What's Your F'ing Business?®
What's Your F'ing Business?®
Beyond the Scissors: How Sit Still Kids Salon Creates 10-Year Customer Relationships
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What happens when a children's haircut becomes more than just a trim? Stephanie Knepp, CEO of Sit Still Kids Salon, reveals the magic behind transforming what's traditionally a tear-filled ordeal into an experience children actually look forward to.
The concept is brilliantly simple yet revolutionary: create a salon specifically designed for children from their first haircut through their tween years, where every aspect of the experience caters to their comfort and enjoyment. "You come in for the haircuts, but you actually stay a client with us because of the relationship you develop," Knepp explains, highlighting their impressive business model that retains customers for up to a decade.
What truly sets Sit Still apart is their psychological approach to children's comfort. Their stylists don't just cut hair, they're trained in child engagement techniques, offering options like car-shaped chairs with iPads, letting kids choose their cape colors, and explaining every step of the process. Beyond basic cuts, they offer special treatments like chlorine treatments for swimmers, sparkle strands, temporary hair colors, and mohawks that turn a mundane necessity into something magical. Meanwhile, parents enjoy complimentary beverages and can browse their retail boutique.
From a franchise perspective, Sit Still represents a fascinating case study in scaling passion. Currently at 30 locations, Knepp—who joined as CEO rather than being the founder—walks a delicate line between preserving the founder's vision while implementing business systems necessary for national and eventually international growth. Her approach includes weekly communications with franchisees, always explaining the "why" behind business decisions to maintain that crucial balance of passion and profitability.
Ready to discover more about the business that's redefining children's salon experiences? Listen now and learn how creating joyful moments for children translates into exceptional customer retention and business success.
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Introducing Sit Still Kids Salon
Speaker 1FranWise presents what's your F-ing Business A podcast about franchising. Here's your host, Marianne O'Connell.
Speaker 2Hey everybody, welcome back to another edition of what's your F-ing Business, a podcast about franchising, and I'm your host. I'm Marianne O'Connell, the founder and president of FranWise Franchise Consulting, and we write manuals. So today I'm excited to introduce our guest, who is the CEO of a great concept that is really important for all families, and you're going to find out in a second why that is so. Please welcome the CEO of Sit Still Kids Salon, and that is my wonderful guest, stephanie Knapp. Hi, stephanie, welcome. Hi, thanks for having me. My pleasure. So a lot of people don't know what Sit Still Kids Salon is about, so what can you tell us?
Speaker 1Yeah, no, absolutely. They don't know about us yet, I will say, because we are definitely an emerging brand. So, as the name suggests, obviously we are a children's salon offering core services of haircuts for children. But then really what makes us unique and special are our ancillary services that we tie into it to really help mom and dad and families of all kinds with different lifestyle features and enhancements. So upgrades like shampoos and washes, you know, special treatments like think summertime chlorine treatment for hair for children is really important.
Speaker 1Then we get into, you know, holiday and photos and dress up and all of that cool stuff and we make it a really cool experience for just not mom and dad, but for the child. And so after each service we either do sparkle strands or hair color you know mohawks, you know, think that sort of thing, because a haircut for a child can be very negative experience, I'll say in some, you know, in some cases, just especially if it's their first haircut, or just in general. You know a child doesn't want to have to sit still, you know, for you know, longer than five minutes if they don't have to. But we make the experience fun and so sitting still is actually an amazing experience for a child, but also for mom and dad when they come into the salon, because they have the ability to chill out for a little bit. We offer them complimentary beverages.
Speaker 1We do have a retail boutique associated to the concept so they can get some shopping done. We are more than just a kid salon. We say that just so that you know what our core service offering is. But once you get in the door, I like to say you come in for the haircuts, but you actually stay a client with us because of the relationship you develop and then all of the additional services that we have that enhance your lifestyle with us. So that's what kids sit still. Kids salon is.
Speaker 2For all our listeners. It's early this morning.
Speaker 1So try saying that three times fast.
Speaker 2How do you define kids? Where's the cutoff for children?
Speaker 1So we take children I mean as early as you know needed for their first haircut, and so it's like that could be anywhere from a couple months old, depending on upon how much hair they have, and then usually we get them or keep them until they're tweens. So you know, between 10, 11 and 12. Boys do tend out to kind of do tend to phase out a little bit sooner for us than girls do. But the beauty of the business model for sit still is that you have this repeat client for upwards of 10 years, right. So it's like you know, you have that initial investment through marketing of new client, but that return on that investment is quite high because you have a client for 10 years. It's not just one transaction and done.
