The best of the best are consistently creative, productive, and, often, less stressed. It’s like success has become muscle memory and they just get it right every time. To find out how they do it, we asked some brilliant salon-based colorists what habits help them breeze through their day and keep guests returning.
Be a good listener
“The consultation is critical,” said Ariella Hansen, who works at Sage Tryall Salon in Lynchburg, VA. “It will determine how the guest’s experience will begin and end. You and your guest must know where you want to go in order to know how to get there. I know that having an educational, concise, and positive consultation will guarantee the results of the guest experience. Doing this is a must for me.”
Allison Martin, based out of Pure Salon and Spa in Louisville, KY agreed: “As stylists, sometimes we have the tendency to hear or do what we want instead of what the guest wants. To be the best for my guests, I have to LISTEN and actually hear what they like/don’t like, want/don’t want, and ask enough questions to really understand what they want.”
Always give change a chance
Top colorists love Vish but accepting change can be hard when you are busy. Gianna DeCaro, a colorist, and educator with Luscious & Co in Shelton, CT, likened the arrival of Vish to riding a bicycle: “It takes a bit of time. You don’t just get on and go. You fall down a couple of times and it can be frustrating but you get right back on. Working with Vish has helped elevate my service to a whole new level.”
“It can be really hard when it’s go, go go,” said Elizabeth Eisenstein, stylist and, trainer at Annastasia Salon in Portland, OR. “When Vish was introduced the first few weeks were a learning curve as we were very busy. It was the stylists who had lighter books who felt confident sooner because they had a couple of minutes here and there to play about with the technology.” But she was glad she persevered.
“I was notorious for not writing down my formulas but now I have all of them recorded in Vish and it has made things so much easier. It was a learning curve at first but now we are faster and more efficient than ever with Vish.”
Leverage features in Vish to optimize time management
“I am a strong believer in being effective and efficient,” said Ariella. “This allows me the ability to have great results while maximizing services. If you can offer guests this, they will value you more. Vish is an outstanding support and tool to help keep on track with these needs. I love that I can rely 100% on the system to assist me in these processes. I have saved so much time in making things happen and have had greater outcomes with the support of Vish.”
Two favorite functions of Vish are Mix More and Mix from History. “I use both features religiously,” says Gianna. “I’ve got a handful of clients who have been with me since I began and they always want the same thing. I can pull up their formula in Mix from History and recreate it instantly.”
“And when I discovered you can hold the top of the Vish teardrop for Mix More and it gives you a way to mix just a bit more and without me having to math, I was, like, WOW! This has made my life so much easier. If I have a client with long, thick hair who wants it as white as possible, I can mix my color, and by the time I’ve done the back and understand the density, knowing I need just 40% or 50% more, Vish can quickly calculate it for me from the original formula.”
Confident about consistency
Vish helps deliver consistency across the team. “Before Vish, if I asked my associate to mix more, I’d have to do the math in my head and then tell the associate,” says Elizabeth. “By the time they got to the color bar, they’d be stressed and had already forgotten what I told them. With Vish, they don’t have to worry about remembering the formula or having to do the math and I’m not spitting 14 colors at them. It means I can seamlessly pass the bowl on to the associate, and request a percentage of additional color to be mixed, without interrupting the service.”
Vish also allows other colorists to step in to look after a guest in an emergency and still deliver excellence. “After using Vish for a couple of years now, I can’t imagine doing my job without it,” says Allison.
“The system makes things faster and takes the guesswork out of formulating. If a guest can’t get in to see me, the exact formula is already there for one of my teammates to perform the service.”
Color mixing confidence
There are lots of reasons some colorists are high performers, but Vish has definitely helped level the playing field. It’s much easier to deliver excellent service to guests at every appointment when you have the power of technology behind you.
