Style & substance

Regular salon redesigns keep things fresh and on brand but they only work if the client experience is also on point, writes Hellen Ward

We’ve just undertaken a massive refurb at the salon, which we do every 10 years when we re-sign our lease for a new term.

As every salon owner knows, repainting can be an annual event and repairs and renewals are constant – keeping on top of the maintenance never ends. I cannot tell you how many times we’ve replaced things like Saniflow and the money we’ve spent just keeping everything in working order.

The Chelsea Flower show, for example, is a lovely event for the visitors, but for us Sloane Square residents and business owners it means hordes of strangers trying to use your loo and not leaving it as we would wish our clients to find it. I could make a mint charging people a fiver to spend a penny!

Regular refresh

But once a decade we have to go the whole hog and do a complete transformation – new chairs, new furniture, new lighting, new air conditioning – the list is endless (as is the expense).

I do have a touch of the frustrated interior designer in me, so it’s never a chore choosing the spec. Give me a Farrow & Ball paint chart and a login to Wallpaper Direct and I’m a happy girl – putting together colours and interiors is something I love.

However, in these challenging times, I know many salon owners simply can’t afford the expenditure needed to get their salon how they want it to look. Any high-traffic area working with physical challenges such as wax and colour requires heavy duty looking after. We’ve been budgeting for this refurb for a while, but the costs are enormous.

Our builders have worked out of hours, which, although costly, actually makes more sense financially as the minimal resulting disruption means we can carry on trading as normal so turnover remains relatively unaffected. And we need that to happen because reduced turnover means the finances won’t work.

What shocked me in this refurb is the lack of showrooms for looking at salon furniture. I’ve got a good imagination, but choosing 50 styling chairs or 12 backwashes requires you to try them out, on site, and see what the team think. It’s too big of an investment to get it wrong.

„We have a GREAT NEW SALON but the service has to match. It’s pointless CREATING SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL if the really important bit is missing“

Trade shows such as Professional Beauty are great as they give you a chance to see couches, nail stations and all the vital equipment in the flesh (and the sales team’s ears all prick up when they realise how many you could be potentially ordering). But what happens when the shows aren’t on? I’m quite good at visualising things from flicking through a catalogue, but looking at things online only is another thing entirely – it’s almost impossible to gauge.

In real life

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked where in the country I can go to see and try the furniture only to be told that the showroom is now closed. Surely the suppliers are missing a trick here? Nobody understands the costs of premises more than me, but if you are potentially spending a huge sum on a new couch, station or chair, you’re going to want to at least see it for yourself.

We are soon to complete now and it can’t come too soon. Having the builders in is never great – however good they are – and I can’t wait to see their builders’ bums disappear into the distance, taking their invoices with them.

It will be nice not to have to clear up the dust and hoover every day before we start, even though the cleaners have been in the night before.

Make it match

Of course, all of this means that we have a great new salon but the service has to match. It’s pointless creating something beautiful if the really important bit is missing. So, I will be reminding all of the team of my golden rules.

Six golden rules

1. Make eye contact – however busy you are, acknowledge the client is waiting – a quick nod to let them know you’ve clocked them rather than trying to avert your gaze always works.

2. Smile – a warm welcome doesn’t exist unless you smile – and not just with your grin, but with your eyes too. People can spot a sincere person a mile off, and will always remember a good service provider.

3. Introduce yourself – what we do is so personal it’s crucial that people know your name. Not only does it make them feel comfortable, it helps with your tips, too.

4. “You’re welcome”, not “That’s OK” – The Spanish say “De nada”, which literally translates to “it’s nothing”. It’s never OK to say that’s OK. You are not doing them a favour. They are doing us the favour by being the customer.

5. No private conversations – any chat should always include the customer. Foreign language speakers should use the language of the customer and no one should be tempted to have a conversation with a colleague over a client’s head (especially if they can’t understand you).

6. And finally… keep if casual. Don’t talk about religion, politics, sex, conspiracy theories, your private life – keep the chat light and frothy and always about them (as much as they pretend to care about your love life, break up, nasty neighbour or family dramas – trust me, they don’t).

If the service isn’t up to it, you can spend all the money in the world and it won’t bring the customer back. Time to get that staff training booked!

Hellen Ward is managing director of Richard Ward Hair & Metrospa in London, vice president of The Hair & Beauty Charity and co-founder of Salon Employers Association (SEA).