Speaker 2Well, that's the model everybody's looking for 10 years. It's not just one transaction and done. Well, that's the model everybody's looking for, exactly exactly. You said earlier that sometimes it can be a stressful situation, especially in first haircuts. Now, maybe it was so stressful I don't remember mine at all but I watch some of my friends kids and it's like they think it's going to hurt.
Speaker 1So how do you calm down a child that is really scared? Yeah, so we do a number of different things and our stylists are trained there. Our stylists are just so great with kids. I mean, that's definitely one of the requirements, right, of being a stylist with us is that you have to enjoy children and be able to talk to them, and it's actually quite fun. We actually get to have silly, crazy conversations. You know, we talk about cartoons and we talk about the latest and greatest things that are happening in the child's life.
Speaker 1But we do a lot of education during our service as well. So it's not just education for mom and dad on the cut, but we're actually we're talking to the child during the service and dad on the cut, but we're actually we're talking to the child during the service and we're explaining to them what we're doing and why we're doing it and how we're doing it, and we can also give them options, right. So it's like preferences of you know where they would like to sit. We have different seating arrangements. If they would like to sit in a car, have an iPad, you know, drive around the salon for a little bit while they're getting their haircut, that's totally fine. We also have barber. You know barber chair options. Mom can be, you know, right next to the child during the appointment. Mom can actually be in our lobby area maybe getting some work done, something like that. We make it so that the experience is all about them. We're not, you know, trying to put them into our system to get their haircut. You know, we really do make the experience about them and tailor every detail down to what color drinking cup would you like to have your juice in at our visit today? So, again, make them feel 100% comfortable and confident with our service so that they are happy during it. And if tears do start to fall, we take care of that as well too.
Speaker 1We have many techniques for distraction as well too. We have many techniques for distraction. Again, we allow in the service time to be able to accommodate, you know, chilling out for a little bit and having a conversation with the child, understanding what is wrong Sometimes. Sometimes it could just be the cape color is not the color that they wanted, right, and so it's like. You know all of that. We have the ability to just mold and, you know, make it so that the child wants to come back. Because if the child wants to come back. Mom and dad are bringing the child back, and that's what we want, because if the child doesn't want to come back, we might have actually just lost a client. So we do everything we can to cater to the child, so that the child has a great time.
Stylist Training and Franchise Model
Speaker 2That. So I have to imagine then, that your technical training you don't have to teach licensed cosmetologists how to cut, but it must focus on that comfort psychology and holding your cool. I could never work in the salon. My tolerance Good reason I don't have kids, yeah, no, absolutely so the oh go ahead. Sorry you go ahead.
Speaker 1You explain, please. So you're absolutely right. So you know, hiring cosmetologists, the actual service, you know the haircutting is already trained on right, so we don't have to focus on that, which allows our business model, our franchise model, to have a lesser training time. Now, it's not, you know, to say that the training isn't important because, like you said, this is actually not. It's not harder training, but it's different training, but it's knowing the sit still experience way of delivering the service, which is, you know how do we greet, how do we interact with children. You know what options do we have available that we can tailor the experience to different children, different parent types, all of that kind of good stuff.
Speaker 1But yes, we do here at Sit Still have a Sit Still training program that we do implement for new salon launches as well as when just existing salons bring on new staff. That takes them through how to deliver the sit still experience. So you know what beverages to have on hand, how to offer a beverage, how to clean up, how to actually educate on aftercare to maintain the look. You know all of that, but it does. It definitely makes it easier when hiring because you're already hiring a cosmetologist who has the full, complete background of hair cutting, where we probably only have to train on that very minimally. Again, making sure for kids. It's the right way to go Because a lot of times cosmetology schools is just for adults right and doing a lot of adult hair care services. So there is a little bit there that we do, but not much. But it allows us to actually get our stylists on the floor much quicker than you know maybe elsewhere, because there isn't so much training that has to happen in order for them to be productive for the business.
Speaker 2And your franchisees don't need to be licensed, do they?
Speaker 1They don't have to be, but what's really interesting and really cool about Sit Still is that some of them are. You know our franchisees are really passionate. You know the majority of our franchisees got into this more or less for the passion play not necessarily the business aspect, which you know could be a whole nother topic for a whole nother day, which is really exciting but you know a lot of our franchisees. Actually, I just was in our Flower Mound location this past week.
Speaker 1We were doing some marketing content photo shoot and that franchisee is also a stylist. She actually went to school so that she can relate better to the staff. Right, you know she's going to be their leader, their coach, their mentor, and so she knows, you know, what it takes to do the job. And then also from a business standpoint, she steps in in emergencies. Right, when somebody calls out, she can step in. There's so many you know great reasons why a franchisee would actually want to be a stylist, but also, at the same time, to the business model doesn't mean that you have to be, so it's very flexible with you know, with who we can bring in as a franchisee and still meet their passion and goals.
