End-of-Year Strategies Unveiled [EP:156]

Get Ready for the Rest of 2024: Planning, Marketing, and Preparing for the Holidays

In this episode, Jen and Todd discuss preparing for the remainder of 2024, focusing on business planning, holiday readiness, and marketing strategies.

They highlight the importance of understanding your yearly goals, leveraging pre-booking, maximizing retail opportunities, and effectively using social media to target client needs.

Additionally, they emphasize the necessity of self-care and the value of proper scheduling to avoid burnout during the holiday season.

Jen and Todd share practical tips and personal anecdotes to help listeners navigate the busy months ahead while maintaining a balanced and profitable business approach.

00:00 Welcome and Catching Up
00:22 Preparing for the Rest of 2024
01:29 Reflecting on Podcast Episodes
05:12 The Importance of Reading
07:08 Holiday Planning and Preparation
11:14 Effective Marketing Strategies
14:47 Client-Centric Social Media Marketing
19:11 Creating Desire in the Hair World
19:28 Lifting Spirits During the Holidays
19:42 The Power of Pampering
20:02 Client Experience and Social Media
22:14 The Importance of Pre-Booking
25:23 Retail Strategies for the Holidays
35:48 Balancing Service and Self-Care
37:05 Final Thoughts and Reflections

Books mentioned in this episode:
"It's All About the Guest"
"Unreasonable Hospitality"

Links and Stuff:
Our Newsletter
Mentoring Inquiries

Find more of our things:
Instagram
Hello Hair Pro Website

Transcript

156
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[00:00:00] 

Todd: All right. Welcome back. What's up everyone. Happy Monday. What's going on, Jen?

Jen: Just fixing my braids.

Todd: Fixing your braids. Nice. So we haven't recorded on a Wednesday in a while

Jen: No, it's been summer. It's been a little hectic.

Todd: as for sure. in a good way today, we're going to talk about getting ready. I think we touched on it last week, but we didn't get into it at all. getting ready for the rest of 2024. It is almost September. It'll, will it be September when this comes out?

Jen: Yes. I think September 1st is Sunday or Saturday. So yeah.

Todd: cool. So this'll come out.

Jen: So yeah.

Todd: September, early September. I don't know exactly. You said first or second,

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: there. It doesn't

Jen: Something like that.

Todd: So you have what? Four months then left

Jen: So

Todd: [00:01:00] 2024.

Jen: crazy and cool.

Todd: Yeah, very cool. jump in with our opening takes. Yeah, I know.

Jen: Killing me.

Todd: you know what's funny? My hair's sticking up. What's funny is we were just downstairs talking and I was like, do I remind her? Cause this is only like the fourth, third or fourth time we've done like an opening take, which I think is fun. I'll

Jen: no, just hang me out to dry there. Let me go. I'll figure it out.

Todd: and then you can jump in.

Jen: Okay.

Todd: So mine's sort of lighthearted. Last week's episode wasn't my favorite. And I don't mean, like, the topic. you know what? I don't know what I mean. I think the topic might have been fine. I think maybe I was just having a day where I wasn't feeling it.

Jen: All right.

Todd: And so, I was thinking about it, and I was like, you know what?

I, I don't know what was wrong with it. Maybe nothing. Maybe the podcast was fine. Maybe the episode was, was fine. Maybe the, [00:02:00] what was the topic? What did we talk about again? We talked about hold on. Now

Jen: I forget.

Todd: I do too. Oh, we talked about pricing thoughts,

Jen: Oh

Todd: is to me sort of like a basic conversation.

And honestly, my opinion got to the point where it's like, I don't care, just pick something and like have a reason for picking

Jen: yeah,

Todd: But the lesson that I, I tried to take out of that was I didn't let it really get me down. I still hit publish. I still put the episode out there. wasn't like, we should try to rerecord.

I wasn't like, maybe we should go back and revisit something. and it, so it got me thinking and most stuff by definition is not going to be great. It's not going to be top tier, especially when you are a top tier sort of person in whatever industry you're in. So say, podcaster. That doesn't mean every single episode is going [00:03:00] to be an A plus a home run.

Jen: absolutely.

Todd: And going through that stuff, like if you're honest with yourself, most stuff's not going to be that great. Unless you like have, unless you're like the top, you know, a few percent of people out there doing whatever it's, if you're playing a sport, you could look at it all the way up to the Olympic level or professional level.

Say you're really good at basketball. Are you compared to like an NBA player though?

