The Hair salon the experience Business:

Back2myroots : A place to share thoughts and grow idea's. B2MR

What is the hair salon or Spa? What business are we in? What is it we are selling or producing? Yes it's. Hair cutting or colouring or a variety of the many services we offer as a salon or spa. Consider this we are really selling or providing an experience.Oh and we are the product that makes this happen.

Lets take a look at this together:

We are in the business of pampering. Do you think your client comes to you wanting expecting the same as last time! NO! They trust you. They come to you because they like you. How easy it is to forget that we have the power the skill the knowledge to make them feel special look great.it's so easy to get complacent.

Where does this all stem from the Consultation. Our time to review past styles and looks and suggest the new! The upgrade! That shared suggestion of a new colour a new look. It shows you care ! It's not selling. It advising it's what you me we are paid for 'expertise'.

This process of taking the time to talk and assess with your client should happen every time they come for an appointment. Not only with new clients and then on odd times there after. We are constantly looking for and indeed advertise for new clients: Did you know that on average over 50% of new clients to a salon never return for a second visit! Maybe just maybe we need to look at this! Maybe we need to do something differently or make some changes.

For change to happen:

How do we make change happen, what do we need? Firstly we need to know that if nothing changes if we keep doing the same old thing we get the same old results! Change is scary change is challenging! How about change is exciting. No one likes change it takes us out side our comfort zone. However scary it is such a positive move to make to reassess goals and vision to take control. To honestly look at what you can do differently where those weaknesses might be.

Have a goal as a salon to keep as many new clients as possible  look at what you do what you offer and how you perform. The service.That consultation. The salon and indeed staff image the atmosphere. The right team with the same vision on the right tracks!

An example of change.

Last week i gave my wife a new cut and colour. I gave her a lesson in styling the new look. I gave her  a brush. Today she was doing her hair ad i suggested that for the new look to work she had to make  a change! If she intended on styling her hair the way it was before then it would not look any different. For change to happen she had to change the way she was styling her hair! She laughed and agreed but it's not easy she said! True but nothing is unless you practice you get out what you put in! I re did her hair for her and suggested she practice doing things differently! Thus making change happen. Lesson change is not easy!

Asking for help. Doing research.

It takes a bigger person to ask for help than to just muddle along. Expecting different results without making any change. Admitting to ones self that change is needed and that it might well take some time commitment and work. But know this every thing is possible. With time patients and willingness for change to happen.

The key's:

Creative thinking:

Innovative thinking:

Collaboration with staff and or team mates:

Communication:

Commitment to the process:

Some useful tools and assistance links:

The First Piece of the Jigsaw eBook

Get Off the Sales Roller-coaster eBook

Below a great read to get you and your team ting about your salon vision and goals!

Double Your Salon Sales - or else

For support mentoring a challenge to you and your business Away forward check out all the online group resourses this great program has to offer.

The Salon Success Club

The dynamic's of the hair salon. The hair business.

Back2myroots : A place to share thoughts and grow idea's. B2MR

Owning a salon. 

Running a successful business has many challenges yet equally can be so rewarding. You get out what you put in. As a salon owner you have to wear so many hats. Think about all the jobs you do out side of hands on hair. How do you ever find time to service your clients. Like so many salon owners is it a juggling act. Do you wish you had another pair of hands or could delegate more? Are you a leader able to delegate or are you one who keeps a tight hand on the reins? If so could this tight rein be holding you back?

Why do I raise such questions?

The dynamic's of a hair salon are quite complex for many reason's it can run either like a well oiled machine or it can stumble along never really functioning to it's full potential.Why is this? What turns function into dysfunction? When or how does it happen?

Vision goals communication:

As a salon owner or indeed as a stylist. When you started in the profession you must of had a vision of what you expected it to be like.

A vision for your salon your business that perfect salon. As a stylist maybe it was the path you had plotted for your career, your success. Take a moment are you still realising that vision or have you compromised got slightly derailed? Don't be discourage it happens without even noticing! Why? Because we are to busy being busy.We lose focus we forget the plot.

