The way we work – Nicholas Nicola of Allertons

Most Wanted 2023 ‘Business Thinker’ finalist, Nicholas Nicola, talks team building, client experience and how to keep positive during the current financial climate

“I founded Allertons in 2014, having just sold my previous company which supplied temporary staff to beauty and fragrance brands in department stores, acting on my passion for retail and customer service. The world has changed an awful lot in the nine years since then, and believe me, I learnt everything about owning and running a salon the *very* hard way (secret: my first Allertons salon turned out to be so badly designed and thought through, that it was actually impossible for it to be profitable — we only made it through because of the team).

This meant I needed to make drastic and immediate change. Challenging times can bring out the best in you and your team, and forced me to focus on the things in your business that are working well (Allertons’ approach to customer service, our brands and our team), and the things that were going not so well (pricing structure, overheads, poor space planning, a focus on turnover rather than profit). Being adaptable to situations and open to change are essential to the operation and growth of any business.

We created a new business structure (which we call a chain of responsibility rather than a hierarchy), moved into bigger premises (which was actually more expensive overall, but cheaper per square foot), and restructured all of our services and prices based on the fixed and incidental costs of the business and its ongoing goals. Coupled with a serious website and software upgrade and changing the focus to profit rather than sales volume, Allertons slowly but surely began to grow.

Then of course, came 2020 and the shutdown of the world.

While the business was focusing on survival through this time, it also presented opportunities to well-placed businesses – this is when my focus shifted from survival to growth – how can we make the best of a bad situation? For me and Allertons, it was the take-over of a second salon in Leeds, located inside the John Lewis Department Store. This required another reorganisation and restructure, as Allertons was then becoming a multi-site brand.

Since then, we have opened salons in Nottingham, Harrogate, and we have two more openings planned for 2023, two more in 2024, and a minimum of two new locations a year for the next five years. This is what I enjoy most – growing and evolving the business. For me, that’s what being a business is all about – growth, change, evolution, and bringing along everyone else that wants to be a part of it. Pivotal to this is no matter how much you are growing, remaining focused on everything that makes your business work, being open and adaptable to change, not losing track of your costs, sales, profit and most importantly your team.

To support this growth, our chain of responsibility includes myself (I do all the boring but necessary admin, but the much more exciting looking for new opportunities), and each location has its own manager. They are responsible for team harmony, client satisfaction, KPIs and so on. We have a centralised team that we call client concierge, which is a central call-centre that answer all phone calls and all other Client contact methods. This structure allows us to run and grow multiple locations, while providing unbeatable levels of service as cost-efficiently as possible.

Right from the start, none of this would have been possible without the Allertons team. I believe that if your brand and locations reflect your business and who you are, and provide a space for your team to thrive as individuals, you will attract the right people for you. This is easier said than done, but honing your message and your brand will not only attract your team, but your clients too.

Keep your promises, keep what made your team want to join in the first place, focus on team harmony, health, wellbeing and allowing them the creative freedom that keeps them satisfied and motivated (along with a few tailor-made perks rather than one-size-fits-all incentives) and you’ll be doing everything you can to retain your team. Don’t forget, it is our responsibility as business owners to also bring people into and up and through the industry. We need to help train, develop, and give people their first chance. We all started somewhere, no matter how big your business is now, it’s part of the DNA of the industry, and we owe it to the people who gave us our first chance, too.

Post Covid, one thing we are all living through now is the Cost of Living Crisis. You mustn’t panic – there are tangible steps to take to ensure your business thrives through this time, especially when you remember the ‘Lipstick Effect’ (a term used to describe that in times of hardship, people still turn to the self-care industry to make themselves feel better). Do an audit of your overheads to see if there are any efficiencies you can make, speak to suppliers to capitalise on offers to increase margin, and do not reduce your prices to reduce your profit. Instead offer extra-value or extra-incentive services such as express treatments. Be a beacon of happiness and hope in this gloomy time, and your Clients and Team will thank you for it.”