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Welcome to the Salon Ownerโ€™s Podcast, Phorest FM Episode 34. Co-hosted by Killian Vigna and Zoรฉ Bรฉlisle-Springer, this show is a mix of interviews with industry thought-leaders, roundups of our most recent salon owners marketing tips & tricks, all the latest in and around Phorest and what upcoming webinars you can join. Phorest FM is produced every Monday morning for your enjoyment with a cup of coffee on your day off.

Phorest FM Episode 34

In this second instalment of Phorest FMโ€™s 30Days2Grow special, John DiJulius, international customer service experience consultant and best-selling author, is featured. He shares his take on the salon industry and has brilliant insight into various topics, such as truly valuing yourself as a salon professional, and providing โ€œMoments of Magicโ€ to your customers to make the most of their salon experience.

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Transcript

Killian Vigna: Welcome to the Phorest FM Podcast, episode 34. Iโ€™m Killian Vigna.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And Iโ€™m Zoe Belisle-Springer. This weekโ€™s episode is the second instalment of the โ€œ30 Days 2 Growโ€ special.

Killian Vigna: Phorest Salon Software CEO, Ronan Perceval, will interview John DiJulius from John Robertโ€™s Salon.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And as always, we top off the show with our upcoming Phorest Academy Webinars.

Killian Vigna: This podcast is produced every Monday morning, for your enjoyment with a cup of coffee on your day off. Now, letโ€™s get into the show. So, Ronan, welcome to the show.

Ronan Perceval: Thanks, guys.

Killian Vigna: Itโ€™s not that weโ€™re feeling lazy, but we just feel like passing the reins over to you for this one.

Ronan Perceval: Okay.

Killian Vigna: Special guest-

Zoe Belisle-Springer: You did such a great job with Ellen on the last episode.

Killian Vigna: Exactly. We just think weโ€™ll invite you on a bit more.

Ronan Perceval: I didnโ€™t do much speaking that one, but she was great.  So โ€ฆ

Killian Vigna: And welcome to the show, of course, John DiJulius.

John DiJulius: Thank you. So happy to be here.

Killian Vigna: Delighted to have you on the show.

So, if you want to kick it off Ronan?

Ronan Perceval: So, basically, as a lot of you probably know, a couple of weeks ago we started off the โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™ campaign, which has been going fantastically well. We have just under 1,400 salon owners now getting tips and tasks every day to help grow their salon and the results have been great. A lot of people ask me, โ€œWhat is the โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™? Where did it come about?โ€

I guess it comes about from the idea that to make big improvements in your business or to do anything big in life, itโ€™s not about some big hail mary or one big thing, itโ€™s about lots of little steps done well, give you big results. Itโ€™s always much easier for someone, and I certainly found this in my own business and still do, is that if you have to do something, and itโ€™s small, youโ€™re much more confident and able to do it. Whereas if you have some huge, mammoth task you can sometimes shy away from it and end up doing nothing. Thatโ€™s really what the whole ethos of โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™ is. And it seems to be really catching fire with the salon owners, which is brilliant.

We have today with us, John DiJulius, who keynoted our Salon Ownersโ€™ Summit back in 2016, heโ€™s on the line from Cleveland, I believe.  It is Cleveland isnโ€™t it John?

John DiJulius: It is Cleveland. Beautiful Cleveland, Ohio.

Ronan Perceval: You guys canโ€™t see this, โ€™cause obviously this is on a podcast, but weโ€™re looking at the camera, looking out his window, and it looks very green out there, it looks lovely.

Killian Vigna: It looks so much brighter than Ireland.

Ronan Perceval: A lot better than this room here, which is soundproofed but no views.

So, John, youโ€™ve decades of experience now in the hair and beauty industry, and obviously in the customer service industry as well, generally, outside of hair and beauty. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions around what you think are things, steps that people can take, and what they would get the biggest impact with? Maybe for the smallest amount of money or effort, do you know what I mean? Well, maybe โ€œeffortโ€ is wrong but in terms of being a smaller step.

