The beauty industry is one that is ever growing and full of opportunity, with the demand for nail salons being on the constant rise in Singapore. This means there are still plenty of opportunities for new entrepreneurs to break in with unique services and experiences on offer.
Perhaps you too, might be thinking about venturing into the industry upon completing a nail course, or maybe after working at a nail salon for some time. While it can be a rewarding journey, a lot of hard work is required in the beginning as you build up your business. So how should you get started?
Beauty Garage is an established supplier of beauty products in Singapore, and we’ve put together this guide with all the tips and tricks you need to know when it comes to running your nail salon business, ensuring the best experience for both you and your customers.
Ways to build up clientele for your nail salon business
If you’ve decided to take the next steps towards starting a nail salon, developing a strong business strategy is one of the key steps in ensuring growth in a new business. We share some tips and important starting points to help build up the clientele for your nail salon business.
Get on social media
It is no surprise that social media plays an important role in today’s consumer’s purchasing habits and decisions. Therefore, utilising social media provides a free and extremely strong method to market your business and showcase your professional skills. Doing so also provides an easy way for potential clients to book appointments or ask questions via direct message.
Your social media account is vital in boosting publicity for your startup. When setting up social media accounts for your business, think of them as portfolios; Include photos of all your best work, add in relevant qualifications, and create content that is informative, entertaining, and educational to bring value to your target audience.
Consider collaborating with influencers with a more extensive following base, providing free services in return for a social media post about their experience. Designing specific ads on Instagram and Facebook relevant to your geographic area can work as well.
Alternatively, another budget friendly way to get your name out is to join beauty groups on Facebook with your business account. Through these groups, you’ll have the benefit of immediately reaching an interested audience. Include pictures of your work or a link to your other social accounts when posting in the group. This is such that potential customers are able to get a greater sense of trust in you.
Brand partnerships
A win-win strategy for your nail salon business would be through brand partnerships that benefit both parties and serve as a good way to get more customers. Hair salons, eyelash extension salons, and brow artists all have clientele who are in need of, or want beauty services. Tap into each other’s following through product partnerships or cross-promotions.
For instance, a nail polish company could send their product over and you could use it, review it, recommend it, and reach out to a wider audience through this.
Professional recommendations also help to build trust; Team up with related industries like eyelash extension salons or hair salons. Cross promotions via a referral program is a marketing idea that could work if a customer mentions that they got to know about your nail salon through another business. You will be surprised by how your community and network can be so impactful.
Understand customer preferences
Do you have a clear idea about what your future customers want? What are the nail trends in the market right now? If you don’t yet have an answer to these questions, researching the market will be an important step in understanding customer needs and preferences. A quick Google search will reveal what your target audience has been gravitating towards. This allows you to gain understanding of popular nail styles, as well as evergreen options to offer in your nail salon.
Start a professional website
The next step to strengthen the credibility and authenticity of your business is to get a professional website. You can easily create a simple yet elegant website with platforms like Wix, WordPress, and many more. Having a brick-and-mortar salon is a must, but having a website can bring more value to your brand and potentially double your profits by attracting more clients through online search engines.
Ask for review or start a referral program
Your first clients are always the most important ones. Be sure to ask for their feedback on how well or poor you did during the session. Their 5-star rating will be your catalyst to the traction your new business needs. In contrast, a “poor” rating will teach you valuable lessons and provide a chance for improvements.
Perhaps you have already built up a good number of clientele but are still looking to grow it. This is where a referral program can be advantageous. Offer exciting perks or discounts off services to your regular clients who make an appointment along with a friend. The bottom line is to execute all possible and effective methods to grow your reach!
Get yourself certified and constantly upgrade your skills with nail courses
Extensive training is required to be an accomplished and certified nail artist. When searching for courses, keep in mind that it is important to get trained from the right place. Take some time to research before deciding on the most suitable nail courses. Shortlist academies with trainers that have relevant expertise and vast knowledge in running a successful business. You should also read up on the course modules to get clear on what will be included in your training.
Beauty Garage offers a variety of courses that come with certifications to instil confidence and credibility in your customers. Some of these include courses on applying gel nail polish, and acrylic 3D nail art courses, all of which are conducted by skilled professionals within the industry. This will ensure you get hands-on learning experience and effective improvement in your skill sets.
Get support from friends and family
Don’t be afraid to seek help and support from family and friends. Ask them to refer you and your services to their friends, or request for them to reshare social media posts about your business.
Ways to keep your nail tools in sanitary condition
Establishing sanitary nail services is an essential part of running a successful salon. Proper sanitation prevents the spread of bacterial diseases from one client to the next and helps to ensure safe working conditions within the salon. It is imperative that you understand the sanitation and safety regulations around being a nail technician to ensure safety for your clients. But how do you know if you are following the best practices for the most hygienic nail services? Here are some ways to ensure your nail tools are clean to provide the best experience.
