When you’re opening a new salon, finding talent can be tricky especially when targeting a team willing to service all types and textures of hair.   We also wanted at least one specialist in each discipline.   We will be open seven days a week and our sales and scheduling plan helped us determine we want eight full-time stylists at opening. It’s four months before our opening, time to get started…

We used two techniques to build our network:

1. Get a Little Help from Friends

2. Grow Your Network

We are lucky Shannon has a HUGE network.  We began to speak to everyone we knew, in and outside the industry about our salon and our vision. We made several calls, kept our ear to the ground and beat the streets.   We quickly connected with a neighborhood stylist friend and two color educators who work with Shannon and want to move to NYC. Then, we connected with the head of education for a manufacturer that had an educator who had moved to NYC and was looking for a salon. 

Wow!  After several discussions, we have five on the team.  Next, we asked them who they know.  We met two other talented stylists who are now team members.

Lesson 1:  Don’t discount who you know. Talk to everyone, you’ll be surprised what you will find.

Growing your network is easy with social media.  Social media has presented an interesting way to connect and get the word out.

• We used Yelp reviews to learn about the salons in Brooklyn and what clients liked about the salon and the stylists.

• We connected with stylists on Facebook and Instagram and began to share our salon’s vision, values and culture.

• We created opportunities to meet and share who we are and our vision.

• Keep your eyes open, we all know a stylist when we see one.

While this approach takes time, it really gave us perspective on the talent in our community and what we needed to do to be THE salon in our community.  We’ve connected with more 50 stylists and we keep building the relationships.

Lesson 2:  Keep your eyes open and leverage social media to build a community of like-minded people, share your vision and build a real relationship. 

Our goal was to meet people, share our vision and see who they know.  We hired one stylist and an assistant through our focus on growing our network.  It’s been great, everyone we’ve connected with came to our grand opening. They come by and visit, refer clients if we offer a service they don’t and we’ve built a real network.  It sounds like it’s easy but it really takes serious focus.

Chat soon!
Allyson and Shannon King
Co-Owners Hair & Co BKLYN

Did you miss Shannon and Allyson King's former blogs as they open their dream salon in Brooklyn. Catch up on their journey!

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