LET’S GET TO WORK #SalonSmartLive
Salon Smart is always full of business insight, expert ideas and questions that get everyone sharing. Let’s see how these conversations got started…
What Does Moving on Mean to You?
“Hello, my name is David Attenborough…” hang on, what?! Monica Teodoro, general manager of L’Oréal Professionnel in the UK and Ireland, certainly got everyone’s attention with that introduction – illustrating the enormous impact the 94-year-old had when he joined Instagram recently. But Monica’s point was that Attenborough’s message was one of hope, one that broke down the global climate situation into three parts that were just as applicable to our industry right now: reset, restart, rebuild.
Monica discussed the very latest insight from L’Oréal Professionnel, revealing women’s fears about returning to the salon, and the experiences those who do are enjoying the most. She closed by encouraging the audience to take time to reflect and analyse business. We repeat: what does moving on mean to you?
On the Menu: What a client wants
With an eye for identifying emerging trends and opportunities for growth, the managing director of Threads & Co, Matt Bartell is constantly evolving his salon offering to best serve client demand. Speaking at Salon Smart Live, he shared his experiences of successfully diversifying the salon menu through the introduction of new treatments, alongside Treatwell’s lead product manager, Laura Howard.
Together, the pair highlighted some of the vital ways to get the most out of your salon menu – from researching potential return on investment to the value of educating staff and promoting new services digitally. “You have to leverage the power of online when promoting a new service. Social media is the fastest and easiest way to shout about the service,” Matt explained. “Education for clients is key. Share a tutorial on Instagram or Facebook and educate them on the product or service,” he suggested. “Utilise Treatwell to update the menu and gauge reaction from the reviews. It’s the most honest way to get feedback from clients and adapt,” Matt added. “Don’t over analyse, but keep that momentum and excitement going long term after launch day.”
Same, But Different. Why It Pays To [Really] Know Your Client
Treatwell’s senior product analyst, Dennis Meisner, was on hand to explain the difference between the ‘online’ and ‘offline’ client – and how to understand and engage with both. He has a pretty good insight, considering there are 30,000 salons across 11 countries on Treatwell’s booking platform – that means 250,000 users every day, and bookings are made every 1.6 seconds.
Dennis talked about the importance of exceeding your customers’ expectations, and in order to do that, you really need to know who they are. He took the audience through client data profiles, observing the services that were booked, where and when. He also considered if those clients left reviews, which can reveal really good information. Now, you have not an anonymous client, but a better idea of who they are – and you can use this to grow your business.
Real Stories: The Transformative Power of Change
Ken West is a Salon Smart legend, and he had some tough words for our audience, mainly concerning the need for change and to be proactively tracking income generation. As he said rather frankly: “by changing nothing, nothing changes”
The director of 3·6·5 Education then went on to discuss two case studies of groups he’s worked with over recent months. The Charlie Miller salon group in Edinburgh was keen to change up its pay structure, but there was a fear of change. When Ken shared the 3·6·5 concept, Josh Miller’s response was: ‘Is it that simple?!’
The second case study involved the Financial Zoomers, a group of salon owners he worked with on the popular video conferencing platform during lockdown. This is where he really delved into the nitty gritty of understanding how precisely your business generates its income, how many clients you need to serve, how to manage new costs, such as PPE and loan repayments, and so on. All this to help you achieve longterm business success.
Sustainability Lift-Off
Journalist, author and broadcaster, Lucy Siegle took to the set on behalf of L’Oréal Professionnel to host a sustainability workshop designed to challenge day-to-day practice, while unveiling her 10-point plan for in-salon environmental change.
“I don’t think we talk enough – I want your help with that!” said Lucy, admitting that sustainability is such a complex concept. But there is a scary future unless change happens: there are species of elephants that might be extinct in the next decade. One in four plants is under threat. “Most people want to do the right thing, but they want to know the thing they’re doing is achievable and worth their time.”
Lucy admitted she was focusing on hairdressers because we have people in our chairs for a reasonable amount of time, and we can have a real impact with lots of different ways of approaching and sharing these stories. We need to move to a circular economy where resources are reused – do an audit by measuring what you use at the moment, and what is possible to do going forward. And make your client your eco ally! Have conversations about using a Smart Meter, about switching energy suppliers, about minimising plastic waste – and more!
Hungry for more? Then let’s do lunch – The Working Lunch!
The Golden Rules of Email Marketing
Hosted by Zoé Bélisle-Springer from Phorest Salon Software, this Working Lunch masterclass session provided insight on crafting the most impactful client email communications. A few highlights included the ideal number of characters in a subject line (17 to 24, seeing as you’re asking), how using imagery showing humans gets more interaction and the free resources out there to help you build a brilliant email. You’ve got mail!
Retails of the Unexpected
ghd’s head of education for UK and Ireland, Janine Jennings teamed up with key account educator, Grant Williams to share the secret to high-ticket retail success. Turns out, it’s as simple as knowing who’s sitting in your chair.
After outlining the four buying mindsets (the impulse buyer, the savvy shopper, the gift giver and the brand loyalist), Janine shared how in almost every instance, the key to turning client interest into client purchase is to get the product into their hands while they’re in the salon. “Eighty-nine per cent of consumers buy a product they’ve demoed or tried out,” Janine explained. “Keep it basic, explain why they need it and utilise self or air styling to seal the deal.”
Get Connected
With vast management experience in the industry, Ian Broderick joined Treatwell’s Commercial Account Manager, Jessica Goulding, to discuss creating a dream team – from successfully hiring to getting organised and creating a great team culture. When it comes to recruiting new members, Ian suggested using tools such as Treatwell Connect to find new talent and connect digitally. “Don’t always wait for CVs to come to you. Use all software available to approach others. Being headhunted in this industry is very flattering,” he explained. Ian and Jess also discussed the importance of building a great team environment, with both re-iterating the importance of communicating in order to work towards a common salon goal. “Always set and manage expectations right from the beginning. You need to help staff along the journey, rather than offering a history lesson,” Ian added.
Doubling down on Data
As mentioned several times throughout the day, data really is the key to unlocking success for both you and your staff. The B2B team at L’Oréal Professionnel efficiently broke down the results of a huge survey of post-lockdown clients during its Working Lunch masterclass*, with efficient conclusions and summaries to help delegates excel and leverage trends in hair, health and wellbeing. These straight-talking stats broke down which clients were returning and why – or why not – as well as key data points to help salons target specific areas of potential growth. Results, emotion and experience are the main drivers to have clients return to the salon, but the current consumer is totally different to the one that went into lockdown.
Protect your business, team and client experience with consultations
Annabel Mawdsley and Hollie Power headed up the Timely session discussing that now the new norm is constantly changing, it’s key to shift the way we work in order to keep business strong, and Timely has the solution: delegation of administration to a digital system. Timely is able to organise all your paperwork online, in one place. Utilise it for all your admin needs from virtual consultations, appointment management software to client information, which can be accessed wherever you are, hassle free. As Annabel said: “Administration is done for you and cheaper than a staff member – it’s a full-time receptionist 24/7!”. Bag yourself 50 per cent off your first two months with Timely with its unique special-offer code for all Salon Smart Live delegates.
*All data shared in the L’Oréal Professionnel masterclass is L’ORÉAL Intellectual Property and cannot be published without L’ORÉAL authorisation
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