With the headlines shouting doom and gloom, it’s no wonder so many business’ owners are shaking in their boots, nearly paralyzed by the continual stream of bad news. You’re an enlightened owner who knows this: whether in good times or bad, someone is always prospering. The trick is to build a “recession-proof” business.

How do you do it? By making sure you have every element of the checklist below in place in your salon/day spa (no matter what size). Go through the list; check off what you already have in place and go to work on those items you don’t have in place. It’s easier than you think. Imagine if you build one system a week, lo and behold you’ll have the foundation for a “recession-proof” business in less than just 60 days!

Get everyone aligned with the number one thing needed to be done in the next 90 days.

• On your One Page Business Plan go to your objectives section and rank them by priority for the next quarter.
• Identify the critical number with the number one priority.

Build a quarterly theme around the number one priority.

• Create a scoreboard and announce your theme to the team.
• Let your team members know how you will reward/celebrate for reaching the goal.

Establish daily and weekly meetings.

• Make sure every employee is involved with a meeting.
  Remember people watch how it works at the top, there’s a cascade effect.
• Assign accountability for everything in your company to make sure goals are met.
• Create an accountability chart.
• Systematize a way to get ongoing employee feedback. (For more details check out the book I-Power System by Martin Edelman.

Collect employee suggestions weekly.

• Address the issues.
• Thank the employees for the feedback (in larger businesses send thank you cards).

Collect and analyze client feedback data.

• Do it as accurately and as timely as you do financial data.
• Assign someone to be accountable for the system.
• Ensure you, personally, get feedback from at least one client per week.

Clearly understand your business’ market position.

• Ensure all employees know their productivity versus personal goals.

Display weekly performance measures.

• Present the data graphically.
• Go through the list and take action today on whatever is missing in your business.

By Andrew Finkelstein, The Beauty Resource www.thebeautyresource.com