The Social Media Tools You Need To Succeed
Do you Tweet? Blog? Have Facebook fans? Post to YouTube? If you do, or you do not, and you are interested in learning some tips and advice on how to efficiently use social media for promotion, client engagement and building low-cost widespread visibility for your salon/spa business, you’re going to want to read my blog!!
Beauty Day on Capitol Hill
It’s good to stretch beyond your comfort zone, and in September I stretched beyond mine when I join the Professional Beauty Association and a host of salon owners on Capitol Hill to lobby our representatives on The Small Business Tax Equalization and Compliance Act. After a full day of lobbying, we joined more than 144 volunteers in offering complimentary beauty services to members of Congress and their staffers at the Professional Beauty Federation's 11th annual Welcome to Our World. (The Professional Beauty Federation is an organization that represents the interests of the professional beauty industry—Federation members include the Professional Beauty Association, International SalonSpa Business Network, American Association of Cosmetology Schools, International Spa Association, JCPenney Salons and OPI Products.)
by Stacey Soble
UPDATED 10/22 Ongoing Blog: Salons, Companies and Stylists For Breast Cancer Awareness
Read about the initiatives beauty companies, salons and stylists are doing to raise breast cancer awareness, in response to October's Breast Cancer Awareness month. If you or your salon/company is doing anything (fundraisers, makeovers, walks...etc) towards the cause, please e-mail me, Associate Editor, Lauren Salapatek at lsalapatek@vancepublishing.com. I am trying to post as many stories as I can in this ongoing blog!Now, read to see what your peers are doing!
Open Your Doors to New Clients
Going to the salon is so much more than just getting your hair done. It's a chance to relax, hang out in a cool place, and catch up with a friend. A salon appointment is as much a social experience as it is a service. Atmosphere and personality are what separate one salon from another, and for this reason, a person's salon choice can be based as much on these attributes as on stylists' skills.
by Meg McCall
Mentoring Your Front Desk
While having a successful, revenue-generating front desk is extremely important in this industry, one problem that I see in salons that seems to go unnoticed is the value of coaching the front desk support team, individually, on a regular basis.
What's Your Brown M&M?
In June, I wrote the following column about how Van Halen's David Lee Roth used to hide a clause about brown M&Ms in his contract to make sure that venue's organizers read and digested the contract's details. Since then, a handful of readers contacted me to share their own brown M&M stories, which makes me want to hear more!
by Stacey Soble
Cultivating Team Synergy
This past weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, I had the opportunity to talk to more than 100 salon owners and distributor sales consultants about common challenges that salons face concerning the front desk. After the presentation, I was approached by a salon owner with this question: "Why won't my front desk staff sell retail?" I thought about it a minute and replied, "Do the service providers tell the front desk which products were recommended during the service?" It was like a lightbulb went off in her head. "Well, not that I know of..."
An Ah-ha Moment at the DMV
I truly loathe those necessary trips to California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). When I moved to this state two years ago, it required three separate trips and a total of six hours of waiting in line to get our family's three cars registered. But, it was the seemingly unfriendly, uncaring attitudes of the DMV staff that sent me over the edge. Realizing that another long wait, a written test and more crankiness was in my future, I've been resisting going in to get my actual driver's license changed.
by Stacey Soble
Will Your Face Grace Our Cover?
Over the past year, the SALON TODAY team has had multiple opportunities to interact face to face with salon owners, including Serious Business, ISSE, America's Beauty Show, the Premiere Orlando Beauty Event, and most recently the Harms Millennium UGC. Each time, we've solicited feedback from owners regarding the big changes we made to the SALON TODAY 200, and we addressed questions from owners about how the can improve their chances. In an effort of fairness, I wanted to share my advice with everyone!
by Stacey Soble
A Front Desk Dream Come True
Have you ever wished your front desk team would try harder to upgrade the client's phone appointment by making additional service offerings? Do you find yourself wondering how they could miss great opportunities to offer gift cards or wishing they were more focused on closing the retail sale?
Keeping it Personal with Technology
The personal time and attention you give your clients is what keeps them coming back. You know their likes and dislikes (the more blonde the better!), their triumphs and failures, and even their plans for the weekend. The client-stylist bond is sacrosanct.
by Meg McCall
Walking in Your Shoes
When it comes to solid business education, financial gurus, motivating consultants, and even iconic stylists are great. But sometimes, the best business education comes from other owners just like you--those who fight the same daily struggle to continue to build and grow a successful salon business. Owners, who have developed their own little area of expertise along the way, simply by experimenting, sometimes failing, and eventually perfecting an idea.
by Stacey Soble
The Pulse of the Industry
I had the opportunity to help kick off the recent International SalonSpa Business Network (ISBN) Conference by doing what I do everyday—asking industry thought leaders for their opinions on a variety of topics. But, this time I did it live and in front of an audience, as I was invited to moderate the conference's State of the Industry Panel.
by Stacey Soble
Doing Business with Heart
A few weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, I interviewed about a dozen salon owners, service providers, and industry leaders who lived and worked in the region—many of whom had lost their businesses and their homes. The feature, which I wrote for MODERN SALON, focused on the positive—on how salon owners and stylists, who were typically competitors, were stepping in and helping one other out. I'll never forget any of those interviews—they were the most intense, passionate, and heartfelt conversations I've ever experienced, and I believe the resulting story exposed the true beauty of this caring industry.
by Stacey Soble
Why Your Salon Needs a Website
When was the last time you picked up the Yellow Pages to search for the number of a local business? OK, when was the last time one of your young staff members accessed the Yellow Pages? Do they even know what they are?
by Stacey Soble
Inspiration from the Doves
It's always a pleasure to interview the Doves. Their artistry is legendary, their work is sure to inspire, they always have a marketing tip handy, and yeah, I always get swept away by those great British accents. Now you can, too, as you listen to my audio interview with Sonya and Christopher Dove, owners of the Doves Studio in Santa Monica, California, and the creative directors for the North American division of Wella.
by Stacey Soble
What You Can Learn from a Pole Dancer
Want a more successful salon? Borrow a page from the book of your local yoga instructor or pole dancing teacher.
by Meg McCall