Strategies for Setting Spa and Salon Business Goals: A Professional’s Handbook

Having a clearly defined target for your spa or salon can keep your business pointed in the right direction. Looking ahead to another year of marketing and finance plans can seem intimidating, but setting goals can help turn these priorities into actionable, reasonable steps. Goal-setting in the spa and salon industry can help you get on track — and stay on track — toward building the business you’ve always dreamed of.

You might already have some goals and objectives in mind but can’t decide which to focus on. By leveraging the right data in a salon management platform, you can more effectively meet your business goals to boost bookings and revenue. Learn how to set business goals for your spa or salon in 2024 and beyond in this guide.

Understanding the Importance of Setting Goals for Your Spa and Salon Business

When it comes to setting your spa or beauty salon business goals, it’s important to determine the right path. Every organization wants to thrive, but how do you get there? Here are some considerations to help you get started.

The Role of Goals in a Successful Spa and Salon Operation

The first step to setting effective business goals is understanding the difference between goals and objectives. A goal is typically defined by broad and long-term aspirations, while an objective is short-term and measurable. Breaking down your large-scale ambitions into bite-size goals and objectives creates realistic steps toward success.

For example, setting a target like “Make record-breaking profits this year” is vague and doesn’t provide much direction. Instead, you might consider a more specific goal like “Increase the number of appointments booked by 20%.”

This specificity gives you and your employees a simple but distinct outcome to reach for. From there, you can create smaller objectives that would help you achieve your goal of increasing appointment bookings. Goals should tell you where you want to go, and objectives should be how to get there.

How Business Objectives and Client Satisfaction Are Connected

Increased revenue is a direct result of happy customers. However, in the quest for achieving business objectives, client satisfaction may sometimes be overlooked. With intentional goal-setting, you can drive profits while enhancing the client experience. For example, improving the quality of experience your clients have at your salon or spa gives you reasonable means for increasing prices.

Aligning your business goals with customer expectations is critical because without customers, there are no profits. Don’t be afraid to ask clients for feedback on your services to craft these goals. Business goals that prioritize customer needs build more loyalty, trust, and retention.

Steps to Create Effective Business Goals for Your Salon or Spa

It’s never too late to set goals for your business, whether it’s the first month of the year or the last. Here are some tips for creating new business goals or updating your existing ones.

Establish Short-Term and Long-Term Business Objectives

Short-term goals generally have more to do with your current performance, while long-term goals plan for your business’s future. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to setting short- and long-term goals, they should both play a part in bringing you closer to your vision.

As a rule of thumb, long-term goals should be adaptable to industry changes but inform short-term goals. Short-term goals should outline what you want to achieve in the near future and act as a tool to drive you in the right direction. Here are some examples to help you draw inspiration:

• Spa short-term goal: Adopt software to automate manual tasks for employees and identify our top three inefficiencies.
• Spa long-term goal: Reduce operational costs.
• Salon short-term goal: Set up customer feedback surveys and compile the most common concerns, questions, and suggestions.
• Salon long-term goal: Improve client satisfaction.

Set SMART Goals

Have you heard of SMART goals? This popular framework can be applied to any type of goal-setting and helps you craft a clear purpose for your beauty and wellness business. SMART is an acronym for goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-based

Measurable and achievable goals are critical in a salon and spa setting because they provide clarity, reduce confusion, and improve accountability. For example, a SMART goal for a hair salon might be to acquire 10 new clients per month for the next 6 months. This goal fits the SMART description because it’s clear, measurable, reasonable, and provides a timeline. Every employee knows precisely what’s expected of them and will be more likely to follow through.

Challenges in Setting and Achieving Business Goals in the Spa and Salon Industry

Goal-setting is a valuable skill for business owners and managers, but it’s not always easy. As you start crafting goals that align with your business needs and vision, you may face some challenges along the way.

Common Roadblocks and How to Overcome Them

No strategy is foolproof, but understanding common hindrances of goal-setting can help you prepare and be more agile as you move your business forward. Here are some potential challenges you may face in reaching your salon or spa business goals, plus how to conquer them:

• Lack of flexibility: As a manager or business owner, you know the industry is ever-changing. It’s important to factor in room for a change in strategy when setting goals. Goals that are too rigid will not respond well to changing circumstances or needs, resulting in reduced motivation and missed opportunities. Periodically reviewing and revising your goals can help you and your team adopt a growth mindset and embrace uncertainty.
• Lack of alignment: Your salon or spa business might have many new, exciting goals for the year ahead. However, it can be easy to get swept up in your aspirations and soon realize your objectives are inconsistent with your direction and priorities. Alternatively, your goals may not suit your team’s skills and experience, which can result in conflict and disengagement. Reflect on your team’s strengths and business mission to identify common ground for your goals.
• Miscommunication: You could create all new goals and actionable steps for accomplishing them, but they won’t do any good if they’re not communicated properly. Failing to provide clear guidance can often lead to delays and less-than-ideal performance. Communication is a key business strategy that helps your employees and teams work better together. Practicing good communication skills when discussing and tracking your goals ensures everyone is on the same page.

