ist magazine April 2023

Lync IT

It’s All About the Numbers

By Melissa Damiani

To say that having essential busi ness metrics readily available is crucial is a huge understate ment. Our world seems to be ever-changing right now, but one thing is constant – with the right tools, all facets of your organiza tion are measurable and when this data is analyzed, you will be empowered to make informed decisions as they relate to your business performance. Are you unsure of how to record and organize your data into a meaningful format? If you are using a first-rate salon software management program, then there’s no need to worry! Let the program do the heavy lifting for you, so that you can spend time analyzing your data instead of expending valuable resources on collecting and shaping it into a useful form. Although qualitative data has its purpose and can be helpful, it can also mislead you on the true performance of your business. Sure, it may seem like that radio advertisement you ran last month brought several new customers through your door; but without viewing objective quantita tive data, how can you be certain? After reviewing a report that provides analysis of new customers, you may find that you actually gained a higher percentage of new clientele through the customer referral program you launched (at minimal cost, as you rewarded existing customers for their referrals by automatically applying points on their accounts to be used toward future retail purchases). Having properly formatted data readily available will allow you to rule out the human bias factor. The capability of obtaining a variety of business metrics with ease is imperative so

Your software should provide you with the ability to conveniently generate an annual comparative analysis so that you can evaluate whether changes are needed in your business model.

that you can spend time on determining what that data means and draw conclu sions relating to the performance of your organization. For example, is the average revenue per customer higher at one of your salons in comparison to another? Perhaps this correlates with the differences in your equipment mix at each one? Having infor mation available in a visible format might just prompt you to make a change that will yield successful results! Do you regularly review the progress of your EFT membership program? Doing so might provide some meaningful insights, or lead you to re-evaluate things such as the member benefits you offer. For example, are your higher-level EFT memberships being retained longer on average than your base-level membership? Maybe this is a re sult of not including automatic product dis counts at the base level or because you don’t allow customers to freeze their membership at this level? Possessing this knowledge just might prompt you to fine tune your EFT membership rules and parameters. Thinking of adding some new equip ment at one of your salons following a recent expansion that created some additional space? Instead of guessing what types of equipment you should purchase, why not run a report that generates info on the sessions per equipment type that will also break the information down per hour? Not only will you be able to

accurately assess when deciding on what types of units you should add, you will also be able to determine whether addi tional staff will be needed during certain times of the day in order to efficiently accommodate the additional guests. Analyzing patterns and trends from one year to the next is also vital in understand ing the overall situation of your business, especially when experiencing unprecedent ed events like we have over the last year. Your software program should provide you with the ability to conveniently generate an annual comparative analysis so that you can evaluate whether or not changes are needed in your business model. The root of your success stems from your dedication, hard work and perseverance – consistent examination of your business metrics will provide you with the knowledge and power that will promote continued growth and prosperity regardless of the types of challenges we might face! n

About the Author: Melissa Damiani is the Sales Manager of SunLync Software, Inc. a member of the JK-North America group of companies. With the company since 2002,

Melissa has served the organization in several capacities, and has extensive knowledge of all aspects required to deliver robust salon manage ment software solutions that are designed to enable measurable growth within its users’ ever-evolving business models. Call Melissa at 866.SUNLYNC x3 or email mdamiani@sunlync.com.

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istmagazine.com

April 2023