Jen: I

Todd: at the top, the majority of your stuff is probably gonna be average. And so I think it's important for us to keep that in mind, appreciate, like, the journey that we're on.

Because this is episode 156, I believe, so that's three years, if you, not to the date, but to the weeks. three years of content that we've put out, and I would say, Only a handful of episodes. I would, I would probably say, or like, I was like super [00:04:00] excited about, or super happy with. And if I went back and revisited them now, would I be as happy as I was when they came out, because I know so much more now because I put myself through this journey and just kind of. Enjoy the ride. I guess. I also come from a different place because I literally do not care if somebody criticizes me or thinks they're better than me or whatever. It's that's good for you. I'm not trying to be the world's best podcaster. not trying to be the world's best barber, not trying to be the world's best business owner.

I'm just trying to be those things for me, for my family, for our team, for you, for whatever it relates to, if that makes sense. So. that was a little long, but enjoy the journey. It's my opening take. What do you got?

Jen: don't think I got much. 

Todd: Are you

Jen: I guess

Todd: anything? What are you reading for a book?

Jen: I forget the title. I just started it, the yellow cover.[00:05:00] 

Todd: Oh, unreasonable hospitality.

Jen: I just started that book yesterday. So It's a good one. I actually here, here's my opening take that helped me. Thanks. Thanks for the help there. I think it's really easy probably in any industry, but if you've been listening, I've been in the hair industry for 25 years coming on right now. So when you have downtime, clients processing, whatever, to just jump on that phone and you get lost in the social media world.

So what I decided for my journey about. I think we're on three years ago, probably around this podcast time, was to start reading some books, like just get my brain moving in some different directions. My whole world, a lot of it is hair related. So I was not looking for books on hair. I was looking for books on other things and probably the podcast maybe inspired it to like, get my mind with new words, with new ideas, with new thoughts, with things that are happening outside of this industry, because I've been in it for so long.

And what I was finding was, is, you know, I'd have that downtime. I was. phone and just scrolling aimlessly and literally just [00:06:00] wasting minutes of my life that I would never get back. And I wasn't getting any better at anything. So what started out with some books from recommendations and I actually got into finding a, an author I like and reading books.

Fairly quickly that I'd never done before and inspiring my kids that were like, oh you read and I'm like, yes I know how to read. I just haven't like picked up a book in a while

Todd: Okay.

Jen: Yeah, just and then now they're all reading and they pick up books and it's just neat sometimes how I think you do something for yourself to make yourself better and You never know who's watching and who you're inspiring.

So now there's a group of us at the salon that all bring a book when we have downtime and are talking about books and just having a new relationship with books. And then I have my kids who are like, well, if my mom's reading, I'm going to read. And it's just, I guess, pick up a new hobby. It's always good to be doing something else and not scrolling on your phone.

But I think my other take from that is that you never know who's watching you and who you're inspiring to get them to do new things and step out of their comfort zone. Yeah. [00:07:00] There we are.

Todd: Nice, that was great.

Jen: Thanks.

Todd: I like it. So, all right, let's dive into this. I want to start with pointing out the obvious. So we know exactly what dates each holiday falls on every year. So please not be that person that is like, Oh my God, the holidays snuck up on me. They should not be sneaking up on you. We've had like, how long has Christmas been around?

Jen: I don't know, you were talking with Marley about this this morning.

Todd: long has Thanksgiving been around? It's the first Thanksgiving was in 1621. We've had time. You can fact check me on that by the way. Well it wasn't officially called Thanksgiving until Abraham Lincoln added that and then made all the colonies to celebrate on the same day, but the idea of Thanksgiving had been around since 1621. The 1600s and it was organized in the 1800s. Like you've had time, you should know how to use a calendar. And

Jen: Mm

Todd: if [00:08:00] it's coming across like blunt or if somebody is like, wow, is he in a bad mood? I'm not. It's just like the more time you waste not doing basic stuff or not paying attention to basic stuff like a calendar. Like think about extrapolate that out. What if you just decided to not how not pay attention to a clock? How would your day go? would be screwed, right?

Jen: hmm. Yep.

Todd: my God, I didn't realize Betty was going to show up. It snuck up on me. Yeah. Cause you weren't paying attention. So if the holidays in the end of the year sneak up on you, it's your fault.

You're not paying attention. We have calendars, we have libraries. If you don't have a calendar, you can go there and borrow calendar, whatever. If you listen to this podcast, you probably have a phone. It's got a calendar built in. There's so many calendars on my phone that I had to delete a bunch of them. So that's like the first thing I want to point out. So I guess we'll start with like. Be prepared,

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: be prepared. And so what does that mean? Where do we go from there? I have no idea because I don't know what [00:09:00] you're using to measure your success. assume that you know about business. You're using numbers.

