– Episode 208Antony Whitaker

Episode 208: Transcript

[00:00:00] Antony W: Welcome to the Grow My Salon Business podcast, where we focus on the business side of hairdressing. I’m your host, Antony Whitaker, and I’ll be talking to thought leaders in the hairdressing industry, discussing insightful, provocative, and inspiring ideas that matter. So get ready to learn, get ready to be challenged, get ready to be inspired, and most importantly, get ready to grow your salon business.

[00:00:29] Antony Whitaker: Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Grow My Salon business podcast. I’m your host, Antony Whitaker. And as always, it’s great to have you here with us today. Thank you for the feedback on the podcast. The reviews that you posted really do mean a lot to me. I read every one of them, and I wish it was like social media where I could reply directly to you, but you know who you are.

[00:00:51] Antony Whitaker: So, a heartfelt thank you. And if you haven’t already left us a review, I do have a little favour to ask you, and that is that you rate and review us on the Apple Podcast app. By doing that, it helps other people to find us, but more importantly, it motivates us to keep producing great content for you. So, if you go to the Apple Podcast app, just search, grow My Salon Business, scroll to the bottom of the page, select ratings and reviews, and write us a review, and we would be very appreciative.

[00:01:21] Antony Whitaker: So, with that said, let’s get on with today’s episode. As you may know, I have an online course all about money management for salon owners. And recently I got asked a question by a salon owner who is going through the course. I’ll come to the question in a minute. But before I do, I just want to say that financial management is typically the single biggest area that salon owners everywhere struggle with.

[00:01:49] Antony Whitaker: And so, when you ask them financial questions about their business, in many cases, their approach is a mixture of, I get my accountant or bookkeeper to look after all that, or I get my wife or husband or partner to look after all that. Or occasionally they’ll say, I just work like hell and hope there’s enough to pay the bills as they come in.

[00:02:10] Antony Whitaker: Now, if you own a business, it’s your responsibility to grow and run the business. It’s not the responsibility of your accountant or bookkeeper or anyone else to do that for you. Now, I’ve just very purposefully used the word responsibility twice in the last sentence, meaning that someone else might be involved in doing the work or financial management in your business, whether that’s payroll or paying the bills or balancing the accounts.

[00:02:40] Antony Whitaker: But as a business owner, It’s your responsibility to know what is happening and to understand the implications of what the numbers in your business are telling you. And you can’t do that if you don’t understand the financial side of running a business. Think of running and growing your business as being a bit like a game, albeit a very serious and high stakes game.

[00:03:08] Antony Whitaker: The game of business is primarily a numbers game and you can’t play the game if you don’t speak the language and understand what the numbers are telling you. Now accountants have learnt the language of business, but in most cases, they haven’t learnt how to teach it, but then it’s not really their job to teach it either.

[00:03:29] Antony Whitaker: And that’s where the money course comes in, because the purpose of the course is to give you an understanding of what is happening in your business at a financial level. So that you not only understand what the numbers in your business are telling you, but you’re able to understand what your accountant is telling you, which then enables you to ask the right questions and make good financial decisions in order to grow your business.

[00:03:56] Antony Whitaker: Inevitably, the course will also bring up loads of questions for you because, well, the more you know, the more you realise that you didn’t know. And now at least you’ll have the knowledge to ask better questions and have a deeper level of understanding of the answer. One of the components of the course is a series of live group coaching calls where those going through the course have the opportunity to ask questions and interact.

[00:04:21] Antony Whitaker: Directly with me and other course participants if they so wish and it was in one of those group coaching sessions Where this question came up the question was what financial reports should salon owners run at the end of the day? Now at first I thought it seemed such an obvious answer that I wondered why the question itself even needed to be asked. But when you think about it It’s actually a great question because it leads into another question, and then another, and another.

[00:04:54] Antony Whitaker: And all the time, with every question and with every answer, it has the potential to give you more and deeper insights into the financial workings of your business. It’s sort of like those little wooden Russian dolls where inside every doll is revealed a smaller doll.

[00:05:14] Antony Whitaker: But like the Russian doll analogy, what if you didn’t realise that inside the first doll there is another doll? What if you didn’t know what was right in front of you and that you just need to go looking for it? Anyway, the answer that I gave to the initial question about what financial report should salon owners run at the end of the day, is that they should run the daily sales report.

[00:05:40] Antony Whitaker: And the main reason that you should run a daily sales report at the end of every day is to see what the report says the business generated from the day’s sales. And to reconcile that figure with the money that’s in the till, meaning the cash, the credit cards, and any gift cards that were redeemed.

[00:05:58] Antony Whitaker: Obviously, the two numbers should be the same. Or there needs to be a clear understanding as to why there is a difference. For example, a refund or a client wasn’t charged for what the manager decided was.

[00:06:12] Antony Whitaker: An acceptable reason, but in reality, the daily sales report. There’s about a lot more than just balancing the books for the day. The daily sales report is really just like the first Russian doll, meaning that when you open it up, there’s another one inside. You just have to look for it.

