Zoom Zoom Salon Marketing
IT’S A MARKETING STRATEGY that allows their salon’s logo to cross the eyes of onlookers at least once per minute! In a quick 100-lap circuit, Lisa Thomas Salon’s red and black racecar loops around the track fl ashing not only a shiny number 8, but a gorgeous hair model and a billboard size “Lisa Thomas Salon” logo. This visual stimulus gets fans chatting and asking: What does Lisa Thomas Salon do? Where are you located? “Racing has created a conversation forum for our salon business,” says Tom Kmak, owner of Lisa Thomas Salon with locations in Orland Park and Tinley Park, Illinois. “Fans like to be affiliated with both our business and our race car. Success breeds success!”
Service Spotlight: Color Me Baby
SOME EXPECTANT MOTHERS still worry about coloring their hair during pregnancy. Salon owner Rick Fogarty of Plan B Cut and Color Boutique, in Cambridge, MA, realized a growing need for less invasive color service and felt the “Healthy Glow” associated with pregnancy “shouldn’t end at the neck.” With this in mind, he developed a technique for off-the-scalp color applications called Color Me Baby, exclusive to his salon.
May Musts
Do your retail lines meet the unique needs of your client market? Consider this:
Choosing the Right Partner
Malcolm Sillars, a veteran distributor sales consultant, wanted to put his industry knowledge to work and open his own salon. He combined his business skills with the creative talents of stylist Jan Marie DeDolce and, undeterred by a tough economy, opened the doors of Teeze Salon in Lyndhurst, New Jersey in August 2010.
Phone Swipe Credit Card Reader
NORTH AMERICAN BANCARD is launching its new Phone Swipe—a free app and credit card reader that will transform smart phones into a mobile point-of-sale terminal. This mobile credit card processing solution attaches to the bottom of the phone and will accept credit cards. This option will help you be able to bring business directly to your customers, increase revenue, expand your customer base and increase market reach. Visit nynab.com or call 866-481-4604.
Six Figure Hairdresser
THE NEXT TIME YOUR STAFF COMPLAINS about income potential, point them to their smartphones for a proactive tool that helps them help themselves. Six Figure Hairdresser a new app released for iPad and iPhone, coaches motivated hairdressers to build their careers to the six-figure level. The app includes 10 modules that cover everything from building client relationships to using technology and social media.
Perspectives: Salon Inventory Management
It’s the ultimate balancing act. You never want to run out of a product, but you don’t want to purchase so much that products are gathering dust on your shelves or in the dispensary. Three experts, a salon owner, president of a product manufacturer and a distributor marketing director, share how to get the numbers right. Read perspectives from Dawn Marie Walstrom, Jim DeBerry and Kim McMurphy on “What is the key to Salon Inventory Management”.
Design: Joseph Cozza Salon
MOST 25-YEAR-OLDS don’t have facelifts, but when you’re talking about an established salon business, a little nip and tuck may be in order. As the Joseph Cozza Salon celebrated its silver year in the heart of San Francisco’s style district, owners Joseph Cozza and Joe Bisazza transformed its 9,300 square feet into a sleek and contemporary space.
Outloud: Your Salon's Biggest Challenge?
When you’re the owner of your own business, there’s a challenge around every corner and it’s your responsibility to search for the solution. SALON TODAY wondered what’s top-of-mind for today’s salon and spa owners, so we asked: What’s the biggest challenge your salon currently faces?
Collective-Buying Coupons
Group-buying sites, such as Groupon and LivingSocial, are the latest craze among the price-obsessed consumer, and the next evolutionary step in the social media craze. Rather than offer standard discounts, these sites allow for business to get involved with ‘collective buying,’ meaning they offer a discounted rate to consumers only after a certain number of people have agreed to pay the discount. But how do they impact the business owners who offer their products and services? Some salons believe they are an effective way of bringing in new clients in a tough economic climate, others think they only attract fair-weather fans who are only after the discount and that the price for that is simply too high.
Outloud: Marketing Feather Extensions
The spring beauty shows were aflutter with feather extensions. Salon Today was intrigued, but wondered if clients are equally excited about the trend, so we asked salons what’s hot in their own markets, how they are marketing feathers and how clients are responding.
Forecasting Figures
As the mid-year point rapidly approaches, Salon Today wondered how 2011 is shaping up in comparison to its predecessors, so we posed a round of forecasting questions to a sample of owners from our proview panel. All in all, it seems salons are planning for growth:
by Stacey Soble
International Exchange: Salon Swap
A chance meeting at an industry event leads the management of two salons to temporarily trade places to share strengths with one another.
by Stacey Soble
Develop a Finely Tune Inventory Control System
One of the most overlooked and misunderstood salon areas is inventory control. Learn how to develop a finely tuned, automatic system that ensures smooth retail sales, boosts profitability and frees up your cash flow.
PBA Salon/Spa Performance Index Results
Driven by stronger retail sales, customer traffic, labor and capital spending, the Professional Beauty Association’s (PBA) Salon & Spa Performance Index (SSPI) rose to 104 in the first quarter—up 0.4 percent from the fourth quarter 2010 and up 0.8 percent year over year. Read the entire report now.
The 12-Step Rx to Work/Life Balance
“There’s more to life than work.” Jim Lafferty states that not with sarcasm but with concern. He feels that many of us have sacrificed health, love and fun by letting work dominate our lives. A fitness trainer who reinvented himself as a business executive, Lafferty first climbed the ranks of Procter & Gamble and today is CEO of Coca-Cola-West Africa. Speaking recently to a roomful of salon professionals at the 2011 ABS Business Forum, Lafferty drew upon his personal triumphs and missteps to present a 12-step prescription for work/life balance.
Mid-Year Beauty Trends to Help You Plan
As I was traveling to the International SalonSpa Business Network in Amelia Island, Florida, this week, I took a moment to identify seven mid-year trends that will continue to impact the beauty industry in the near future. As you begin your planning for the end of 2011 and into 2012, keep these top trends in mind:
by Bart Foreman