Okay.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: you should have numbers ready to go. You should understand them at least the basics. Like, where are you at? Okay. Today, where were you last year? Are you up or down? And then where do you want to be? Like, where do you want to be through the holidays? Where do you want to be at the end of the year?

This year? It's we have another month in quarter three, and then we dive into quarter four. Like, are you going to meet your goal for quarter three? Do you even have a goal? If you don't look at your numbers, try to beat it, try to beat it by a thousand dollars, I don't know, whatever. Try to beat it by something or use a percentage. I'm trying to keep it simple though. So

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: just don't aim for 1, right? Like, where, where are you starting? What are you using to measure that stuff? And where would you like to be?

Jen: And what are you going to do to get there?

Todd: Right. [00:10:00] And then you can develop your plan and work, work it backwards. So the reason I wanted to point that out is because the biggest problem that I see is a lack of vision. And when you don't have vision, you have no plan.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: plan, it's easy to fall into the idea of like, Oh, I'll just do what everyone else is doing. around the holidays, we see a lot of, we can talk about discounting in a second, but we see a lot of like people that discount stuff. So you think automatically a lot of people are discounting. I'll discount that must work because you don't have a plan and you're following the masses. You're literally aiming directly at mediocrity. That's what you're doing. You're just aiming at the junction of a whole bunch of people that might not even know what they're doing.

And if they do, they haven't designed it to work for you.

Jen: Right.

Todd: makes sense. Yeah.

Jen: Yeah. Oh, it does to me.

Todd: What are

Jen: also think if you're discounting, you're And you're not a profitable business. Why are you discounting? You have,

Todd: Oh, yeah.

Jen: you, you don't, you can't afford to lose any money at all. So you have to [00:11:00] be innovative and creative and find ways to bring business in. And I wouldn't say discounting is the way to do that.

Especially, like I said, if you are not profitable, you need all the money to come into your business. And then some

Todd: Okay. So that's great. Let's spend some time there. Let's talk about marketing.

Jen: let's,

Todd: should people be doing to get people through the door? I want to say somebody has their numbers and they're like, you know what? I have my numbers. And I can beat my last year numbers or I can reach my goals, but it's going to be a little bit of work.

It's not what's on the books already. What should people be doing? Where should they look?

Jen: so you can mark it to the clients that are already coming in your salon, think of go through your numbers and find like the top services or the top add on services that most clients are fine paying for, and most clients find value in and. Now you can pump up your staff to start talking about that stuff because a couple of add ons every [00:12:00] day will probably get you to your goal.

And that's on the people you are already have coming like that are already on your books, right? It's very easy to do that. Whether you play a game with it or whatever you do to get your staff inspired, but you can easily with the client tell you already have. Work off of that. It doesn't necessarily mean you always need a bunch of new clients.

So sometimes it's just, like I said, marketing within your doors are already coming in. So how are you going to get them excited about whatever opportunity you want to offer them and get them wanting to want that on their hair for talking hair industry? 

Todd: Yeah,

Jen: that would probably, that's the easiest one to do and that's not discounting and that's just adding value onto the clients that already see value in your business.

Todd: for sure, because it's, it goes back to the old saying that the easiest people to sell to are the people that are already buying from you.

Jen: They already believe in what you're doing. They're there, they're showing up. Just get them excited about something new and game on. You'll, you'll hit that.

Todd: What are some examples that people could do? You said some services like you had mentioned earlier today, like maybe like blow dry services or things for like

Jen: Oh [00:13:00] yeah. So

Todd: and prep,

Jen: think a lot of times I. Clients don't think of getting their hair done for events. Always they do for a wedding. That's, that's non negotiable. Like I'm, Oh, I'm a bride. I'm getting, getting my hair done. But they don't think of if they have a holiday party or they're going to maybe a play or a musical during the holidays, things that are just coming up and they don't think to take care of themselves.

So it's your job, like as you're, hopefully, like we talked earlier, like pre booking not on the podcast, but Todd and I did. If you're looking at the house, like, Hey, what's going on? When's your next appointment? I always make sure, you know, do you want to get in before Thanksgiving and before Christmas?

Does that not matter to you? Where's your holiday party fall? Do you want to get your hair done before that? Or do we want to get your hair done here and you can come in and I can do a great blow dry on you for that event. They're like, Oh, I didn't think about that. And, and, and under, hello, we have people that do makeup lashes.

