I love my job, and you?

I love my job, and you?

I love my job, and you?

How often we are too busy to reach for happiness, and we forget to see the awesome things that happen right under our nose. It happened to me today, at the end of again a long, or should I say too long, week in the office, behind the phone and in front of the computer screen.

After dinner, on the couch with my, sometimes already big, sometime still little, son of eight years next to me busy building cities in Minecraft. I watched a documentary about the Yangtze river. A beautiful story about modern days China, with every now and then a peek into the past. Shanghai evolved in less then 30 years from a place where farmers were taking care of their cows, to a city that competes with New York. London or Hong Kong, at least with respect to the skyline, Suddenly I recall the talks and apps I had with Lydia this week and one of the reasons I love my job. Lydia is a very nice women from Juancheng in China. We had talks about smaller and bigger hair extensions suppliers, companies from Xuchang who aim to sell cheap hair at low prices and the best ways to build up trust in the relations with your customers. So a lot of business, but also with a personal touch because when we talked in her evening, her little daughter was giving me advice on the background. At least that is what I think, because my understanding of the Chinese language is still limited to the menu of the Chinese restaurant in my City.

My days are long, because I have clients and other contacts in nearly all the time zones of the world. In Ireland for example, where Einna is busy with the amazing launch of her hair and beauty business called SheBelle. She even went to travel to India to source her hair and it always very inspiring to talk to her. Too bad I am always too late to ask her a question, because she always knows before me what I want to ask her.

In the same time zone there is Africa. That’s a continent where I get more and more inquiries to start selling hair extensions from, mainly South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. It’s Kenya, where the last weeks the interest in starting a hair business is taking over from inquiries from Nigeria! What’s happening Nigeria? Talking about South Africa, this week I spoke to Yanga who is looking for used weaves. She has a very ambitious plan to help young girls in her area with the proceeds of her business. It really gives me a warm feeling to have talks with people with a mission, passion and ambition and … their hart on the right place. Yeah I love my job. And if you have used weave, do not keep them in your bag, but donate them to Yanga.

The reason my days are very long, or my nights very short, is because of the many contacts with women, sorry it’s true most entrepreneurs in this business are female, from the US. The big challenge of having phone calls, Skype calls, WhatsApp chats and emails in all these various time zones is to avoid you miss an appointment. Too often I mistake in the time of an appointment. It’s already hard for the various countries, but within the US it’s even more confusing for me with EST, CDT, etc.. Last Thursday, or still her Wednesday I spoke with Jenise from the BVI owner of Ain’t She Cute Wigs. At 2 o clock of my night this lady knew to catch my full attention with her dream of the future of her hair business on the island. It was only after we ended the call I realized my day had finished long time ago. Only one more call this time with Shavon from the USA and I called it a day. Again a day that was too short, but how lucky I am to be able to speak with so many people with dreams, plans, questions but all looking for support to make their business grow, again.

 

I love my job! And you? Let me know in a comment, at any time of the day 😉

 

You have a dream to launch your own hair store, or your hair sales are lacking behind expectations. What can you do? Give it all up and let others succeed? Wouldn’t it be great to talk for 10 minutes with somebody who not only understands the hair extensions business, but who can help you with advice too?

You are not alone, you can always call me, I have blocked some time in my calendar already. I am waiting for you!  Call me, Stefan

 

Introduction Call

Home based business and the kids have holidays

Home based business and the kids have holidays

Home based business and the kids have holidays

Selling hair from your home based business and the kids have holidays. What to do?

Instead to panic, and call off all those leads that just started to warm up ready for a nice hair sale It’s better to include the kids in your sales events. If you can’t fight them, join them! To avoid a lot of angry comments under this blog, I do not mean you should beat your kids.

You are not the only mother

Remember, you are not the only mother who has to deal with this, many working parents have to deal with kids having more holidays rights than their boss will ever grant them. Plus, doesn’t the holiday time put’s all of us in another mode. Don’t we all feel more relaxed in summer? Except if you have to work double hours to “earn” the free time out of the office. This gives we are all in a similar kind of mood, especially for working parents.

