Remodelling around Salon Emotion principles and leveraging social media helped this business navigate the pandemic storm.
When Luke Huffstutter bought a struggling salon in 2007, he was floundering to get his sea-legs. That was until he stumbled upon the Summit Salon Business Center (SSBC) and the consequential exposure to L’Oréal Professionnel’s Salon Emotion program.
Now Annastasia Salon in Portland, OR is going full sail ahead and growing annually (with the understandable exception of 2020 when they were closed for 10 weeks). “Everyone needs an extra edge right now to increase the value of the guest experience without breaking the bank,” Luke observes. “Salon Emotion allowed us to re-evaluate our entire guest experience to understand what was missing and what to do about it.” Moreover, with the points earned from Level Loyalty Rewards, he was even able to invest in the tools to take the experience to the next level!
THE DIGITAL EDGE
Luke is convinced that the 4-part Summit Digital Ecosystem and Salon Emotion has pushed the digital intense focus is on being the first search to show up online, backed by strong Google reviews.
Then there is a team content manager to help increase the staff’s Instagram presence.
Third: each staff member has their own mini webpage on the Annastasia site so that their social platforms link directly to the salon webpage. making it easy to book online, buy products, and read the blog. Finally, Phorest software brings even more digital enhancements to the in-salon guest experience. By having their phones all the time, staff can text guests directly through the Phorest App, do online video consultations, and create beautiful portrait photo sessions.
THE NEW LUXURY?
Safety, of course. “Tapping into the essence of Salon Emotion has allowed us to shout from the digital rooftops that we are doing everything to protect our guests and our staff,” explains Luke. “Note that SSBC was a leader in producing systems and support for the salon owner to get ahead of Covid regulations and get back to work stronger than ever. We relied heavily on their free resource page summitsalon.com/get-prepared to make sure we were taking every step necessary to thrive in this unprecedented time.” But the best is always the Consultation. “Wow Me!” he exclaims. “The time we spend with our guests asking questions, listening to their goals and concerns, and diving deep into how we can help them feel their best, not only locks in the special relationship a service provider shares with their guest, but also gracefully sets up 90% of the sales opportunities to come. Our retention is up and our average ticket is up. That is genuine proof that you can have it all in the salon business.”
For more information, please visit salonemotion.com or follow on Instagram @salonemotion.official