I don't know.

Todd: Okay.

Jen: people are more apt to spend money. And if you give them a reason to spend it on themselves or they're busy,

Todd: [00:14:00] Okay.

Jen: I just kind of plant the seed in their head of like, Hey, you know, we can book a blow dry. You can get your makeup done. We can do your nails. Like these are things that you can do on the holidays to take care of yourself so that you're not stressing about getting yourself ready for whatever party you want to attend or event you're going to.

And more often than not, they're like, I didn't think of that. Yes. Put me in for this, or I want to see you now, these three events, you know? So. Again, I'm building off of the people I'm already seeing. Plus I enjoy their time. So I want them to come in and see me because I have more fun doing hair. If it's on people, I enjoy their company.

But it's, it's just a way to kind of build in any little gaps you have coming through the holidays with clients that just didn't even realize there are services that they would want, but they didn't think they would want them like a blow dry. Absolutely. Mm hmm.

Todd: doing that, you're essentially solving problems for clients, which is marketing 101. I know a lot of people want to put themselves first [00:15:00] as the hero in their story, or they want to put their business first. And let's touch on social media for a little bit because I think a lot of it stems from that.

Yeah. It was around before social media as well. It's easy for us to, you can only see the world through your own eyes.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: It's very difficult to things through other people's points of view, because they have they, they've grown up with different experiences and different things that have happened to them, which formed who they are as an individual.

And there's no way we could possibly comprehend, which is another great reason to read books, because it

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: to like what

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: for other people. But when you are constantly trying to be famous and you're constantly trying to be the hero in the story, you miss out on a major, marketing, like, it's not even a secret, part of marketing, marketing 101,

Jen: [00:16:00] Right.

Todd: to be the inspiration, be the muse. So I've heard the story told a million times, but you're a Star Wars fan,

Jen: Which I am.

Todd: which you are, when you look at Star Wars. Luke Skywalker wanted to out exploring the universe, exploring the galaxy. He wanted to be a Jedi. He wanted to do all these things. It took him meeting Obi Wan Kenobi to set that in motion. Obi Wan Kenobi became his guide. his inspiration and directed him along the path. And that's how we had a great story. You're never going to have a great story that starts and stops with just the hero. And so when you look at your business as something that is the best solution for people's problems, your client's problems, you will start to [00:17:00] identify things that you can easily use for marketing and put that on your social media. So then you don't have to worry about. What am I going to post? What am I going to post? And then you post a picture of, you know, I was famous for,

Jen: The back of the head.

Todd: saying this, but, or infamous maybe, but yeah, you post the back of the head and you write some bullshit caption that you think makes sense, but it doesn't make sense to anybody because how does that get me closer? So if you post a picture of red hair and you write strawberry blonde, how does that help me, unless my goal is to get strawberry blonde hair, And even still, I don't understand the process. I don't understand anything. I just

Jen: Right.

Todd: picture. So cool. I saw a picture like anybody can post a picture on Instagram and you're like I said before, you're not the greatest. So when you look at it as through being served of service to others and solving their problems, if you just document that story. You'll be

Jen: Right.

Todd: Like instead of making it about the work you did, [00:18:00] make it about your client.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: client is going to this event. Doesn't her makeup look great?

Jen: Right.

Todd: it's a, it's just, it's, you're not saying, look what I did.

I'm amazing. Come see me. You're saying, look at my client, how amazing she is. Look how happy she is. She's going to this event. She feels her best.

Jen: Right. And that's relatable to regular, to people who are like, wait, I have an event. I want to feel my best.

Todd: Yes.

Jen: So that's what you're trying to do.

Todd: People aren't looking at it through your eyes.

Jen: hmm.

Todd: at it through their eyes. So if you can start to understand what they're looking for and their issues, there's another famous example, which is when people go to a hardware store, they're not going in to buy a drill. I don't need a drill. What I need is a hole in my wall so that I can hang a picture.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: Like I, that's what I want. So way that they would market the drill would, I mean, I guess they can tell you about RPMs and all that stuff, but I'm not a construction worker. I don't care.

Jen: Now you sound like it's stuff I can't [00:19:00] do, right?

Todd: exactly, they're making it about them.

Look at this product and how great it is. Look, is it easy to use and does it solve my problem? That's what I'm looking for.

