Inspiring speakers open day two at Salon Smart

“Two-thirds of all consumers want to be blonde,” said Nicholos Wood, president of Goldwell and KMS California in the UK and Ireland, as he opened Monday’s business programme.

Nicholas urged salons to take a holistic approach to their blond services – refresh your consultation and techniques, create tiered blonde service menus to inspire clients and your team, and be clear on the benefits of your premium service (more condition, shine, less visible regrowth, unique technique). A blonde “profit calculator” demonstrated the need to think more critically about salon pricing…

Andrew Cannon, the fish farmer’s son from the west of Scotland who created his award-winning Ruffians barbershop “out of a personal frustration with what was available at that time, in the men’s sector”, demonstrated the strength of focus that has enabled him to create huge impact within the men’s grooming sector. “Be picky and passionate about getting all the small things right. If you ever think you’ve cracked it, give yourself a slap and tell yourself to wake up and start looking for more ways to improve again!”

With over 600 staff across 24 salons – 75% of which are aged 25 and under – Hob Salons general manager Sean Dawson knows how to get the best out of young people. These pearls of wisdom got everyone scribbling: “From today, pour an equal amount of energy into retaining your team members as you do in retaining your clients.” “If you want an assistant, then call them an assistant. If you call them a junior, then that is what you will end up with.” “Always empower the role, not the individual, and make your staff understand that what they do, or what they don’t do, can have an impact on client retention.”

3•6•5 Hair director and Creative HEAD columnist, Ken West, gave practical advice on pricing and profitability, encouraging the audience to think carefully about how to factor in key elements such as product and staff costs when deciding how to value salon services. He, too, emphasised the need to differentiate from competitors, in order to charge the best price possible and increase profit.