One of the greatest assets small businesses possess is adaptability – the capacity to make beneficial adjustments at a moment’s notice. There are countless ways you can modify your pricing, promotions or sales techniques to make your business more profitable. It’s a lot to think about but, if you’re equipped with the right information, the notion should be more exciting than overwhelming.

By analyzing data on your customers, sales, marketing efforts and more, you can pinpoint the areas where changes are needed and increase the likelihood of your efforts paying off. With the salon management software the majority of salons already have, it’s all right in front of you. If you know what to look for, the data will tell you the whole story of where your business is headed and what you need to do to improve the trajectory.

Basing your decisions on facts, rather than just relying on a hunch or something you expect to work, is the best way to improve your success rate and keep your business continually growing. “Spending the time to analyze transactions, customers, promotions, and packages allows for deployment of new products, promotions, and service offerings without the guesswork of, ‘Will this work?’” says Fierce Tanning owner Claytin Williams.

When you’re caught up in the hustle and bustle of busy season, there’s not much time to step back and think about the big picture, so now is the time to dig into the data and formulate your strategic plans for the future.

“The most important thing to do after the season is to review and upgrade the technology your business runs on,” says Tan-Link Account Manager John Toston. “Having a firm grip on your numbers is the single best thing you can do to get a significant boost in business. You are almost guaranteeing a better return on your investment over any other upgrade you could make.”

You know your business better than anybody, but when you commit to gathering and reviewing data, you will almost certainly pick up on trends and opportunities that you may have missed otherwise.

“There is so much you can learn from your data” says Jeff Oakes, President of Nichesoft, the developer of TanTrack software. “It is also very important to collect as much data as possible. The quality of what you get out of your reports is determined by the quality of what you put into the data. If you see a box on a screen, fill it out. There is always a reason for that bit of data that you may not be aware of at that moment.”

The data these salon software systems provide you on a daily basis is immense, but in searching for the most impactful adjustments you can make, start by considering what the numbers tell you about marketing, pricing and buying options, equipment, products and employee sales performance.

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.