Jen: They're showing a picture of someone in their house, hanging a picture. And you're like, I need to hang pictures. I need to go there, whatever they have. I need it. Right. And the same thing is in the hair world. You want to show them the things that they're like, Oh, I need that. Like, I want that in my life.

And I want it with this person who I'm now seeing. Stuck on their social media platform.

Todd: yes, exactly. And what do most people want around the holidays? They want to be lifted up. Either you're in a good mood or maybe you're somebody that unfortunately the holidays brings down. I know it brings a lot of depression for people. Well, what can you do there? I'm not saying that we're solving depression.

So don't be silly and don't be like hair

Jen: No, but we can offer to pamper people and give them a minute and make them feel good about themselves. Like when you look in the mirror and you look, you feel like you look prettier, you look like, you're like, wow, I feel good. That is what you're trying to do. And that's, that's something that's, we're really lucky to be in that [00:20:00] industry to do that for people

Todd: I just had a young client come in and he had never had a neck shave before. And so, I wasn't even thinking about it. I was just going through and doing my typical service of what I would do. And so, I shampooed his hair after the cut because I like to do that for my clients. And then I sent him, I, I, we wipe everything down immediately. So I sent him back to my chair and I told him I'd be right back with him. And so I met him over there and he was smiling and he felt good. And I was like, we're going to do a neck shave. And he just sort of stared at me. And then, so I just did the neck shave. And then he, his mom, so he's a teenager and his mom well, she left, she left us a message and then saying how great of a time and he was excited, but his mom was like, he's already asked to come back and see you now.

I've never met this kid before or anything. And I was just doing my normal thing and just make it about the other person.

Jen: every single time.

Todd: I'm a bad example because I don't, I don't really post stuff on my Instagram, so don't go to [00:21:00] my Instagram for examples, go on hello hairs. and check that out because we have stuff on there that is about the client.

Like, and we try, one of the big things we do at hello is to, we say we give people back part of their day. Our typical client or our favorite clients are people that understand and respect time. busy. They're other business owners. They're busy parents. They're involved in the community. Those are the type of people that we like to service. what we do for them is try to make everything as simple as possible. It's as frictionless as possible. And it comes with as few steps as possible. So what we do is we'll go on a social media and we'll say, here's how you can have a good time with us, a consultation or an appointment, up. We'll take it from there. That's it. We try to make it super simple for people and we get a lot of great feedback from it. And we get a lot of people that are like, I found you through social media, or I found you through. Google, [00:22:00] which at this point, I guess you could take, if you haven't been taking advantage of Google SEO and all that stuff, I would start right now immediately.

I would drop everything else and start, but that's a marathon.

Jen: Yeah,

Todd: get it going. But then I would focus on this stuff. What else can people do, Jen? We talked about the discounts. We talked

Jen: yeah.

Todd: media.

Jen: I mentioned pre bookings a little, and I, I think, I feel like on social media, you see kind of good and bad about that. I think a lot of people knock it, but I do feel this last quarter of the year, this last few months, four months, whatever it is, I think pre booking is really important because of where holidays fall and.

I would only focus on if you know your clients are planners. If you have wing it type clients, I would not take this approach. I happen to have planners. I have people that book all their whole year with me. I have people that then at the holidays want to book their next three or four appointments to make sure they get in according to where their life takes them.

Events are happening, [00:23:00] but I think if you have that, what, what it does is it can bring up the conversation of maybe blow dries for events. It also will bring up that where the holidays fall and where do they want their hair done? And most often you're going to see them one extra time before the year's end.

So when you talk about goals and you talk about numbers, you want to hit by the end of the year. Again, you don't necessarily need a bunch of new people to fill that in because when the holidays come, there are people that if they're every four or five weeks, they might do. Three, three week appointments because of the holidays and where they want their hair done.

So you see them one more time, which gets you closer to your goals. So the prebooking option just puts it in their head. I had this conversation with a client last night. She prefers to book online. We just chatted through a little bit. I also make sure my schedule is Exactly what I want to work for the rest of the next four months.

So time off, I want the, I'm going to take a week off after right before, right around Christmas, that's all blocked out. So when they go in and do that, I, my schedule is on and they'll ask me that. Like if I book, are you up to date? Yep. I do that at the beginning of the year, all set. Now you can go [00:24:00] in and book your appointments.

And actually I just got a little alert that she just booked her next four appointments for Christmas. So she did online and I'm like, you can reach out if you need me. But the pre booking option really does help that end of the year goals and most often getting an extra visitor. So with a client,

Todd: We can talk about the pre booking in detail. I think people that knock it are closed minded, and I think people that think it's the only way to go are also closed minded. That's where I'll leave it for now, but.

