In Conversation with… Head & Jones, Bognor.

We spoke to Lucas from Head & Jones in Bognor about his journey from where his career all began as a salon stylist, to where he is now, running a gorgeous salon with his best friend in sunny Bognor Regis.

How did you end up as a salon owner?

So both Frankie and I were working together in another salon, employed full time, where there was no room for progression, so it was very much just a job. By opening our own salon it gave us the creative freedom we needed and the ability to offer a space for like minded hairstylists that also wanted a career path and not just a job.

What do you love about your job?

Definitely the social side of the salon is a top for me. Looking after my guests and creating their best hair moment. But I also love the marketing and visual side of the salon. Creating email marketing, social media posts, keeping our website up to date, window dressing, product placements. I also look at ways to engage with clients when they are not in the salon via digital.

What are the biggest challenges?

My biggest challenge was trying to work on my business whilst working in my business. So now I have time away from the salon floor to work on the business to ensure its future success. When you have a team you need to have procedures and policy’s in place from day one. If you are looking after anyone more than just yourself. This eliminates and major business challenges as all of the team get important time with myself and Frankie off the salon floor regularly to ensure we are all aligned as a team. I know what my team need and my team know what the business needs. We are all informed and great communication reduces the risk of challenges in the salon.

Why is salon retail important at H&J?

Because we act on fact and not emotion. We look at the figures and our guests that buy retail from us are more loyal to us as a salon. Our retail shelves’s are invisible stylists and help with boosting cash flow within our business that we can use to reinvest in things like training for our team, team incentive and treats and ultimately pay the rent ! Our stylists in the salon see great loyalty from their guests that take home their recommendations as well as reap the reward of non capped commissions. By working with specific chosen brands like eleven Australia it helps attract our perfect client market who are drawn to the same things that we like at Head & Jones hair. Cruelty free, mostly vegan and more importantly young at heart. Our retail offerings align with our beliefs as salon owners and empower us to be able to empower our guests to have the right products and tools at home to maintain their looks.

What are your top tips for salon retailing?

First of all you have to have the stock to sell. “Selling out” is not something to be proud of unless it’s a limited edition or gift sets etc. An out of stock could lead to a walk out. You need to know what your hero products are and always make sure you have ample stock of them. Keeping your retail area looking fresh, move stuff around. If you’re not creative like that – let your team have a go. Use promotions from your distributors to introduce new products to your guests. Everyone likes getting more for their money. Also make sure your staff are educated on the brand – get them excited about it, get them loving the products too and then it’s no longer a sales pitch. They will be passing that education on to their guests and it will show through their passion for the products.

What is your favourite ELEVEN Australia product?

Deep clean clarifying shampoo – I love how it is a daily clarifying shampoo and it doesn’t leave the hair feeling dry or stripped. The orange oil that helps the clarify smells absolutely gorgeous and the lavender oil that helps soothes the scalp gives you a spa like experience in the shower.

What hair trends do I see for second half 2023?

I think we will see shorter hairstyles coming back. As we’ve seen recently layers and shaping are back which I am here for. Who doesn’t love a bouncy blow dry. It’s so lovely to done with the long one length hairstyles and see more movement. With that being said later on I feel the shorter hair cuts will be very precise and sleek.

What piece of advice would you now give to yourself when you started?

I can’t answer that, the salon has evolved and grown as we’ve gone along. We started just the two of us and we’ve evolved and grown as we’ve gone along. I guess all I can say is I hope for it to continue being successful and for us to be open to growing and evolving as we go!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Not to compare ourselves to others as everyone has their own path. Concentrate on what we’re doing and do it to the best of our ability.

What other support or tools would help you grow even more?

More incentive support from the brand, we do well with eleven but I personal feel it could be more with more incentive support for our team.

How do you measure your success?

I see my measurement of success when I have a high payroll month. I am paying out lots of commissions to my team members which celebrates achievements from the previous month sales and performance. We have salon averages that team work to for rebooking, take home sales and conversion to colour and having easy access to these numbers helps drive and motivate the team to win.

If you were opening a salon now, what would you do differently?

That’s a tough one, I can’t say I would have done anything differently because we did at the time was right for that time. We started just the two of us and with different brands. Since we have evolved over time and made sure that hopefully we have moved with the times. So much has changed about us in the 5 years we’ve been here and I’m sure it will be different in another 5 years.