Why is disinfection important?
Although safety awareness among nail technicians have increased significantly, care for hygiene is still underestimated, with risks arising from disregarding standards such as disinfecting manicure tools. In addition to infection of fungus or green bacteria, non-compliance with basic hygiene rules also carries the risk of permanent damage to health and even death. Even the smallest drop of blood with a slight wiping of the epidermis can lead to infection of HIV or hepatitis C.
How to ensure hygiene in a nail salon?
The hygiene in your nail salon relies heavily on proper disinfection of nail tools and the workplace. Before and after each customer's visit, the entire workstation should be cleaned and disinfected with an appropriate sanitizer. This applies to both the desk and all the equipment around it such as the nail machine, an additional LED lamp, dust absorbers or palm rests.
Disinfection and sterilisation of metal tools
Metal tools, such as nippers, scissors, and cuticle pushers are undoubtedly at risk of decontamination. Disinfection and sterilisation processes are therefore integral, and should always be done with gloves. Most professional nail salons should be required to use sterilisers to sanitise metal nail equipment. For proper sterilisation, the tools must first be cleaned with hot water and soap, disinfected in wet sanitizer and then sterilised with an authorised autoclave, ultraviolet sanitizer or dry heat steriliser. The steriliser must be used according to the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure proper sterilisation.
Disposable nail styling tools
Nail styling tools designed to be disposed of after one use are called “disposable” or “single-use”. These items must be properly disposed of after one use on a client. Some examples of disposable items include cotton balls, disposable towels, toe separators, wooden sticks, and certain abrasive files and buffers. Reusing these items will be considered unsanitary, improper and unprofessional practice.
Contact with blood or bodily fluid
If blood or body fluid comes in contact with any surface of the salon, the nail professional should put on a pair of clean protective, disposable gloves, and use a hospital grade liquid disinfectant or a 10% bleach solution to clean up all visible blood or body fluid. We recommend disposable nitrile gloves from Beauty Garage that are powder-free to reduce allergic reactions, making it a great option to ensure safety for your nail artists as well.
What to remember at the start of each visitTo be able to fully ensure the safety of your customer and your staff, remember to practise these two steps at the start of every visit:
1) Have the customer wash their hands. Alternatively, you may ask to disinfect her hands with an appropriate product.
2) Assess the customer's skin condition to identify contraindications before the treatment.
These simple and extremely important steps can protect you and your customer from possible health risks.
Tips to ensure your clients keep coming back
To enjoy a long and successful career in the nail industry, you need to start building relationships with your clients right from the start. This leads to having a regular client base that promises recurring revenue, flattening out seasonal ups and downs. These familiar faces who see the benefits of services at your nail salon also open up additional opportunities for new client referrals. But how should you go about doing so? In this section, we share some tips to ensure your clients keep coming back such that you maintain your clients and keep a full calendar all year round.
Atmosphere plays a vital role
To really build and retain your clientele, don’t just focus on your services, but also place emphasis on giving a wonderful and luxurious experience. Your clients come to the salon to get pampered and enjoy a break from their hectic lives. Hence, the atmosphere of your nail salon can play a key role in ensuring your clients keep coming back for your nail services. Be sure to keep the area clean, providing an environment that is tranquil and comfy. Browse through the range of quality furniture at Beauty Garage such as nail chairs and cushions to ensure utmost relaxation for your clients.
Ask questions and practise active listening
Making the effort to ask questions and actively listening to the needs of your client is what will set you apart from other nail technicians. This communicates to your client that you place importance on providing the most satisfactory experience.
Before starting on the session, be sure to ask questions that will tell you exactly what your clients want, what their concerns are, or what they don’t like. Find out also about the kind of work they do, if they have diabetes or any allergies - such medical information will be important, for instance when doing a manicure.
Keep records
Another good practice is keeping detailed records of what is done in each session for every client. This includes chart colours they like and dislike, nail styles, nail shapes, and products they might have purchased from your salon. Also note down products, services and colours that have been used during each session. When your clientele grows, it will start getting challenging to keep up with the beauty needs of each one. These records will personalise your client’s visit and help prevent an unsatisfactory experience from occurring.
Quality over quantity
Having 10 clients a day might sound amazing, but it doesn’t help much if only 3 of those clients decide to come back the next time. Don’t be too ambitious when it comes to the number of clients that you’re able to take on in a day. Rather, make sure that your clients are happy with your work, focus on your techniques, and be sure to put in your best efforts into every set of nails done.
