Salon Business, Entrepreneurship and Customer Relations
Domain focus
Salon Business, Entrepreneurship and Customer Relations tests whether you can run the chair as a business: costing, pricing, records, stock and retention. Questions are practical - calculate, decide, justify.
Core rules
- Separate fixed costs (rent, licences, insurance) from variable costs (product per client, commission, utilities per service).
- Price using cost-plus, competitor awareness and perceived value - never competitor price alone.
- Break-even = fixed costs ÷ (price − variable cost per service).
- Keep daily records: sales, expenses, receipts, stock used and appointments. Separate business and personal money.
- Manage stock with FIFO, par levels and a supplier list; expired colour and peroxide are a safety issue and a loss.
- Comply with licensing, health inspection, tax and insurance obligations.
- Retain clients with consistent service, reminders, loyalty offers and honest complaint handling - retention is cheaper than acquisition.
- Track simple KPIs: average ticket, rebooking rate, new versus returning clients, product cost percentage.
Worked example
Fixed costs are KES 60,000 a month, the average service is KES 1,000, and variable cost per service is KES 400. Contribution is 600, so break-even is 60,000 ÷ 600 = 100 services a month. At 120 services the salon makes 12,000 above break-even.
Traps
Pricing only by copying a competitor; no receipts; mixing till cash with personal cash; ignoring product cost per service.