In what turned out to be a celebratory reunion for many, the Data-Driven Salon Summit drew salon, spa and barbershop owners, managers and thought leaders to study metrics and seek new growth opportunities. The event, which is organized by SALON TODAY, MODERN SALON and NAILS was co-located this year with America’s Beauty Show in Chicago, September 12-13.

Changing the lyrics to the classic Poison hit to “Talk Data to Me,” Salon Leaders Rowena Yeager and Jen LeBlanc opened the event by singing, playing air guitar and throwing T-shirts to the crowd. They then took a futuristic look at KPIs, such as deskless salons, online retail and staff retention metrics. The duo conducted the session like their Clubhouse Room Leadershift Circle, calling owners to the microphone to share their own ideas.

Yeager and LeBlanc encouraged the audience to shed their old mindset to protect their culture. “A mindset shift will strengthen your values and revolutionize your culture,” said Yeager. “Be the type of leader people want to go to war with, not against.”

To illustrate the strong connection service providers have with their clients, Phorest’s Barry Quinn asked, “What was the most searched question on Google in April 2020?” The answer: “When will my salon reopen?”

Then, Quinn shone a light on an opportunity by sharing “94% of all professional haircare products are not sold in salons anymore.” He introduced Phorest’s new Retail Booster as a way each salon could engage their ‘1000 true fans’ by promoting the right product to the right client at the moment they are ready to buy.

Next, Kati Whitledge, owner of Be Inspired Salon, studied how major corporations are using neuromarketing strategies to reach new customers and hit higher revenue goals. “Intuition and instinct govern 95% of your brain’s thinking—it’s nonconscious, fast, automatic, associative, governed by habit and emotional,” she said. “Our clients aren’t rational decision makers, they are intuitive decision makers.”

Whitledge then showed the audience some neuromarketing techniques, including priming and conditioning, memberships, anchoring and selling to the senses. “The brain-friendly salon is easy to find, easy to choose and eases the pain of paying,” she said.

Twins and business partners in two Lucious & Co. salon locations, Liz and Jess Arrindell demonstrated how they’ve created a point of differentiation in their market by specializing in extensions. After finding a solid partnership with Great Lengths, the Arridells say their business took off, creating new revenue for their salon, as well as for their team members who decided to specialize in extensions.

The proof is in their data, and the Arrindells compared average metrics from their extension artists to those of their colorists. Extension artists have a client retention rate of 99%, while colorists maintain 84%; the client frequency of visit for extension artists is 3.37 times in four months versus the colorist’s 2 times in the same period; and the average ticket for extension artists is $641 versus $347 for colorists.

“Forty percent of our annual revenue is made up of extension services and sales, and 85% of our extension customers convert their color, straightening and stylist services to us eventually,” Liz Arrindell shared.

In a groundbreaking conversation, Allyson and Shannon King from Hair & Co. BKLYN, Jean Jekal from Jean Jekal Cut|Color|Design and Emily Hutcheson-Brown from V’s Barbershop talked about how the ethnic fabric of our country is changing and how diversifying your team members, your clients and your service menu will drive opportunity now and in the future.

The Kings, who are a mixed-race couple, intentionally built their salon culture around serving all hair types. “Our motivation was our daughter Sydney—we never want her to walk in a salon and be turned away,” Allyson says. “According to PEW Research who studied U.S. Census data, by 2050, the majority of your clients won’t look like me (white).”

“There is 14.8 trillion in buying power nationally, and almost four trillion of that is from non-white consumers,” Shannon added. “And, that percentage is growing by 30 percent a year.”

DaySmart’s Andrea Miller took the stage to help owners and managers understand how to study their marketing data and invest in the right tactics to reach their audience. “According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, companies with net margins in the 10-12 percent range and revenue less than $5 million should allocate 7-8% of revenue to marketing,” she said.

After getting volunteers onstage to record a Tik Tok video, Cameron Kepford, owner of Haus of Heir salon and a rising influencer talked to owners about the best ways to promote themselves and their businesses through social media. “The keys to success are being authentic in your posts, engaging and your followers, and showing them a glimpse into your life and personality as well as your salon,” he says. “What works for me might not be right for you.”

Kepford grew his following by posting Tik Tok videos of himself dancing with his foil-headed clients while they were processing. The posts went viral, and before he knew it new guests were coming in to make an appointment with him because they also wanted to create a Tik Tok dance video.

Lisa Starr is a principal with Wynne Business Consulting and Education and a frequent collaborator with Mindbody. She helped the audience of owners and managers optimize their operations while providing an exceptional experience for their guests.

“We are staging experiences, not processing transactions, filling orders, getting ‘em in and out as fast as possible or even becoming their best friends,” she says. “World class service requires protocols and procedures that enable us to deliver consistent service outcomes, prevent surprises and disappointments, give us confidence and enable us to measure outcomes and improve.”

Vish’s Tim Howard took to the DDSS stage to break down the business of color, including uncovering simple ways to take back color revenue lost in translation from the chair to the front desk, learning new strategies for pricing color services and recalibrating color strategy armed with real data.

“In the 1950s only about 8 percent of women got their hair colored, now it’s more like 85 percent of services that charge hundreds of dollars,” Howard says. “But as we’ve innovated the color category, we haven’t innovated the managing of color business at the same rate.”

When Talent Match’s Stefanie Fox asked graduating students about their plans after graduation, 67% planned to work at a salon as an employee, while 33% planned to work for themselves. But when she asked them if they eventually want to booth rent, 73% said yes. The good new is 73% said they would stay working as an employee if they felt the salon could meet all their needs.

“What are the needs of today’s workforce?” asked Fox. “In descending order they want flexible schedules, a great leader, education, compensation, an awesome team and paid time off/benefits—notice compensation is forth on their list.”

Kopsa Otte’s April McDaniel took the audience on a wild ride of what salon taxes look like after the pandemic, but also explored pending legislation that could mean big changes for owners. “Don’t forget, nothing is permanent in Washington,” she said. “What you can do is be informed, watching Washington, read our newsletters, ask questions, assemble a professional team and be prepared to move quickly.

During two best practice panel sessions, industry experts shared their thoughts on technology, scaling a salon business, staff recruitment and rebuilding after the pandemic. Panelists included Millennium Systems International’s John Harms,  Boulevard’s Shanalie Wijesinghe, Hair Success Salons and Day Spas’ Jill Krahn, Vagaro’s Fred Helou, Salon Professional Education Company’s Matt Schmoker and Aura Salonware’s Ronnie Appel.