Goal-Setting for Salons

Planning a strategy for increasing revenue or client retention is unique to every salon. If you want to build the foundation for long-term success, it helps to reflect on the path you’re already pursuing to determine what has been working and what hasn’t. From there, you can define and set fresh goals that motivate your entire team.

Setting Specific Goals for a Successful Salon Business

The first step to setting your goals is to identify your purpose and plan around it. How do you define success? What areas of your salon need improvement? Sit back and visualize the journey that will take your business where you want it to be.

Check out these examples of effective business goals for your beauty salon:

• Every day, I will put at least one product in every client’s hands to try for themselves.
• Every day, I will tell each client about our specials and discounts.
• I will sell at least one product to four out of five clients who sit in my chair each week for at least two weeks per month.
• I will implement and monitor a customer feedback survey to improve our services within two months.
• I will install software that makes online booking easier for my staff members so they can spend more time assisting clients.
• I will post on my salon’s social media pages at least three times per week to increase client engagement and brand awareness over the next five months.
• I will improve the customer experience by creating a more inviting environment by the end of the year, adding new furniture, artwork, decor, and refreshments.

Goal-Setting for Spas

Goal-setting is all about finding the delicate balance between the urgency of reaching short-term goals and progressing toward long-term results. Whether you want to attract more clients or improve efficiency among staff, you can set a goal that works for your spa.

Establishing Goals for a Thriving Spa Business

When setting spa business goals, it’s important to consider the big picture while focusing on what you can control. Setting a nearly impossible goal will only discourage you and your team, while goals that are too easy are not very motivating, which can result in complacency. Creating goals that are just out of reach will compel your entire staff to higher levels of performance without too much stress or strain on resources.

Here are some examples of achievable spa business goals:

• I will attract 50 clients to sign up for our email newsletter by the end of next month.
• I will hold weekly employee meetings for the next six months to discuss progress, client feedback, and strategies.
• Over the next four months, I will expand our inventory to add high-quality spa products with natural ingredients to improve client satisfaction.
• By the end of the year, I will introduce at least five new treatments or services to help our spa stand out from competitors.
• I will use client feedback to create an improved customer loyalty program with discounts, rewards, and incentives by the end of the quarter.
• To boost my spa’s reputation this quarter, I will encourage every client to leave a review on our social media pages or website.

Using Goal Reporting to Improve Your Spa and Salon Business Operations

Tracking your goal progress over a period of time is essential to understanding how well you’re progressing. As effective and valuable as SMART goals are, they can quickly become useless if you set a plan and blindly follow it. Goal tracking takes time but helps ensure you’re aligned and focused on business priorities.

The Significance of Goal Reporting in Business Operations

Monitoring progress toward strategic goals is important for more than measuring results. It can also help you detect problems early on, remain on track, and stay motivated as you celebrate the small wins. Goal-based reports are vital tools that provide relevant business insights, from revenue to expenses to customer data. Remember that goals are stepping stones to an end result. Without tracking your goals, you would have no idea how close you are to achieving them.

Today, many modern salon and spa management solutions improve your ability to observe the inner workings of your business. For example, a point of sale (POS) system provides easy access to many performance metrics, including:

• Repeat client retention
• Productivity
• New clients per month
• Average ticket
• Frequency of visit

By running custom reports with a POS, you can also identify areas of improvement across employee and inventory management. This detailed information can inform your decision-making and empower you to get ahead of your business growth.

Importance of Ongoing Goal Assessment and Adjustment

Revisiting business goals and objectives is key to maintaining alignment in your spa or salon. To put it simply, goals are meant to be adjusted. While this may sound a bit daunting — especially after putting together what seem like the “perfect” objectives — resetting goals can be a positive step in achieving success.

Evaluate and Modify Goals on a Regular Basis

SMART goals are attainable and realistic, which are the key players in goal assessment. Flexibility and adaptability are vital in business goal-setting because they enable resilience and the ability to respond quickly to unplanned disruptions. A perfect example is how organizations learned to alter their approach to serving customers throughout the pandemic. Businesses had to learn how to connect with clients in new and creative ways.

Revisiting and revising your goals as time passes can also help you determine if your goals are too general, vague, or lack the clarity your team needs. Continuous evaluation lets you establish whether your goals are truly tailored to your unique requirements. Remember — hitting a bump in the road doesn’t mean you have to abandon a goal completely. It might just require a slight change to fit your current needs and capabilities.

Discover How Meevo Can Help You Achieve Your Business Goals

As a spa or salon manager, you know how important it is to remain agile to meet ever-changing customer needs and industry demand. Your team can more effectively accomplish objectives by implementing goal-setting strategies. With Meevo, you can automate business tasks to free up time for high-priority needs, like building client relationships.

Salon and spa management software from Meevo includes goal-tracking features to help grow your business, including:

• Appointment booking
• Inventory management
• Employee management
• Credit card processing
• Business goal-setting

Whether you want to attract and retain clients or simplify your management responsibilities, Meevo has the innovative technology to create a better experience for you and your clients. Schedule a demo today to learn more.