Every salon is different; it’s part of the joy of this industry, but the most prosperous have the same three pillars of success at the heart of their business: control costs, maintain profit margins, and avoid wasting capital. They are simple yet elusive for so many salons, until now. Vish colour management is proving to be the ultimate way to build these pillars into your business and to remain on the right side of profitability. Here, the brand explains just how to maximise profit with this technology.

Control costs

The highest bill after rent, mortgage and staffing is colour yet it’s the hardest to control. Data has proven that one in five services is not profitable because 20 to 30 per cent of colour is over-mixed and ultimately ends up in a waste jar in the staffroom, washed down the sink or, in some cases, simply over-applied to the hair. With Vish colour management stylists mix only what’s needed because Vish remembers every formula and recalculates the exact quantities required. Cut out the over-mixing and you begin to control costs.

“We are always looking for ways to streamline Rokstar to make our salon run more efficiently and profitably so when I saw it on Instagram I was in,” shared Brodie Lee Tsiknaris, a finalist in this year’s AHFA Colourist of the Year awards and owner of Rokstar salon in Brisbane, current AHIA QLD Salon of the Year and an AHFA finalist for Salon of the Year. “Vish has changed our world. Even before the guest arrives the team can refer to accurately written histories and pre-populate formulas on their own phones with the new Vish 2.0 app. Vish crushed our costs immediately, by bringing usage down by 15 per cent, which lowered costs by more than 20 per cent.”

Maintain profit margins

The next step is to topple the rigid pricing model that blights hairdressing. A menu of fixed prices, regardless of client’s hair type, length and even frequency of visit, will always undermine profitability. Salons using Vish have been able to introduce dynamic charging, where additional colour costs are paid for by the client rather than absorbed by the salon, and they are seeing higher and consistent profitability.

“I knew before I sat down with Vish that it was exactly what my salon needed,” said Kendall Drake, whose successful CiNCO Hair Boutique in Margaret River, Western Australia, is also a Salon of the Year finalist in the AHFA awards and the AHIA awards. “Vish made it possible for us to reduce colour costs and, more importantly, to capture additional product charges. Initially, we focused on getting the team used to the technology which took very little time because of the support Vish provided, but I could see in the data we captured that it was going to drive up profit by nearly $2k a month. After more than a year of Vish the data has proved correct with our profit boosted by between $1.7K and $2k every month, while it’s brought our costs down by approximately $2 per service.”

Avoid wasting capital

Many salons simply reorder a fixed range of colour to keep shelves stocked and avoid running out of popular shades. However, not only does it lead to a build-up of under-used colours sitting on the shelf, but it ties up capital in product. With Vish you see exactly how much the team has used down to the gram, making it super easy to replenish only what’s been used, leading to a leaner, more agile selection of colours.

Rather than sinking cash that could be diverted towards education, innovations, or even a treat for the team, Vish has enabled Brodie and Kendall to free up cash flow and save time on stock-taking and reordering. Both Rokstar and CiNCO have cut professional reordering from 10 per cent of the budget to less than 5 per cent thanks to Vish.

“Why not use Vish?” Brodie said. “It allows you to be sustainable and profitable. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

For more informartion visit www.getvish.com

Read Full Post