While in Nashville for this year’s highly anticipated Data Driven conference, we sat down for a conversation about data with Stacey Soble, editor of Salon Today magazine. For Stacey, honing in on the numbers and identifying key data trends is essential to a business’s success. Her perspective provided insight into emerging industry trends, which will be invaluable moving forward.
“The pandemic has definitely had an impact on how much people are using software,” she reported. “It gave us time to really drill down into the data and learn how to harvest information to gain deeper insights into the business. Data allowed for well-informed decisions during what felt like a very precarious time.”
The increased accessibilities of data in all angles of the salon business have made it easier for owners to make real-time decisions and business adjustments on a day-to-day basis. Monthly reporting? Try daily and hourly reporting at the visceral level. A daily check-in with the Vish Dashboard helps you uncover intelligent insights that may be missed with a monthly snapshot. Are Thursdays your best days of business? Is more color product dispensed on Saturdays when appointments are longer? These are details that you can extract when you set aside time to go through your insights and numbers on a daily basis.
“Salon owners have woken up to how critical data is when making any decisions. You can’t just use your system to run payroll and bookings anymore,” she added.
Time spent familiarizing yourself with the full capabilities of your software will be paid back a hundredfold as it can aid in many onerous and tedious processes such as scheduling and inventory control, which eat up your time and attention. Data allows you to manage your business more efficiently. It’s that simple.
Part of that efficiency comes from clearer communication with service providers. Using data to identify problems, said Stacey, takes the drama out of any situation since stylists can’t argue with the stats recorded in their Vish profile or take it personally. If they are using 30% more color than their colleague for the same service, then it will show in Vish. The software can also provide decision-makers with an unemotional solution by enabling them to set team goals that are specific and measurable.
Another major asset Stacey identified is the ability to benchmark your salon’s statistics against other similar salons, allowing you to compare efficiency, costs, turnover, and more. Most software providers are now sharing anonymous data from a huge range of clients, creating a powerful tool for decision-making.
There is also value in comparing your own statistics internally with previous months and years, delivering insight into changing trends and outcomes. Vish’s insights into color usage immediately illustrates when a trendy color is on the decline. With this information, you can make inventory adjustments accordingly, ensuring that you aren’t left with tubes of color gathering dust on your shelves.
Stacey concluded that data allows you to boost salon profits and decrease overall costs. By analyzing the numbers you can identify when and why a business is in the red. Typically, it’s due to significant color waste, missed services, and pricing strategies that aren’t working. Once you have these insights you can implement meaningful change in your business.
The Vish Dashboard makes analyzing data easy, showing key salon metrics including product charges, cost per service, estimated waste per service, and more. Continuous monitoring reveals real-time insights into your business’s profit margins. Ultimately, allowing you to take control of your color business.
