Hj business live - an inspiring conference

The HJ Business Live conference was bursting with inspiration, information and quite simply, brilliant business ideas. The one day event at The Lowry Hotel, Manchester was hosted by HJ’s publisher/editor-in-chief, Jayne Lewis-Orr, and sponsored by Goldwell, Aveda, TIGI, The Eden Group and Millennium software. Over 100 delegates attended the conference which consisted of speeches from fashion designer and co-founder of Red or Dead Wayne Hemingway, Jon MacLeod from multi award winning salon group, Paterson SA and Olympic athlete Roger Black MBE as well as interactive panel sessions.

Wayne Hemingway

In Summary: Wayne focused on his career and the success of his brands Red or Dead and, more recently, the HemingwayDesign label. He revealed how he and his wife started their brand with nothing, but managed to build a successful business that saw them named Designer of the Year three times. “When I met Geraldine we had no money to pay the rent, but she’d always made her own clothes and I always bought second hand. I took some of the clothes she’d made to Camden Market and sold them, and this is how we started – it was really successful," he explained Key Points: It is important to really be involved in your business, regardless of its size. "You can still have an input in your business if you’re dynamic. Look at Sir Philip Green at the Arcadia group- he’s so passionate about it. And Stuart Rose at Marks & Spencer is the same, he’s very involved and that’s why they are such a success,” he said.

Jon MacLeod

In Summary: Jon recalled how he managed to encourage his staff to recognise retail. After discussing retail with his salon team, he discovered that they had three main reasons for not wanting to promote retail:

• They didn’t want to be a sales person
• Their clients can’t afford it
• They would be embarrassed if they didn’t buy it.

To help counter these issues, he advised his staff to simply inform their clients what they are doing, and what products they are using, 'but never, ever sell it'. The results were far more rewarding than he had imagined. Other factors in his salon's retailing success included weekly, monthly and annual incentives, and a ‘retail group’ which gave staff buying power over the retail products and profits that it made Key Points: Offer staff incentives rather than commission. “If there is one thing that has propelled our retail more than anything else, it’s putting a list of our top ten retailers on our newsletter. This motivates them more than anything else,” said Jon.

Roger Black

In Summary: Roger recalled how he ran 'his perfect race' at the Olympic Games in 1996 and applied the challenges he faced throughout his career to those posed in the hairdressing business. According to Roger, complacency is one of the biggest risks people face. "There’s a saying in sport that is if you think you’ve found a winning formula, you’re about to get beaten," he said. He added that it is essential to have a clear picture of what you are hoping to achieve or you will never fulfil your goals, saying: "You always have to think, am I just getting away with it or am I really winning? If you have no clear picture of your destination the chances are you’ll end up anywhere.” Key Points: The importance of working as part of a team - “Sometimes in life you are presented with an opportunity to win - sometimes there’s a chance to be outstanding and not just excellent. There are times when you have to put your ego to one side for the greater good of the team,” he said.

Panel Debates

Panel One: Salon owners Charles Dodds, Tommy Van Der Veken and Charlie Taylor; TIGI’s Linda Evans, and Aveda’s Angela Walker. Topics: Customer service, education, PR and marketing. Memorable quotes: “We are in the business of making people feel good. Sometimes we can forget this. The only way I can possibly get that message through is with training” - Charlie Taylor “I believe in marketing and not advertising. We’ve done in-house PR and now have an external PR and the difference is remarkable. The money it costs is worth every penny” - Charles Dodds Panel Two: Goldwell’s Nick Wood, The Eden Group’s Tom McKinney, Esther Prins from Tommy’s, Alistair Taylor from Charlie Taylor Hair, Health & Beauty and Jon Hills from Yoshimi Salon & Spa Topics: Skin testing Memorable quotes: “From Goldwell’s perspective it’s extremely important that you follow manufacturer’s guidelines. There is no quick solution to this, but manufacturers are working together to come up with a solution. If you want to cover yourself completely then talk to your insurance company” - Nick Wood Dan Eversfield “We’ve had a fantastic response to the day. Our speakers were very inspiring and it was great for delegates to hear how icons such as Roger Black and Wayne Hemmingway had reached such high levels of success- against the odds.” said Dan Eversfield, HJ’s event project executive who organised the event.