Show your clients appreciation
Show your clients you value them and appreciate their patronage. Take it a step further by sending a thank you note or a special reward or discount for a referral. Consider also setting up loyalty and reward programs where your clients can earn added services and products. Building strong relationships takes time, but the payoff will be worth the energy.
Arrange for follow up appointments
Encourage your clients to book their next appointment at the end of each session. In the event they are unable to, drop them a friendly reminder in the form of a call or email. Additionally, you should also make it easy for customers to reach you by responding to social media comments, emails and text messages promptly.
Health tips for nail artists
In order for you to do your best work, treat yourself and your body with kindness and care to stay mentally and physically healthy. Here are some health and safety tips to ensure an excellent job can always be executed for your clients.
Posture
Having good posture when attending to your clients is extremely important. Leaning too far forward or being hunched over can cause aches and pains in your neck and back, even leading to possible long term back issues over time. In order to such a situation, we recommend a comfortable nail chair with adjustable height for nail artists to reduce their work injuries.
Stretch
As a nail artist, much of your day is spent sitting and sedentary. For this reason, it is important to take breaks between clients to get up, stretch and walk around. This movement is crucial for your muscles, joints, and blood circulation. Make sure to give yourself breaks during your day to walk around the block, or at the very least, stand up, walk around and stretch.
Drink plenty of water
Staying sufficiently hydrated throughout the day will keep your energy levels up, and will keep your mind and body functioning at its best ability.
Eye care
Squinting or straining your eyes while performing the service for your customers can cause headaches and blurred vision. If you find this happening often, we recommend adding additional or brighter lights to your work station.
Dress for comfort
Choose outfits in which you can sit comfortably all day, that aren’t too tight, or cause you to move around or need to adjust constantly.
We conclude this guide with some questions you might have with regards to starting a nail salon business.
Can I start my business out of my home?
Yes, this can definitely be attainable. Focus on establishing your home-based salon's unique brand identity, design your logo and branding, and build a marketing strategy to increase your visibility.
Do I need to take a licensed examination?
Although nail technicians don't necessarily need formal qualifications, at least some basic form of training or experience with nail treatments is needed to carry out nail services to clients. That said, training from a professional nail course will help you stand out as a nail artist, particularly if you have a qualification in a specialist nail service such as acrylic nails and gel nail polish for instance.
What are the essential tools needed for a nail salon?
Besides basic office equipment such as a desk, chairs, a computer, as well as interior that creates a relaxing atmosphere, those starting a nail salon business will also want to invest into the following tools, equipment, and spa supplies:
- Nail cutters, nail file, and buffers
- Cuticle pusher and cutter
- Nail brush
- Toe separator
- Massage cream
- LED nail lamp
- Nail polish rack
- Foot file
- Cuticle oil
What nail products and services should I offer?
- Express manicure and pedicure: Express manicures and pedicures give busy urbanites a chance for a polished makeover in a flash.
- Classic manicures and pedicures: Both procedures include shaping nails with snips or files before finishing with an application of nail oil or cream. The difference between these two boils down to the nail bed; cutting back dead skin and calluses around the cuticle for a pedicure, and filing nails to shape, push back cuticles, and applying polish on fingers.
- OPI nail polish: OPI nail lacquer is formulated using superior ingredients including solvents and colouring agents, providing a high-quality professional service that delivers a smooth, even wear.
- Nail overlay: A thin layer of acrylic or gel products applied on top of natural nails to provide greater strength.
- Acrylic and gel extensions: Acrylic or gel extensions are applied to the nail with glue or even liquid latex. These come in many different shapes, sizes, colours, and textures, allowing intricate nail art to be created.
- Gel manicures: Another popular service to have at your salon would be gel manicures; Gel nail polish gradually hardens under ultraviolet light after being brushed onto nails, followed by a layer of clear topcoat sealant which provides a glossy shine.
- Designated or customised nail art: Minimalist designs such as dots or a simple stripe to an accent nail, otherwise known as the "French manicure” are currently the trend seen in many nail salons. Customised nail art also provides an avenue for your nail artists to exercise their creative flair through beautiful and unique artwork.
- Chargeable polish removal: Most nail salons charge an additional fee for services such as acrylic polish removal done elsewhere. This is because most high-quality salons use a combination of acetone soaking and filing to remove acrylic nails, with the process requiring between 25-45 minutes.
We hope this guide has provided some useful insights into what to take note of when starting a nail salon. Every business comes with some element of risk, but with thorough market research and thoughtful preparation, you too, will soon be on your way to industry success!
On the search for essential tools for your business? Beauty Garage carries an extensive list of professional nail supplies and beauty products - reach out to us to find the ones most suited for your needs!