The first one I wanted to ask about is, a lot of people on the outside, who arenโ€™t in the hair and beauty industry, to me anyway, seem to underestimate or undervalue the beauty industry, or the beauty sector. Would that be something you would agree with or have noticed? And if so, how come?

John DiJulius: I actually think itโ€™s really taken a trend the opposite way. I do believe that was the case 10/20 years ago, but I think the power of the hairdresser, the service provider, and the impact that they have โ€ฆ Thereโ€™s a story, I donโ€™t know if you guys have heard it, a therapist that went to school for a long, long time, a doctor, was telling different patients, โ€œItโ€™s time to leave your husband, heโ€™s abusiveโ€. โ€œItโ€™s time to quit smokingโ€. โ€œItโ€™s time to quit that jobโ€.

All different therapists and he started seeing a pattern that these different patients would come in and theyโ€™d say, โ€œI left my husband.โ€

And he said, โ€œYou listened to me?โ€

And they said, โ€œNo. No, no, no. My hairdresser told me to.โ€

And he was like, โ€œThat was odd.โ€

And then the next one came and said, โ€œI finally quit that job and started my business!โ€

And he said, โ€œYou finally took my advice?โ€

And they said, โ€œNo. No, no, no.โ€ They almost didnโ€™t remember him telling them. They said, โ€œMy hairdresser suggested it.โ€

So then he got into studying the impact of โ€ฆ Weโ€™re the only profession that legally touches people in a positive way, gets paid for it. And just the transcendent thing of when weโ€™re touching people, and making them feel good, and the bond and emotional connection we can make, is unparalleled to anyone else. You think of everyone that can touch you, itโ€™s usually not a positive experience. Itโ€™s a test, itโ€™s a shot, itโ€™s physical, and that isnโ€™t the same that we have.

So, I really think that people are intrigued by our industry and the connection weโ€™re able to get.

Ronan Perceval: Thatโ€™s awesome John. And that leads me on to the next thing, which again, Iโ€™d be interested to get your opinion about this. Something Iโ€™ve seen is that hundreds, if not thousands, of salon owners that I know over the last ten years, are really afraid. Itโ€™s like they lack that confidence that youโ€™ve just talked about having, that they lack enough confidence in their business. They might have that confidence in the relationship they have with their clients, but they lack it in their business in the form of, say maybe not putting their prices up even if all their costs have gone up over the last 10 years. That theyโ€™re almost afraid to make that move. Is that something youโ€™ve seen? Or again, maybe youโ€™re seeing it different?

John DiJulius: Yeah, I see a bigger disparity now. Where everyone was close to the average price and not enough people were raising it, now I see really, really high end, and then low. I donโ€™t see a lot of middle. And thatโ€™s kind of dangerous.  It all depends on your market. Thereโ€™s a couple things at play; weโ€™ve got to raise our prices if weโ€™re educating ourselves. Now listen, and this goes for any business Iโ€™d be talking to, if you havenโ€™t put any education in yourself, into your service providers, you donโ€™t deserve to raise your prices.

But if theyโ€™re listening to this podcast and theyโ€™re connected to Phorest Salons, Iโ€™ve got to believe theyโ€™re elite, and they are educating themselves artistically and business-wise. And if they are, they deserve to be โ€ฆ We donโ€™t take three days off, or take a week off, or fly to Dublin for your summit, to come back and make the same amount of money next year. We do it so we can bring more value, more experience, and more expertise to our clientele. So we do that, we have to be able to charge more. Itโ€™s crazy to me that prices go up in everything; our rent goes up, our product cost goes up, our damn software company charges us more per year, just kidding.

Ronan Perceval: We havenโ€™t put up our prices in 10 years, Iโ€™d like to say that. No, go on.

Killian Vigna: You donโ€™t want to say that.

Ronan Perceval: Weโ€™ve added a lot of value though.

John DiJulius: Maybe you should be listening to this, okay?

