Article by Tim & Justin D. Follow us on twitter.
Are you just sitting around your shop swatting flies, watching t.v., or picking on other employees because you have nothing better to do?
Does it worry you that you’ve read more pages in your book than you have dollars in your pocket?
Well, stop panicking, you are not alone!!! It is normal to have slow times throughout the year, there is nothing you can really do to prevent it.
Every shop or salon suffers from slow times of year, but we make up for it during those busy times of the year. It is important to remember what times are slow and busy, so I put together this list of month’s to help every shop realize that haircuts are just as seasonal as anything else.
Stop panicking during some months, and maybe start panicking during others!
January
January is the slowest month of the year, the holidays are over and people are left with little money to spend on luxuries. Also, it’s winter and people tend to go out less during the cold months.
February
February is another slow month, with only one busy time during the month: Valentine’s Day. The few days before Valentine’s Day are always busy because everyone wants to look good for their Valentine.
March
March has its ups and downs. When it is nice out, people want to get out of their houses, so if they need a cut they will come to you. Spring break occurs during this time, so college students that return home or go away for Spring Break will help to increase the traffic for your shop.
April
April showers brings May flowers, and also more customers for your shop! The warmer it gets, the more customers that will come into your shop. Don’t forget Easter is often in April, therefore everyone will need their holiday cut!
May
May is one of the busiest months; it’s getting warmer, college students are returning home, and everyone is anticipating summer. Also, Memorial Day is a big weekend where every wants to look good for the start of summer!
June
Summer’s here and this is the time when people not only feel good, but want to look good to match it! Summertime is filled with proms, graduations, and weddings to help get the flow of customers to increase even more.
July
July is only busy up until the fourth of July then the traffic will die down again due to the fact that many people go on vacations during this time.
August
August is a slow month also because it is another month that is popular for people to go on vacations
September
Back to school time! We all know everyone wants to look good for that first day of school, so expect to be busy most of September.
October
October is another slow month. It is possible to get a little rush before Halloween, but many people do not care what their hair looks like for Halloween, so it won’t be too intense.
November
November is a little less slow than October up until the week before Thanksgiving until the day before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Eve is one of the busiest days of the year.
December
December is a moderately busy month up until Christmas and New Years, then watch out your shop will be booming! These are the busiest weeks of the year, if they’re not busy for you, start panicking.
So we complain when it’s slow, we complain when it’s busy, there’s never anyway to win!
When it’s slow just know you are not the only one and when it’s busy be thankful you’re making money! If you like, you can bookmark this page as a guide to reference each month. Good luck in 2010 to everyone!
Hi guys. Cathy here from wowfactorhair. Yes I agree with this but we used to find that January remained busy for some reason. We would use the slow months to do our special offers on highlights which were always popular. That way we would attract clients who couldn’t afford our normal prices. We also had lulls during the day so we started an off-peak price list. Something I have learned since selling my businesses is that when you have a family, hairdressing bills can be huge. I think as stylists in the salon we might not think about this. I believe that we need to know our value as professionals but if the salon is not always busy, these are the times we need to remember there are clients out there who will pay- just not as much. This was always a bit of a sensitive issue for us and we had many discussions about it. We wanted to keep up our image by not being cheap but at the same time we wanted bums on seats! I think you have to try new ideas out and monitor. If they work, great, if they don’t then ditch and try something else.
Anyway, great article. Thank you!
The first week of january in the barbershop this year seemed to be busier then other years don’t know why. i agree it’s always good to have specials to keep you busy during the slow times. i guess january in barbershops and salons are different,but it’s good to hear you guys are busy during january.