service fit for a princess

In London, we’re well-known for our celebrity clientele, from A-listers to royalty. Being lucky enough to look after VIP clients means we have to understand the unwritten rules of etiquette and behaviour when dealing with these clients. It’s a delicate, fine art—one that requires skill, training and practice—especially when it comes to newer or more junior team members. Low-key behaviour is essential. Appreciating just how big a deal a celebrity’s image is goes without saying. Giving advice on how to get it right when the event is watched by global media takes the average consultation to a different level, so sensitivity and excellent technical knowledge are non-negotiable.

By Hellen Ward, Managing Director, Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa, London

Hellen Ward

a matter of trustMost celebrities, like most regular clients, are generated from word of mouth recommendations. Trust is the most important element, and not just for celebrity clients. We are trusted with all manner of confidences on every level in our work as hairdressers, therapists and technicians. Discretion is critical. Proving you can handle the pressure of the media interest and will behave in the correct manner is vital. What’s more, “chair-side manner” is an under-rated skill and not often taught to fledgling team members. In our salon, most future talent is home grown, so the process occurs through subtle osmosis during our five year training program. We believe it’s vital to maintain our ethos of high profile client care.

Remember, also, that as wonderful as it is to look after an esteemed clientele, we must ensure that all of our customers experience the same level of service at the salon. Nothing irks me more than a regular salon client assuming that we aren’t going to treat her in the same manner as one of our celebrity clients, or that she isn’t as important to us. In our online world, it’s all too easy for someone to post a negative comment (“They didn’t treat me like a princess,” springs to mind, though it’s never been said—yet!) or assume we’re less likely to value our “bread and butter” customers or provide them with inferior service because they’re not celebrities. Nothing could be further than the truth, and I will not employ anybody who wants to work for us because of who they might get to know. They have to want to work here to look after the regular clients, not for the glitter and glamour that is associated with the higher profile clientele.

etiquette for high profile clients

Hi Everyone!Many of you remember Hellen from our cover last year-she and her husband Richard own the salon that was responsible for the royal wedding hair! Hellen’s also a well-respected business braniac-she just published a new salon business series that will be used as standard procedure for all salons in the U.K. Help me welcome her to the BTC family-she will be sharing her considerable knowledge in regular columns. - MARY

Richard Ward at work.

healthy respectMaking sure the team acts grounded is vital; being star struck and treating famous people differently is not usually what they want. I read recently where actor Colin Firth’s wife said she felt a bit overawed chatting with George Clooney, who she long admired. Then it hit her that it wouldn’t be very pleasant for him if she behaved abnormally or went into giddy, nervous schoolgirl mode. So she checked her behaviour and went on to thoroughly enjoy her time with him. All most high profile people really want is a natural, uncontrived conversation and a healthy respect of the client/hairdresser relationship—in other words, to know that you will act appropriately.

One famous British TV celebrity (she’s on your screens too) once set the record straight with me when visiting us for the first time. “Hellen,” she firmly stated. “I’m here because I got too close to my last hairdresser. It’s my fault, partly, because I let him in. We started talking about his divorce and before I knew it he was calling me at all hours because he thought I was his friend. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here for excellent hairdressing. I’m not going to fall into the same trap again!”

Quite right—clients (celebrities or not) are never our friends. It’s a fatal error to get too personal. We’ve all no doubt made the mistake of being over-familiar with people only to regret it when the dynamics of the relationship shift and the customer/server element gets distorted. The distinction should be crystal clear.

Tactfully dealing with the resulting publicity of celebrity clients is another important element. It goes without saying that the front person needs to be media savvy—and the on-job training only comes with experience. However, ensuring you are maximizing your brand potential while being true and honest and the pinnacle of discretion is not easy; it helps if your brand and media profile are firmly established before any celebrity decides to grace you with his or her business.

As with most things, celebrity clients can be intensely rewarding. But remember that the majority of your regular clients need to feel as though they are the stars. That’s truly how you establish and maintain a successful business.

Mary, Hellen and Richard

youtube.com/btctv

Watch Mary’s interview with the Wards where they discuss building a celebrity clientele.

cut to perfection

by Hellen Ward, Managing Director,

Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa, London

Hellen Ward

the salon that caters to Kate Middleton!

sexy snipsMarketing the maintenance cut isn’t quite as sexy as the allure of slicing a new, geometric bob or dip-dying to produce a trendy colour salon. Yet our regular cutting business is to be underestimated at one’s peril; it generates big money and is a key to steady salon profit. Many of our clients with long hair feel the need to keep their layers swingy and their ends chunky and choppy. They really notice when the straggles set in and it’s time for a re-cut. And with a 20% male clientele at our salon, gents with traditional cuts requiring a regular trim and re-shape need prompting to rebook to make sure they remain the well groomed man-about-town!