Dysfunction creeps in due to. Loss of vision. Lack of strong leadership. Communication breaks down. Collaboration between team members breaks down. Negative competition creeps in. This leads to break down in morale and so effects the working environment and atmosphere. Client can and do pick up on this! This can be cause loss of client retention and so decline in business.

What is required is positive interaction and communication! as above maybe not!

Can this be avoided?

Yes of course it can. I'm not suggesting that this is the case in every salon.What i am suggesting is it can so easily happen.To avoid this sometime professional help is required an outside opinion on how things are looking and running. This takes courage. This takes a honest look in that mirror ask your self the questions. Is my vision a reality? It's hard to be honest with yourself!!

Are you as the owner leader manager communicating with your team? Do you have the right team. Are they on board with your vision? Have you ever shared that vision with them? As a staff team member are you getting the support you would like? Is your vision of being a stylist on track? Are you a team player?

 Do you have? Regular meeting. Do you openly discuss CHANGE and IMPROVEMENT! Are you honest with each other.

Sit together have an open face to face discussion:

What is required for change:

What is required for change to happen. Honest constructive Dialogue. Collaboration. Want for change. Vision supported with Innovative thinking. Willingness to work together through the challenges to make change happen. 'COMMITMENT'.

Working in a salon being a part of a team.

Maybe your renting a chair in a salon have your own business? The above still applies,Not all competition is healthy it can become negative and destructive for all parties! We have responsibility to. Our selves. Our work mates. Very importantly our clients. To have a full understanding of the salon our workplace our shared vision our goals .To help each other reach these goals.TEAM WORK!

Then there is finding time to reflect on.

The direction you and your business are going in. The service you offer the standard of work being done. What ever your business model. How often do you take the time to reflect on any of these topic's in an honest reflective manner? We have to find time take the time to explore avenues to offer help advise guidance.Training up grades staying current with all aspects of our career and business. Seeking out and getting help and advise when required.

On top of all this. New products. New techniques. The challenges of running owning managing a business are is huge. Not to mention the managing of people staff issues it's so much to deal with. How do you? Help is at hand. All you have to do is seek it out be ready and open for change! The challenges it can bring!

Help can be found in many forms, to help and guide you on a journey to reach your true business potential.It is a partnership in as much as you still have to work face challenges make some decisions. You are guided mentored and encouraged supported all the way. Online support both audio and visual downloadable material.weekly updates and check in. Such a worth while programme that will inspire you and your team onto bigger and better. How do i know I did it!

 Below are some useful links:

Three very use books and tools all designed to inspire and challenge you to great things.
The First Piece of the Jigsaw eBook
Get Off the Sales Roller-coaster eBook
Double Your Salon Sales - or else

Link to the salon success club all the support you need to make change happen!

The Salon Success Club

Any questions please feel free to email me or post a question i will respond. Are you ready for. A new look at what you do, how and why. Are you ready to step out of your comfort zone? are you ready for a challenge?

Mike B2MR

What next in the hair Industry.

Welcome to BACK2MYROOTS B2MR. Regular postings of fresh new topic's 

sharing techniques

A little self indulgent. As I write these blogs and post articles. I pause I take time to reflect on what next.
I constantly search for new places to connect with other professionals and groups to stay current to stay in touch with all that is new and topical.
Where does the next challenge lie? What direction will my career take me in. Will any more doors open. What opportunities will arise. I trust that if one puts out positive thought supported with positive action only good can come from it. Sharing what you know the experience you have is also key

What do I miss being behind a chair? What would I like to do next ? A hard one to answer being honest with one's self! I think we have to constantly move forward grow and face new challenges.  My career to date has afforded me so many opportunities. Many of these just seem to appear come out of left field. So I have to trust an opportunity will come out of all this Net working and Blogging.
At present I am really enjoying and learning so much about both the internet and connecting up all the various media applications available to us.

