Dive headfirst with us into the exhilarating world of the Salon Today 200, an annual competition celebrating the crème de la crème of salons across the United States. As a four-time winner, I pull back the curtain on the application process, shed light on the ten categories of best practices for competing, and reveal how this prestigious accolade can elevate your salon to new heights. From honing in on key strategies for growth and nailing client retention, to crafting an impactful application that captures the essence of your salon, we delve deep into the heart of the competition.
In the latter part of our discussion, we address the elephants in the room: how does a salon strike the perfect balance between offering flexible scheduling and maintaining productivity? How can we make our salons more environmentally-friendly without compromising the client experience? We also dissect the importance of strong leadership, the role of philanthropy, and the game-changing effect of technology tools in a salon's journey to success. Whether you're a seasoned salon owner or just beginning your venture into the industry, this episode is a treasure trove of insights, tips, and practical advice to help you shine and succeed in today's competitive landscape.
The SALON TODAY 200 issue will be published in Spring 2024, and the deadline for the applicationis October 31, 2023. If you have questions, please reach out to Stacey Soble at Stacey.soble@bobit.com or at 805-709-1837.
Dive headfirst with us into the exhilarating world of the Salon Today 200, an annual competition celebrating the crème de la crème of salons across the United States. As a four-time winner, I pull back the curtain on the application process, shed light on the ten categories of best practices for competing, and reveal how this prestigious accolade can elevate your salon to new heights. From honing in on key strategies for growth and nailing client retention, to crafting an impactful application that captures the essence of your salon, we delve deep into the heart of the competition.
In the latter part of our discussion, we address the elephants in the room: how does a salon strike the perfect balance between offering flexible scheduling and maintaining productivity? How can we make our salons more environmentally-friendly without compromising the client experience? We also dissect the importance of strong leadership, the role of philanthropy, and the game-changing effect of technology tools in a salon's journey to success. Whether you're a seasoned salon owner or just beginning your venture into the industry, this episode is a treasure trove of insights, tips, and practical advice to help you shine and succeed in today's competitive landscape.
The SALON TODAY 200 issue will be published in Spring 2024, and the deadline for the applicationis October 31, 2023. If you have questions, please reach out to Stacey Soble at Stacey.soble@bobit.com or at 805-709-1837.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a salon today? 200 salon yeah, I remember when that was my goal. Today we're going to talk about how do you apply and even get into the competition. Well, hey there, welcome to the Salon Ownership Made Easy podcast. As a former salon owner, I know how tough it can be to deal with things like hiring new team members, managing your KPIs and fixing everything that seems to break in the salon. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. But don't worry, I'm here to help you navigate the ups and downs of the industry. Let's face it, beauty school didn't prepare us for the real world of salon ownership, but with the right techniques, systems and mindset, you can achieve amazing success. With over 30 years of experience and four successful salons under my belt, including two that hit over seven figures, I've learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn't. So buckle up and get ready for some practical tips and real talk. Let's do this. Okay, let's talk about what salon today 200 even is.
Speaker 1:
If you're not familiar, salon Today is actually a magazine. I probably have been a subscriber of Salon Today Gosh 28 years. I remember when I was first starting out and it came in paper form, yes, in the mail every month. Now you can get it online. But Salon Today is a magazine for salon managers, owners. It gives you tidbits and business education and just was your guiding post to what's happening in the industry. Anything new, all that. Every year they had this competition and it was the Salon Today 200, the best 200 salons in the United States. That's what I used to think. Okay, and it still is. I mean, it's still great, wonderful, and I used to dream of being one of those salons. I remember I would highlight those salons and what products they had and how much did they spend on their build out and what made them different and what marketing things did they do differently and everything. I probably had a stack of Salon Today magazines with just that section highlighted. I wanted to be a Salon Today 200 salon. That was my goal and, spoiler alert, our salon was a Salon Today 200, best of four years in a row for different categories. And today we're going to talk about some of those different categories. And anyway, if this is a goal of yours, how can you enter? What does it take to enter? What does it take to apply? It's not as hard as you think.