[00:06:33] Antony Whitaker: Because there is a second part to the question. That she didn’t directly ask, but it’s there if you think about it. Because what she’s asking isn’t just what financial report should salon owners run at the end of the day.

[00:06:49] Antony Whitaker: What she’s really asking is, what is an end of the day report meant to tell me, and what am I meant to do with that information? And so just like the Russian doll, when you look for it, there is another level. Because the daily report tells you exactly what happened that day. In other words, how were the end of day sales figures achieved?

[00:07:14] Antony Whitaker: How much of it was from service sales? How much of it was from retail sales? And how many clients were there in total? What was the trend? Is it going up? Or down? Was it above or below expectations? And are you still on target for the week or the month? Now before I carry on any further, I just want to say that I’ll include a list of those questions, as well as the ones I’m about to go over, as a free download with this episode.

[00:07:42] Antony Whitaker: Because I know that some of you are walking the dog or driving the car, so just listen for now, and then get the mini checklist at the end. And so, at this point, if you ask yourself those questions. You then have a better and a more informed understanding of the salon’s performance for the day. So, let’s drill down another level and go deeper because salons don’t produce results.

[00:08:10] Antony Whitaker: The people who work in those salons produce results. And so that’s another level down, where you take the salon’s totals and you look at who and what is driving the results. So, what were the service revenue results by individual stylist? And what were the retail revenue results by individual stylist?

[00:08:34] Antony Whitaker: Who is working and who is not working? And not just who is working, but also what is working and what is not working?

[00:08:44] Antony Whitaker: What are the most popular services for the salon and for the individual? What are the least popular services for the salon and the individual? What products are selling? What products aren’t selling? What are the opportunities? And most importantly, what will you do about it? If it’s a training issue, is it a service training issue?

[00:09:05] Antony Whitaker: Or is it a technical training issue? Or is it sales training? And if it’s a marketing issue, then what exactly is the problem? Is it not enough new clients?

[00:09:16] Antony Whitaker: Or is it low client conversion? Or is it poor client retention? And if it’s a staffing issue, then what exactly is the problem? Is it that there aren’t enough staff? Or is it a poor quality of staff? Or is it that you can’t attract staff? Or that you can’t keep staff? If it’s a financial issue, then what exactly is the problem?

[00:09:41] Antony Whitaker: Is it a lack of money? Or is it a lack of profit? And if it is… Then what is the cause of that? Is it because of a lack of financial systems? Or is it a debt problem? Or is it caused by a lack of knowledge? Is it perhaps a lack of self-discipline on your part? Or is it lack of a budget? Or is it a lack of cash flow management?

[00:10:03] Antony Whitaker: Or is it a pricing problem? Or is it low productivity from those on your team? Or is it a management and leadership problem? Or is it a lack of structure and organization within the business? Whatever the answer to the question is, the real question becomes… Well, what will you do about it? Will you keep doing the same thing and hope for a different result?

[00:10:26] Antony Whitaker: Or will you get help? And if you seek help, what and who will it be from? Will it be someone who’s actually done it? Or someone who just talks about it? You see, inside every question is either the answer to the question, or the seed

[00:10:43] Antony Whitaker: of another question. Either way, whatever it is, you have to confront it. And sometimes just asking the question is actually more valuable than the answer itself. Because asking the question forces you to think and it forces you to look at your business and learn to understand it in different ways. It’s just like the Russian doll.

[00:11:07] Antony Whitaker: Inside every doll is a smaller doll until you get to the final doll. And when you uncover the final doll, the mystery is solved. And there’s a sense of clarity. And with that clarity comes a feeling of relief and control. And when we’re talking about the financial side of your business, with that sense of relief and control, you become more confident with your decision making because you understand the components of your business and how each part of your business integrates with the next part from beginning to end.

[00:11:41] Antony Whitaker: So, as we begin to wrap up, I just want to say that whatever the situation is in your business, whatever the question is.

[00:11:50] Antony Whitaker: I’ve probably been there too. I’ve done that. I’ve been where you are, and I know where you want to go. So trust me and let me be your guide and show you how to get there too. Because I promise you that when you ask the right questions and are prepared to do the work, then you and your business have the potential to achieve something that perhaps you never thought possible.

[00:12:17] Antony Whitaker: Now our money course is open for enrollment from Monday, the 4th of September until Thursday, the 14th of September. So, for those salon owners who are listening and recognize that money is an essential topic to master, then visit growmysalonbusiness.com forward slash course forward slash money to find out more because when you get clarity.

[00:12:42] Antony Whitaker: And have the confidence that you need to handle the financial side of your business. That will be the best investment that you have ever made. So once again, if you want to find out more, then go to growmysalonbusiness.com forward slash course forward slash money. And I’ll put that link in the show notes for today’s podcast as well.

[00:13:04] Antony Whitaker: And finally, if you’d like to get a copy of the list of questions I just went through, then head on over to growmysalonbusiness.com forward slash podcast forward slash 208. And you’ll find a link for a simple checklist that you can download direct from there. So, with that said, thanks for listening and I’ll see you next week.