Retail advice from zoology's tracy mccullough

Tracy McCullough brought experience of the retail sector to her role as director of the Zoology salon group, as Matthew Batham discovers.

Zoology has two salons: one in Loughton, Essex and the other in Wanstead, East London.

Tracy is short-listed as Manager of the Year at HJ's 2011 British Hairdressing Business Awards and the team at the Wanstead salon are also nominated for Front of House Team of the Year.













Tell us about your retail experience before you came to hairdressing?

I worked at WHSmith for 12 years. I started as a Christmas temp but I enjoyed the experience so much; the interaction with customers and the training provided was fantastic. I worked my way up the ranks, which was very hard - the head office-structure was fiercely competitive - and finally became a store manager. I also completed a Merchandise Diploma and two 'A' levels in business.

 

What were the main elements of your job at WHSmith that you brought to the salon industry?

When I joined the salon industry, I was surprised at how few systems, policies or structures there were within many salon businesses. They are the foundations of any business, so implementing them was vital. Tools, including policy manuals and induction packs,and structures for everything, needed to be established. Spelling out every detail in black and white, leaving no grey areas, is vital for maintaining consistently good practice.

Can you give some of examples of how you put this into practice at Zoology?

My sales experience and ideas did face some resistance at first - I wanted to change a culture that had been operating a certain way for many years. For me, talking to people about products wasn't just part of my job at WHSmith; it was the element I enjoyed, and that was the largest change I needed to make in the salon.

The commission on the take-home experience was the first thing to go. At that time it was only about 0.2% of the business, so I knew it wasn't working.

As changes were implemented, weekly reviews and one-on-one meetings were a critical part of the process, setting achievable targets and challenging people's belief that they were purely hairdressers, not sales people. I believe, however, that it's the hairdresser's job to deliver education to all their clients in terms of the take-home experience and that the benefits to the stylist are clear: if your clients stay looking good when they leave then it's a great advert for you and the salon.

Nothing happens overnight; the biggest word is 'consistency' when you are bringing in changes. It's taken us a few years to get from 0.2% in the take-home experience to 40%. Our goal is 80%, which is not unrealistic - it's achievable when you look at how many of your clients still buy their products from high-street stores.

In terms of staff training/motivation, what lessons did you learn in the retail industry that can be useful within hairdressing?

Remember that everyone learns differently and you have to identify each team member's strengths. It could be that they respond best to reading, listening or a hands-on experience. Also be aware of how much information they can retain from each training session. What works for one person doesn't work for all.

Did you learn anything that helped in terms of salon design/layout?

The Merchandise Diploma was helpful in understanding how people look at displays when shopping and, of course, the importance of housekeeping and pricing. I believe that, as with stores, it's important to change the layout to keep it interesting. We regularly change our displays in the salon.

What are your top five tips for a successful salon retail area?

1 Call it your take-home experience.

2 Make it easy to shop.

3 Use your computer system to avoid out-of-stocks on your top lines and identify slow-moving stock.

4 Clean displays every day and keep them looking exciting.

5 Keep your team motivated.