Cameron Salon

https://www.cameronsalon.com/home/3750416

My Aunt Lori is a true entrepreneur and owns her own full service hair salon, the Cameron Salon.  She started the salon from scratch, with her parent’s help after she graduated from beauty school.  It is now a very successful full service, salon, offering many different salon services and employing nine people and providing a very nice income for my aunt.  Unlike car salesmen who have lost their advantage of being seen as an expert with all of the knowledge about the product they are selling, Lori and her other stylists still maintain that advantage.  I believe that is partly because they are providing services to the customer and are still viewed as experts regarding the services and products they provide.  My aunt does an excellent job of projecting to the world that her salon stylists are experts and keeping up with the latest trends and products.  She routinely brings in trainers, has seminars and takes her stylists to hair conventions.  All of these things are publicized on social media and at the salon.  Both the products and the services are very personalized to the individual customer, from the hair cut and color, treatment, nails, waxing and other services.  It is difficult for the customer to know what would look best on them and to keep up with the latest trends and how to do them.  The customers readily take advice and suggestions from the stylists.

Although the hair stylist is the one providing a service to the client, from the moment the customer walks into the salon, the stylist is selling, selling, selling. They are selling future business of hair cuts, suggesting colors, hair treatments, different cuts, permanents, and all of the different services, tanning, waxing, pedicures, nails and products galore. Lori does this all in a conversational style with customer listening to them and offering things that she believes they will purchase based on what they tell her. I would say she has great empathy, the ability to put herself into the client’s shoes and is very much attuned to her customers.  For example, if she hears they have an event coming up she might suggest nails and highlights. If they are going on vacation she might suggest a pedicure, waxing and tan.  She also has the advantage of using some actual products on the customer, and if they like them and are happy with them, then they usually purchase the product on their way out of the salon.

So although the stylist is the person who is providing the service, she actually is thinking like a salesman, which results in a higher percentage of return customers, more revenue for the salon and herself and higher commissions.  I admire Aunt Lori’s entrepreneurial skills, her positive attitude and work ethic.