People expect to pay a premium, so we got to make price irrelevant. Clients love to pay more, they like the brand. Listen, Gucci and all the best brands, they arenโ€™t struggling, people like to wear those brands. So the most expensive anything is the most sought after. But again, I want to preface this, โ€™cause you have to justify it. Assuming everyoneโ€™s justifying it by educating, staying cutting edge, you better bring it. Because if youโ€™re not, as a salon owner, my service providers arenโ€™t going to make more money next year, and theyโ€™re going to get stale, theyโ€™re going to get angry. While their rent, their mortgage, their car payments go up, theyโ€™re going to start taking a loss.

I can go on all day with this because itโ€™s something Iโ€™m very passionate about. Too many people discount, and to me discounting is the tax you pay for being average. We donโ€™t compete in prices wars. We compete in experience wars.

The other thing thatโ€™s really important here, a couple more things, Iโ€™m sorry Iโ€™m going to go on-

Ronan Perceval: No this is great.

John DiJulius: โ€ฆ When youโ€™re really good and youโ€™re the best, and your price is close to the average or below average, you then lose your expertise. Because people expect there to be a gap, and now once your price is too close to the average, or below average salonโ€™s, anything youโ€™re doing, then it gives them the perception that you must not be that much better, and why should they pay $5 more?

And the last really big point I want to make is, in my 25 years of owning a salon, we have service providers that start off at $30/$40 when they go on the floor, and theyโ€™re all the way up in 6/7 years to $125. Theyโ€™ve all been nervous. No-oneโ€™s ever lost clientele, no oneโ€™s ever lost money going up, because we make sure their retention rates, their request rates, justify that thing. Theyโ€™ll lose a client or two, but the ones that stay.

But the really big part I want to mention here is, if Ronan goes on the floor tomorrow at my salon, or any salon, at our lowest price, people arenโ€™t coming to him because heโ€™s Ronan, he has this great reputation. Theyโ€™re coming to him โ€™cause heโ€™s available right now at 4:00, and maybe because heโ€™s only charging $40, which is our least price. Thatโ€™s understandable. As Ronan starts building a clientele, and people are word-of-mouth talking about him, he goes up to $50, he goes up to $60. The beautiful thing is as you go up in price when he gets to $65, people arenโ€™t coming to you because youโ€™re a deal at $65, right? Thereโ€™s cheaper options. Theyโ€™re coming to you because theyโ€™re seeking you out, because the people they work with, their friends, they like how they look.

And so what you have to understand is, as your prices go up, the new clients you get at your higher prices are less price sensitive. At $40 they came to you because youโ€™re a $40. At $70, they didnโ€™t come to you because you were a $70, they came to you because they heard so many people talking about you. So when you go from $70 to $85, they donโ€™t care. They werenโ€™t coming to you because you were cheap, they were coming to you because of the demand that you were creating. So as we get higher, itโ€™s easier to go higher, because people arenโ€™t price-sensitive at a higher price point.

Ronan Perceval: Itโ€™s like a positive feedback loop almost. The higher you go, the higher you can go.

John DiJulius: Right. Itโ€™s like a car. If BMW or Mercedes goes up $7,000 this year, and you were paying $90,000 and it goes up to $97,000, thatโ€™s probably not a deal-breaker. If you were going for a less expensive car at $32,000 and it went up to $35,000, that might be more of a deal-breaker for you.

Ronan Perceval: So obviously, that makes so much sense for the people at the higher end, or the mid to higher end, once youโ€™re away from people who are looking for deals and those kind of customers. But sayโ€ฆ Iโ€™m sure thereโ€™s listeners to this podcast who are in that area and thatโ€™ll be fantastic advice, but what about the salons that are at the lower end? Or have a model that is based on price and things like that? And theyโ€™re trying to break out of that. Have you got any tips for how to do that? If youโ€™ve built that up over many years with your clients, and you need to move away from it, how do you go about it? โ€˜Cause a lot of them, I know, would say to me, โ€œYeah, but I canโ€™t โ€™cause Iโ€™ll lose my clientsโ€ you know?

