Finding the right products for your salon - and why it matters

Finding the right products for your salon isn't just about your personal choice; it defines your clients, service menu and retail opportunities. The smart-device revolution means that salons are facing increased competition from online retailers, but face to face recommendation from an expert beats buying off a Facebook tip and an in-depth consultation is better than a couple of clicks on a smart device. This is the message that needs communicating to both existing clients and walk-ins. Specialist knowledge is power and hairdressers can feel confident that they have the tools to trounce the opposition. Well-chosen product partners will have heritage, high standards and lots of bright ideas and they want nothing more than to work with you to achieve significant success. TIGI takes a look at its partner salons’ businesses from every angle. Of course this means providing product ranges that hairdressers like using and their clients want to take home, but it also covers product and retail education for all the salon team. Retail and merchandising support ensure there’s a high level of client service, professional advice and an attractive salon environment to experience too. "Our mantra has always been ‘by hairdressers for hairdressers’," reveals Linda Evans, TIGI Trade & Global PR. "As far as TIGI’s concerned, our salons’ success is our success. We aim to build a strong relationship with salon owners and their teams, sharing our new concepts and innovations, giving them creative inspiration and continually looking for new ways to help them drive their businesses forward . We try to involve our salons in what we do, where possible inviting them to work with us at events such as festivals and fashion shows. We work with them to support their own promotions and events and have a strong ethos of sharing what’s new in an open and friendly manner." The philosophy at PHYTO is to maintain a restricted distribution, driving higher sales through fewer doors compared to other brands. The brand does all that it can to make this work for its partners so that they can use the relative exclusivity to drive incremental sales for their business. When Patrick Alès created PHYTO way back in 1967, it became the first brand to ever use plants in haircare and remains incredibly proud of this heritage and still offers the highest level of plant extracts available on the market. "PHYTO remains family owned and operated," says Ben Greer, Managing Director, Alès Groupe UK. "Patrick Alès himself is still in the office every day in our Paris headquarters. We manufacture our own products. We even buy in the actual plants themselves and do our own plant extractions in house. Unlike many other products, it’s not as simple as buying a lot of chemicals and pushing a button to fill bottles. This point of difference really resonates with our partners, their team and their clients." New to the UK, I.C.O.N. (International Company Oriented to Network) is an intriguing proposition. More than a prestige salon-only range, the I.C.O.N. Concept encourages teams to work together to improve three of the most neglected areas seen in salons worldwide; the use of junior staff, the backwash space, and retail sales. This is achieved by an educational coaching system incorporating a task force of trained coaches. Under their guidance the backwash space transforms into a Touch Therapy area where juniors are taught how to deliver a sublime hair treatment, shampoo and conditioning experience to the client turning this, sometimes under-rated, staff member into a valuable asset. In addition to a focus on technical training of product knowledge, the brand is all about increasing service standards. “The I.C.O.N. coaches are lovely and I actually get jealous of them going into other salons because they feel like such a big part of our team,” reveals Sarah Armitage of Glamorous Hair Workshop, West Yorkshire. "They’ve increased sales without clients noticing they aren’t part of our everyday staff." At milk_shake, the mantra has always been to keep products strictly professional. Earlier this year the brand withdrew from any online sellers, bar its own official website designed for customers without stockists locally. This was to show support to salons. "We advocate that professional products be sold with the advice of the expert hairdresser," explains Xavier Berrell, UK Distributor for milk_shake. "We maintain a dialogue with our salons and react to their needs. For example, this summer we launched an in-salon service called the milk_shake treatment cocktails entailing either argan oil or temporary colour being mixed with our conditioning whipped cream in a martini glass in front of the client for a bit of showmanship. This chimed well with our partner salons, through the added the wow factor. We firmly believe that following advice from a professional and with the right haircare, everyone can achieve the styles they’ve always wanted. This is something we communicate to our partner salons, giving them the tools to pass the same message along to their clientele."