How to start a salonBy Regina Samson and Michelle Cortes - ENTREPRENEUR Magazine - Jan 10, 2009
You’ll need a good location, trained people and competitive prices to get ahead
Every mall in Metro Manila is said to host two to eight beauty salons.
SM Megamall alone boasts eight including a barbershop offering, aside from the usual haircut, manicures, foot scrubs and hot oil.
According to the 1999 Job Demand Survey of the Levittown Beauty Academy, salon owners receive an average of 174 clients a week. But a chair, a mirror and a pair of scissors aren’t the only things you’ll need if you want your own parlor.
Lidwina Morales, owner of Lid Salon in Malate, Manila, invested P500,000 initially on equipment and her parlor’s interior. Janett Pineda, a franchisee of David’s Salon in San Pedro, Laguna, bought the franchise for P2 million and took over the parlor in November 2002. You need not spend big bucks right away, however. Says Patrick Bishop, author of Money-tree Marketing: “Don’t overspend. Buy used equipment or rent a space that was a beauty salon previously, but is vacant and includes all the equipment.”
PICK YOUR LOCATION WELL
You must also pick your location carefully. You won’t go wrong picking a mall. “You want to cater to all from Class A to C,” says Marabelle Kwek, general manager of Color My Hair at SM Megamall. “When we entered Megamall we decided to put up a Class-A salon [that also catered to the B and C classes]. “We chose Megamall because it is one of the biggest.” Salon Studio chose Libis in Quezon City. “We spent time looking for a good location and an area that would give us a comfortable size,” says owner Leah Gundran.
“The first ones we saw had such small spaces. Also, we wanted one near a restaurant so that it would be convenient for our customers to buy snacks in case they got hungry.”
It’s a good idea to pick an area with lots of foot traffic if you think you’ll depend on walk-in clients. Lid Salon did just that. “We target students and these customers come because of our very affordable prices,” says salon manager Debra Bumanglag. Her parlor in Manila is close to many schools, government offices and the Robinsons Ermita mall.
INVEST IN GOOD EQUIPMENT
It’s better to buy good used equipment if you can get it. If you prefer new supplies, shops like Hortaleza and Accessories and Beauty Equipment stock everything you are likely to need (see box). It is also important to buy high-quality shampoos and chemicals for nail care, hair treatment and coloring to please your clients. Lid Salon charges reasonable rates, but does not compromise on quality. “We follow the right formulas and we don’t use inferior brands,” says Bumanglag.
TRAIN YOUR PEOPLE
After picking your location and buying your equipment, it’s time to recruit good people for your parlor. “They should have the technical expertise especially in hair coloring and styling using international standards as a benchmark,” Kwek says. “They have to undergo regular training to update them on new products, hairstyles and customer service.”
Ricky Reyes Learning Institute offers a three-month cosmetology course that costs P14,900 and includes hair cutting, coloring, perming, styling, make-up, manicure and facial treatment. The Classic School of Cosmetology in Binondo, Manila, offers short courses in hair coloring, blow drying and scalp manipulation, among other things, for P1,500 to P4,000.
Salon franchises take care of personnel training and provide equipment and supplies. “They take care of almost everything—even bookkeeping and accounting and the preparation of the payroll,” says Pineda. “I just wait for my monthly dividend. It’s up to the owner if he wants to visit the parlor once in a while.”
It’s important to keep your employees happy to avoid high staff turnover. “We give them salaries apart from commissions,” says Les Reyes, owner of Reyes Haircutters. “May mga commission sila sa mga cosmetics na ibinebenta nila at meron pa silang tip if they are good.” Salon Studio follows a chart system where suppliers reward parlor staff selling their products.
PRICE YOUR SERVICES WELL
Salon Studio uses celebrities like MTV videodisc jockey Donita Rose and former Binibining Pilipinas-World Daisy Reyes to promote the chain. Reyes Haircutters believes in charging minimal fees for maximum profit. “Dito P49 ang gupit. Ang kostumer mo for one day 50 to 100 head. You made a lot of people beautiful sa presyong P49 lang,” says Reyes. “Kapag magaling yung nagha-handle, may personality to educate our customer about the spa and other services, yung P49 minsan nagiging P2,000.”
Reyes Haircutters also keeps a Total Quality Standard Team to ensure the chain keeps a high standard of service. “Yung [team] umiikot yan all over the Philippines to check if the standards of all salon services are being followed,” says Reyes. “Kung merong mali, doon na tayo magsasabi sa may-ari para sabihin sa manager, ‘bagsak tayo dito o pasado tayo dito’.”
He stresses the importance of research to know the latest trends. “Education is very important,” says Reyes. “Ano ba yung mga bago ngayon? How do you innovate? Kung di man ako nag-aaral sa school ngayon, I do self-study. Kung You may love beauty salons, but your fondness for a hot oil treatment and a relaxing foot massage mustn’t be your sole criterion in investing in this business. According to Les Reyes, founder of the Reyes Haircutters chain of beauty salons, there are a few things you must know about the business before investing in it:
• Naming your salon after yourself may not work in the long run. There are icons in the beauty sweepstakes who have successfully built a business around their names. The downside is when they die or grow old, says Les Reyes. “Kawawa naman yung opportunity… When they get old nagkaka-wrinkles na sila, humihina, nawawala, napapalitan ng bago.”
• Find your niche. Your target market will determine your choice of location, pricing and promotions strategies, and brand image. Reyes Haircutters is very clear about its market positioning—it’s a clean, well-designed salon offering quality services to the masses, and it doesn’t compete directly with Ricky Reyes and David’s. Says Reyes: “I give the masa a beautiful salon na pinupuntahan ng mga mayayaman…gusto ko rin siempreng nakakapag-hot oil din ang ating mga mahihirap na hindi nila kailangang ilabas ang kanilang one-month salary.”
• Conduct your promotions during lean hours. Few customers usually come in between nine in the morning and two in the afternoon. To boost business during off-peak hours, Reyes Haircutters offers 40-percent discounts to senior citizens and free haircuts to infants.
• Keep a profile of each customer. Les Reyes plans to develop a card that will carry valuable facts on each customer. If a client’s regular hairdresser is absent when she visits the salon, whoever assists her simply swipes her card on the computer to obtain information on her preferred services, likes and dislikes. “Alam ko na’ng kiliti mo. Yung nagagawa ng hairdresser mo, gagawin ko na ngayon,” says Reyes.
• Assign a person to handle inventory control. Assign accountability for releasing parlor supplies to a stock clerk. He alone should have access to your inventory to make it easier to prevent or control pilferage.
• Measure the amount of chemicals needed for each type of service. Know, for example, the number of haircuts and hot oil treatments you can provide using one bottle of shampoo and moisturizer.
• Be a hands-on manager. How much money you make is a function of the amount of time you spend in the salon. “[You] have to be there because it will greatly affect the sales, the energy, the customer service,” says Reyes
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