Looking for new ways to increase your salon business and traffic? Of course you are, but are you focusing on updating your consultation, creating a new experience for guests and protecting your salon culture? If you’re overlooking these three things, you could be hurting your business!

When Aveda hit the road this year for their UN|Buttoned Tour (an experience open to all beauty professionals that featured TED-type talks and a jam session where local artists could inspire and showcase their talents), they went over everything listed above to benefit salon owners—and we caught all the deets, so start scrolling!

Customize The Consultation

• Customized experiences are now a part of daily life, said Sue Trondson, Aveda VP of Salon Development and Engagement. For example, Netflix tailors movie suggestions to your tastes, and Nordstrom Local merges online with in-store shopping experiences to match every customers’ specific wants and needs.
• A strong salon consultation should be customized as well—be clear and very specific with every client sitting in the chair.
• To ensure success, salon owners can offer a refresher training session on what makes for a good consultation. For example, never just assume your client wants the same thing. Instead, offer a small upgrade like a face-framing highlight or a braided ‘do at the end of the service.

Create A New Experience

• Clients are used to being wowed all the time with on-demand, personalized services like Nordstrom Local or Netflix. If you aren’t offering new and exciting services, you could be losing clients.
• Special services don’t need to be haircolor or cutting-focused—for example, Aveda stylists can use essential oils to individualize client services while upping their ticket price.
• “Guests fall in love with Aveda,” said Kelly Anderson Director of Marketing North America. Clients love the smell, the products and the results, “We did natural first. We did organic first,” she said. Owners and stylists need to own and sell that space.

Protect Your Salon Culture

• Protecting your culture from toxic staff members is incredibly important, said Jon Reyman, an Aveda artist, go-to Fashion Week stylist and successful owner of multiple salons (seriously, his salons do $15 million a year!).
• “Sometimes owners get held hostage by hairdressers who are making [the salon] a lot of money—don’t let it happen,” said Jon. If they are bringing money in, but poisoning the culture, it’s not worth it.
• Check out what Jon has to say about motivation here!

Peep the slideshow below for some pics from the Aveda hair jam which featured local stylists, Jon and Aveda Global Artistic Director Ricardo Dinis! 

In addition to business tips, the Un|Buttoned Tour closed the evening with a hair jam featuring local stylists, Jon Reyman and Aveda Global Artistic Director Ricardo Dinis.

Thanks for having us, Aveda!