So how do we make cutting sexy if we’re not lopping off lengthy tresses and re-visiting Sassoon’s iconic 5 point cut on the majority of our customers? The answer is through professional one-to-one recommendation and advice. At Richard Ward we ensure staff members create a plan of treatment – even if it merely includes the maintenance of an existing look ad infinitum. No client leaves the salon without knowing when they should be having their next treatment, whether it’s hair or beauty. We do this not only to make sure they are getting the right aftercare and recommendation, but most importantly, to ensure our brand is being represented correctly in between appointments. Our clients are our walking advertisements and we are metaphorically stitching our brand name into their haircut or color as we work, so it’s just as vital to ensure they look good in between their visits as it is when they are walking out of our salon. Making sure they keep their hair looking good requires a timetable and schedule of what is due when grooming-wise. Failure to flag this at the close of each visit can not only result in missing a financial opportunity, it also compromises our professionalism on a technical level.

team buy-inCreating and communicating treatment plans require a lot of training. If the team doesn’t buy into the reason they need to do it in the first place, the concept will always be flawed. So educating them from the beginning on the consultancy aspect of their role as a competent stylist is vital.

Statistics in the UK suggest three out of 10 clients will talk about a good salon experience, yet seven out of 10 will talk about a bad one. So training team members how to deliver a good client experience has to take place from apprentice level up. At Richard Ward, that means including a detailed consultation and a professional close to every visit. No dentist would let a patient leave without telling them how to floss, when to book for whitening or what to avoid in between check-ups. As hairdressers, we must be similarly conscious.

be on alert Of course, changing someone’s look is part of our role too. The impact and power of a restyle is palpable for clients and staff alike. It also offers up a host of opportunities to introduce link services in the salon. A brand new chop looks better with new color and a change of make-up. So we also encourage our stylists to be vigilant and look at clients with fresh eyes (as a competitor salon would). What would they suggest? Whatever it is, they should never stop suggesting it, because one day that very same client might be sitting in the competitor’s chair!

I tell my team never to take a client for granted. Never assume someone won’t have a change if you suggest it, never underestimate the power of a whacking great change of hairstyle, but also never underestimate the power of the client investment for those who love their look and want to stick to it firmly. As with customer service, the successful salon never assumes every client wants the same experience and tailors its expertise accordingly. For every client who wants a luxurious head massage, there’s another who is climbing the walls because she’s late and has 10 minutes to get the heck out. So standardizing services is not something the bespoke salon should ever do. Doing anything as a one-size-fits-all is a recipe for disaster… and one we should all avoid at all costs.

Letting attention to your cutting services slip can diminish your salon’s success.

Our regular cutting business is to be

underestimated at one’s peril; it generates big money and is key to steady salon profits.

Haircutting has traditionally been a huge part of the salon business. Yet with the advent of blow-dry and styling bars and the growth of haircolor, some salons may be losing sight of the value of the traditional trimming and restyling that most clients require every six-to-eight weeks.

Business-wise, cutting is as much of a “hook” in securing repeat bookings as roots that need re-touching or standing weekly appointments for a regular blowout. So at Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa, it’s crucial to me to ensure that my stylists are as keen to secure that future appointment for this bread and butter service before the client leaves the salon as they are to set the next colour appointment.

home grown

by Hellen Ward, Managing Director, Richard Ward Hair and Metraospa, London

why careful staff selection and cultivation maintains a+ client care

In a labor-intensive industry like ours, our team members are our most precious commodities. That’s why finding the right people—who will develop your ethos and fit into your salon culture—is a critical skill to cultivate.

from the ground upWhen it comes to staffing, I’ve long been an advocate of the “grow your own” school of thought. More than 80 percent of our technical team members have completed our 5-year training program and risen through the ranks to become senior team members. In the UK, the average length of service in the salon sector is four years; since we’re at double the national average, we’re clearly doing something right! The reason we want to ensure our staff members are with us from grass roots level isn’t just about establishing a certain level of creative ability—it’s much more important than that. What we’re looking for is a built-in, comprehensive understanding of our customer service philosophy, a comprehension of our underlying principal of consistency and attention to detail. Can these things be taught? It’s difficult, but surrounding yourself with great service-providing peers from the fledgling stages of their careers certainly helps!

