The Style File

Customer Satisfaction

I have had a couple of people ask me about the comment in my last post about customer satisfaction being worthless.  The point Larry made, and I believe as well, is that a satisfied customer is not a loyal, wowed promoter of you that you want your clients to be.  A satisfied customer stays with you until something better comes along.  Would you want your spouse or friends to be "satisfied" with their realtionship with you?  Going those few steps above and beyond will create a loyal customer/client for life!

Larry Curtis in the house...

LARRY AND TYLER AT THE N.A.H.A. AWARDS

I am always amazed of the kindness and generosity of the busiest people I know.  On Wednesday I got a call from my former boss and the president/owner of Taylor Andrews Academies, Larry Curtis.  He said he had Thursday free and he wanted to come visit Austin Kade and generously offered to teach a business class to both day and night school.  It was so great for Tyler and I to visit with Larry and share with him our gratitude for the friendship, kindness and support along with everything I learned when I worked at Larry's schools.  We literally would not have been able to start or run our own school without Larry.  His classes made me miss the good old days not only at Taylor Andrews Academies and the staff and students I left there, but more particularly Dallas Roberts Salon.

As I finished hair school in 1989, I of course went looking for a great salon to work in.  I found one that looked and seemed amazing.  I assisted there for a year.  I was on the "learning" team a lot that year.  I made $1 an hour, lived off of a 50# box of potatoes, baked every was imaginable with every condiment under the sun.  Although I definately didn't get rich, I did refine my hair skills and ended up with almost half the the clientelle of my stylist I assisted when I left to go to a booth rent salon.  Being a creative person primarlily, it was really hard for me to manage myself having my own little business.

  I had heard of a great little salon in Orem that seemed would be the perfect fit for me and two of my friends that were looking for somewhere we could be commission stylists.  I met with the salon owner and instantly knew it was the place for me!  Although it was about the same size as our theater at our school now, it was so wonderful!  I was so happy there.  My clients were so happy there.  It was an amazing salon where I was supported and loved, where team work was the mantra and it was never every man for himself.  

This salon was were I refined "the art of client happiness and always exceeding their expectations".  To do "100% of little things 1% better" rather than only doing "1% of things 100% better" than everyone else.  To "recover + 1" when I made a mistake.  That "everywhere is a good place to market yourself" and "customer satisfaction is worthless".  I learned that I could mentor new stylists through a great assisting and training program, unlike the one I had received.  That I could work the same amount of hours and make twice as much money utilizing that assistant appropriately and that if you love who you work for and with that "work is more fun than work" and everyone excells and profits from such a happy positive environment.  That salon was Dallas Roberts and Larry and his lovely wife Sherri were the owners.  They were the heart of that salon and the examples of good for us all.  I can never thank them enough for that time in my life. 

Larry, thanks for your wonderful visit.  My students thought you were amazing!  And I couldn't be more thankful for all you've done for me.  I hope to make you proud at Austin Kade.

Global Warming?

I have a lot of things to post!  But I wanted to start with a picture from last weekend.

 

I am not a scientist or an expert on weather.  But I am pretty sure that global warming has somehow missed affecting Idaho.  It was super lucky that our photoshoot was one week earlier!  My girls made this snowman, I think it's prettty darn cute!