Speaker 1:
Let me tell you the story of how I actually applied. I was at a business event I think it was, yeah, a business event with the brand that we carried, euforra, and it was a training for business educators. And I remember there's this one salon owner who loved her to death, erin that she introduced herself and she said she was, I think there was only two people, maybe she was the only one, I don't know, I can't remember. It's been a while that she was a Salon Today 200 winner and I was like what? And, of course, when we had a break, I dashed over to her and said how did you do that? What did you do? What? Tell me everything. And I was like gosh, it's all it is is you apply and you write what you've done. It's not that hard, you can do it. I was like what? That's all it is. Well, that's not all it is. It's kind of hard. They actually have people that you can pay to write your application. Don't do that. Don't do that, please. When it comes from your heart and your soul, your application will shine. Anyway, she made me believe that I could do this and, lo and behold, I did it.
Speaker 1:
The very next year I applied. I spent a long time writing the essays, with help from my Salon director, and I put our heads together and we won in four categories that year. I was amazed, I couldn't believe it. It was like winning an Oscar. I was. I mean, I made a cake, I got balloons. I went into the salon Happy dance. It was hilarious.
Speaker 1:
The stylists didn't even know what the heck it was. Because they're stylists, they haven't read the salon today. They're not a salon owner, it's a publication for salon owners. So they quickly learned what it was and what an honor it was to be a salon today 200 million recipient and the recognition that you get in the industry just for putting that plaque on your wall. And it really is an honor. It really is because it makes it means that you stand for something, your integrity. You're playing on a different level. You mean business, okay. So let's get. Let's get down to it. You probably want to know how to do this, what to do, all the things, okay. So what it is, the salon today 200 competition is just that. It's a competition To celebrate your team, honor your clients and recognize your business. Okay, and it really does recognize excellence in the salon business. It's been going for 27 years.
Speaker 1:
Oh see, I'm reading this from their website and it offers a unique opportunity to showcase your salon's achievements, set benchmarks and gain recognition for your team's exceptional business skills. And, like I said, we're going to talk about how to enter and what information you want to include on your application. So what is this? Why is it important? Well, this application actually collects valuable data and crucial salon business benchmarks and it acknowledges salon owners and their teams for their outstanding achievements. So the selected 200 salons will be featured in their spring issue the following year, they get celebrated on salontodaycom and showcase through their social media channels.
Speaker 1:
You might see if you win, you might see your team pop up and then the honored salons will be honored at an award ceremony during an event that takes place this year. It'll be in Colorado, it'll be in May. It's called the Data Driven Salon Summit. Wonderful, wonderful event. If you've never gone the year that we went, we went to New Orleans and I think it was a blast, and I think there was probably I don't even know 20 Euforia salon owners that won in some kind of category. It was just like this wonderful, wonderful awards program that we all cheered each other on. We all went out on the town afterwards. It was a wonderful I don't know. It was one of those moments you don't forget in your career and it was the first year that we won and I absolutely loved it, okay, so, like I said, if you need more information on this, you just go to salontodaycom, look up contests. I think it is, but I'll definitely include the links in the show notes, don't you worry at all. So, okay, so when you are entering this, they take all the information from your salon your overall gross sales between 2021 and 2022. So that's the data that they're looking at.
Speaker 1:
And this year it's a little bit differently. I was looking on their website. It used to be that they had, I think, 10 categories and you can enter all 10 if you wanted to. This year it looks like they've made it a little bit more efficient and they've streamlined it just a bit. So there's a growth essay. Yeah, these are all essays. So there's a category in growth that they. If a mentor of mine once told me, if you had more than 20% growth in your salon, you better be applying to the growth, but that was when it was a different category. Now it's a category all on its own, so they have a growth essay and then they have 10 categories of best practices, if you will, and you can select one of those best practices and you can enter in that one. It used to be, like I said, like I think, 10 different categories and you can enter all 10 if you wanted to. We never entered all 10, but came close one year.
Speaker 1:
Okay, let's talk about the growth essay. First of all, start thinking about your salon successes in 2022. Okay, and here's what they tell you to do List three factors that drove your growth and fueled your success. And sometimes you have to really get a glass of wine, pop open a cold beer and really sit down and think about it, because you know things happen and sometimes you don't remember what you've done. So, if you remember these, list them down, brainstorm and, if possible, explain specific ideas that contributed to your salon's bottom line.