When we’re looking for people to join our team, we’re also looking for a distinct mentality, and at the interview stage, we’re keen to establish which potential candidates will fit into our salon culture. Training people to cut or color hair better is easy; training people to understand the service sensibilities in a salon which prides itself in delivering a great UXP (user experience) is a different and more complex

matter. We’re looking for a potential new team member to really appreciate that a premium experience isn’t just technical, but also about the ambience, professionalism and pastoral elements of the client visit. We’re happy to polish up those skills if they are subliminally evident and just need to be brought to the fore. We believe young people from any background can be natural and instinctive service givers if their approach to customer care is innate.

eyes and earsDuring an interview, I like to ask candidates what they have noticed about the salon while they were waiting for me. Their answers will speak volumes in my assessment of their raw service skills. What little details did they notice team members delivering? How do they think we make people feel welcome? What techniques do we use when we meet and greet? If these elements aren’t on their radar or have been missed, we may have an uphill struggle to get them to notice the details that we try and cultivate to give us our distinction and brand equity.

Equally, during skills testing we need to see how candidates interact with their potential new colleagues. Being a team player is key in running a service orientated business, and keeping eyes and ears on colleagues’ clients is vital to convincing our team and their future colleagues that our ethos is being grasped.

cut your lossesWe don’t always get it right, of course. That’s why we have a monthlong probationary period. During this time it will sometimes become evident that the team member just doesn’t “get” what we are all about. If role-play, buddying, shadowing and training don’t work, sometimes it’s better to part ways and realize that an individual may never be able to deliver the levels of service you expect if they don’t

understand what they are in the first place.

invest in the bestUltimately, building a team isn’t a short term gain, it’s a long term aim. It may take longer to develop and nurture your highest fliers from the earliest stage, but I find it’s actually easier in the long run than it is to “buy in” experts who don’t fit your culture. There is the old Shakespearian adage, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man,” and in our industry I think this resonates—the effort you put into training and educating the team from the youngest level up

helps to shape your future and provide you with the stars of tomorrow. Molding team members from apprenticeship level into our future dynamos is as rewarding for them as it is for the salon manager, and the benefit is the experience for the customer at the highest level along the way.

Hellen Ward

With her husband Richard, Hellen Ward co-owns and serves as

managing director of Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa in London.

The Richard Ward team caters to a wide range of celebrities and

royals, including The Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) and

the Middleton family.

“The effort you put into training and educating the team from the youngest level up helps to shape your future and provide you with the stars of tomorrow.”

“What we’re looking for is a built-in, comprehensive understanding of

our customer service philosophy, a comprehension of our underlying principal

of consistency and attention to detail.”

the salon that caters to Kate Middleton!

Richard and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year (we took over a bankrupt salon in 1992) and each of us has enjoyed 30 years in this industry. During that time, we have seen a massive sea change in the business, like many of you, no doubt. When I started my training in 1982, perming made up the overwhelming majority of technical (chemical service) income, and weekly shampoo and sets represented the bulk of the remainder. Things have changed dramatically in the last decades. (Although as an aside, it’s interesting now that most forward-thinking salons are cultivating the retro “standing appointment” again. “Same time every Friday afternoon for Mrs. Jones” means guaranteed cash in the drawer after all, and ensures that future column time in the appointment book is sold with minimum effort!)

Perhaps the biggest evolution has been the massive increase in color services over the last three decades. Nowadays, most salons can see as much as 30 to 40 percent of their revenue coming from color or technical services, and the growing trend for color

specialists in the UK seems to further support the customer shift. Specialty color salons and color lounges are no longer just the domain of urban areas such as central London. Their growing popularity is how canny salon owners are proving their expertise over the home-hair color sector in this tough economic climate.

For us at Richard Ward in London, it’s vital that hairdressing expertise is specialized in specific fields so we can maximize our sales and capitalize on all that experience. However, perhaps surprisingly, some salons still struggle to find a way to cash-in on the staggering statistics which suggest 80 percent of women now color their hair in some way. Here are six strategies that have served our color business well and could easily be embraced by salons everywhere.

credentialed coloristsI am a big believer in educating colorists to “degree” level and then charging premium prices for their optimum technical knowledge and expertise. This establishes our point of difference from run-of-the-mill salons. Most of our UK suppliers offer comprehensive color knowledge in lengthy training programs. While these programs are valuable, though, they require time off the salon floor and investment from both the salon owner and the stylist. With price-tiered technicians, therefore, we can entice clients with all budgets to utilize our services. Think about diffusion brands and how they capture all markets; doing so in our price offerings means we can create mass appeal.

consistent consultationsWhatever their level of experience, making sure each team member carries out a detailed and concise consultation is key – nothing should be overlooked. Face shape, skin tone, cool/warm assessment (seasonal color palette), hair texture, density, natural base and percentage of grey analysis are vital considerations, as are establishing the client’s home care regimen and investigating their previous color history to ensure diagnosis is spot-on. We all know coloring isn’t an exact science, and clients are very often “a work in progress.” So making sure their bespoke treatment plan has been carefully ascertained, documented and visually verified is crucial. One woman’s blonde is another’s caramel, after all! Such prescriptive and detailed service, and attention to detail before the service even commences, justifies a premium price point for charged services.

adding valueWhen it comes to offering incentives, my belief is that they must only be for established and already loyal clients only, thus avoiding the “deal chasers.” We never discount our color services for new customers.