John DiJulius: Yeah, so thatโ€™s great question, and that was us 25 years ago. Our average price was like $23 โ€™cause we just wanted โ€ฆ hoping that someone would walk in the door. One of the best things to do is, a lot of times Iโ€™ll say to Zoe, โ€œZoe, youโ€™re not on time. Youโ€™re dressed like you just came home from last night out.โ€

But then at 7:30 tonight, Zoe runs to the mirror, and she starts doing her makeup and hair because sheโ€™s going out with her friends. Why isnโ€™t she doing that at 7:30am? So you might bug Zoe and say, โ€œZoe, you got to come dressed better. You got to come more professionally. You got to come โ€ฆโ€ you know, all these things.

And Zoe might say, โ€œHey, when I charge $50 Iโ€™ll do that.โ€

And the whole point is, โ€œZoe, give a $50 experience today, only charge them $20/$25, and think how easy it will be to raise your prices to $30 next year.โ€

One of the exercises I love to do with my staff, and any staff, is say, โ€œLetโ€™s say weโ€™re going to charge $500, or letโ€™s say a salon is going to open next door from us and compete with us, and theyโ€™re going to charge $500 for a haircut. What would that be like when you called up? What would a $500 booking an appointment be like? How would they answer?โ€

โ€œRonan, itโ€™s great to hear from you again.โ€ And they take their time.

When you walked in, what would a $500 greeting be like? Hopefully, itโ€™s a hug, right? Hopefully, itโ€™s a double-leg, youโ€™re picking me up, youโ€™re squeezing me, you canโ€™t believe itโ€™s me.

What would a $500 shampoo be like? Would it even be legal, right?

So, when you go through all those steps and write down all the things you would do differently if you charged $500, about 19 out of 20 of them doesnโ€™t cost us any more. Then we say, โ€œAll right, why donโ€™t we do these but only charge $25, or only charge $35, whatever weโ€™re charging. And letโ€™s give a $500 haircut, charge $25, and how easy will it be to raise our prices $5/$7 next year?โ€

So it all comes back, which Iโ€™m sure is where youโ€™re leading to, the experience-

Ronan Perceval: John, I think thatโ€™s a fantastic step. Even if weโ€™re not doing it this year, but itโ€™s a great one for you to get your team around, just sit down, grab a coffee for an hour, and just go โ€ฆ whatever their price point is โ€ฆ โ€œImagine itโ€™s triple what it is, what would we do? Letโ€™s just brainstorm on that.โ€

And thatโ€™s easy to do, itโ€™s fun to do, and like you said, nine out of ten things are going to be free, so why donโ€™t you do it? And then youโ€™re going to find it easier to raise โ€ฆ yeah.

Killian Vigna: Youโ€™re also getting your staff involved [crosstalk 00:15:52]

John DiJulius: The same thing, Ronan, with โ€œWhat if we charged $1,000,000 for a keynote?โ€ And we looked at that whole process and, โ€œHell, the next time you hire me Iโ€™m hoping we can charge you $1,000,000โ€.

Ronan Perceval: Okay, so we wonโ€™t be having you at the summit next time. But yeah, โ€œHow are we going to be able to pay that?โ€ We can start thinking about it that way. Thatโ€™s a brilliant step that anyone can take, itโ€™s easy to do, as Killian just said there, it involves your team as well, so it gets their creative juices going. Itโ€™s a great activity to do, itโ€™s fantastic.

The next thing then, which is obviously your sweet spot, is delivering โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™. Itโ€™s something that we took from you many years ago, and especially when you did that session with our whole team. Which, for people listening to this podcast, John was over at our summit and he spent half a day with our whole team, working on ways to deliver โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™ to you guys. And we get great feedback on those things all the time. We have whatโ€™s called a โ€œSlackโ€ channel where people, whenever we hear somebodyโ€™s getting married, or somebodyโ€™s had a bereavement, everyone jumps on it, we get to sendโ€ฆ

Killian Vigna: Or even difficulties with the business, or anything like that. Just little kind of up-lifters.

Ronan Perceval: So โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™, one of the steps weโ€™ve said is coming very shortly on the โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™, one of the steps is we want you and your team to think about, what can you do? One moment of magic with every single person that walks in the door today. And we have given them some ideas, but Iโ€™d love to get your thoughts on something like that. And how you would do it or โ€ฆ?