 

Home based business and the kids have holidays

5 tips to protect your sales during summer

So what could you do if you have a home based business and the kids have holidays?

First of all, as said above accept summer time is play time. So the perfect period of the year to combine creativity and work. All you need to do is some additional planning.

  1. Schedule time for your hair business and play by offering morning hair extensions parties and have the afternoon free to take the kids to the pool, cinema or playground.
  2. Make sure your hair extensions parties are fun! Let the sun shine. Lighten up your sales program, so there is enough time to enjoy your sales pitch and to try the hair. Do not forget some nice and light refreshments.
  3. Be original and ask the other mothers to take their children with them for a “hair pool party”. Organize one or two teen-agers to watch the children playing in the pool, while you “share” your extensions and hair care products with the mothers. This requires some extra planning upfront and an eye towards the pool during the party. But you have something people will talk about for a long time, and their kids will remind their mothers many times afterwards, when she is going again to that nice lady with the hair in the pool!
  4. Be flexible to plan your parties so everybody has time enough to be with their family in time, for example for the BBQ.
  5. And for yourself, marketing your hair business does not stop in Summer. Wherever you go this summer, make sure your hair toolkit is within reach. Be ready to have a talk to moms while you are at the beach, park, playground or pool. In summer everybody is more friendly, so make it your own goal to meet two new friends per day and turn them into clients.

 

What is your plan this summer, no sales at all or did you plan some cool stuff to combine business with pleasure?  If you go on holidays enjoy and if you stay home, do not forget to take a break from selling in time! 

You have a dream to launch your own hair store, or your hair sales are lacking behind expectations. What can you do? Give it all up and let others succeed? Wouldn’t it be great to talk for 10 minutes with somebody who not only understands the hair extensions business, but who can help you with advice too?

You are not alone, you can always call me, I have blocked some time in my calendar already. I am waiting for you! Call me, Stefan

Introduction Call

Are you happy with your hair extensions sales?

Are you happy with your hair extensions sales?

Are you happy with your hair extensions sales?

This question, are you happy with your hair extensions sales, I ask many of the entrepreneurs in the hair business. You know what answer I hear most? … No.

hair extensions salesToo often people are unhappy with their hair extensions sales but they fail to analyse it and to act upon it. The last four years I saw to many people who started their hair business with passion and original ideas to give up. They lost believe in the awesome dream they once had, their own hair extensions business and to be their own boss.

You need a drink

If this sounds familiar to you, if you struggle with your hair extensions sales, it’s time to take a day off from the daily routine, pour yourself a nice drink and rest your feet on a small table.

It’s time to analyse, and the best way is to go through all the main processes of your store or salon.
For example:

  1. What is my mission, or why am I selling hair extensions?
  2. Who I want to help to look and feel good and do these people know how to find me?
  3. Who is buying my hair and how much do they spent?
  4. Did I ever had complaints, and what do people say about my store or hair (be honest to yourself)?
  5. What do people like about my store?
  6. How is the interaction on my social media, can I communicate with my visitors and do they tell what they want?
  7. Do I have a tool to upgrade the relation with the visitors of my website and how is the intake and the use?
  8. What is the competition doing, on pricing, marketing etc.?
  9. How do I monitor performance, financial, website and social media usage?

If you have a picture of this on your tablet, you will be able to discover where the sales could be improved and where you have to stop or to chance (and how) you offer the hair extensions sales.

Influence your client to buy from you

hair extensions salesI would like to share with you some very useful information I learned about how people make their decisions and how you can influence them (always in a positive way). Source. Dr. Robert Cialdini and Steve Martin, based upon the book Influence” from Dr. Cialdini.

The world today is too complex to make decisions to say yes or no based upon all the available information. You will never make any decision any more if you have to think so much before you can act. So what happens in our brain?

Lazy brain

Our brain is lazy and instead to consider all possible options, it suggest us to use short cuts to guide us, and you can use them to influence the decision making of your target audience.

There are 6 factors to take into account

1. Reciprocity

You feel obliged to give back to others what they received first. In a way you owe something to another. Your neighbors invited you to their house, most likely you will do the same. You want to see hard figures? A study shows in a restaurant, if the waiter gives a small present by bringing the bill, for example a simple mint. The tip given by people who enjoyed the diner increased by 3%. If the waiter doubles the gift, the tip goes 14% up.

