Complexions Year End Wrap Up & What I learned

Calculating year end revenue is kind of like solving a circle (given three points on it ;)
After relaxing for the first day of the New Year, I went into work today, anxious to print out our month end numbers and our year end totals. I tell you, if you totally focus in on the negative tone of all the media, you would expect the year to have been a disaster. We had an amazing year! We had a 33% increase in our gift certificate sales alone for the month of December. Not bad for only being in our new location for six months. It pays off having Complexions located in an “A” location verses a “D” location. We spent a quarter of what we spent in previous years on advertising and still came out way ahead. We focused on our internal marketing and I feel strongly that worked really well for us.
I studied our yearly totals and have some thoughts and plans for the new year. I need to focus on our retail sales and I want to continue to work on our loyalty programs and new business. Annually you can expect a loss of about 20 % fewer customers for reasons out side of our control. Each month we need to focus on getting and keeping New Business. Getting more and more creative with our “word of mouth” advertising and strong referral programs, in my opinion, work the best.
Next week I want to re-evaluate all of our expenses and really tighten up our efficiency and cost control. This way we might be able to pass along some of those savings to our guests for the new year. Over all we had approximately a 27% increase in business over last year. I am very pleased with our growth during this economic time and I am excited for the new year. Next week I will also have my monthly goals done, budgets in place and I can work on our advertising and promotional calendar for the year. I love what I do…….Happy New Year!!