Speaker 1:
So, if you grew in 2021 to 2022, list them. Share your strategies, your insights and your accomplishments during this period. List everything. Okay, you can tidy it up later, but list everything. But make sure you keep your essays within a thousand words. They don't want to book, okay. So think about these different things. Did you hire differently? What determined your growth? Did you bring on a new product line? Did you have new promotions? Did you start offering education and that attracted more stylists? Did you market differently? You know, think about all the things that maybe helped you.
Speaker 1:
Okay, and then, as you look at 2023 and into the future, what challenges are you facing and what changes are you going to be making to try to tackle those challenges? They want to hear that too, so make sure you put all that in there. Okay, now, that's just one category and I think, if I'm reading this right, everybody now, if you had any kind of growth, everybody goes into this growth category. I think that's been the biggest challenge since COVID is growing our salons. Past COVID. You know we all have the same struggles, right?
Speaker 1:
All right, so after you've done your growth essay and you've brainstormed on all that, then they have 10 categories of the best practices and you just have to pick one. It says choose one of the 10 best practices and then you write an essay that highlights your salon strengths in that area. So see, that's how they've simplified it a little bit. You don't have to pick every single one of them and they give you questions. That kind of help you feed your brain to come up with it and gives you like a prompt. It just helps guide you, to make you think a little bit so.
Speaker 1:
And you can, you can add additional information. You can add pictures you can like. Maybe you had I don't know, I'm making this up on the fly Maybe you have an annual Halloween costume contest and, sorry, there was something going on outside and I took me off my thought process. So maybe you had a Halloween, an annual Halloween costume contest, and you actually have your clients come in in costume too. Just, you know, to get something, a free retail product or something. I don't know. I'm making it up, take a picture of it, make sure you send that in, make sure you show your team having fun with this. So that's just one example.
Speaker 1:
We'll get to each of the categories. But with this best practice essay, make sure you keep it under a thousand words too, because you know the team at Salon today have to actually read all these things. So, all right, let's talk about these categories. What categories can these possibly be right? The first one is compensation and benefits. This can be a big one. I mean, everybody is in all the groups that I belong to and all the owners groups. You know everybody's compensating differently now Well, not everybody. You know there's commission, there's team based, there's hourly, it's all kinds of things right.
Speaker 1:
And if you've changed your compensation layout and your benefits package, explain it. Has it worked for you? If it has, if it has, that's what you want to enter right. So, or do you have a career path that's different than you've seen somewhere else? Explain your compensation plan for your team members. Just explain it. What do they need to achieve to grow to the next level? Is it something? Do you have it all written out? Do you have a chart? And how do you track this and how do you communicate it? Do you have a whiteboard in the break room? It shows people's goals.
Speaker 1:
Do you talk about it? Do you have one-on-ones? What do you do differently? Do you celebrate their achievements? And if you do celebrate it, do you do it differently than maybe that's what you talk about? And especially when it's the stylist is promoted to another level, how do you communicate that to not only the team but to the guests? And they also have question how have your practices changed regarding schedule flexibility? Ooh, that is a big topic of conversation right now, because that's what a lot of stylist want is flexible schedule. They wanna be in control of when they work. I know, I know, as owners, we all struggle with how do you balance that and keep people on the floor and run a business. It's hard, but we all know as owners we have to consider that Because if not guess what your stylist are gonna go to a solo suite or one of those suites down the road because they want to have a flexible schedule. So I think that's why that's a huge one.
Speaker 1:
And then, in addition to salary or pay, what benefits or creative opportunities do you offer employees? We used to offer monthly massage as a benefit and I just got with a local masseuse who was wonderful, by the way and I bought gift certificates every time they wanted to go, cause not everybody took advantage of this benefit. So I wasn't gonna just like have, just give out gift certificates. So the stylist would have to talk to me or say, hey, I want to make my appointment, and then I would just call my massage therapist and pay for it ahead of time, and I think the stylist loved it. So that was just one. I mean, of course we did the 401K, the paid vacation, the health benefits, the dental, all that. We did all that stuff too. But how can you get creative on different benefits that you might offer, like a local gym? Maybe you give them a local gym membership, I don't know.