John DiJulius: Yep, I love the โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™. I love what youโ€™re doing. I donโ€™t know if my salon is registered for this stuff, but I love the โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™, and looking at it. And what I like about it is, what youโ€™re doing is the exact same thing I want my employees doing. We focus on goals and outcomes too much. So Iโ€™m going to take this totally from a different direction, โ€œWe want to lose 12 pounds.โ€

When you focus on losing 12 pounds, you get discouraged in the moment because, โ€œThis week I only lost a quarter of a pound.โ€ And you realize, โ€œI still have 11 pounds and three-quarters to go.โ€ And it gets frustrating.

But if you looked at, โ€œA quarter of a pound a week is really good.โ€ And so if you only focus on this week โ€ฆ

So let me take it to, โ€œI want to make $12,000 more this year.โ€ Too many of us, every business, especially in the salon industry, hairdressers, salon owners, think itโ€™s about the outcome. And the outcome is that sheโ€™s going to love her haircut, her highlights, her pedicure, her facial.

And to be honest, thatโ€™s the last thing that has to do with customer loyalty, and thatโ€™s the biggest myth, is โ€œListen when Iโ€™m paying a premium price, or a good price I expect a good haircut. I expect my accountant to do my books correctly. I expect my dentist to stop my tooth from hurting. And if thatโ€™s all that do, Iโ€™m not going to be loyal. I expect any good dentist to stop my tooth from hurting. I expect any good accountant to do my books correctly. And I expect any quality hairdresser to give me a great haircut.โ€

Thatโ€™s a commodity, and the problem is thatโ€™s an outcome, thatโ€™s the result. And so exactly what youโ€™re doing, the 30 Day and the โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™, itโ€™s about the micro moments. Itโ€™s about when I call up to the salon, to the doctorโ€™s office, to the accountant, and they put me on hold. I ask them a question, and they say, โ€œLet me check and see if Zoe is available Thursday,โ€ and Iโ€™m waiting, and Iโ€™m waitingโ€ฆ

And now Alex picks up the phone and says, โ€œThank you for calling John Robertโ€™s. How may I help you?โ€

And Iโ€™m like, โ€œOh my god, are they a bunch of idiots?โ€

Or I walk into the doctorโ€™s office or the hair salon, and the hostess and receptionist are busy talking, and not recognizing me, and they finish their conversation. Or my hairdresser, doctor, is running 45 minutes late and no one bothers to tell me, or give me the option to run to the store and do something else with my time. And itโ€™s those. And so โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™ is โ€˜Carpe Momentoโ€™, seize the moment! And thatโ€™s what we have to do. Itโ€™s about the moments that we have. Weโ€™ve got to about providing magical moments on every interaction. Whether itโ€™s face-to-face, click-to-click, or ear-to-ear. On the phone, sending an email, or greeting you.

Now Iโ€™ll get into some specifics, but I love where youโ€™re going with this. I tell people we have to greet people like youโ€™re my friend from high school I havenโ€™t seen in 15 years, and I double-take. Whatโ€™s that like, if I would see my best friend from high school? The guy we got in trouble, we sat in the principalโ€™s office together. We pulled that prank at prom, pulled the fire drill and emptied the sprinkler โ€ฆ

Whatever that may be. If I saw you at the beach, at the mall, it would be a double take, โ€œRonan! Is that really you?โ€ Iโ€™d grab you, Iโ€™d be like, โ€œOh my god!โ€ And so the greeting, and we can do this with new clients, and we can do this with regular clients, and we do this with each other is; โ€œThere you are!โ€ You give people the greeting, you donโ€™t say these words, but with the expression, โ€œThere you are! Oh my god, itโ€™s really you!โ€

So I go up, โ€œRonan, I saw you were on my book today, I was so excited to see you. I also wanted to know how that job interview went? The last time you were here, you were telling about your โ€ฆ Or did you get that promotion? Or did you pop the question to your fiancรฉ or your girlfriend?โ€

Now if Zoeโ€™s a new client I could do, โ€œThere you are!โ€ with her. I come up, โ€œZoe, I love when I have new clients! I get so excited because of the transformation I get to do with new customersโ€. How is Zoe going to feel compared to anyone else sheโ€™s ever โ€ฆ I want to give her the best greeting that sheโ€™s gotten today. The only person that is allowed to greet Zoe better is her dog when she gets home that jumps on her, licking her face.