Jen: perfect

Todd: So

Jen: and cons. It's not for everyone.

Todd: It's the same thing for me. I'm a barber. Most of my people that I cut their hair are last minute.

I do have people that like to book though. I have an older gentleman that was just, he wasn't upset or anything, but he couldn't get in the appointment he wanted. And I'm like, dude, it's not three years ago, four years ago where I'm starting out. My days are Booked. So like you're that Friday or Saturday or whatever day he was like, I wanted to come in this day, but you weren't here.

And then you were booked on this day. And I'm like, yeah, I, [00:25:00] I've offered you to book your next appointment when you're leaving, but you don't want to do that. So that's fine. You can't have it both ways. So, you know, and some people have, you know, Definitely figured that out that they like their time. So they rebook, you know, I can think of a handful of people that used to be like, Oh, I'll just call her or whatever.

And then a couple of times of not getting the slot you want will make you rebook.

Jen: Mm

Todd: you rethink it. So what about retail? I know retail is a big thing around holidays. It's a big thing around, well, just the industry, right? We have, have stuff that we need. We have stuff that

Jen: hmm. Mm hmm.

Todd: solve people's problems.

And if you go back to that, it makes life a lot easier. you've talked about this a lot, we've talked about it a lot off the air, but there are so many salons that we've been to that have different

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: and I have no fucking clue

Jen: Oh,

Todd: where any direction is, I don't know if [00:26:00] they

Jen: it gives me anxiety

Todd: Like do, or there, I mean, there's only a few options. Either they believe in all this stuff and they truly think that they need, I mean, we probably seem, I think I've seen places with like 20 different product lines, so

Jen: and fully stocked. Lots of money.

Todd: that that is what they need, 20 different product lines. Or they've been duped by maybe their sales rep into believing that they need that stuff.

Jen: I think you have a lot of people that just,

Todd: just don't know,

Jen: yeah.

Todd: they fall into the sucker category, which the sucker category, I guess, is the people that whatever comes out, they're getting it.

Jen: Yeah. Most common.

Todd: need that. Oh, that came, oh, I need that. Like, you do not, in fact, need that.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: You were fine yesterday without it. You know, so if you look at retail as you're solving problems for people put to work, first of all, find something you believe in that aligns

Jen: Right.

Todd: core values that aligns with your mission, you know, and [00:27:00] that fits and that makes sense. Everyone, no one cares about luxury. Okay. First of all, I don't want to get too far down on the luxury thing. I wrote about this in our newsletter recently, but you're not, you're not out here offering discounts. And claiming to be luxury at the

Jen: Correct.

Todd: Are you? Come on. That, those things are not the same.

Jen: Right.

Todd: in a Ferrari and being like, what are you guys running for, holiday deals? Stop it. not doing that. If you want to be the top of the top, be the top of the top, but own it. Don't be the top of the top, but then be scared, so discount it 50 percent off. Because then you are, in fact, not the top of the top, which is the definition of luxury. Go ahead with

Jen: So what I, the approach I would take here, again, you'd have to know your numbers, how busy were you last year and what are you projected to do in business this year? So if you don't know that you're in a guessing game, but hopefully you do. And so I think it's easy to get wrapped up in what [00:28:00] you want your retail front to look at because it's pretty and it's fun and I get it.

You're going to have to focus on the back of the house because here's what's happened around the holidays. Everything gets back ordered. You need 20 volume to do your color and now you no longer have it. So rather than focus on the retail, unless you're super profitable, profitable in retail, again, you'd need to know those numbers, but usually if you're a hair salon, it's doing the hair is what's running your business.

So you might want to take a look at your backend. Are you stocked enough on all the products hair related that you need to do the services for you and your staff? And. Again, if you knew from last year, this year, you should be able to project how much more color and products you will need on hand. I would take advantage of whatever sales your distributor is having right now through the end of the year.

And I would stock up on all of that. So then when things are back ordered, you're not freaking out because you can't get it or you're busier than you thought. And now you're running to the store and you're, you're using your time very poorly. So I think that would be my [00:29:00] first focus. Get your products geared up on.

So you're ready for the holidays, snowstorms, happen, bad weather, whatever it is that's coming our way. So you don't want to be, find yourself shorthanded on the supplies you need to do the services. That's where I would focus first. Then. If you are retail oriented and that's where it's at, what's your budget to purchase into some of this holiday stuff?

