If you're planning to open a salon, your initial reason for a salon business plan may be to acquire financing or credit at your bank or other financial institute.
While a salon business plan will definitely increase your chances for funding, and project to the world that you're a serious about your salon business, it can also provide a road map for long term success by laying out your strengths and weaknesses on plain paper for you to see.
While putting these strengths and weaknesses apart other aspects of your business on plan paper … you must be brutally honest and transparent. This will allow you to function more efficiently towards the goals you're setting out for your salon business.
There are 7 key steps to writing a successful honest and transparent salon business plan
1.) Executive Summary:
This section of your business plan gives the overall synopsis of your salon business such as the legal structure of your salon business (sole-proprietor, partnership, LLC, corporation), your goals for the salon, the serivces you plan to offer as well as the products you plan to sell, and whether you plan to use the business plan to secure financing.
2.) Business Description:
The business description section your salon business plan should encompass detailed information about the beauty industry, such as it's potential and long term projection, the internet and government publications if a great source for finding this information. You will also need to provide information about your target market meaning the people who you're salon services are targeting. you will want to include details about your target market such as age, gender, income.
3.) Market Strategies:
This section encompasses the specific strategies you plan to implement to acquire new clients over time. In other words, Your marketing strategy. Note that a means for attracting new clients could be that of your experience in the beauty industry, your accomplishments and so forth. You may also consider listing the accomplishments of your staff. Elaborate on the things that will make your salon unique and interesting.
4.) Competitive Analysis:
This section requires you to analyze the competition or competitors in your market area. You need to know how many competitors are in your market area and what their strength and weaknesses are. This is your opportunity to take the strengths and weaknesses from your salon and compare and contrast them to those of your competitors. Competition brings the chance for you to stimulate creative juices that can add spice and uniqueness to your salon business.
5.) Operations and management plan:
Here is where you will detail the day to day functions of your salon. It is a good idea to envision this and write it out. Think about what will happen from the time you open you doors to the time you leave. If you have never had experiences running your own salon, make routine visits to salons to see how things are ran. Make note of the most successful salons and model those while adding your own twist. Never try to reinvent the wheel. Success leaves trails.
6.) Design & Development Plan:
Mapping out goals of your salon is what's expected in this section of your salon business plan. Examples of this could be improving on your return rate (customers who return after their initial services. Set dates and goals for these such plans and describe exactly how you plan to achieve these results.
7.) Financial Factors:
Your financial forecast. Provide the financial goals you have for you salon business with a suitable means for measuring it. A balance sheet is the most essential element to monitoring your income and expenses. This will keep you in the know and ahead of the game should your finances not correlate with that you predicted. You will come to find resourceful ways you can improve on this.
Best wishes on your endeavors into the salon business. After 10 years of opening my first salon, I have not a single regret! =)