But watch what happens if the waiter shares one single mint when he hands over the bill and walks away from the table, but turns back and shares some more mint adding he just likes them. In that case the tips increased by a 23 %.

So it’s not what you give, but how you present it and if it is personalized and unexpected. You can use this if you perform that market survey to know what your clients really want.
TIP: see at the end of this post how you can you can influence your hair extensions sales

2. Scarcity

Another factor that influences decisions is if things seems to be scarce. So next to the benefits of your products, you also need to point out what is unique and what they stand to lose if they do not buy it. People want more of things they can get less off.
TIP: see at the end of this post how you can you can influence your hair extensions sales

3. Authority

People follow the recommendations of experts. People even give more small coins for a parking meter if the person asking for the change is wearing a uniform! But how can you tell the world you are an expert if you do not have 100 thousand s friends on Facebook yet? You need to begin one day, right? Well, if somebody else tells the world your background and experience for you it’s okay too. It is not important if it is obvious the two of you are not only connected, but also likely to prosper of the introduction herself. Science shows a good introduction increased the number of appointments by 20% and 15% increase in closed deals.
TIP : see at the end of this post

4. Consistency

People like to be consistent with things they have previously said or done. Consistency is activated by looking for and asking for small initial commitments that can be made. This gives 4 x higher conversions, as long people act on a voluntary and active basis and gave their commitments in public.
TIP: see at the end of this post

5. Liking

People prefer to say yes to persons they like, because they

  • are similar to us
  • pay compliments to us
  • cooperate with us towards mutual goals

TIP: see…. , you already know where

6. Consensus

People look at the actions and behaviors of others before they perform their own actions. For example, in hotels we are always asked to reuse the towels. Often with a reference to the benefits for the environment. 1 out of 3 guests follow this request. But 75% of people will re-use their towels during their stay anyhow. When this was mentioned on the card in the bathroom, the number of followers increased by an extra 26%.
TIP: nearly

Do you want the tips?

Now was this post helpful? Will you use it to improve your sales method?

If so, please share your comment with me under this post, how are you going to use this to increase your sales? I will share my tips on how you can influence your hair extensions sales with everybody with a comment on this post, or shared it on their social media. Fair deal right?

See how easy it is to be different in Beauty and Hair Care

See how easy it is to be different in Beauty and Hair Care

See how easy it is to be different in Beauty and Hair Care

The beauty and hair care market is a market dominated by cultural factors. Cultural factors are some of the strongest influences of consumer buyer behavior. Too long marketers’ have under estimated these cultural factors in the beauty and hair care industry. Not in the least because it’s not easy if you are not connected to multi-cultural communities. This is the point where you can benefit from, because if you have a specific ethnic background, you understand your own cultural background, habits and emotions the best.

How does it work?

It’s often said, do not try to sell your hair extensions to everybody. Without any focus you can only compete on price. Unless you can buy beauty and hair care products under the purchase price of big retailers, you will never win this game. Better to compete on service and to target specific cultural groups, like your own.

The market is huge and will only get bigger

The market to sell your beauty and hair care products is huge and growing. There are a couple of reasons for this:

  • Women of color are reported to spend six times more than other ethnic (Mintell)
  • Already one out of two pupils on a secondary school in a city like London are of ethnic backgrounds. This will give a baby boom of the cultures the next decade (Kings College, professor Hamnett)
  • In the UK blacks and minority groups make up nearly 1 out of 5 of the total population, this will be 1 out of three in 2035

This shows the significant higher spending power for beauty and hair care products, but also the growth potential of this group of customers. For example, the Afro Caribbean hair care market globally is worth an estimated 760 million us dollars. Imagine the future size and how big will your share be?

You are not alone

Of course big companies have discovered this too, but they are in general too slow to grasp these opportunities. Most companies consider they will not be able to generate enough return on their investment in the ethnic market. On the other side companies like Organic Root Stimulator (Olive Oil). A company that is able to perform the right research and product development as well advertising promotion will be able to turn any investment in this niche market into a mainstream of profit.

