38. For your salon to survive you need to CHANGE

Hi everyone, this is the weekly Build Your Salon podcast with me, Phil Jackson. I'm here with the tools you need to generate the profits you deserve so that you can lead a fuller life. Hello and welcome and today I'm going to start with an apology because this is a subject that I'm really passionate about and I get really, really frustrated about and I'm talking about change in our industry. And I think, as an industry, we are really bad at bringing about and steering change. If you strip out all of the change that's been imposed on us, so all of the changes that have come from our manufacturers, all of the innovation that's come from our banks, all of the innovations that have come from our software systems, the way that we do business as hair and beauty professionals has actually changed very, very little over the years. And I think we're missing out. In fact, I'm going to make a prediction right now that I think most of the salons that you see on the high street, most of your competitors, and maybe your salon as well, will not be there in five to ten years' time. And it's because the pace of change is glacial in our industry. We're not steering the change so it happens to us. The wake-up call is that change is going to happen anyway and there are two ways we can approach it. We can wait for changes to happen and react to them as best we can or we can steer the change. If you put the change in your industry, you're the one who gets to dictate the terms. Really simple example of this. Let's say your supplier comes into the salon and has a fantastic new treatment. Let's use a hair salon. Let's say they've got this amazing new conditioning treatment that they want your salon to retail. There will be an opening order where you get some point of sale materials and a suggested retail price, maybe some nice cards to sit next to your mirrors and a couple of posters to go in your window as well. Now let's look at all the decisions that have been made on your behalf by that manufacturer. I'm not saying they're decisions you wouldn't have come to anyway. What I'm saying is that if we're steering the change, we get to make the decisions on our terms. So the manufacturer has told you how to display the product. They've told you what it's going to look like on your shelf. They've told you how much you're going to charge for it and therefore your profit margin. Hell, they've even decided what your window is going to look like for the next six to eight weeks. All of those changes have been imposed on your salon. It's time for us to take the reins. Now this is something that I talk about a lot. In fact, if you try and book me for a speech engagement anywhere in the world,

I will not go for that speech engagement unless I get to talk about change and innovation to hair and beauty professionals. I'm so passionate about it because I think it's the very survival of our industry that is at stake here. So how do we go about implementing change in our businesses? Well, the first thing to do is to recognize the change that's going on around you. And this is my big takeaway for the day. You have to carry a notebook or even the notepad on Mr. iPhone here because you are going to come across these changes all around once you open your eyes to it. So anytime you're a buyer, anytime you're making a purchasing decision, start looking at the business that's behind the product. Stop just blindly buying products and services and figure out why does that product appeal to you? What is it that that company is doing to maintain your loyalty? What made it appealing? What was it about the shop front that caught your eye? Why is it that your friends are recommending and raving about this product? And we've got to steal some of those changes and bring them into our own businesses. I've done this and won awards for it in my salon. I've won awards for the membership schemes that I've put in place. Now, do you think that I've suddenly came up with this fantastic novel idea of charging on a monthly retainer basis for our services? God, no. I stole the idea wholesale from the gym membership industry. So all I've done is create a gym membership for your hair. And you can do the same. You need to start looking at the companies that are around you. And you've got to start bringing some of their business models into your salon to implement change and stay ahead of the curve. Now, you're not going to be able to do this in isolation. Innovation is a team sport. You need to get your team behind it and bringing ideas into your salon as well. But also, you need to build your network. Now, I'm going to do a whole video on building your network because building your network is not joining more Facebook groups. That's a very small part of the potential network that you're capitalising on. What you need to do is get out of your salon, firstly, in your local area. Join networking groups. And I know it's scary. And I know it's horrible. And I know you'll be the only hairdresser or beauty therapist there. And maybe you'll never meet another hairdresser or beauty therapist on the circuit. I think I've met one in 10 years of networking. But you know what? You'll start to take the pulse of your local area. You'll start to realise that there are problems that you are all facing. And maybe there's an opportunity for innovation to overcome some of those problems.

Also, network with professionals that are in your industry but out of your area. So what are other people doing in other areas of the country? You won't get that depth of knowledge just from Facebook chat. You're going to have to get out there, press some flesh, speak to people face to face, and start bringing some of those changes into your salon. Stay ahead of the curve rather than behind it. And I'm not talking about reinventing the wheel here. And I'm certainly not talking about bringing extra services into the salon. But what about a tiny little innovation? Here's one for you. I went to Stockholm. I was an invited guest of Goldwell who asked me to give a small talk as part of their ColorZoom final in Stockholm earlier this year. And while I was out there, I went to the ABBA Museum. Because as a homosexual man, ABBA is in our DNA. We have no choice but to follow the great ABBA. So I went to the ABBA Museum and was quite surprised to see that the entire museum and its gift shop is cashless. You cannot pay cash to get into that museum. And you can't pay cash for any of the merchandise that they're selling either. And it got me to thinking, why is it that we still accept cash in the salon? So from the 1st of January next year, no cash in my salon. The joy of being a small business is that you can make changes continually. Have you any idea how envious bigger companies are of small business in this way? You could go into your salon on Friday, hold a staff meeting, take a new idea from a member of your team, implement it later that day, type up the procedure over the weekend and it becomes part of the way you do business by Monday. If you're part of a bigger business, even a bigger salon group, there are so many layers of management that you would have to get approval before you could change one of the company policies and procedures. We can be completely dynamic and turn on a hairpin if we need to. That is our competitive advantage. That's how we can stay in the game and compete with the big guys. I hope that's been useful to you and I hope I've got some of my passion about change and innovation over to you. I do know a little bit about it, in fact so much so that I literally wrote the book. This is the hairy book of innovation that I wrote at the end of last year. And I think it's a cracking read and a real kick up the bum for our industry to start steering change and moving our industry forward in a profitable way for salon owners. If you'd like to get your hands on a copy, check out the link in the description.

That's going to take you to a page where you can get a free copy of the book. All you need to do is send me $7 to cover the shipping costs. Now, even if you're in the UK, it's still going to be $7 guys, okay? I built the page myself. I don't know how to charge two different prices on the same page. So it's $7, okay? If that annoys you in the UK, then tough. It's still cheaper than you can get the book on Amazon. Check it out on Amazon, by the way. We've got some cracking reviews because I think people have found some real value in this book. So follow the link. Also, be patient with me. $7 gets you international surface shipping, okay? You're not going to get air mail for $7 guys. Let's be realistic. If this video has been useful to you, please also remember to subscribe. I put content like this out every single Monday and I would hate you to miss out on the stuff that I'm sharing. If you've already subscribed, I will see you next week. Take care. Hey everyone, it's Phil again. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you did, please subscribe and be sure to tell your friends. For more help and information on running your salon and your life, head over to buildyoursalon.com. I'll see you there.