Starting a barbershop is a challenging undertaking that requires resources, a sharp business mindset and good decision-making skills. From operations to marketing, a successful barbershop involves building a brand around skilled barbers and great customer experiences, allowing your business to develop a loyal client base and grow with time. Here are some simple ways to run a barbershop to ensure long-term growth and success.
Opening and Growing A Barbershop
Develop Good Communication Skills
As a barbershop owner, friendly interactions allow you to develop relationships with your clientele while building a strong brand reputation for service. These interactions may include casual small talk about the weather and asking about a returning client’s children or grandchildren.
Communication is also essential for understanding your clients’ haircut requests. For example, many people confuse the terms taper and fade, and good communication skills allow you to determine the client’s wants – without making the client feel bad for using the wrong term.
Hire Friendly, Skilled Barbers
Your team is the backbone of your business, and your company’s reputation rests primarily on their shoulders. Hiring friendly, skilled barbers is essential for garnering repeat business.
According to many barbering and beauty colleges, you should look for barbers who are fluent in customer service, participate in active listening, and have excellent hand-eye coordination. Your barbers should also be expressive and creative in their hair-handling skills and able to manage their time effectively.
Build A Community
Building an excellent community ensures that your barbershop stays profitable and thriving in the long run. There are effective ways to build a community centered around your barbershop, but volunteering your services to your neighborhood or city can be the most powerful and long-lasting.
Some options include hosting a haircut drive once a month in which you provide free cuts to children in need, job seekers struggling to afford to maintain their hair, or individuals living in shelters. You can even contact your local school district and ask how you can use your services to improve children’s learning experiences.
Offer Excellent Customer Service
Always remember that people can go anywhere to get a haircut, so you need to give them something they can’t get anywhere else – excellent, unique customer service. The following tips and tricks can help you take your shop’s customer service to the next level:
- Hire a helpful and friendly receptionist. Your receptionist is the first person your customers will see when they enter your barbershop and the last person they will see before they leave. Hiring an extremely friendly and outgoing receptionist can ensure a positive experience for every customer every time.
- Offer snacks and beverages. Some new higher-end barbershops hand out snacks and bottled water, so ensure your shop goes above and beyond. Stock up on healthy drinks and an array of snacks, and make sure you include vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free choices for those with specific dietary needs.
- Make use of the calendar invite function. Many guys forget to open their phones and set a reminder for their next haircut, resulting in no-shows that can affect your earning potential. A booking software allows you to send calendar invites via text message. This way, you’ve done all the work, and your customers only need to click a link.
Reward loyalty. Loyal customers account for up to 80% of your income, so keep them feeling valued and coming back with promotions or programs.
Be Punctual
Punctuality is about much more than unlocking the door on time every day. It also involves being ready for your next client at (or even before) their appointment time. Customers don’t like to wait, even if it’s just five minutes.
Refrain from overbooking yourself or your team; instead, give yourself enough time per appointment to take the time you need to provide a consistently great cut. Remember to include clean-up time in your estimates, too.
Rebook Your Clients Using An Easy-To-Use Service
Some new barbershops expect their customers to schedule their next appointment. We recommend using a dedicated booking service and encouraging your customers to schedule their appointments as they are paying for their haircut or service.
It’s more convenient for your clientele and ensures you and your team have consistent work. Online booking systems like ftheCut, Booksy, Vagaro, Square Appointments and StyleSeat are popular for successful barbers.
Market Your Services and Barbershop
By marketing and properly positioning your barbershop services, you can show your community who you are and what you do. As a barber, your value proposition involves offering your clientele a consistently excellent haircut at a fair price in a comfortable environment.
Use social media, your website, content marketing strategies and local business search platforms to build your online presence, market your services and get customers.
Set The Tone As The Owner
As the owner of your barbershop, your team will mirror your values, ambition and even mood. You are the leader and must set the tone for your shop’s atmosphere. The best way to set a positive, productive tone in the workplace is to be someone you’d want to follow. If your team doesn’t look forward to seeing you at work each day, their customer service skills and productivity will suffer.
Stay positive, maintain your composure in adversity, and emphasize your company’s impact on your community. These things will inspire your team and help them feel more confident and passionate about their work.
Ensure Quality Over Quantity
Instead of back-to-back bookings that can make you or your team rush through each cut or service, focus on offering quality experience. Quality applies to everything, from the techniques you and your team employ for a cut and shave, the products you use, and even the shop’s atmosphere.
As far as your customers are concerned, quality and consistency go hand-in-hand. Give your customers the same excellent haircut, the same outstanding customer service, and the same energy every single time you see them, and success is sure to follow.
Take Continuing Education Classes
Continuing learning is essential to grow as a barber and business owner. Trends, styles and techniques used to achieve the desired results can change with time, and barbershops that don’t keep up and up are left behind. Platforms like YouTube and Skillshare are excellent for learning and offer different formats to suit your needs and schedule.
In larger cities, community or vocational colleges may offer courses you can take for continuing education credits. In smaller towns, consider traveling to conventions or expos to stay on top of the latest in barbering.
Ask For Customer Reviews
No matter how much money and creativity you put into your barbershop marketing, other people’s reviews and testimonials will always carry more weight. According to reliable studies, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family.
You can certainly ask for a review in person, but sending a text or placing a form on your website is far less personal, meaning your customers will likely be open and honest. Email and social media are also excellent options for customer reviews.
Create and Sell Your Own Grooming Products
Hundreds of different grooming products are on the market, and many barbershops stock their shelves with mid- to high-end products for their customers’ convenience. Stock the ones your community uses most, but keep your mind open to creating and selling your own products.
Make sure to develop your brand’s products using ethically sourced and sustainable ingredients for the hair and skin. The most high-demand and profitable products include matte and shiny pomades, beard oil and balm, and shampoo and conditioner.