Speaker 1:
Okay, let's go on to the next category, and that next category is client retention and referral programs. Do you have a loyalty program for established clients and, if so, how does it work? Do you reward your VIP clients? Do you throw a party once a year for them? Do you give them goodie bags when they come in? You know, I don't know. How do you encourage both clients and team members to pre-book future appointments? We used to always have a contest, but we used to have a little wipe-off board that showed when is six weeks, when is four weeks, when is 12 weeks, and it would be a gentle reminder to, hey, book your appointment. Do you have an active referral program, and how does that work? Refer three, get one free. That used to be our mantra. How have any of these programs shifted retention or new client numbers? And then list the specific measurements, if you have them, and what kind of employee your client competitions have you hosted to encourage growth and retention, pre-booking or referral numbers?
Speaker 1:
Sometimes, especially around the holidays, when people are not thinking about their next appointment, we used to have this huge, shrink-wrapped beauty basket. It probably had like $200, $300 worth of stuff in it, maybe more, because we got with our distributors and they gave us little things like curling irons and stuff and we used to say, hey, if you pre-book your next appointment or your next two or three, how many your name goes into this drawing for this basket? So that's just an idea. Okay, next category customer service. Let's see here I'm sorry I'm going through my notes there's so many notes, so wonderful, all right. Customer service Okay, from check-in to check-out.
Speaker 1:
Describe the expected guest experience at your salon in terms of customer service. Like, what specific things do you and your team do to enhance the, the guest experience? What do you do? We used to have this stylist who used to give hugs and haircuts, so she always had to give a hug after the haircut. So maybe that's it. What's your procedure for training service standards? Yeah, do you have a training program that explains to your whole team the expectancy of your guest experience, every guest, every time? And if you do, what is that and how do you ensure that the customer service is consistent from visit to visit. How often do you reevaluate this experience? Do you ask your clients hey, how was it? Do we need to do something different? What needs to be improved? What works, what doesn't work? Put it out there. Okay, oh, here's a good one. And how do you test your team on guest service standards? Do you role play? Do you have a secret shopper that comes in? All right.
Speaker 1:
Next category environmental sustainability. This is a big one. So what specific actions do you take to make your salon or spa or barbershop more environmentally sustainable? We used to belong to green circle, so we recycled everything. Everything. Hair foils, color tubes, mannequin heads, all that good stuff. Now I think you probably have heard me have a podcast on scrummy the disposable towels. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff. And how do you educate your team about this? Do you, you know? Does everybody have to play? How important is it to your value system and in what ways does this taking a stance positively affect your salon? I know it actually brought clients to us because they actually loved the fact that we cared about the environment. All right.
Speaker 1:
Next category employee education. Describe your education programs for new hires, including who does the training and how long does it last, how trainees are evaluated throughout the program and how they are introduced onto the floor, and describe your education program for all employees, including how often you meet. How do you encourage attendance and who teaches the classes. Do you bring outside educators into into it? What does this look like? And if you have something different to bring to the table, by all means bring it to the table. Salon today wants to know about this. They want to know who's doing stuff different. All right, another category, a huge one. We won this one year.
Speaker 1:
I loved, loved, loved it Salon culture. As the owner, how do you establish the desired culture for your salon and how do you ensure that the new hires match this culture? What do you do? Do you have a team mission, a vision or some kind of culture statement and, if so, share it. If you have, have a PDF. If you have a graphic, show that they want to see this. What specific activities have you established to encourage this culture and how do you evaluate that your employees' attitudes and actions are in line with your culture? Do you teach to that, do you coach to that? And if they aren't in line with your culture, what steps do you take when they're not, and what was the last culture building idea that you implemented into your company? These are the kinds of things they want to hear on this essay, Excuse me. All right.
Speaker 1:
The next category salon leadership. What kind of characteristics do you possess that makes you a strong leader? This is all about you, my friend. What do you do to help you continue to grow and develop as a leader? Do you read books? Do you go to seminars? Do you meet with other salon owners? How do you hold your team accountable? How do you keep your team motivated despite all of the conflicts and obstacles that we have? How do you stay motivated? And what's an important risk you took, and how did it pay off? This is where Salon today really wants to know how you are as a leader and who your mentors are too. Who do you turn to for inspiration? All right.
