{"id":138759,"date":"2024-02-22T09:48:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T09:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phorest.com\/?p=138759"},"modified":"2024-02-22T09:49:06","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T09:49:06","slug":"sharmadean-reid-salon-client-data-personas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phorest.com\/au\/blog\/sharmadean-reid-salon-client-data-personas\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharmadean Reid: Know Your Salon Clients – Finding The Human Story in the Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where to start when introducing Sharmadean Reid<\/a>? \u2018Powerhouse\u2019 does not begin to describe this woman, who has led community movements and built a slew of successful business ventures, not to mention being awarded an MBE from HRH Queen Elizabeth II for her services to Beauty and Women, all before reaching her 40th birthday. But it is her experience building a pioneering nail salon, WAH Nails, that led to the topic of her main stage talk at the Salon Owners Summit<\/a> 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelling across Asia after University, Sharmadean brought the idea of specialised nail art salons back to London with WAH Nails<\/a>. Harnessing the power of tech and social media, Sharmadean created a VR nail art tool to help her clients choose their style, and \u2018going viral\u2019 was a common occurrence for the salon. Sharmadean chalks the success of the business down to the work she put in at an early stage to really <\/em>knowing her clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients -> Data -> Trends -> Sales<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sharmadean\u2019s talk took Summit attendees through the journey from getting to know a single client – something their teams do day after day, to building up a database of insights they can turn into trends, and how to take that trend data and optimise for sales. Here we\u2019ll share some of the top nuggets of wisdom Sharmadean shared on each step of this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gathering Data: Taking Client Cards to the Next Level<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Everyone is familiar with the digital client card \u2018notes\u2019<\/a> section in their salon software – a space usually populated with information on toner shades or skin pigmentation. Sharmadean challenges salon owners to take their client notes to the next level, using them as a space to gather breadcrumbs of data. Each client, she says, should have a mini-essay about them within their client notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What data sources can you use to build up these \u2018mini-essays\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In-chair \u2018focus groups\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With clients sitting in chairs and treatment rooms for 7+ hours per day, Sharmadean points out that every day is effectively a free focus group for your salon business. Most industries would kill for that type of access to customer insight. Every treatment or service is an opportunity to mine nuggets of data from each client. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Stalk your clients the way you stalk that person you like\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sharmadean recommends asking staff to take 5 minutes before or after each client to follow them on Instagram, see what they talk about, and learn how they present themselves to the world. Follow who they follow – their favourite brands, artists, personalities, authors etc. Over time, you\u2019ll begin to get a picture of the reference points they use to build up their style, and you\u2019ll be able to tell them what new service or products they want before they even know themselves. Clients often won\u2019t say directly what their style references are, but if you get to know their interests, you can begin to read between the lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending history in Phorest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your salon software<\/a> is another goldmine of client data – use your guests\u2019 digital client cards to check out their appointment frequency, service history and product purchases to get a picture of their routine and their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personify Trends Using New-School Client Personas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most business owners are familiar with the idea of client personas: archetypes of your dream clients that you keep in mind when designing everything from your brand to your marketing messaging and client journey. However, Sharmadean recommends some changes to make the persona tool more effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demographics vs psychographics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The old style of persona development focuses primarily on the demographics of your ideal client, e.g. their <\/p>\n\n\n\n