Ward’s world
Conscious COUPLING
Changing brands is a huge decision for any salon. But sometimes the upheaval is worth the outcome if it means better service, writes Hellen Ward
We recently made a huge decision as a business. After being with our preferred colour brand for 30 years, we switched. Beauty-only salon owners will relate, too – switching brands is a huge wrench, but as any hair salon owners among you will know, changing colour brands is a massive deal. Not only is it total upheaval on a practical level, but its emotional, too. It feels almost like going through a personal relationship separation, with all the angst – just business related.
Manufacturers and suppliers (at least the clever ones) create a relationship culture that goes beyond anything you buy in a bottle. And those relationships are what cement the brand loyalty; simple.
Many salons have contracts with their suppliers with deals based on financial spend, but as simplistic as moving providers might sound, the reality is rather different. Like switching energy or internet provider (anyone dealt with Sky?) or changing your bank, rarely is it straightforward, hence many salon owners stay loyal – even long after they technically should have considered a move.
I could never be accused of being a petrol head, but I decided not to bother upgrading my car recently, despite the smooth-talking salesman when I dropped it off for a service. The reason wasn’t even financial; it was the time it would take to go through the process. Changing my Hammersmith & Fulham resident’s permit, my insurance – too much hassle. Time, effort, energy – was it really worth it? The benefits have to outweigh the ball-ache. The blue-sky thinking of everything going right is one thing, the reality grey sky of dealing with the gremlins is another.
Weighing up the costs
That aside, moving brands is costly, too. It means training and education – all time away from the salon floor, which costs the employer, re-merchandising and re-marketing (digitally and in-salon). All of these elements take time (and money) to initiate. Then there’s the product itself – using up the old to bring in the new. Switching colour clients over is a huge process in terms of allergy alert testing too.
Flagging that you’re changing only serves to initiate a sea of concerns over the result (psychosomatic in most cases) so handling the changeover process is an art in itself. As proficient as your team may be, there will inevitably be some disparity in results. Then there’s the key question – will the performance meet the team’s expectation before we even explore whether there’ll be any challenges with clients being happy with the end result? It’s no wonder people decide to stay put.
As anyone who goes through a break-up of any kind will know, a lot has to be wrong to make a change. As they say, if the relationship is over for one of the parties, then the relationship is over full stop. Sometimes you can patch things up and drift along for a period of time, but soon, the cracks start to appear and the calling to change becomes a voice you increasingly must listen to. It’s not really any different with the brands we partner with.
Learning opportunity
So, what makes a salon loyal to the beauty or hair brand they partner with? It’s something we explored in a recent episode of my podcast. Haylee was talking about (the lovely) Sam Sweet and watching her interacting with her Sweet Squared clients at a recent event. The customer engagement was a huge factor in their collective devotion to the range. If a consumer is feeling the love from their brand partner of choice, it shows. Rarely is it about the product alone. It’s interesting to explore what brands could learn from their customers when it comes to retention. We analyse this a lot as salon owners, but it’s interesting to question how much of a focus it is for some of the manufacturers and suppliers.
Sometimes the issues are performance related. Sometimes they are logistical but it’s never a good idea to make being a customer an uphill battle. Out of stocks, discontinuation, supply chain issues – they’re never a selling point for customers. Being defensive about the issues doesn’t help, either.
But, interestingly, it’s much more about how brands make a customer feel that is the deciding factor. We know this, as people providing services through our team members. We look at the busiest turnover-producing operators and it’s not always that they are the best therapist, hairdresser or nail tech – it’s their soft skills, their customer engagement and their relationship with their client that makes them out-perform the competition.
Time to change
It’s the same with those brands we use and retail in the salon. We can forgive the hiccups – we don’t expect plain sailing – but it’s much harder to forgive the fact we don’t feel valued or listened to, or if we feel that fundamentally the company is going in a direction that doesn’t align with our values or journey. Then, it’s time to make a change.
There are so many quotes that I’m sure, like me, you hurl at your client-facing team about valuing the customer. “The customer is the purpose of your work, not an interruption of it” is one I often spout to my reception team. We all know “the customer is always right” but often, in truth, they aren’t. What matters is that they feel you listen to them and value them even if secretly you disagree – a lesson for all of us there!
Who we choose to stock and endorse is a vital part of our business offering. Feeling valued has got to be non-negotiable in these extremely challenging times. Moreover, knowing the brand you partner with is holding your hand and heading in the same direction has never been more important. Switching up might be uncomfortable, but if staying put is more so, it’s time to move on.
“We can forgive the hiccups – we don’t expect plain sailing – but it’s much harder to forgive the fact we don’t feel valued or listened to”
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).