The year in hairdressing: 2011 business review

HJ: What were the high points for you business-wise during 2011? 

KW: Winning Business Manager of the Year 2011 at HJ's British Hairdressing Business Awards and watching our retail business growing. 

My team also had some incredible creative successes which will help promote the business - including winning the L'Oréal Young Colourist Award at the L'Oréal Colour Trophy.

KW: I have had to change the way I recruit, and manage the staff as the legislation around employment is so tight that I have spent valuable business hours doing paper work over the smallest of staffing issues, just to make sure I have covered my back. The Government should do more to help employers.

JD: We had a terrible fire in the salon, which meant we had to close for two weeks and needed a £50,000 refurbishment. We made home visits to every client who had an appointment booked during the refurbishment work. In addition, the front of house team relocated to the nearby Hilton hotel in Cobham where we set up a temporary call centre. The best decision I made was employing a business consultant to manage the claim - it took a lot of the stress away and meant that nothing was overlooked. 

JD: The increase on VAT has been shocking. I struggle to think of a Government initiative that has actually helped small businesses this year. 

TD: We had three major goals for 2011: to open a new branch in Sevenoaks (which we did in July); to dispense with beauty services and focus on building our training school. We closed beauty in June and we will open our training school early in 2012; and to develop our own brand product offering with a design house and put a team together to help the project come alive. We are just finalising the business deal now and hope to have our lifestyle products complete for November 2012.  

 

TD: That despite the tough times there are some amazing opportunities to be had, with low rents and more property on the market. Good deals are available if you are willing to take them.

RZ: To invest in and promote our creative director, Angelo Vallillo, and the Zullo & Holland brand in the industry and locally to strengthen the business and energise the team. In times like this the worst thing to do is bury your head in the sand. You must invest to gain standout, to differentiate your brand and increase client and team confidence. 

We brought in a PR specialist to build the salon profile, invested in advertising, including large-scale billboards, redesigned and updated our website, launched our online community via Facebook and Twitter and began email marketing in earnest. I also refurbished the ground floor of my salon and invested in continuing professional development of the team. 

To sustain the growth of the business and retain clients. This was achieved by the introduction of a loyalty scheme for our clients and introductory vouchers to encourage cross sales in all departments. Having the team well educated in all areas of all the salon's services enables them to talk about each service with confidence. By recruiting the right people with the right skills the business has continued to grow. 

 

The young recruits programme by the Welsh Assembly has enabled us to offer apprenticeships to 19 to 24-years-olds as well as school leavers, which has enabled our training centre to expand and grow.