Lisa shepherd on maximising your colour business

Lisa Shepherd has created a business with a colour culture where clients are generally converted to colour and only 10% of her clientele DON’T enjoy some form of colour service. She's in the British Hairdressing Awards Hall of Fame as Colour Technician of the Year and has earned her title as Hair Colour Doctor; here are her tips on how to give your salon a colour check-up:

• Be knowledgeable – Whatever the strengths of her staff, Lisa has built a team that shares a large pool of knowledge about colour"To be trustworthy you must be expert and so teach ALL your staff about shades, formulas and application techniques. Realistically, there will be some staff that spend most of their time on technical work but don’t 'fence off colour knowledge and make it the exclusive reserve of just one or two specialist staff. The more everyone understands colour the more they can involve the client."
• Be excited – all staff have a genuine enthusiasm for what colour can do for their clients "I spend time on making colour part of our on-going training and I’m not just talking about application techniques. We develop ideas and explore the way colour works in any number of mediums. It keeps the staff thinking about colour which in turn motivates them to discuss it with clients."
• Be curious – asking open questions will gain you a lot of ground"We ask our clients about their latest make-up, clothes or bag purchases. We ask them how they use colour in their daily lives. We open up the conversation in any number of ways and it’s all relevant!"
• Be flexible – time is often a barrier once you have successfully ‘sold’ a client but Lisa thinks outside the box. "I rarely turn down the opportunity to add or refresh colour and I encourage staff to study their column and work as a team to meet that client’s need. Application, processing and treatment times all have some elasticity so work with what you have and be confident."
• Be daring – it’s easy to make assumptions about what a client will say ‘no’ to but Lisa takes pride in helping clients to make the right choice for them and sometimes they surprise her. "I see colour potential in every head of hair and finding a way to share that vision in a way that won’t frighten the client can be a challenge. I use language that paints a picture of a way the client could choose to look and then I invite them to share that vision with me."
• Be patient – don’t be put off by a negative response to colour suggestions, sometimes it can take time for the client to warm to the idea. "Just because you have discussed colour with a client once and they have said ‘no’, don’t tick the box and never ask again. For big changes or first time colour users it can be daunting, so let your client warm to the idea over a number of visits. It’s unlikely they will look back once they’ve tried it, so invest a little time."