HJ REPORTS: HUB NETWORK 2023

The southern coast of Spain was the location for the fifth Kao Salon Division Hub Network with many of the brand's leading salons flying in for two days of business inspiration and networking fun

The Hub Network delegates

The future was the focus as Julie Winchester, Kao’s UK General Manager welcomed delegates, “Our agenda is very much about looking forward and how we can thrive for the future and success, and our aim is to leave you all feeling positive about what is to come.”

Creating the vision for your salon, Liz McKeon looked back before looking forward, “Why did it take a pandemic to make us realise how important we are to our customers? We must never lose sight of this and leverage these learnings for the future.

“You need to build your business around being more financially successful – focus on fewer clients coming back regularly and spending more money. Every staff member needs to be a financial asset including front of house, and every client must have a positive financial impact. Your clients are happy when they are spending money and feeling good about themselves – so let them spend! Offer them aftercare products and don’t apologise for doing so.”

Salon owner and business speaker, Caroline Sanderson

Retail trends expert, Jack Stratten continued the forward-looking theme. “We have clients who are digitally native, they are cost conscious but love luxury, pro digital but love a story, demand speed but slow experiences and are spending more than ever on luxury items,” he said. “You need to use your space to build a community in a novel and different way and elevate your services to attract a specific group to build that loyalty. Blend experiences so a client can enjoy a coffee or retail space and give them something that will keep them coming back and wanting to share.”

Purpose and clarity were the buzz words for 2023 of Bianca Miller-Cole, a finalist of the BBC’s The Apprentice, “You need to start by building the story, covering all the sensorial attributes – what do you want clients to feel in your salon and how will you solve their needs? Build your visibility and convey your purpose, and enable your team to be intrapreneurs, seeking out problems and solving them. Networking should be reciprocal and help individuals and the community as a whole - but you must be clear about your goals.” A firm believer in making your dreams a reality, Bianca continued, “Buy a note pad and write it down - this activates your subconscious mind and aids clarity.”

Bianca Miller-Cole delivered a dynamic and inspiring presentation

Creating your own future was the theme Caroline Sanderson picked up, “The formula I have created allows you to step back from your salon to earn more money and enjoy more freedom. I discovered this by observing others and stopped investing in things that didn’t make money and focused on what did. There are four issues that salon owners have to deal with – staff, time, ourselves and profit, and often the business owner is the busiest – this has to change, and you need to commit to making it happen. You need to prepare yourself, your team and your clients and give yourself a fear-free foundation by changing your mindset, marketing the salon to generate income, give time to managing a high performing team and instilling standardised operating procedures.”

KAO UK's General Manager Julie Winchester

Artificial intelligence was covered by Kao’s head of customer marketing, Nathan Agland who delved into the topic. “The AI market is worth €136 billion with 38% compound growth between 2022 and 2023 and is forecast to reach €15.7 trillion by 2030. With 85 million jobs due to be eliminated by 2025, 97 million will be created so there is good news.

KAO UK's Director of Sales, Mitch Lucas

“ The AI market is worth €136 billion with 38% compound growth between 2022 and 2023 and is forecast to reach €15.7 trillion by 2030.”

“The recent innovation ChatGPT, is a generative AI chatbot that with human prompts, can help generate ideas, inspiration and content. The better the prompts, the better the output, which is immediate, but responses can be very literal and not insightful.”

Enjoying the Spanish sunshine

The final speaker was Claire Brumby. “Everything is possible if you’ve got the nerve and you need to be a positive disruptive influence in your business. Add innovation to this and you have the best chance of success.”

Business speaker, Liz McKeon

Wrapping up an inspirational two days, Kao’s Director of Sales, Mitch Lucas said, “Passion is contagious so let’s look to the future, collaborate and work together to help each other grow.”