Speaker 2It's interesting that you were saying that this is passion driven and because when I look at the other franchise brands that are more the adult hair care, they really approach it as a business concept and you don't have to be a licensed stylist. So it's an interesting twist and maybe that really helps your franchisees relate better to the children and keep that relationship going.
Speaker 1It absolutely does.
CEO's Vision for Growth
Speaker 2So I'm going to switch gears here for a minute. Okay, you're not the founder, and I'm always curious for successful CEOs when you step into that role and the founder sort of steps back or takes a slightly different approach, what do you find was your biggest learning that you took on? What's the biggest challenge?
Speaker 1Yeah, no, that's a really great question Because you know I talk about passion so much and I'll actually be, you know, a little bit honest with you here and open up and give you a peek under the tent here. That was actually one of the topics of conversation that I had quite a bit and actually a little bit still am with the network regarding my passion for the brand right, because I'm not the founder, I am stepping in, but yet I do have a passion for what we do here at Sit Still. In my previous experience and my you know, my career over the years has always been in the lifestyle industry, and so Sit Still actually is part of the lifestyle industry. Let me explain what that is a little bit. It's taking a business concept and, again, not having just a transaction with a client or customer, but having a journey with them and actually developing a relationship with them, and so I've been doing this for 20 years now. You know where. You get to know families, you get to know holidays, you get to know vacations, and you have this progression of conversation, you get to have this progression of operations and you have to have this progression of marketing as well, too, to keep them you can only talk about the weather so much. When you interact with somebody on a daily or weekly basis, right, you know, awkward conversations very quickly start to happen, so it's like you get to know them, they get to know you, and so I was.
Speaker 1I was actually, you know, I stepped into sit, still as an outsider, but also as CEO, especially as an emerging brand.
Speaker 1I was stepped in to take the brand to the next level, right. So sit still has, you know, was created and already has, and something that I will never, ever touch is the experience, right, the actual passion of it, because the owners, the founders, you know the other three owners that are in the ownership group for sit, still, they had the passion and they created this phenomenal brand, they created the experience that is offered in all of our salons, and so, really, I was brought in as an outsider for the business aspect of it, right, so it's not to say that I don't have a passion for it, but I do also have a passion for the business side, because in order for the passion to continue, we need to make sure that the business stays in business, right, and you know, definitely, you know, the passion exists to be able to infiltrate communities, but at the end of the day, these franchisees did also get into this to get a return on their investment right.
Speaker 1I hope so Exactly. I mean, they're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and at the end of the day, they do wanna get that back. And so definitely what I am doing by bringing in other experts that come from franchising and are now being brought onto the sit still team we all again have this passion, but we are now bringing in the business passion to be able to get that return on investment for our franchisees, to not only look at it as how many clients can we see, but then from a value standpoint, what value does that have for us in bringing in revenue and then leading towards profitability, that sort of thing. And so you know that's now the goal of sit still, because again, you know the brand in and of itself perfection. Now we have to scale it, and now we have to get it to every single community in the United States and probably you know beyond that as well too.
Balancing Passion with Business Goals
Speaker 1International is definitely on the radar in the next couple of years, hopefully, but in order to do that, we have to really showcase the business of it so that we attract different types of franchisee models that can come in and help us scale this, so that we can reach thousands of communities in the next couple of years, because right now we're at 30 open locations just 30, and we're thriving, but we want to make sure that we can help families in so many nooks and crannies across the country, and so to do that, we do have to put our business hats on here now a little bit and really get this thing to scale. So you know that's the team that is now being built at Sit Still is going to work together with the founding team to really get this to grow and prosper.
Speaker 2I like that vision and how you're going for it and I'm going to be a bit of a devil's advocate here. Yep, you talk about it's time to focus on the business and that all makes sense, but sometimes those initial franchisees that's not why they got into it. One of our very first interviews on this podcast was Rebecca Monet from Zorical and she talked very much about the lifestyle of the franchisees you bring in and the people in the beginning. Like that, it's small and kind of wild, wild west. They have direct access to the founder. So how do you, as the outsider coming in, help those original franchisees make that transition in their thinking?
Speaker 1Yeah, you're spot on, you're spot on. And so, at the end of the day, what I say, I'm doing, you know, the most that I think is impactful is having a weekly communication with them to make sure that they know what's going on in my head on a weekly basis. Right, you know? And really not just doing things to do them, but doing things and always making sure I'm explaining the why, because that's actually what changes. You know their perception, or you know their, you know reasoning as to why they think it's a great idea or a bad idea. Because if I am implementing something,