Now here’s a delicate subject: are your staff or clients stealing from you? If you’re thinking “No, of course not!”, but only have trust and faith to back you up, then I hope you’re not in for a shock.
I’m constantly staggered by the number of salon owners I speak to who either know that petty theft is happening in their business and do nothing about it or have absolutely no way of checking for certain. They see it as an acceptable risk or just part and parcel of ownership. But is it really?
Sweat the small stuff
The vast majority of employees aren’t looking to be on the take, but your lax practice can be easy to take advantage of, especially if you seem distracted or out of your depth. Think about your cashing-up process. Do you demand precision accountancy every single day, or do you ignore the odd tenner shortfall for “client discounts”?
Are your stock takes intermittent? In fact, do you actually know exactly how much stock you have?
Do you measure how much product is used in your treatments? Overuse can literally double your treatment costing and severely damage your profit margins.
Maybe you let staff enjoy cut-price products and treatments – nothing wrong with that – but is every discount properly recorded? Do you log all products in and out in exact quantities and do you always know who’s getting your discounted treatments? If you’re unsure how to answer any of those questions, you’re opening yourself up to problems.
It all mounts up
It’s estimated that small businesses lose at least £100 per month to petty theft or sloppy stock control. That’s £1,200 per year – minimum – of pure profit. Obviously, you wouldn’t stand in your front door and empty a bag full of £20 notes onto the street so there’s no reason you should let your hard-won revenue slip away like this either.
I know it’s tough to confront. There’s no joy in rocking the boat, I get that. But where are you going to draw the line? Is it when the cash starts disappearing from the till, or stock takes never add up and profits continue to slide? Or when that £1,200 in lost revenue turns into £3,000… or £5,000 a year? When will you take action to have accurate control?
Need help?
Everything I write about always comes from personal experience. I understand the consequences of feeling out-of-control and drained, both financially and emotionally.
Every member of Beauty Directors Club can book a Free personal call with me, to talk in confidence with someone who’s been there and who won’t judge you, it honestly feels great to open up. I can tell you how I fixed my situation and took back control. It’s not as hard as you think and I now help so many salon owners to do the same.
Beauty Directors Club is packed with information, including help with the salon business issues that no-one wants to admit to and you can join for only £1 by clicking here.
I look forward to learning more about you and your business in our personal call.
Here’s to your great business success,