Hj's business directors of the year talk business
We caught up with Linda to find out how the award has benefited the business, and to hear how the dynamic duo has achieved such success.
How has winning HJ's 2007 Business Directors of the Year award affected Rainbow Room International?
Winning has definitely helped us build on our highly regarded reputation. This is thanks to positive coverage in the Scottish press, which has increased our local profile and added fantastic credibility to our trade. Winning such a prestigious award also helps with recruitment, which is essential to our continued growth. And it's also been fantastic for team morale, as every salon in the group has a great sense of pride in being associated with a successful company.
What have been some of your key career highlights since the win?
It's been very exciting to launch our own online live bookings system, with secure payment facilities. Our website and online appointment request service has always been popular with clients, and offering a secure online appointment booking facility was the next logical step. Our clients can now make an appointment via the internet, and change or amend their booking up to 48 hours before their visit. It's a unique service that provides our clients with greater choice and flexibility. We're also in the latter stages of planning a new franchise salon to expand the group even further.
How have you used your business director expertise within the wider hairdressing industry?
We run popular business courses in our Glasgow academy and winning has helped us market this training.
We've also built up relationships with other salons throughout the UK, the owners of which call us from time to time for guidance or advice, which we're only too happy to provide.
One of the cornerstones of our success is that we have an 'open door' policy - any salon is welcome to come and view our operation, and find out more about the way we run our salons and academy.
Looking back at your career, what lessons have you learned?
Opening our second salon wasn't easy. The concept was for it to be an advanced training school as well as a salon.
We had almost no budget to cover advertising and promotion, so we were spending a lot of money on photographs and taking part in shows, which was costing us more than we were getting paid.
We took a step back to analyse our biggest strength - training - and developed a plan to use the salon/school for clients from Monday to Saturday, and every Sunday we would open too, so Alan and I could run cutting seminars.
The Sunday seminars would be straight profit as we would not pay ourselves and this helped to repay the money we had borrowed from our bank. We were full every Sunday and after a year when we didn't have a single day off, we were in profit.
We hadn't understood profit and loss, or cash flows, and had failed to plan, but it was our artistic and teaching abilities that pulled us through.
From then on we made the decision to learn about business in-depth. We became business junkies, attending seminars, reading books and watching tapes of business gurus every night.
We never want to put our team or ourselves at risk again. Now, we always have a plan A, B and C and we have made sure we are financially stable.
How can salon owners balance management and running a business with inspiring creativity within their team?
Take the time to have a good look at your business and work out what you're really good at, what your strengths are and what creates the most value. We have systems for everything in place within the company, and with good time management, it's possible to multi-task. Sometimes you need to look at all the tasks that need tackling in the salon, and get someone else in to help, who has expertise in the areas you're not so strong in.
What five top tips would you offer other salon owners as essential for business success?
- Have a vision and don't compromise on your values or standards
- Have a detailed plan to cover the vital areas of finance, people management, training and marketing. Plans do change but, ultimately, you need to know what you are trying to achieve
- Don't be afraid to take risks, as long as they are calculated risks
- Have systems in place for everything
- Train, evaluate, monitor and reward your team.
