. It is important to deal with such clients in a timely manner so that a beautician can continue with their work.
Another disruption example could be running out of products and tools. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended to check supplies regularly to ensure that there is enough left for the day so that you do not have to leave a client and go for a refill.
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