Antonio Gonzales: Building Your Business

by Antonio Gonzales on Monday, July 12, 2010

I was born in Trinidad in the height of a hurricane. I spent my childhood surrounded by the sights and sounds and smells of Carnival and the other Indian, African and Spanish festivals of the Islands. Loving the amazing costumes, I got my start dressing my sisters and doing their hair and makeup. An opportunity came up to work with Trinidad’s leading costume designers, makeup artists and hair stylists. After I left the Island, my career evolved with work in Munich, Los Angeles and now New York City. Here in New York, I am a stylist at the Orlo Salon in the Meat Packing district. Vogue magazine recently named me as one of the rising hairstylist stars in N.Y., I was awarded the best haircut of 2008 by shecky’s.com, Gotham Magazine called me a Shear Genius and Allure Magazine featured me as one of the best cuts 2009.

See Antonio’s blog here.

I have a question for all hairstylists and salon owners: What do you think of when you hear the term “building your business”? Acquiring more clients? Increased product sales? Expanding your salon? Or simply developing your skill? Following a very humble start in this industry and having grown my career in two cities (Los Angeles and New York) that have salons on every corner, I’m here to share skills—from my cutting, coloring and management experience—that helped build my business to what it is today. I will address this topic in a two-part article: the first for salon management and the second (appearing in two weeks) for the hairstylist. So no matter what your price point or what state you live in, I present valuable tips to help you be the best at what you do. Please keep in mind that I’m not going to mention the obvious, like regular staff meetings and how to sell more products.

The Basic Rule

There is a myth in our industry that giving free services is good for business and encourages loyalty and appreciation. But consider this: When was the last time you went to your doctor, dentist or attorney and were given anything for free? For these professions, time equals money, and ours is no different. And the fact that your salon rents chairs or is commission-based (as the case may be) is irrelevant. The time and service that’s being given away will cost your business part of its profit. What’s more, not only are you losing money, but also respect. If your services are worth their cost, why would you need to give it away? Whether your business model entails a $20 or s $200 cut, the service you’re providing should be worth every penny you decide to charge, and it’s important that you stand firmly behind your worth. Remember that the idea is to build your business, not shortchange it. Consider that if you find yourself granting free services occasionally, perhaps you’re charging too much to begin with and should instead lower your rates, which brings me to…

Your Team’s Value

Your staff’s talent is key to building your business; the better they are, the more worth they have. Consider this scenario: You enable your key hairstylist to focus on his or her education for one year, allowing him or her a new depth of perspective on their skill. Stipulate that after each course they complete, they then must pass on their enhanced skills to your other stylists. It’s a win-win, on multiple levels: By doing so you will not only have made your key stylist better at his or her skill, but also afforded him or her the opportunity to realize their own worth. Meanwhile, your entire team will benefit from a skill-building process that, in the end, only cost you a single student’s tuition.

When your stylists are open to the idea that becoming more skilled means more clients (and more profit) for all, then they too can participate in the process as you see fit; rotate your personnel’s course attendance; each member of your team can have the chance to attend classes and share with their coworkers. It’s a collaborative process that all will enjoy, and from which all can, and will, benefit.

A hairstylist’s worth is not how much attitude they have, how meticulous they are at their job, or even how much product they sell or how many clients they bring in, but rather the degree to which he or she is willing to better themselves. Their capacity to grow, to perform noticeably better each, is truly the most important factor.

So now that you have the staff’s enthusiastic participation, let’s begin.

Team Building

From my personal experience, as hairstylists see each others’ skills improve, it makes them feel less threatened and the sense of a true “team” is born. But keep in mind that the weaker stylists are there for a reason: to be your future stars… so who better to train them but your current shining stars. Another way to set a strong foundation for a team relates to their trust in you as their manager. Never—I repeat, NEVER—break an employee’s trust. Even if they come to you with a smallest complaint about another staff member, keep it to yourself and figure out a way to deal with the issue. Remember, if they have shared a concern, it’s now your responsibility, and this information should be guarded with the utmost respect. If their trust is broken, chances are you will never get it back again.

As the team slowly starts working together, think about ways for members to be excited to learn more, which brings me to…

Incentives

Having a staff member set an example by learning, sharing and becoming busier is often enough of an incentive for the rest of the team. But we all respond differently. Luckily, there are countless ways to create a buzz in the salon. I have taken part in so many incentive-building exercises to help build moral and sales that I could write a book on the subject! Here are a couple of the ones that worked best for me, and a couple to avoid at all costs.

Good idea: Get your product distributors involved. Have them offer more than just points; urge them to offer gift cards on a monthly basis to the stylist that sells the most treatments and/or products.

Bad idea: Don’t put that chart on the wall showing who’s selling the most. All this accomplishes is to create resentment and unhealthy, mean-spirited competition that undermines the idea of teamwork you’re trying to cultivate. The idea is to help promote a desire to do something that is part of their job. You don’t want to rub it into anyone’s face that their sales are low.

Good idea: We know that most companies now offer points for purchases that can go toward education. I’m a firm believer that the strongest producers and most talented individuals should be first on the list for education. Keep in mind that your strongest sellers may not be your busiest stylists. The idea is that they will learn faster and be stronger at teaching (hopefully).

Bad idea: If you hire a new stylist who is not as strong as your key stylist, don’t take points to send the new hire for education. Keep those points for your existing stylists and have them train the new hire. The new member of staff should prove herself through client retention, punctuality and sales.

All this talk of sales brings me to the next topic…

Product Sales

If you are basing your profit on product sales, then you are in the wrong business. Clients return for quality of work that improves over time. They can get products at a beauty-supply store. Furthermore, not every stylist is adept at selling. You may have a very talented stylist who can’t give away glitter dust to a drag queen! That’s OK—not everyone’s a salesperson. Early in my career, when my skills were not up to par, I was still the strongest at selling products. And today, as I have grown and can dish out a fierce cut, I’m still the strongest at sales … in other words, I can sell nuts to a man with no teeth! If you have a talented stylist that is weak at sales, that’s just the way it is. Trying to get them to sell is like trying to get blood from a stone—it’s not going to happen. Once they do their job, that’s all that matters; it’s about building your business, not trying to pimp products. I recommend having the super-creative stylists create, and the stylists that have the ability to sell products do that, while working on their talent.

Keep in mind that the worst feeling for a client is that they are feeling taken for granted and are being forced to buy products. It’s not worth losing a client over a bottle of shampoo.

My next article will address hairstylists directly, so get ready for some super-helpful tips to make you a star.