At our annual Holiday Power Lunch in December, my dear friend and special guest, Gordon Miller, CEO of Hairbrained™, did a special Q+A.
Gordon called the session Lydia Unplugged, meaning me, unfiltered for all to hear! At the end, Gordon decided to do a fun “rapid fire” series of questions, calling out chapters of my book Success at Your Fingertips: How to Succeed in the Skin Care Business and asking I share a short response.
You may have caught this during our Facebook Live session, but in case you missed it, I wanted to share this part of the Q+A with you.
IMAGE IS EVERYTHING
Gordon: First, I want to say that I sooo love this book (Success at Your Fingertips). I’m on the hair side, but I think I’ve read it three times since it first came out. And I’m not saying that because you’re here, I mean, I recommend this to hair dressers! So I’m going to go to the table of contents and start pulling some things out. Let’s begin…
Image Is Everything?
Lydia: Always get up, get dressed and look fabulous. There should never be a day that you walk into your salon looking like you just rolled out of bed.
You want to be successful? Image is everything. The book is always judged by its cover.
Always think of your business space as a stage—you are an actor, the audience are the customers. You have to only as good as your last performance.
There is no one day to have a bad hair. You always want to look impeccable.
DELIGHTFUL DETAILS
Gordon: I’ve been privileged to stay at your home and you always look impeccable, even rolling out of bed with your pink jumpsuit! Delightful Details?
Lydia: In life, delightful details are about entertaining. I love entertaining, cooking, having guests over in my home and guests in my extension.
When you come here you are always going to eat well and you are always going to be served well – these are the delightful details. I love entertaining.
GOING THE EXTRA MILE
Gordon: I think Leon (Dr. Leon Alexander) brought up the power of entertaining, and nobody does it better than Repêchage! Going the Extra Mile?
Lydia: You know, we probably could have served today’s food on plastic plates, but it’s about going the extra mile. Going the extra mile is doing everything obsessively, but to me it is perfectionism.
If you don’t do it right, you’re better off not doing it at all. If you are going to invite a guest to your home, do it the right way.
If you’re going to have your customers come see you, you need to go the extra mile. This way, when the client leaves and your receptionist asks how everything was they’re not going say “Oh, nice.” In fact, most of the time people will not tell you how they feel. I will, but most people will not!
If you don’t voluntarily hear your clients say “Wow! This was amazing, I love it! When can I come back!” then it wasn’t perfect, maybe 80%, but not wonderful.
So again, you want the client to return and give great reviews? Go the extra mile.
Every detail matters: Is there toilet paper in the bathroom? What kind of soap dish do you have? Do you have hand cream? When I go to eat in a restaurant, the first place I go to is the bathroom. Do you know why? Because, if the bathroom is dirty I don’t want to eat there. It will be a reflection of their kitchen. (It’s true!)
THE SECRET TO UPSELLING
Gordon: The Secret to Upselling?
Lydia: I think some nail salons are doing a great job of it. You go in to get your nails done, and immediately they say “Your nails are too weak, you need a treatment. You need this, you need that.” By the time you’re finished you are having everything done.
Upselling is a big issue that most of us in the salon industry have—we are afraid of the word no! “No” will not kill you. No only means that your consumer did not hear what they wanted to hear. You, the professional, did not give them the right sentence that they can relate to.
Upselling is always about asking, what are your concerns, or saying “I am looking at your skin, and I see that your skin is very dehydrated. You need our Lamina Lift Hydrating Seaweed Mask. While you are having your hair done, you will get a skin treatment.”
NEVER be afraid to hear “No.”
Gordon: I love that! As a final thought, I mentioned before the evolution of man and how being social is part of us because we are always in search of our tribe. I love coming here this time of year because I get to see the Repêchage tribe and in many ways I feel that they are a reflection of you and you are a reflection of them—it’s always very special.
As someone that that goes to a lot of events, this is always one of the best representations of the spa community, of the skin care community, of any place that I ever go, so thank you for having me. I’m so honored that I got to have this conversation with you in front of a great group of people!