Ronan Perceval: Itโ€™s so easy. This costs nothing, it blows people away.

John DiJulius: At least in the States, donโ€™t lick the face.

Ronan Perceval: I think โ€ฆ yeah donโ€™t lick the face โ€ฆ But I love that as well, even just being specific about that, if youโ€™re going to do a โ€˜Moment of Magicโ€™, everybody that comes through the door, you give them that kind of greeting, costs you nothing, takes up no extra time, boom! The client is going to be delighted.

Killian Vigna: It might feel awkward at first, doing it the first time. But the second time you meet that client itโ€™s going to be natural โ€™cause youโ€™ve already gotten over it.

John DiJulius: Itโ€™s justโ€ฆ with myself, my boys, like when you get in an elevator, everyoneโ€™s a stranger, and this is called being an energy giver, right? I get in the elevator, five people I donโ€™t know them, Iโ€™ll be like, โ€œDude I like your glasses.โ€ Or Iโ€™ll look to a man or a woman and say, โ€œThose are cool shoes.โ€ And I know it sounds silly but listen, the four of us talking right now, we all spent 15 extra minutes, and Ronan you were driving your significant other crazy this morning saying, โ€œDoes this grey sweater go with this red shirt?โ€

And sheโ€™s like, โ€œOh my god, thatโ€™s the fifth outfit!โ€

But you took, we all did, we take extra time-

Ronan Perceval: Bit too close to the truth, that one.

John DiJulius: โ€ฆ and say, โ€œIs this the right combination?โ€

And when you recognize someone and say, โ€œDude I like that, I like that sweater, I like that shirt.โ€ It makes them feel good. Weโ€™ve all taken that extra time and to reward it โ€ฆ But it has to be authentic.

And the other thing I want to go into here, which is really low hanging fruit, is every employee should do the โ€˜Five Esโ€™. You probably remember me sharing this, the โ€˜Five Esโ€™, on every interaction takes less than five seconds to do. The first three โ€˜Esโ€™ take one second, simultaneously; Eye-contact, enthusiastic greet, ear-to-ear smile. So as soon as I seem him, โ€œRonan!โ€ Boom, I just did it, eye-contact, enthusiastic greet, ear-to-ear smile.

The fourth โ€˜Eโ€™ is, engage you. When I engage you, itโ€™s about you not me. Itโ€™s about your job, your life, whatโ€™s going on? Using your name, right? [inaudible 00:24:47] which we can talk about in a second.

And then the fifth โ€˜Eโ€™ is so important, is educate you. So educate you, that could be the receptionist, scheduling an appointment, making sure that she knows who the right person is, to get them in and out, and educating with their time, to educating, you know, Zoe, my first-time client. But even if Zoeโ€™s my regular client who comes in every week, donโ€™t discount. I want to educate Zoe every time I see her so Zoe says, โ€œDamn, there is not a smarter hairdresser than John.โ€ And remind Zoe that I just got back from a class. I just listened to a podcast. Just so Zoe knows there is no one more cutting edge than me.

So instead of getting too often into Zoeโ€™s personal life or my personal life as Iโ€™m going through Zoeโ€™s hair, Iโ€™m reminding her the right texture and why. And, โ€œI know itโ€™s summer time, and you might be going to the beach, or humidity. And hereโ€™s the things, and products, and tricks, that youโ€™re going to need to be doing during this time of year.โ€ Just educating, so you know, do we get comfortable? I know you, I think you know how great I am, so I stop educating you. Stop reminding you how smart I am, then you go to a party and you see a really cool haircut, and you might not think I know it, so you might ask that person where they got their haircut.

So, โ€˜Five Esโ€™; Eye-contact, enthusiastic greet, ear-to-ear smile, engage you, educate you. Do it every time.

