If you’re thinking of buying an existing salon - or, indeed, you’re thinking of selling your salon - then here are a few tips to consider. Some are more obvious than others!
If you’re not buying the salon as a going concern then this is not for you. If you are going to buy a salon as a going concern then you should definitely consider the points below.
• The price being asked includes all the fixtures and fittings right? So, do they actually work? How old are they? What would be the cost of replacing them with similar pieces of kit? Let’s face it replacing a second hand nail station with another second hand nail station would be relatively easy. So don’t pay too much for them!
• The rent & rates. How much is currently being paid. Can this be re-negotiated with the Land Lord? Or can a ‘honeymoon’ period of lower rent be negotiated? Quite often Land Lords will take a lower rent for a short period of time to keep the premises rented out.
• Does the business have any debts? If it does are you expected to take them over?
• What is the name of the salon? If the salon is called “Dawn’s Beauty Treatments” then if you’re not called Dawn you’re probably going to have to change the name! Which, obviously has the associated costs attached to it.
• The existing staff inside the salon. If there are staff employed are you going to take them on under the same terms and conditions of employment? Further, will the salon owner continue to be employed within the salon?
All of the above are all right and proper things to consider. BUT here are some of the REAL things that some purchasers ignore:
• How many clients are listed as visiting the salon? Now, when I say ‘clients’ I mean folk that visit the salon on a regular basis. Not folk that ‘pop in’ now and again. Take a good, long, hard look at this. I’ve known salon owners get thousands knocked off the price because the number of clients was far, far lower than indicated. The trick to remember here is that, like it says above, replacement fixtures and fittings are easy to find. But how difficult and costly is, say, an extra hundred clients to find? (Actually if you follow the tips and techniques in the Marketing Toolkit this can be quite easy - but that’s another story!)
• How ‘sticky’ are these clients going to be? Does the salon owner consider these people as ‘hers’ (‘his’) and plan to take them with them after they leave?
• What perception do the clients have of the salon? Tricky to find out I know. But it is your money you’re spending don’t you think you should spend a little time finding out?
• How strong is the website - if the salon has one? You should be able to access reports on how many folk are visiting the site. Is it included in the sale? The reason I mention this is that Diane Matthews website (www.dianematthews.co.uk) gets £10,000 per month in new business alone. (And if you want a site that does the same get in touch!) So, how much is that resource worth?
• Social media. Does the salon have a social media presence? Will this be included in the sale? Having a great social presence can be a source of revenues
• What is the footfall outside the salon? Take a little while to look at the folk walking past the salon. In the UK some high streets are, frankly, on their last legs.
Please note this list is NOT exhaustive. There are probably one hundred and one other things to consider! Your feedback to add to the list would be invaluable!
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