Learning from the british hairdressing business award winners
To mark the launch of HJ's 2012 British Hairdressing Business Awards, we caught up with some last year's winners to get an insight into the awards.
Here's what they told us about what it takes to get your salon recognised and what scooping one of the prestigious prizes can do for business.
 Barrie Stephen Retail  Hair at 58 Independent Newcomer  Tommy's Hair Salon of the Year 2  Jemma Stafford Junior of the Year  Michael Van Clarke Business Director  The Colour Room Customer Care  Tim Avory Franchisee  Tracey Devine Salon Design  Cloud Nine Innovation of the Year  Stuart Holmes Salon Team  Rush Hair Training  Kate Wilson Manager | Why did you enter the British Hairdressing Business Awards? Barrie Stephen: I can't think of a better way of letting your team and everyone else know that you're focused on establishing and growing quality in your business. It takes time to put everything together, but it is well worth the effort. By pulling all of our initiatives together it's created an amazing retail handbook to share with the other Barrie Stephen. Winning creates such a great buzz among the team and it really lifts your local profile. If you also want to be known as a serious business contender, then these awards to enter! Hair at 58: I entered the Hairdressing Business Awards because I feel what I have created is very unique. I think we have the right ingredients to provide guests with not only just a great salon visually, but somewhere they can have a lovely experience. We work incredibly hard and I'm so proud of the business we have developed, I felt it is only right to show the industry what we have achieved. How did you go about putting your awards entry together? Tommy's Hair: We have a dedicated team who work on our entries each year consisting of myself, Neill Mabbott, our PR & Marketing Manager and Ian Williams our Design Manager. Between us we have a reach a decision on the format our entry will have and then we all have our own individual responsibilities for pulling it all together. Jemma Stafford: I did alot of planning based on one peice of advice given to me by my boss, Alan, ''Be creative and concise.'' Using that as my basis, I came up with the concept of a magazine layout idea that seemed perfect for the Junior of the Year category. I put together my own shoot with my own models, photographer, make-up artist and stylist that I sourced online. How long did it take to put your entry together? The Colour Room: It would be fair to say that our focus on the British Hairdressing Business Awards is a year-long process. We are always thinking ahead of what we have to achieve in the following twelve months and the evidence we need to amass to stand a chance of winning a category next time. We put together a plan of initiatives, changes and improvements that need to be made to improve all aspects of our services and our business to make sure we are always 'upping our game' and keeping pace with the best salons on the country. Tim Avory: All in all from start to finish it took about two weeks to write it, analyse it and perfect my entry. So does that mean there were a lot of drafts before you reached the final version? Angels: Yes there were! And then there was subbing and editing and proofing and subbing and editing and proofing and.... Cloud Nine: Yes. When putting together an entry for awards such as the British Hairdressing Business Awards, it is vital to revisit the application so you gain a fresh perspective and can develop and improve the copy right up until you need to send it off. We were constantly re-reading the entry requirements to make sure every point was concisely covered and both our PR team and the Cloud Nine team read over the entry before submitting the final version. But was putting your entry together useful for the business? RUSH Hair: Putting the entry together made us very proud of the training that we provide and we are always looking to the future and how we can improve on what we have. Putting the entry together was a good exercise to evaluate what we have in existence. Tommy's Hair: Entering the British Hairdressing Business Awards is one of the most important things of our business calendar. It's not only the finalising and winning that benefits but the process of actually putting the entry together enables us to examine our business operation in great detail. Has it made you look at any elements of your business differently? Kate Wilson: Not differently, but with even more focus and fresh thoughts. I really was surprised to win as I didn't think I was doing anything special, just my job. I never have a day where I think things are perfect. I analyse every day. This is how we work as a brand; constantly striving to exceed all expectations. The Colour Room: We always endeavour to get feedback on our awards entries and if any areas of weakness are identified by the judges, we welcome this as an opportunity to improve the business. We also take inspiration from salons and people we admire in the industry, as well as great businesses outside of hairdressing. |
What advice would you give to people entering competitions su
ch as the British Hairdressing Business Awards?
Michael Van Clarke: Be honest about your business; none are perfect and no one wants to read reams of marketing gush. Give yourself plenty of time and aim to finish at least two weeks before the deadline to give space to reflect on your entry. It's the detail and refinements that set an entry apart. Have a think about the poor judges who have lots of entries to read so give them something they will enjoy reading.
Barrie Stephen Hair: The main thing I would is say is; think about what makes this year your year to enter this award? What are you doing that is really different? Why is it better than anyone else? What is the thing you bring that is going to make you a finalist, or better still, a winner? Be really honest and realistic in your answers. Look at your current areas of strength and think of ways to increase the buzz about this in your salon and in the press. Look at the entry details and plan activity to support its specific criteria.
So now that you've won a British Hairdressing Business Awards winner how have you marketed it?
Stuart Holmes: Where shall we start? One of the reasons for us entering the awards is to raise our profile within the industry and give us another tool to help market our business. We have shouted about our award victories through our client database, billboards, the front cover of the local newspaper, social media, branded staff uniforms, salon posters, radio, car logos and email signatures. Any opportunity to include our award logo, we do!
Hair at 58: We will be singing it from every rooftop telling whoever will listen! Since winning the award we have hosted a huge fashion show at the Prestigious Royal West of England art gallery to celebrate our second birthday and winning Independent Newcomer 2011. We also contacted local press and magazines, who ran our success story straight away and have used it as a good news email to make all our clients aware. It has gone on our Twitter (Hair_at58), on Facebook and blog pages and the trophy has in pride of place on our reception desk.
