Michelle Quimby of Body Contour in Cheshire won a day of business advice in PB North’s Win Mark competition. We catch up with her to see what she learned

Like most salon owners, Michelle Quimby started out in the beauty industry as a therapist with a dream of owning her own business. Having opened her salon, Body Contour in Dunkinfield, Cheshire, in October 2007, she built it from the ground up before expanding into a second site, Hair at Body Contour, in nearby Tameside, five years later.

Now, juggling her time working as a therapist while running both salons, Quimby admits she finds it hard to focus on the future, and the direction her business should be taking over the next few years. This is what prompted her to enter the “Win Mark” competition, which offered visitors to the Professional Beauty North event in Manchester in October, the chance to win a day of advice and mentoring with PB’s managing director Mark Moloney.

“As I’m sure many salon owners will know, it’s almost impossible to grow the business while working as a hands-on therapist,” says Quimby. “I thought some extra business knowledge would definitely help. The ins and outs of how other businesses work fascinates me, and people like Mark are really inspiring.” Moloney, who has run exhibitions and magazines in the salon and spa market for 30 years, visited both salons and met Quimby’s team of eight staff, before discussing ideas over lunch.

The salons

Hair at Body Contour is a hair and beauty salon that employs four beauty therapists, one of whom is an apprentice, and rents two hair stations to freelance stylists.

Brands used include Fake Bake, Elemis, CND, NSI, KB Pro, LVL, HD Brows, Lash Perfect, WaxU, Wella, Fudge and Olaplex. “As a company we thrive on bringing top brands and great service at affordable prices to the local area,” says Quimby.

Meanwhile, Body Contour focuses more on aesthetic treatments and uses additional brands including Dermatude, Cynosure and Caci. “We also offer botox and fillers in partnership with a doctor and nurse and recently opened a make-up studio within the salon, which is rented out on a weekly basis,” adds Quimby.

Mark Moloney’s advice

• Implement more staff training on retailing and allow clients to test and play with products

• More in-house advertising for laser hair removal and its benefits (e.g. posters and staff training)

• Revisit the price list and consider promoting the treatments with the best profit margins, such as semipermanent make-up, massage and waxing, at the front

• Window signage could be improved to make each salon’s offer clearer to passing trade

• Make the design of the waxing room more appealing

• Take a half or full day off from treatments each week to focus on moving the business forward.

Quimby’s comments

“Taking time out to work on the business is important but the scary bit is that when a therapist becomes more business focused and takes time away from their clients, some bread-and-butter income is lost for a while. Finding a recipe that allows you to recover these losses and plan for the future is a must if one wishes to move forward,” says Quimby. “I have taken Mark’s advice about advertising the laser machine in-house, promoting it in the window, staff training and incentivising the staff. I’m also going to introduce software to the first salon to help with marketing, among other things.”

Moloney’s verdict

“You can see Michelle’s mind is alive with new ideas but she doesn’t have time to see them through – working on clients five days a week and the rest of the time on dreaded paperwork,” says Moloney.

“When you walk into her two salons it’s not clear what they stand for. She has a £50,000 laser machine – a huge investment but it’s not promoted within the salon.

“One of the biggest challenges Michelle experiences is competing with local businesses that are not VAT registered. She believes the VAT threshold is too low and strangles small businesses. This concern in essence prevents her from employing extra staff or expanding to another site. I’d like to see how Michelle could grow the business by positioning it not on price but on outstanding service.

“Having said all that, Michelle typifies why individually owned salons will beat the big chains – she’s resilient, business minded, customer focused, has endless energy and cares for her clients. There are big challenges for our profession but with people like Michelle out there, individually run salons will beat the big chains any day of the week.” P

Your chance to win

For your chance to win lunch and a business advice session with Mark Moloney, enter our SOS: Support Our Salons competition by telling us, in 100 words or fewer, “What’s the biggest or most surprising challenge you have faced since starting a salon or mobile business and how did you overcome it?” Enter online at professionalbeauty.co.uk/SOS