Short and Spring-y: What is in it for you, the stylist?

by Ivan Zoot/The Clipper Guy on Monday, April 12, 2010

Ivan Zoot is the director of education and customer engagement for the Andis Company and the founder of Zoot! Hair professional hair care products. Ivan identifies, recruits, trains and manages Andis’ team of professional beauty industry educators. Ivan continues to be a featured presenter at industry shows and events, sharing his unique blend of information, education and enthusiasm for clipper cutting and the entire professional beauty industry. Ivan’s background includes experiences ranging from salon ownership to achieving 3 Guinness World Haircutting records.

Last posting we discussed the top five reasons why short, springy and spring-y looks are great style options for your clients. This time we will examine what is in it for you, the curly-inspired and curly-focused stylist.

Below are my top five reasons why it makes sense for stylists to sell their curly-haired clients on shorter cuts.

1. Cutting hair off, going short, is fun. This can provide you a great creative outlet. Just trimming ends can get pretty boring pretty fast. Creating unique shapes and bringing change to clients is exciting. This is one of the key reasons many of us were drawn to the hair business in the first place. It was fun to style Barbie’s hair, but many of us went for the scissors pretty quickly.

2. Short hair services take less time. You can and will turn the chair faster when more of your clients have less hair. The shorter their hair gets, so do the length of their visits with you. More turns in a day equals more cash in your pocket.

3. Short hair comes back faster. There is no secret in the math. Short cuts grow out and lose their shape sooner. The client is back on the porch for more. We can be busier and fill more of our appointment spaces by increasing client visit frequency.

4. Short hair buys and uses more take home hair care products. There are fewer ponytail days for the client with a short snappy style. They have to do their hair. It takes less time to do… and that is one of the reasons why the short-haired client loves her short crop. From the need to cleanse daily to get product out, to the need to do their do every day, putting product in, the short haired client is a product junkie. This is great for your business.

5. Short hair sends more referrals. People are more likely to notice and comment on a great cut. People notice shape, movement and structure in great hair. Long is great, but long is just long. Clients are more likely to refer friends to more creative cutters, too. Show off your skills and you will be rewarded with more opportunities to show off your skills.

So we get more clients who buy more stuff, sending more friends to us and who spend less time in our chair but do so more often… did I get all that right? It sounds to me like it all adds up to more business and more dollars and makes more sense. I know there was a reason I like to cut curly hair shorter. I hope you do as well.

Once you agree with all the reasons why short and curly is the way to go you need to convince the clients to play along. Next posting we will discuss the top five ways to sell curly clients on going short.