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After 20 Years . . . New Heights!
By Misa Chappell for Summit Salon Business Center
 SSGC Consultant Michael Nikolas recently received an impressive testimony from a stylist named Robin who had been in the business for over 20 years. The salon where she works, Hair Expressions in Arden Hills, MN, attended the Summit in 2008. Robin decided to embrace the Summit Salon systems and has since reached new heights in her career.
She agreed to share her inspiring story here:
I have been a stylist for 24 years and have been with Hair Expressions for 12 of those years. I have enjoyed my job, especially working with clients and co-workers. When I was slow, I’d go home early or come in late. I was content but I would have enjoyed more income.
In October 2008 our owner D’Ann Bagan attended the Summit, after which we had some changes in our salon’s structure. I realized that I was also ready for a change. My kids were now in school and I was ready for a career. I wanted my business to grow.
I started focusing on my present clients. I made sure that I had a reason for them to pre-book and give them a date to do so. My pre-books went from 40% to 70%.
Our salon went to split-shifting and we needed to stay for our whole shift as well. I started staying during my slow times to allow for walk-in business. The salon began having retail and service promotions. This helped me to focus on the products and services that I did not usually pay attention to. When I started teaching my clients about the products and services, my retail to service increased 92% from 2007 to 2008. In the first 6 months of 2009, I am up 145% from the first 6 months of 2008.
Service specials give my clients the opportunity to try something new. It gives me the chance to tell them about other services that we offer and make more offerings to each client. It was hard for me to go outside of my comfort zone and ask my clients to try a new service, but I saw a huge increase in my service sales. In 2008, my services were up from 2007 by 7%. In the first 6 months of 2009 I am up 17% from the first 6 months in 2008.
The knowledge that D’Ann has passed on from The Summit has been the key to my growth. We now are on a level system with structure and goals to reach. We are required to track our products and services and meet one on one with our owner. By doing this we are able to set up goals and find solutions that work for me, and for each of us. This has given me the encouragement and tools to succeed. I am amazed at how far that I have come and I am excited to continue to grow.
Way to go, Robin! Keep up the positive spirit and hard work!
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