2 mins
Dispense with Formality
Setting consistent margins across technical services is one of the easiest ways to ensure your salon’s profitability, says colour management software brand Vish
The cost of colour per service within individual salons is staggeringly diverse, with often disastrous effects on profit levels. Data from Vish Colour Management has shown that one stylist can use less than £4-worth of product on a service, while another in the same salon will dispense up to £16 on the exact same service.
But often neither they nor the salon owner is aware of the difference because monitoring colour dispensed is impossible without data.
How could this damage your salon’s profit?
“It’s not just leftover product at the end of a service that is the problem; many stylists over-apply, so there is no waste but they still have high per-service costs. It adds up, with some salons wasting 40% of product,” warns Joshua Howard, Vish CEO. “Failure to get to grips with wide differences within the salon can seriously erode and even sabotage profitability. We know that standardising colour profits can add £40-£70,000 to the bottom line of an 8 to 10-seat salon, which is the equivalent of £7,000 per chair.”
Recently aggregated, industry-wide statistics taken from salons over the first 90 days of using Vish, have revealed gross margin varies dramatically by an average of 20% across service type. The data also highlighted startling differences between stylists within each salon.
“Profits become a moving target. Cost per service variances are massive, ranging from £4-16 per service, depending on the salon and the stylist,” adds Joshua. “It’s not just being wasteful with product that affects profitability but also failure to bill for additional services. As much as 15% of potential hair colour revenue is lost to unbilled services.”
How can colour dispensing be consistent?
Sean Butt, HJ’s British Hairdressing Business Awards Manager of the Year 2020 and salon director of Alchemy & I, used Vish to eliminate variance between the stylists at the UK and New Zealand salons and to achieve a cost-per-service of no more than £3 across the team. Costly waste is almost non-existent.
One stylist, Tasha, has on average 0.33 grams of waste per service – 98% less than the average produced by other stylists across the industry.
“Vish really homes in on what you use and makes the stylists so much more careful because they know how they compare with other stylists and how much colour costs per service,” says Sean. “I’ve been able to standardise profitability across the business and I can even predict my colour revenue.”
Knowing exactly how much colour stylists dispense means salons can set the product allowance for each service and so protect their profit margin target. They will also have invaluable data that can be used to coach and educate the team to dispense less.
“It’s imperative that salons are looking at their service prices with profit in mind, mandating upfront that every service has a standard 50% margin. The salon can then set the system to ensure that margin is always protected,” adds Joshua. “Vish eliminates the guesswork, guarantees profits, and protects the salon’s bottom line.”
For more details on the latest Vish white paper, The Ultimate Guide to Colour Metrics, go to: getvish.com/the- ultimate-guide-to- color-metrics/
Follow @vishsalonuk and visit getvish.co.ukfor more information