Ronan Perceval: Brilliant.

Killian Vigna: Iโ€™m robbing that. Thatโ€™s good.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Thatโ€™s amazing!

Ronan Perceval: Going to have to update that โ€˜Moment of Magicโ€™ step.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah definitely.

Ronan Perceval: So good. Thatโ€™s fantastic John. Iโ€™ve got a big one for you, man.

Killian Vigna: Challenge him.

Ronan Perceval: No, Iโ€™ll keep that one till the end, โ€™cause I was going to do one more, but weโ€™re going to ask you some more stuff โ€™cause this is going great. Okay, Iโ€™ll ask you this; If thereโ€™s one thing you could change in the beauty industry, what would it be?

John DiJulius: Itโ€™s probably too many answers, but the lack of professionalism, the seriousness, the hairdressers give themselves.

When I got into it- this is important- when I got into the industry, I got in it because my wife was in it. And itโ€™s no different today, this was back in the late โ€™80s/early โ€™90s, 98% of the service providers were hairdressers. I always say this, I say this to my staff, but the reason why the men are the only ones that seem to raise their prices and charge a lot, two reasons; One, theyโ€™re perceived as the minority and I donโ€™t necessarily buy into that as much, but itโ€™s because they physically and literally have the balls, okay? And what I mean by that is, men are arrogant. We donโ€™t care, weโ€™re like, โ€œDamn it, I deserve that!โ€

And that really frustrated me. And that was going to be something that my wife, and none of my hairdressers, who are predominantly women, were going to suffer from. I wanted them to be proud of the training, of the education, of the impact, that they had on peopleโ€™s lives. That they gave people a bounce after they met with them, because of the way that they made them feel physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

And so that there comes a cost. And I donโ€™t want these women to grow up in the career, and 30 years later, still be charging only a few dollars more. I had it happen to my mom. I had it happen to my wifeโ€™s mom, and I had it happen to my wifeโ€™s grandmom. Back in the โ€™60s and โ€™70s, all the income, all the benefits, all the hospitalization, all of the retirement, were with their husbands. And when their husbands, all three, decided to leave them, they were screwed. They had nothing. And then they had to start working, with kids at home, and they never had worked that much, they had no marketable skills. And all three of them, and many more had to work the rest of their life, past the years they wanted to, in jobs they didnโ€™t want to work, prisoners to bosses they didnโ€™t like because they didnโ€™t have the freedom.

So my goal, for my wife and all my female employees is, โ€œYouโ€™re going to have freedom. You are going to make a lot of money. And have the freedom that in 15 years, 20 years, should you want to take all the money youโ€™ve made and go buy a second house, retire, you can. If you love this career and you still want to do it, you want to do it two days a week or five, you can. But you wonโ€™t be a prisoner to a job, a boss, or a significant other, because they have the benefits, they have the payโ€ฆ You will have the pay, you will have the benefits, and you will be able to make choices based on your own.โ€

I wasnโ€™t expecting that to come up and youโ€™ve hit a nerve, but thatโ€™s really important to me and I get mad. I donโ€™t want women in any industry, women that work for me โ€ฆ I want them to be charged as much, if not more than a man, if they deserve to. And I want them to have all the benefits and rewards. Thatโ€™s very important to me. For the most part that is really, really happening and Iโ€™m very proud of that.

Killian Vigna: Now I feel inspired.

Ronan Perceval: Thatโ€™s pretty great man, that is awesome. Thatโ€™s inspirational, I think, for โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™ as well, โ€™cause itโ€™s about having the confidence in yourself to do what you should do, and be valued for what you really are, and not do yourself down, and that really speaks to that. Is there anything that youโ€™d like to say, generally, to salon owners out there about โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™? About taking steps to grow their business?