I have seen it often in my last salon. We did it. We would over, over, over buy for the, we were in a beta salon and they would come in and show you all this pretty stuff and tell you all these great stories. And it was so amazing. Like how much can we have? And we would buy it and have to pay it back over payment time and terms and all this stuff.

And then the holidays would end and we'd be stuck with a bunch of holiday crap, which. I mean, I want them to use, but we're a business, we need to be profitable. We need to sell the stuff. So I think it's, did you sell a lot of retail and holiday stuff last year? If not, you got to redefine what your retail holiday looks like [00:30:00] this year.

It may not be what you want it to be. Cool, pretty, but you're, if you're not a retail store, then. Stop pretending you are so really making sure what were your sales last year on services on retail and making sure that stuff is all stocked appropriately for what you're projected to do this year. Do not get caught up and when that person comes in and it's putting all the shiny stuff in front of you and you forget that there's a budget.

Todd: I remember, I don't know if it was a fata, but it was a different, maybe it was a different company. But I remember at one point where they said, who cares? Just break down the box sets and sell the products individually. And I was like, what anyways, 

Another thing, like, so I agree with the retail stuff. Look, if you aren't. Big into retail, that's fine. If you're not big into retail and you want to be big into retail, that's fine too. You're gonna need to do a little work though, figure it out. I guess get with your distributor.

We have a great distributor who offers Tons of time. They'll, they'll explain everything to the, we can [00:31:00] jump on a phone call. Like all sorts, probably they offer too much to be honest with you.

Jen: I would agree.

Todd: Yeah, they're

Jen: They're that amazing. Like, yeah,

Todd: them for that. And we don't

Jen: fantastic humans.

Todd: Shout out Sullivan beauty. well just shout them out. So, but I can reach out to those guys at any time. I don't have Lauren's number, but. I have everyone else's number and I can, I, you know, if I have questions or, or comments or concerns or feedback or whatever, I'll shoot those guys a text and they get right back at me.

And know, we're lucky to have a relationship with that. If you don't reach out to them or reach out to someone in your area and try to find something where you're feeling like you're getting supported without. a constant infomercial, because if you sit down and they're like, well, if you buy 5, 000 worth of product, you'll sell it for 10, 000 and you'll have 5, 000, you'll beat your goal.

Like, it's not that simple. You need a strategy. Like they're telling you, they're not giving you the, how they're giving you the, what, but not the how. So you need to figure that [00:32:00] stuff out. And there's time we know when the holidays are. So I would say the holidays start in November, right after Halloween.

Jen: Halloween,

Todd: Pretty much holiday time. So you have September and you have October,

Jen: get yourself ready.

Todd: say six to eight weeks. Let's call it five weeks so that you have three weeks to, excuse me, so that you have three weeks to lead up to stuff and to execute. Figure it out, figure out your plan. can be small stuff too. Like for us, I know we sell a bunch of gift cards during the holiday season. you just make sure they're pretty, you

Jen: Yes.

Todd: the extra step, order some nice custom boxes, order some bows, order some, I don't know. Don't go crazy, but if you have a little bit of money in your budget, maybe you have a couple of different packaging. So that depending on who it's going towards a barber and client might not want like flowers and whatever on a box. Or they might not appreciate that [00:33:00] as much as a female client. You know what I mean? So it's like, maybe have some options. Like, who is this going towards? Like, imagine you go into purchase something and they ask you some personal questions and they try to customize your

Jen: Right.

Todd: It's not always just about the hair.

It's not always just about what you're selling. It's about how it's presented. And that's a big part

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: there.

Jen: Customizing, making everybody feel special.

Todd: Yes. Anything else? I have one last thing.

Jen: I, so I just on the gift card thing, that is what we do. We have special boxes for the holidays to make it special. Because we understand like. We're not competing with everyone that's trying to give free gift cards out or the gift card, buy this, get this back in money. Again, if you're not profitable, and if you look at the numbers of salons, the amount of salons that are profitable, the number is extremely small.

So most people listening, you are not profitable. You should not be giving out free money or free gift cards because you cannot afford to. [00:34:00] So. Like what Todd's saying, you find a different way to make that client feel super special, the boxing and just like making sure it's like the right one for the right client, little, yeah, little touches and you're doing things differently, but for your business and it aligns with your brand.

So just question kind of maybe some of the stuff you've done in the past for the holidays that you've gotten trapped in just following what the person next door is. Or like I was saying to Todd, like the 99 is the one that gives, if you buy this much in gift cards and. We'll give you this much free.

