Savvy Salon & Day Spa

reprinted from Salon Today

After assuming ownership of an existing salon, a California couple takes two years to shape the business of their dreams." I think we've finally found a great place," announced the broker who was helping Michael Hawidns and his wife Susan Hughes locate commercial real estate for the upscale, educationbased salon they wished to create.

Located in a luxury shopping plaza in Westlake Village, California, the 3,500 square feet offered enough space to accommodate the couple's vision. But it also came with a downside-the building housed an existing salon. "We were looking to create our own salon from scratch, not buy an existing business," says Hughes. "It posed a lot of issues."

In the end, the couple decided they were up for the challenge. As a former lead academy instructor, Schwarzkopf platform artist and salon manager, Hawkins was poised to redefine the salon's artistic vision and lead its educational efforts. As the former West Coast sales director for Christian Dior and Parfums Givenchy, Hughes brought an innate understanding of the luxury market, as well as extensive experience in marketing, advertising and financial planning. They leased the space and renamed the business Savvy Salon and Day Spa.

Breaking Though
Together, Hawkins, the salon's new artistic director, and Hughes, CEO, broached the challenges presented by the existing business. "The salon we purchased was not operating at the level we wanted to be," says Hughes. "We had to win over the team. We started by strengthening communication, instituting a new education program and automating the salon."

One of Hughes' first steps was to whittle the salon's 12 scattered retail lines to a few upscale, luxury lines. "Because the former salon carried so many lines, they were never fully stocked and it became dernotivating to the stylists trying to retail," says Hughes. "It became increasingly difficuly to educate the group to get them behind that many product lines."

By scaling down the lines, the new owners were able to forge strong relationships with their new vendors, setting up both in-house and off-site educational opportunities, partnering in retail programs and designing retail contests. Within the first year, retail sales increased 300 percent.

"We built the staffs pride in the products we carry, earned their enthusiasm, boosted their customer service skills, and regained their confidence in fully stocked inventory," says Hughes.

To attract new clients to the revamped salon, Hughes devised an integrated marketing program of direct mail, newspaper advertising and public relations. She also discovered a unique advertising opportunity with the local Cheesecake Factory. "For about $4,500 we can run a one-page ad in their menu for six months," she explains. "It acts as a great layering effect with our other efforts, and reaches about 90,000 of their patrons a month. We've had a number of new clients mention they've seen the ad in the menu."

Recently Savvy hired a publicist at about $1,000 a month to help with event planning, writing press releases and media relations. "She does all those things I think about doing but never find the time for," says Hughes.

Compensation Compromise
Hawkins and Hughes realized from the start that launching an employeebased salon in an overwhelmingly booth-rental environment would be difficult, so they designed a hybrid system that offered stylists a choice.

"Explains Hughes, "Not only did we not want to come in and change everything, we wanted to deter future turnover by offering programs that kept staff from being lured away."

Today, about 60 percent of Savvy's staff are employees, 40 percent are renters. The employees are offered a bevy of benefits, with partially paid medical and dental insurance, disability insurance and paid vacation.

The salon's management has established a specific number of employee and rental positions, and staff members are allowed one switch. Hughes has found that by having both systems, she's tackled the grass-is-always-greener mindset because staffers gain first-hand knowledge of each system, and usually end up preferring to become an employee.

Bigger and Better
After the salon had been open about eight months, Savvys landlord approached Hawkins and Hughes about a 6,500-square-foot space opening up within a freestanding building in the same plaza. Now that they'd grown and developed their staff, the couple realized the additional 3,000 feet of space would give them the opportunity to create the flagship salon and spa they'd originally planned.

In the larger building, the Savvy owners created a full-service salon and spa with 36 styling stations and four treatments rooms, a separate shampoo room that provides unique-to-the-area privacy, a separate children's salon, a cafe and an educational/meeting room complete with a stage.

The educational/meeting room provides a setting for weekly classes, as well as a location to invite clients to educational events. The new Savvy Kids! services the offspring of its family-oriented clientele, as well as provides a unique training ground for the salon's apprentices.

In February 2004, Savvy hosted a grand-opening celebration for the new facility, treating guests to complimentary makeovers, hand massages, paraffin dips and product gift bags. Vendors were on hand to offer product demonstrations, and Savvy Kids! hosted face painting and other fun-filled activities.

To show their commitment to the community, Hawkins and Hughes partnered with Support for the Kids, a nonprofit organization that provides support for underprivileged children and women. Guests were asked to bring small gifts as a donation, and the owners donated a percentage of all retail sales to the organization.

"It was incredible," says Hughes. "We had a 281 -percent increase in retail for the day, hosted an estimated 450 clients, and gathered $1,000 worth of supplies. It was a huge adrenaline rush for our staff. "With the one-day event, we were successful with our goals of creating community awareness of our salon and the charity, establishing a point of difference for Savvy, energizing our staff and giving them a first-hand look at how we want to operate at a higher level."

Call the salon at (818) 597-0779 or Savvy Kids at (818) 597-1236.