John DiJulius: I want to make sure all my salon coordinators are listening to this, and they pass it on. And youโ€™re probably asking for this, but I think the most valuable thing, better than any of your subject matter experts that youโ€™re interviewing is, what your salon owners end up doing, I hope theyโ€™re sharing back with you, and that can be shared with everyone. Because thereโ€™s amazing golden nuggets out there thatโ€™s low hanging fruit, that I would love for you guys to be providing this bank of โ€˜Moments of Magicโ€™ that I could be like, โ€œDamn! I didnโ€™t think of that. We should be doing that.โ€

You guys really, really impress me so much. After the experience I had, the way you treat your employees, the way you treat your customers, that you know this, but I doubt anyone listening knows this, is last summer I sent a person out to work for you for the summer, as an internship, a family member. And now this summer I sent another close friend of mineโ€™s daughter. And you know, thatโ€™s taking a risk on my end, because if it was a flop, or they come back and they hate it, it could hurt a friendship. And I know, I have 100% confidence, like they did last year, they come back and they canโ€™t stop thanking me for the introduction. And thatโ€™s just my trust in the culture that youโ€™ve created out there, and next year I hope to send one of my sons out there because I just think itโ€™s a great experience that youโ€™re doing.

Ronan Perceval: John, thatโ€™s been fantastic as ever, man. We really appreciate it. We really appreciate your time.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Thanks so much.

Killian Vigna: Thanks a million John. Thanks for joining us today, absolute pleasure.

John DiJulius: Thank you.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Really appreciate it.

Killian Vigna: So that was John DiJulius, Zoe. Some really good insights in there.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, and Ronan had really brilliant questions for him. It showed that they had that relationship before.

Killian Vigna: Obvious that thereโ€™s a bit of a bond there. I think I spent most of that interview trying to hold back all the laughing-

Zoe Belisle-Springer: I know, I kept looking at you as well.

Killian Vigna: There was times when it felt a little awkward but then it was just like, โ€œAh, no.โ€ It was good. Even the likeโ€™s of the โ€˜Five Esโ€™, stuff like that, so take note guys, brilliant.

So just moving on from there now, Zoe?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: The Phorest Academy Webinars, so we have coming up on Monday, July 24th, the Salon Facebook Masterclass. And thatโ€™s from 3:00pm to 4:00pm, UK/Ireland time, and 10:00am to 11:00am, US Eastern time. Thatโ€™s led by Chris Brennan, itโ€™s a monthly one, you get to learn how to use your Facebook insights, boost posts, run ads, and stuff like that.

Killian Vigna: Thatโ€™s Chris Brennan, our Head of Content, so he knows a thing or two of what heโ€™s talking about there.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Oh yeah, definitely. And then the other one coming up right after is on Wednesday, August 2nd, so itโ€™s a little further down the line, but thatโ€™s the Salon Retailing Master Class. Again, same times; 3:00pm to 4:00pm, UK/Ireland time, 10:00am to 11:00am, US Eastern time. And that is actually led by myself.

Killian Vigna: Yours truly.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: There I just show you, basically for an hour I talk about how to build a salon retailing culture within your team, and break down the barriers of selling retail. If you want to join in on any of those two webinars, you go onto our Facebook page, into the events section, and click on which one you want.  Thereโ€™s a link there for tickets. Tickets are free, obviously, itโ€™s just to save your spot on the day, and then youโ€™ll get a personal link for joining the webinar that day.

Killian Vigna: And both of those would actually work well for your โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™ challenge, so if youโ€™re involved in our โ€™30 Days 2 Growโ€™ challenge, definitely check out those webinars to get a little headstart or kind of cheat on your challenge.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Or even just as a follow-up, because realistically โ€™30 Days 2 Grow is going to end just before the salon retailing one, but itโ€™s a really nice follow-up if youโ€™ve done the whole challenge throughout the month.

Killian Vigna: โ€˜Cause weโ€™re just over half way now, isnโ€™t it? This is the 17th today?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, cool.

So, as always guys, who do you want to hear on the show next? Give us a shout.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Leave us some feedback.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, leave us some feedback. If youโ€™re enjoying it, let us know. If you hate it, also let us know. But yeah โ€ฆ

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Have an amazing week and weโ€™ll catch you next Monday for a blog episode.

Killian Vigna: All the best.

Thanks for reading!

#LetsGrow


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