Ken picton on creating an award-winning salon formula

Ken Picton, owner of HJ's 2012 Salon of the Year 1 talks about the reasons for its success.

The concept is to have highly skilled individuals delivering a great quality of service and care. Everyone is specifically skilled in their own area - we don't multi-task. So, as well as the hair team we have dedicated make-up artists, a dentist and beauty therapists - the best people doing the best job. This ensures we maintain high standards and customer service. We've created a multi-service destination salon based on this ethos, and our customers are our biggest fans.

One factor that is integral to the growth and future of the salon is how we communicate. We hold weekly meetings to ensure everyone is engaged with our concept. Making team members a vital part of everything we do, including awards entries, is a great way of making them work more in sync as a team. We're a salon that rewards highly for creating great service and work.

We have a high retention rate - we see 400-500 clients a week. Because our clients feel valued, they stay loyal. We run a luxury salon with sumptuous décor and attentive salon staff possessing excellent skills and giving fabulous results. The team are highly skilled and clients know they'll be looked after by an expert. We're a business that cultivates clients and grows with them. We listen, and this is probably the most significant part of what we do. Knowing the truth is the only way we can grow our business, it keeps us ahead of the game. We have a fantastic environment - a beautifully designed, spacious salon with all the services clients need. We make it easy for them to come to us. We don't take them for granted and continue to offer clients the chance to try new services and homecare lines, rewarding loyalty and encouraging them to indulge in more pampering.

We have a large team, currently 46 employees, and around 50% have been here more than 10 years and 30% more than 15 years, so something must be right! We ensure our team members feel wanted, listen to them and create a great environment with great opportunities. Many team members have travelled the world, worked on shows and shoots, and have been rewarded for long service with holidays to destinations such as Dubai and Sorrento. We hold annual awards that are all about recognising and rewarding staff for great service and attitude.

You need to get a balance between having facts and figures to back up claims and getting across your ethos as a brand, demonstrating that you have great practice not for just customers but for staff too. When putting an entry together it's good to support and back up claims and provide evidence.