Mathematically speaking, productivity is the percentage of time you are booked with services out of the total time you are available for booking. So if you're available to book appointments 40 hours per week and booked 10 hours' worth of appointments, you are at 25 percent productivity (10/40=.25).

Practically speaking, increasing productivity comes down to one simple concept: BOOK MORE APPOINTMENTS! While it sounds simple, it's actually a complex strategy that must be well thought out and executed. Addressing the following three questions can help you develop an effective strategy to increase productivity.

1. "What am I doing to retain my current clients?"

• Thank You Cards. Send Thank You cards to all new clients and to clients who refer new clients. Include business cards. Holiday cards and birthday cards are a great tool!

• Upsell Services. Convert your cut-only clients to color clients. It only takes a consultation!

• Phone Etiquette. Are your clients' calls answered and handled by a professional receptionist? If your clients must leave messages and wait for a return call and a rousing game of phone tag ensues, you will likely lose the game and the clients.

• Convenient Hours. Are you available when your clients want to be serviced? A balanced schedule is key to making sure clients have options for booking appointments. If you are scheduled 9-5 Monday thru Friday, any clients who work regular weekday hours will find it hard to book with you.

• Respect Clients' Time Schedule. Are you on time to service your clients, and do you provide those services in a reasonable time? Are you interrupted during the clients' service to answer the phone, handle walk-ins or sell retail products? Clients feel cheated when any of these interruptions occur. They feel they deserve your undivided attention when they are paying for your services.

2. "What am I doing to attract new clients?"

• Business Cards. Pass out your business cards at every opportunity. If you have free time on your books, take a trip to visit local businesses and talk to their employees. Set goals of how many cards to pass out each week, and don't stop until they are attained.

• Referral Program. Offer your existing clients a reward for each referral that books with you.

*Hint: use a retail product as a reward instead of $$$ off services. It is much less costly to give away a retail dollar than a service dollar. It's also a good tool to increase your retail sales by introducing new products.

• Direct Mail. "Use letters, postcards and/or greeting cards to reach local businesses and local residents. Having trouble booking in the middle of the day? Send out a "lunchtime special" promotion addressed to the staff of nearby businesses and watch your day fill up. You might be surprised how flexible people can be with lunch breaks!

3. "What am I doing to improve the speed and efficiency of my services?"

Work as if you are booked solid from the very beginning. It is very easy to establish bad habits when you are not booked. You might think, "Why rush if I don't have another appointment for 3 hours?" Here are a few reasons to develop efficient work habits:

• You might not have another appointment for three hours. However, your client probably doesn't have the same luxury.

• Clients often equate speed with quality, so if you are taking a long time with them, they may grow to resent it. Or sometimes even worse, they might come to expect it, which will cause you problems as you grow.

• Bad habits are hard to break. As you hone your skills, speed counts. Time yourself and set goals for your service times.

*Hint: consider how long the busiest person in the salon books for the same service.

After designing your strategy, make it happen. The best-laid plans will not increase your productivity if they are not implemented. Stick with the strategy through a predetermined time frame (six months or one year is best) and track the results. Knowing each component's return on investment will help you to determine what strategies work and which ones do not.

Sheri Smith is co-owner of Salon Service Central, a one-stop solution for individuals and salons that need receptionist services as well as business management and marketing resources. Visit www.salonservicecentral.com for more information.