Your client is willing to do an extra effort

A study from Think Ethnic shows the ethnic oriented customer is not necessarily loyal to one brand, she prefers to discover a range of brands that meet her beauty and hair care needs. She is also willing to travel long distance to find these products. Here you can jump in again, all you have to do is to become the preferred supplier of her beauty and hair care products.

But you are unique

beauty and hair care

You are unique

If you have an ethnic background, or are familiar with a specific culture, you are one big step ahead of the big firms. Make your own ethnic group your target audience. Why wouldn’t you benefit from this? You understand your target audience on an emotional level and understand their behavioral economics. Of these economics, cultural factors are the most important ones. Factors we cannot control but as a hair and beauty entrepreneur you have to take them into account otherwise your marketing effort is ineffective.

What are the cultural factors? Think of a set of basic values, perceptions, wants and behaviour that are “learned” by the group or society we grow up in. If you are from Angola and you meet somebody of the capital Luanda in London or New York. You’ll notice and you will be able to interact much more efficient.

Your marketing campaign

If you want to your share of the beauty and hair care market we can help you to set up a campaign that will make you different from the rest, communicate with your target audience in the language they speak, the religion they have and the emotions they feel.  schedule an appointment now

You have a dream to launch your own hair store, or your hair sales are lacking behind expectations. What can you do? Give it all up and let others succeed? Wouldn’t it be great to talk for 10 minutes with somebody who not only understands the hair extensions business, but who can help you with advice too?

You are not alone, you can always call me, I have blocked some time in my calendar already. I am waiting for you! Call me, Stefan

Introduction Call

Hair Extensions Job Opportunities New York

Hair Extensions Job Opportunities New York

You have passion for hair, and to make people feel confident so you look for Hair Extensions Job Opportunities New York. Before you start your own hair extensions business, it’s better to check on hair extensions career opportunities. You will be able to help your future clients much better if you are a qualified and an experienced hairdresser or stylist. So before you start your own hair extensions store, consider to start a paid job in hair extensions.

Hair Extensions Job Opportunities New York

Take for example New York State, if you look for hair extensions job opportunities in New York. There are plenty possibilities, from Salon Assistant to Master Hair stylist. Depending on the number of hours and the job experience you will get paid between$ 20,000 and $ 50,000, or an average of $ 27,000. This is most hair extensions jobs are paid in the range of $ 20,000 and $ 25,000.

In most hair extensions jobs you will need to have great customer service skills. For a Salon Assistant daily duties will be assisting stylist with hair weaving. So you must know how to braid, relaxers, sewing, hair washing, coloring, blow drys etc.. Most of this you will learn in cosmetology school. Because most salons demand speedy customer services, it is necessary to be able to work fast.

Hair Extensions Job Opportunities New York

 

In case you are already more experienced you can apply for Master Hair Stylist. Now have to be able to be highly experienced in for example Coloring and Cutting, Blow-Outs of course Braiding/Cornrows, Dread Lock Extensions, Updo’s and do not forget Hair Weaves and Hair Extensions.

The payment will be on commission or salary plus commission.

Why to start a job in the hair extensions business?

If you want a successful career in hair extensions as the owner of a hair extensions store, you need to be able to answer all questions and inquiries by yourself. Or you should know where to get the answers from. A good start is to become more experienced in this beautiful industry. So look for Hair Extensions Job Opportunities New York on google/Bing or search for recruiting agencies.

The next step

Now you are getting more and more experienced in the hair extensions business. Now you can, next to your day time job, start to work on your dream, your own hair extensions store or salon.
To start with this you can sign up for our free newsletter, and receive tips and insight in your inbox. Perhaps next time you will be able to help somebody else looking for Hair Extensions Career Opportunities in New York. Let us know if this post has helped you?

You have a dream to launch your own hair store, or your hair sales are lacking behind expectations. What can you do? Give it all up and let others succeed? Wouldn’t it be great to talk for 10 minutes with somebody who not only understands the hair extensions business, but who can help you with advice too?

You are not alone, you can always call me, I have blocked some time in my calendar already. I am waiting for you! Call me, Stefan

Introduction Call