Well, they're a corporation. They have a shit ton of locations. Like they can afford to do that or they cannot, but you are not them. So

Todd: accounts where that money goes into.

Jen: very different. So don't try to compete or, or

Todd: that money is supposed to work. It's not even legal.

Jen: right. Don't try to mimic what a company is like that doing that doesn't even relate to where you are, but there are things you can do to make it feel special and still kind of feel like you're giving, but it doesn't how he's have to be a discount or money that you [00:35:00] really can't afford to give out.

Todd: Yeah, it's about doing the common things uncommonly well, which is chasing virtuosity, which is the book you're reading,

Jen: Yes.

Todd: If there's another book, too, it's all about the guest. And That's a really good one. I'll link it in the show notes. The I forget his name anyways, it's a chef that has a bunch of restaurants around the United States and he wrote a bunch of stories and there's recipes in there and stuff, but really they just, it's, it's all about the guest and taking care of the guest and he's built a, quite a large.

DeFilippo. Is that his name? Steve DeFilippo. It's all about the guest. I'll link it in the show notes. Great book. he's actually the cousin of one of our clients. So that's how I got that book.

Jen: Oh, yeah. That's very cool.

Todd: I want to end by saying that you got to check your stuff too. Like Jen mentioned, she goes through her schedule and blocks out what she wants for holiday time.

You, some people love to accommodate clients like [00:36:00] Jen. If you don't work a Monday, if someone's like, Oh my God, I need this done. You're like, I can figure that out because you're trying to be of service to people. And a

Jen: Yeah.

Todd: would view that as a negative and talk about the buzzword last year, which was boundaries

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: this bullshit.

But when you're being of service, it's not necessarily draining from you. It's how you fill your, your cup.

Jen: Oh, yeah. It energizes

Todd: have to.

Jen: me.

Todd: Yeah, it's fun.

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: but I want to make sure that people are putting enough time aside for themselves. Like you want to enjoy time with your family, with

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: with your loved ones. Even time with your staff. We like to take our staff out around the holidays, even if it's just for a cocktail or a couple of appetizers or something just to

Jen: Mm hmm.

Todd: Hey, thank you. Let's take a deep breath together and appreciate what we're building. You know definitely don't put yourself last. If you burn out, you can't help anybody else. You won't be of service. It's go, it's like the airplane example. When they say when the masks come down,

Jen: Yeah,

Todd: but, put your [00:37:00] mask on first, because you don't, you're not going to be able to

Jen: right. I would agree.

Todd: Do you have any closing thoughts?

Jen: I, I'm going to close with what you just said. Cause I think people should really think about this, which is to not burn yourself out. So I learned, I think it was last holiday. Just work, work, work up to like, I think the 23rd of December. Thinking like, Oh, it's great. I'll take that night off and we're into Christmas Eve.

And I was, Dead on Christmas Eve. Like I was so tired. We had realized we didn't order certain food. And if any of you follow my Instagram last Christmas Eve, I was literally Instacarting a spiral ham that I thought to the next house we were going to, so we had it for the next day we get there and it was, I ordered, I don't know, five pounds of deli meat.

Like by accident, like, and I almost cried. Like I was just like, I was just so tired and I ended up actually instigating another spiral ham. Got it. It all worked out. It was quite hilarious. And I was able to laugh, but that kind of made me think into this year. Like I need a day to unwind after. So [00:38:00] I'm going to work up like through the 21st.

I'm going to take the 22nd, the 23rd. Those are my days to spend with our family. Kind of. Regroup that it's the holiday so that when I get to Christmas Eve and we're running to all our family's houses, which I love, I'm not literally just exhausted. Like I trying to do things at the last minute, watching my kids open gifts like that, it was awful, but.

I had to go through that to learn and respect and, and create a different outcome this year. And I always make notes every year so that I, I attempt to arrive at a better place. But so I think to what you're saying, Todd is really make sure like you've carved out what you want that to look like and stick to it.

Todd: Love it. My closing thought is pretty simple. It's, everyone listening to take one minute, one full minute, set your timer. What do you want out of your business or career? It's really the only question. So when you see everybody doing this, maybe that's not what you should be doing. Odds are it's not what you should be [00:39:00] doing. When you see the top people and they're like, you have to use these scissors and you have to do this, like probably not what you need. answer that question and be specific, write it down and just ask yourself, what do I want out of this? What do I want to experience through all of this? That's all I got. All right. Thanks for listening peeps. We went a little long. Apologies. We'll see you next time. Enjoy September.

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