We’ve previously spoken to Liana Spackman-Wiltshire, the Director of Cutting Crew in Queens Park, London. Liana’s experience of implementing Colourstart was exceptionally positive, but we wanted to talk to the team member at the forefront of client liaison to understand their experience too. Goncalo Santos is the Operations Manager and shares his first hand experience.
“We began researching Colourstart and saw it as a very positive way to skin test our clients. It presented the freedom we’d been looking for to be able to grow our colour business. This was at the same time that we were introducing a new colour brand to our business, so it was a very natural time to introduce a new policy.
Truthfully, it was a very easy thing to do. Obviously, we had some challenges along the way, but we had a plan and it worked. We initially went through all the benefits with our clients and my main tactic was to simply explain it and be completely transparent.
Because Colourstart allows clients to change their colour or shade at any time throughout the service, this was a major selling point for clients. We also had some great communication material ready to share, which I really recommend. For the occasional client that couldn’t have the app, we got them to use the Colourstart Certificate of Use Form.
We started with a £10 offer initially and then increased to the standard price of £15. Some clients were easier to get on board than others, but once you explain the benefits they can see it’s as much of a benefit to them as it is for us.
Running our business is so much easier. It is unbelievable the difference it has made. The freedom of not having to worry about skin testing the traditional way is incredible and it saves so much hassle and time.
Remember, new clients don’t know any difference, so when we explain what Colourstart is and that it’s our standard procedure, in 95% of cases new clients are happy to go ahead. Once the existing clients were migrated, managing new clients is straightforward and certainly a lot easier than trying to manage all the patch tests we had to do previously. When I look back, it was incredibly challenging managing a diary of clients who promised they would come in for a patch test, but didn’t, which meant a huge amount of chasing to ensure they visited the salon within 48 hours of their appointment. Colourstart removes a lot of last-minute stress for them, and us.
From my perspective one of the greatest advantages of Colourstart is when a client wants colour on the same day; we are now able to fill those last minute colour appointments that we couldn’t have filled before. This has really helped with growing our colour business.
I would advise any salon to use Colourstart, it will give them complete creative freedom and is a very positive business move.”
