Alecia Middleton visibly shudders when she thinks back to pre-Vish days and the amount of waste Conrad Blandford Hairdressing in Sheffield threw away. Besides the impact of all those wasted chemicals going into the water system, it was the cost that was the true horror.
“It was a total nightmare. We were throwing away around $100 worth of color a week,” says Alecia, one of the managers at the very busy salon.
“We tried so many ways to bring that down – bringing in the manufacturers, filling a waste jar, ongoing education – but we run a chair-rental model with 18 of our 25 stylists self-employed and independent. It’s difficult to force people to be careful with color if they’re not paying for it.”
It was especially difficult because the percentage the renters paid to the salon was a fixed rate, whether they used color or not. Alecia, as a manager, was aware that those who predominantly cut hair and did not have a big color clientele were subsidizing the costliness of the colorists. But she was struggling to find a way around it. One option they considered was to have all stylists carry their own inventory, but this was quickly dropped because few could afford to carry an extensive range of color, and it would require a huge and secure stock room. Then Alecia found Vish.
Implementing Changes Led to Decreased Waste and Costs
“About three years ago, I was surfing the internet and I came across Vish. It wasn’t in Britain at the time so I had to contact America. At first I thought ‘this is way too good to be true’,” she recalls, “but after a few conversations with Tim Howard, Vish Chief Innovation Officer, we became one of the first, if not the first, UK salons to install Vish.”
After converting a team of experienced and sometimes reluctant-to-change stylists over to the new system and setting up a new financial structure, the salon saw a dramatic drop in waste and costs. Vish even helped reduce the salon’s inventory levels by $20,000. That’s money the salon can reinvest into different areas of their business.
Alecia is convinced the stylists are happier too because remuneration is fairer. Everyone has the same percentage deducted, while all color is charged at cost to the stylist. Color usage is easily monitored by the front desk, with any additional color used or service changes automatically charged to the client.
“We can even boast that one of our own stylists was a winner in the new Vish Waste Warrior Awards this year, which focuses on salons and hairdressers that stand above others when it comes to driving down the costs per service and using less to create more,” adds Alecia.
Embracing the Benefits of a New Technology
Another benefit of Vish is that it records formulas so busy stylists don’t have to write them down anymore. “It means if a stylist suddenly can’t be in, one of their colleagues can step in because the formula is in the system. But, more importantly, especially now when we are all so frantically busy, we don’t have to worry about writing it down in the cards or forgetting the client history,” adds Alecia. “I’ve been so rushed since lockdown eased; I know I would not have written all my formulas down. I just wouldn’t have had the time.”
Georgie Veitch, Conrad Blandford’s office manager, loves Vish because it allows the salon to easily monitor inventory usage.
“As well as significantly reducing our inventory, we can instantly see which services and products are more heavily used and adapt ordering,” says Georgie. “It’s sped up what was once a very time-consuming process.”
Alecia, Georgie, and Conrad himself have never regretted their decision to bring Vish into the salon. The color business runs efficiently, returns more profit for everyone, and has made delivering excellent color services to clients easier and fairer for the stylists.
“Our salon ethos is about fairness – to the business, the individual stylist and the environment,” says Conrad. “We believe a happy team is the key to success and Vish helps keep our team happy.”
