November 29, 2021

The Biggest Challenges In Being a Salon Owner

18 minutes

In this episode Nathan Plumridge talks about relocating to a new premises and the ups and downs that brought to the business as well as the incredible beginning of a new business and what that brought to everyone in it. The episode also includes the biggest change in his life and the beginning of something incredible.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We got to a change where we had outgrown our current site and needed to start again somewhere bigger. It’s a huge decision and involved a number of factors including parking and access, gaining additional footfall and it still needed to feel like the old family business and was somewhere I’d never want to leave again.

City centre locations ticked a lot of boxes and didn’t tick others. Even clients would say they didn’t want to go into the city to get their hair cuts. Some brothers I knew who ran a successful farm shop said a unit was becoming available and how would I like to look around? It was a bit of a wreck and needed a major refurb, but there was something about it that gave me a positive feeling, mainly being surrounded by fields and cherry blossom trees. It was pretty with plenty of parking.

I did my due diligence, I went every day with a clicker and counted footfall at the site to make sure enough people visited and if they people passing through would fit as a client. My Dad was not convinced at all, but once I explained my reasoning he began to understand, despite being really connected to the old site.

It was a mental time, I was relocating my business of 14 years, I was getting divorced and re-married to my amazing, beautiful wife and was going to have a child with her. Not to mention being the year of the Olympics, 2012.

The team began to feel like they were on a conveyor belt and not enjoying their work as much, which generated more complaints from customers. So, we sat down with the team and decided we needed to give them more control over their day so they could give better service. Week-by-week bookings and re-bookings grew, complaints reduced. Most salons only retain about 30% of their clients each year, which is OK. Be conscious of your new customers as well as your regulars.

BEST MOMENTS

‘This was a huge turning point in my life as a person and a salon owner.’

‘My team were my priority, I needed them to be onboard.’

‘One of my clients was a really cool architect and we began designing an awesome space to live and work in.’

‘It felt like there was an even higher level of expectation from the clients and we had to up our service game massively.’

ABOUT THE HOST

Welcome and thank you for reading this, I’m Nathan Plumridge salon owner and Hair Stylist. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years and have been a salon owner for 23 of them. I have been fortunate enough to work and learn with some of the biggest names in the industry and this has given me the experience and drive to now be here with you sharing my experiences.

CONTACT DETAILS

Website: https://energyhair.com/

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @nathan.hairlife

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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