Speaker 1:
Next category philanthropy. Describe what your salon's philanthropy Fillets throttle, bled, bled. Okay, do you partner with a charity? Sorry, I can't say that word. Okay, how do you raise funds, assistance or awareness for this cause? Sorry, my coffee's going down wrong. If you've developed your own program, please explain in detail. Do you we used to, let's see partner with this emergent house? That's for women who are escaping domestic violence and they need a place to go. We used to partner with them. We used to keep cards in our bathroom on how to, if you need the domestic violence hotline, so that way you don't have to talk about it. So, and then do you donate? Do you donate clothes? Do you donate to school kids? Do you encourage your clients to help out? Is it? Do you do cut-a-thons, and how do you let your community know about this? Did you do any event that helped your salon grow? Most of the time, I would say that these kind of things aren't, for I mean, they are marketing, but you should do it out of the goodness of your heart too, because you believe in something. But you should get around something in your community and really go all in All right.
Speaker 1:
Next category technology. What's the most important technology tools you use to manage and grow your business every day, and how do you educate your team on how to use this? I mean, is it your POS system? Is it your new color inventory system? Is it? Do you have an app on your phone that clients can book their appointments? And how does this technology enhance your growth in your business, and what kind of technology maybe that you've borrowed from other businesses and how did you implement it?
Speaker 1:
Okay, next category retail and merchandising. So how do you educate and encourage your team members to retail to your clients and what are the different ways that clients are educated about your retail? Who manages your retail displays? And maybe you've done a really cool display that caught a lot of attention. Take a picture of it, send it in with this essay and then describe any successful retail competitions that you might've had that maybe fueled your sales, and then give them specific results of this competition. And then, did you borrow any kind of retail idea from another business? You know, going into Target and you seeing all those signs, especially now it's like Halloween time, fall time and all the things they have hanging from the ceiling and all that good stuff. Yeah, do you have things hanging from your ceiling? I don't know? All right, so those are all the categories, so they're not too bad. Pick one. You don't have to pick them all. So they've really streamlined it. Again, growth and pick a category. So let's go over the details of this.
Speaker 1:
The submission deadline is October 31st 2023, halloween. Make sure to complete your essays in a WordDoc format and upload them as prompted in the application. I'm reading this verbatim, so there is a minimal cost of applying big deal. I'll pace for them to have to read through all these essays, I'm sure. But make sure you start working on it now if you haven't already, and then if you have any questions or need assistance with your application, they make it really really easy.
Speaker 1:
You can reach out to Stacy, who is the editor at Salon Today. Yeah, she's a real person, stacy Sobel, and I'll put her link down in the show notes and she even has phone number you can call if you have questions. But they want to see you succeed. They want to set you up for success. Okay, they don't want you to fail and they don't want you to sweat this. They want to see the best of the best and if you don't enter, guess what? They don't see that.
Speaker 1:
So if this is something that's been a goal of yours, like it was of mine, it is totally doable and I tell you it really does. They say the cream rises to the top. It really does. And then you're around people who think, like you do, you wouldn't be listening to this if you didn't want your salon to be better than it is right, and I have to say, entering the salon today 200 competition was probably one of the best things I ever did, for not only for myself, but for my salon, for my team. We got to put that logo on our front door on our website. They send you they used to, I don't know if they still do. They sent you a little pen so you can wear the pen on your lapel if you want to.
Speaker 1:
It's an honor to be a salon today 200 salon, and I am so, so glad that my friend in that class so many years ago said you can do this, you can do this. It is so achievable and you can too. So look, you not only have the chance to gain recognition and also contribute valuable insights to our industry, but you. This is a stepping stone to a better salon for you. All right, remember my friend when you know better, you do better. Go out and make this a great week. Thanks for hanging out with us on today's podcast. We hope you found it interesting and learned something new. If you liked what you heard, hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on future episodes. We're always open to your feedback and suggestions for topics to cover in the future. So don't be shy. Drop us a line on social media or shoot us an email. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch you on the next one.
