September 19, 2017

10 Ways Salon Suite Owners Collaborate to Build Success for All

​Suite Success Secret #77: 10 Ways Suite Owners Win by Working Together

THOUGHT PROCESS
The Salon Suite business model represents something unique in the professional beauty industry. Unlike models where beauty professionals essentially compete salon to salon – or even from station to station – for clientele, MY SALON Suite owners have the opportunity to work in a fully-supported environment, from corporate resources, training, education and location leadership to fellow Salon Suite owners.
 
ACTION STEPS 
Draw from the instinct to support one another to purposefully collaborate with other Suite owners in order to foster the success of all.
“Alone we can do so little.
Together we can do so much.”
– Helen Keller 
 
Collaborative workplaces contribute to overall success. Individuals working in collaborative environments say they are more creative, the quality of their work improves and they feel more confident.
 
86% – A Salesforce survey of more than 1400 corporate executives, employees and educators found that 86% of the participants believed that lack of collaboration was responsible for workplace failures.
 
71% – A survey conducted by co-working magazine Deskmag found that 71% of those questioned said they were more creative; 62% reported that their standard of work improved significantly and 90% said they felt more confident when co-working.
 
The MY SALON Suite business model offers a unique setting for beauty industry professionals who want to simultaneously own their own business while also working in a collaborative environment. We’ve recently interviewed three successful Suite owners who all note that their Salon Suite is located within a collaborative, cooperative, supportive environment. Let’s take a closer look at some of the ways Suite owners can turn their instincts for collaboration into programs, initiatives and campaigns that can make everyone who participates more successful. 

10 Collaboration Ideas for Salon Suite Owners 

1 – Social Media Marketing
 
Doing social media marketing right requires time and effort. Salon Suite owners can collaborate in writing posts and creating graphics that can be shared collectively. They can also pool funds to sponsor Facebook ads that extend reach for specific promotions or projects, such as give back projects that they are all participating in.
 
2 – Professional Marketing
 
Salon Suite owners can collectively hire a marketing specialist to write search-optimized content for their websites, send email newsletters to their contacts, update their social media profiles, or to help in creating and/or promoting cooperative advertising campaigns.
 
3 – Street Fairs, Shows and Community Events
 
Street fairs, wine walks, Chamber of Commerce and networking events may all provide local business owners with an opportunity to display and promote their brands. Working together may make it more practical and financially feasible for Suite owners to participate, and facilitate:

  • purchase of needed booth furnishings (banners, tables, table cloths, tent, etc.)
  • purchase of giveaways (usually branded promotional products)
  • purchase of marketing collateral (business cards, menus, brochures, etc.)
  • booth activities – instant blow out and style, makeup demos, and so on
  • sponsoring prizes that enable contact collection (e.g., attendees register to win prizes such as gift cards, styling tools, products or even prizes not necessarily related to the Salon Suite, like Amazon dots, fitness bands, etc.)
  • following up with prospects after the show

 
4 – New Move-In Promotions
 
You can target new move-ins in your area with mailers that introduce new residents to your Salon Suite before they’ve even taken time to find a new salon. As with other types of advertising, there is a cost associated. Working collaboratively, Salon Suite owners may be able to increase the size or frequency of mailers.
 
5 – Education and Skill Sharing
 
Marketing isn’t the only area where Suite owner can collaborate in ways that promote the success of everyone. Suite owners with special training or unique skills can demo and train peers within the suite location. Likewise, those with more experience can help to mentor new Suite owners in both beauty and business skills.
 
6 – Finance Professionals
 
Every business owner needs to have a good understanding of how to manage their business finances. But like any other responsibility, it may come easier to some than others. Even if you know how to manage your business finances, you may dislike the tasks. Salon Suite owners may be able to pool resources to get a good rate for bookkeeping, tax preparation, investment management and other financial services.
 
7 – New Suite Owner Welcome Parties
 
Just because you have a supportive, collaborative environment now doesn’t mean you’ll have it forever. Like any other business, you have to safeguard your culture to protect it. One way to do this is to welcome newcomers, draw them into your culture and let them know they can turn to their fellow Suite owners for on-going support.
 
8 – Overflow
 
In our interviews, one of the most common ways we learned that Suite owners collaborate is in being unafraid to ask other Suite owners for help. Often this is a one-time “ask” when a Suite owner can’t accommodate a client who needed services on short notice. Other times this occurs when a client simply isn’t a great fit for a specific Suite, but may be a great client for someone else. When Suite owners are collaborative instead of competitive, it makes it safe to reach out for help or refer a client internally.
 
9 – Shortages
 
Another way we learned that MY SALON Suite owners collaborate on a regular basis is in the area of sharing resources and supplies. For instance, if a Suite owner finds that they are out of a needed hair color, they can often quickly source the needed color from another Suite owner. This becomes one of the advantages of working in an environment where there are several fully stocked salon businesses all in the same location.
 
10 – Short and Long-Range Planning
 
Instead of sitting down in front of a calendar and trying to plan how they can grow their Salon Suite alone, Suite owners can collaborate and share ideas for growing their businesses over the short term as well as the long term. Working together, they can discuss goals, challenges, and brainstorm creative ways to promote their Suites cooperatively or as individuals.
 

“I can do things you cannot,
you can do things I cannot;
together we can do great things.”
– Mother Teresa
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