My passions being. Working with others. To share the experience I have gained over the years.
From.Platform work in conjunction with. Artistic team work. Education work or just working with Individual salons and hairdressers. To improve skill and knowledge. I really think that the keys to individual successes vary for us all .We are all different  we all have different challenges and motivation.We all have different standards this is dependent on the Individual and their situation.

These situation and standards vary so much.

If in a salon.

Relationships between. Owner. Management. Staff team. Image. Service. Consultation. Sales skills. Product knowledge. Jointly sharing a vision those goals.

For the individual stylist. Service first and foremost!

Education. knowledge. Technical skills. Communication skill. Consultation skills. People skills.  Followed by goals, motivation ,inspiration, creativity.

Opportunities career direction.

Colour technician. Educator for colour company.Platform artist.Artistic team member.

Salon.

Competition work. Photo shoots. In house model nights and training, product knowledge.

All these above are aspects of our industry. The things that all salons at some point need to look at, they need to address these to stay current. To keep up with the constant changes and demands in our industry.

With so many distributors. Offering products on line, having face book pages, being interactive with clients. Those clients being us the salon owners. The stylist.  The support required is both. Practical. Technical. It's help and advise, access to demonstrations, education events, knowledge sharing.

The perfect situation would be, to work with a distributor, to share knowledge and experience. Whilst promoting products through. Education. Service and consultation skills,

This i did very successfully. Whilst working with a major distributor, doing platform work and artist   team work, all whilst representing a major colour company. It is my belief that education and sales go hand in hand. Sales funds education, education, stimulates sales. Through knowledge and experience.

At this point in my career I'm beginning to feel that I having a full understanding of all the different products sold over the counter. Having said that they still keep changing tweaking re packaging. We have to stay on top of. How they work.What's in them.and why.It's essential to stay current and keep up with these ever changing products and the technology they bring.

We have to be able to. Explain and give reason to clients.What these products do show why. The services we offer and perform are worth while. That we are the experts. Who understand the chemistry of hair, also understands the down side and indeed pitfalls, that can be associated with, the use of some of these unprofessional store purchased products, be that colour or home hair relaxer's.

From a clients point view. They can only know what, the adverts and media portray. They don't know or have the product knowledge. To understand what might happen. What the ramifications could be from misuse, that's out job. The professional. To advise.To recommend. To inform. This is not selling. this is doing our job and the consultation correctly. Being totally professional.

Back to me. My next path. My Journey. Will it be. Education. consultation and sharing Promoting Education training and work ethic's an opportunity doing any of these are my goal.  year. Using all the experience I  have gained along with my belief in. Raising both the bar and indeed the awareness of issue relating to our profession.Working with and helping others to grow. To be as successful as they want to be, for it is in every ones hands. To make the changes to grow and succeed.
What ever you read and see on the internet offering help and advise always do lots of re search ! Some of that advise is polluted tainted just bad. Be warned get informed.  

Growing and developing our Business:

How do we do this without investment ? what do we invest in? what do we expect to see as our return on investment? How do we decide?

So many thoughts and questions :

Are you like so many your salon is a good steady business but you feel it could be more. It has so much potential if only.

We had a higher profile!

If i could attract another really good stylist!

if we had more client retention?

If overall sales were higher.

Stylist demand so much. Commission Chair rental. issues!

How do you reach these goals these targets? How do you decide on a path to reach your goals is it possible?

The answer is a very big yes! But sometimes you are so much part of the salon and so part of the issues you cannot step back a look at things in a new and different way.

With over 35 years in this industry my goal is to help advise and get you to that next level is it a journey you want to take?  then lets connect. lets see if we can work together for like a client stylist relationship it has to work are you up for a challenge.

If so all my contact details are and brief bio on my web site:

                                                      http://www.back2myroots.co.uk/

Lets get you on a new road lets take a journey together.

Mike B2MR

An interesting group and forum for discussion.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=3162242&trk=eml-grp-sub