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New Year, Better Earnings: Advice from Groomed Academy


Are you keen to increase dockets in 2020, earn better, and offer your clients more? Here’s an interview with Eric Way from Groomed Academy on some barbering services that will bring huge added value to your clients and to you.

Q: The dreaded “quiet months” at the beginning of the year are always a headache and a worry for salons. What is your advice to help salons keep busy?

A: It is always challenging to come up with ideas that can help create a buzz in the Salon during the quiet months. A very popular service in Barbershops that can easily be implemented in to unisex Salon's would be facial waxing. This would be to wax the nose, ears and brows of gents. The cost per application is so minimal that you could offer it as complimentary service to gent's having a haircut to introduce them to this treatment. You will be surprised, after a gent has experienced the hairy clean-up they will come back and ask to have it done again and to charge +- R80 per area. It's a great way to up your docket for very little time spent on the service.

Q: What does the luxury hot towel shaving course at Groomed Academy involve?

A: Our Luxury Hot Towel Shaving Course is a 3 day hands on training session. You will be taught using professional shaving products and what each and every product benefit to the skin will be, then your hands on training will begin by performing the ultimate luxury hot towel shave on 4 live models. After your 3 day course, your level of skill will be good enough to immediately introduce this service for gents in your Salon. Hot Towel Shaving has become the alternative to a good massage and it is an inexpensive set up cost that offers huge financial returns.

Q: Why is this service such an easy sell and such an easy repeat sell, for salons?

A: Since Barbering has become a huge trend, the luxury hot towel shave is iconic as a service offered by your Barber. Men are fascinated by this service as it offers an element of intrigue being shaved by someone else using a cut throat razor. If the service is delivered in its ultimate way, your client will dip in to the first level of sleep and the experience will be that of total relaxation, Once your client has experienced this, he will most definitely return on a more frequent basis.

Q: What are some of the products (and tools) you recommend that work well with this service?

A: Most importantly you need to make sure that the shaving foam and or pre-shave oil being used has an exceptional ability to perform a hassle free and smooth shave. Always use a new blade for your service preventing any form of cross contamination in the Salon. A thorough skin analysis is essential before performing the shave to establish allergies etc. Most people don't realise they are allergic to animal hair, so the use of a badger brush is not recommended and a synthetic brush would be the alternative. More expensive brushes do not necessarily mean a better experience for the client.

Q: Why is the new year a perfect time to upskill yourself?

A: We are all looking for ways to help increase our turnovers in the Salon. A quick 3 day course in Luxury Hot Towel Shaving could be the perfect answer to increase your targets without a huge financial outlay. Introducing a service like shaving in your Salon works well for all those special offers you can create, e.g. Father's Days, Groom's Packages, Birthdays etc. It's a good way to bring your lady clients other halves back in to your Salon if you lost them to that trendy Barbershop down the road.

Q: Do you think that barbering services in general are becoming more mainstream and sought after for all salons, not just barber shops?

A: Salons are realising that they have lost a lot of their male clients to Barbershops and that introducing more Barber services in their environment will help with retaining their male clients. Men, like most female clients are very loyal to their stylists or Barbers, so it is really important to listen to your clients needs. If you realise your client is curious about the barbering services just down the road, then find a way to help him experience these treatments without losing him to another Barbershop. It is your responsibility as a stylist or Barber to provide your clients with the latest services on the market, as they trust that you have their best interests at heart.

Groomed Academy also offers in-salon training for all our services. For more information regarding this please don't hesitate to ask.

To enrol now for your 3 day Luxury Hot Towel Shaving Course, please contact us on info@groomedacademy.co.za to check dates and availability.

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