Looking for inspiration on how to set medium-term goals for your salon? We've put together a list of ideas for setting and achieving the right goals for your salon business.
Knowing how to set medium-term goals for a salon is one of the best steps to successfully growing your business. After developing your long-term strategic plan, it's time to generate a medium-term plan. Remember, when you break a big task down into smaller tasks, everything is easier.
In this article we will give you some tips, tricks and advice on how to choose and set medium term goals for your salon.
What are medium-term goals for your salon?
Medium term goals are usually set for a 6 month to 1 year time frame and focus on those activities that will bring you closer to achieving your long term goals
Why medium-term goals are important
Medium-term goals will help you to define perfectly the daily routines focused on the main goal. They affect staff organisation, business promotion, customer relationship management, operations and savings, among other things.
What is a milestone?
A milestone is defined as a significant one-off event that marks an important moment in the development of a process or in a person's life. Starting from this point, milestones refer to those important points that you must reach and that add significant value to your overall goal, your long-term strategic plan.
You should know that one of the best ways to stay focused on your goal is to measure your successes step by step. Many businesses fail even if they have a defined strategic plan, the problem is that they don't follow through. A strategic plan should be set for 3 or 5 years. Obviously this is a very long time frame, so it is easy to get lost along the way, or even change radically because of everything that can happen in that time frame. The key is to divide this strategic plan into small medium-term objectives and this, in turn, should be divided into milestones.
When you have broken down your strategic plan into short-term plans and the latter into milestones, you will work more intelligently and you will be better organized, since you will know exactly which are the important objectives that will take you on the right path and which are not.
How to define medium-term goals?
Every salon can have a different goal that it aims to achieve, this will all depend on your strategic plan. If you don't know how to create a strategic plan for your salon, we recommend that you access our Premium content and view the training we have in the business area, where we give you all the keys.
Here are some of the most typical inspirations for your salon:
- How to increase sales by 15% per year for five years?
- How to retain more clients by 15% every month for five years?
- How do you keep 50% of client referrals?
- How to increase the average spend per client?
- How to build effective customer relationships?
- What is the best way to promote a pleasant working environment for staff?
- How to increase customer loyalty?
- How to improve the customer experience?
How to measure your medium-term objectives
As we said before, the important thing is to measure, but how do you measure success or failure? Or better yet, how do you know if you are achieving your goals or not?
The answer is clear. The milestones. Each milestone you set in your medium-term plan should have an indicator attached to it. An indicator is a measurement value - quantitative or qualitative - that will tell you if you are on track or not. Let's take an example. If we set a medium-term goal [3 months] of 15% growth in service revenue, we are clearly setting our goal and where we should focus. If we want to grow 15% in three months, we should see if we are achieving it on a weekly basis.
Now then. The goals should not only be financial in nature, we can set goals for new client growth, improved client satisfaction, satisfaction of your team and much more. As you can see, there are many aspects that you can work on in a salon and among all of them, you should prioritize those that are focused on the long-term vision of your salon [3-5 years].
Your team must be with you at all times
If you read our articles, you will have realised how important your team is. If you are a modern salon and you are looking for a modern management model, you will understand that your business depends on the people in it, not on you. Your value lies in how you manage and lead people. If you make them part of your plan at all times, you will see how things will gradually take shape and come to fruition. The meetings will be constructive and not destructive, while you can share the reasons why the objectives are not being met, or on the contrary, to involve the people who accompany you on the journey of success, and remember one more thing, the successes you build them with your team, not you alone.
Considering how to set long-term goals for your salon?
Remember, today's big salon chains are yesterday's small business startups.
In order to become a successful salon brand you need to think at least 10 years ahead. Setting long-term goals and aligning short- and medium-term goals for your salon will take you there.
In this article, you will learn how to choose and set long-term goals for your salon.
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What Are Long-term Goals for Your salon?
Long-term help you consider and define the vision you have for your salon. They help you identify what you can do now [short-term goals for salon] and in another 3 to 5 years [medium-term] to achieve your salon business vision.
Why Long-term Goals Are Important
They help you evaluate and measure your current actions in terms of getting you closer to sustainable success and growth in the future.
Plan Big But Start Small
Having big dreams is good, but it takes concerted daily efforts to achieve them.
Without developing a sustainable business routine based on excellent customer experience, future dreams will not become reality.
Align Your Goal
The average day in a salon could sometimes become hectic. Poor preparation or planning can lead to less productivity.
With well-laid goals, you can reduce the time-wasters.
Predictability
If you want a more predictable future for your salon, set milestones for the next 10 years. It will help you measure and evaluate your actions.
Realistic Dreams
Everyone has wishes and dreams but what differentiates one dreamer from the other are the actions they take is what they do finally. Without setting and focusing on an achievable action plan your dreams will not become a reality
How to Set-up Long-Term Goals?
Whatever the aspirations we set for ourselves, setting smart goals in the longer run is a priority.
Have a Plan
No one succeeds by wishing.
Having a plan also covers developing the right skills as a stylist, a manager, and a team player.
Write It Down
Putting your goals down allows you to see the picture clearer.
It also makes it easier to track and evaluate your progress and therefore increase your chances to succeed.
Set a Scale of Preference
Once you have your goals written, then you can re-organize them in the order of importance.
Your goals will fall into short, medium, and long-term; hence you need to know where each task belongs.
Fix Timelines
We all know that every milestone, goal, or target requires a deadline.
The more specific you are with timelines, the more focused your activities.
Plan Backwards
Determine where you want the business to be in ten years and then start tracing what you would do backward up till the present day.
How to Measure your Long-term Goals
I would strongly recommend you having a chart to illustrate your KPIs achievement over time [key performer indicators].
For example, the number of clients that come into your salon for hair treatment month by month will show you whether your actions put you on the right trend
Regular Evaluation
If your target is to reach a particular client base, you should evaluate your performance on a weekly or monthly basis.
Examples of Long-Term Salon Goals
Here are some long-term goal ideas for your salon:
- Expanding your one-person salon into a bigger one or even a chain.
- Achieving a 30% net profit annually.
- Expanding the range of services offered.
- Hire 10 new stylists.
- Launch your one hair product brand.
Conclusion
In understanding how to set long-term goals for a salon, you must realize it takes a concerted effort to plan and implement.
The key to success is to remain consistent and always keep goals for your salon in front of you.
However, do not take it so much to heart when things go wrong. They often will. The key would be knowing and learning from your mistakes.
Do you find this article helpful?
Do you have similar salon business ideas and experiences you would love to share with the Belliata community? Please leave a comment below. Also, we would be delighted to answer your questions, if any.
Citations
Strategic Goals and Practices of Innovative Family Businesses, JE Mccann III, AY Leon‐Guerrero
//www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0447-2778.00005
How To Create A Long-Term Plan For Your Small Business?
//www.forbes.com/sites/forbessanfranciscocouncil/2019/04/03/how-to-create-a-long-term-plan-for-your-small-business/
19 Small Business Goals You Can Set This Year
//www.thebalancesmb.com/small-business-goals-4126116