If we do some sort of incentive, it’s more likely to be adding value rather than cutting prices. For instance, receive a bespoke color gloss to refresh your color at home (continuing our home-care, all-encompassing customer service ethos)

rules for keeping your color business in the black

by Hellen Ward, Managing Director, Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa, London

success formulas from london’s “royal wedding” salon

“Nowadays, most salons can see as much as 30 to

40 percent of their revenue coming from color or technical services.”

Staggering statistics suggest 80 percent of

women now color their hair in some way.

“We never discount our color services for new

customers. If we do some sort of incentive, it’s more likely to be adding value

rather than cutting prices.”

when you book a color treatment, or some such promotion, is proven to be more effective than reducing prices and decreasing perceived value. Also, it is far less damaging to any salon brand long-term. Good customers rarely mind missing out on such an offer, but from experience, cutting prices is a slippery slope to mediocrity and a damaging route which is almost impossible to recover from.

rebook religiouslyTraining the team to listen for signals in the consultation is vital, and never more than when it comes to color. Based on those signals, it’s possible to suggest new ideas for a next visit before the client leaves, and this is a great way to ensure the stylist has hooked the client’s interest.

Rebooking is vital, too. With cutting and styling it may be more subjective, but with couture color, roots and regrowth isn’t a good look. So making sure clients are scheduled is a great way of ensuring precious rebookings and dollars are secure for future weeks and months. I tell the team to think of it like leaving the dentist; one wouldn’t bat an eyelid over being told authoritatively “I need to see you in six weeks” rather than the cold-selling and contrived “would you like to book your next appointment?” Our salon target occupancy rate is 70 percent booked, so stylists are taught the importance of providing the complete service and securing the vital rebooking that will fill their columns.

stay currentColor is ever evolving, so innovation is crucial for the on-trend salon owner. Being on top of what is on the

market and introducing new technologies are vital ways of ensuring clients’ demands are met in-salon, thus retaining their business. Because the home color market is offering increasingly “professional based” technologies, it’s vital we’re leading the way in what’s new and scientifically improved in the professional hairdressing industry. I think that color will continue to evolve, but it’s critical to remember we have to embrace what’s new and revolutionary to secure our business. Our clients are a savvy bunch these days—many know as much as we do about product formulation and innovation! So we need to be (as ever) on top of our game with an eye on what is happening in the future.

control inventoryStaying on top of our stock holding is vital in order to ensure we remain profitable. The guideline I use to keep my inventory costs in line is 10 percent of the net spend. Color houses bring out new color lines with alarming speed, and very quickly you can find that you’re housing four entire ranges of SKUs, making your 10 percent stock spend a dim and distant memory. A tight control on stock is vital, but it’s a fine line to tread because under-stocking finds technicians having to compromise on their color choices if the stock options aren’t available. And of course, where there is stock there is likely to be waste, too, as well as shrinkage (theft). At our salon we have a working daily stock that is issued by our technical director. All other stock is stored safely in our locked stock room—freely available if needed, but secure. This works well and enables us to keep to budgets. I’m also not reluctant to come forward to our key color supplier and ask them to replace lines and individual SKUs that aren’t selling with items that do.

Color is a vital part of most salons’ businesses and these businesses certainly can’t afford to shy away from the service. Taking the time and energy to invest in in-depth training to give your salon the confidence to offer technical excellence is always a good investment and one that, if trends continue, will be a sure-fire way to ensure your salon reaps the rewards.

With her husband Richard, Hellen Ward co-owns and serves as managing director of Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa in London.

The Richard Ward team caters to a wide range of celebrities and royals, including The Duchess of Cambridge (aka Princess Kate) and the Middleton family.

Hellen Ward

“Our salon target occupancy rate is 70 percent booked, so stylists are taught the

importance of securing the vital rebooking that will fill

their books.”

“Becoming An Effective Salon Manager” In this 90-minute webinar, you’ll learn: · 6 things every manager must do to successfully lead a team · 8 ways to provide a great salon experience to keep clients coming back · how to recognize and overcome barriers to success · 9 factors that make a great hairdresser · how to set and monitor key performance indicators

and much more!

Sign up for Hellen’s business webinar!Wednesday, May 30, 2012 | 6:00 pm CST (4:00 PT, 7:00 ET)

$9.95for 90 minutes of education