It’s hard to imagine that a regional salon achieves client spends of over $3,000 in one visit, but that’s exactly what can happen at the flagship M Hair and Co salon in Mackay..
“The $3,000+ service was a massive undertaking, which took seven hours,” owner Michelle Bates said. “The services provided were removal of old extensions, foils, toner, smoothing process, new extensions, and retail for home maintenance. The service included the use of specialised products, including Jadore Hair Extensions and the safe Floractive Nanoplasty Smoothing System.”
A suite of three salons—two in Mackay and one in Gladstone—is operated by the powerhouse mother-and-daughter team of Michelle and Trinity Bates, armed with a malleable, self-determined business model, testing and trying new things to create growth.
“We work by the hour and pay by the hour, so we charge by the hour,” Michelle said.
“Daily, we prove that we’re honest and straightforward, so clients trust our recommendations for achieving healthy hair and hairstyles they are happy with.
“For instance, if a new client arrives for a correction, we pull out all stops to repair the damage and understand that restoring their confidence is the most important thing,” she said.
As well as having the latest tools at their fingertips, innovative business management also helps them stay on top.
“Our team is all casual so that they have flexible work hours to suit their lifestyles,” she said. “It’s not always easy and it is a juggling act, calling on Trinity and me to put in extra hours to fill in the gaps.”
Michelle is always looking at how to fairly remunerate and incentivise her team to make her an employer of choice. Recently, the salon transitioned from a ‘bonus for skill set system’ to testing tiered incentives to foster more productivity.
“We are currently assessing the effectiveness of the change and will modify the system again if necessary,” Michelle said.
Michelle noted that the good news was that in the last year, their turnover rose despite reduced team numbers.
“We’re just always prepared in readiness to tackle the next challenge and jump the next hurdle. We look at a problem and figure out how to make the solution work for us.
“Due to the staffing shortage, Trinity—who is manager at TLB Hair Mt Pleasant (Mackay)—and I work as many extra hours as necessary to retain our large client base.”
One of Michelle’s underpinning beliefs is that “just because you’ve always done it, doesn’t mean you always should.”
After being national number one in sales for a large haircare brand, they assessed and researched what else was on offer.
“We changed to the Australian-made products Pure Haircare, Davines, and Juuce from Hairjamm for their flexibility (that word again!) and constant support. Milkshake products and Stellar tools are also offered.”
“Since we want the best for our clients’ hair, we chose to offer a variety of brands, matching them specifically to each client,” Michelle said.
“Our retail as a percentage of turnover is 20%, which I’m told is a great result in the Australian marketplace.”
In a big career step forward, Trinity was recently made an Ambassador for Pure Haircare, which will see her training hairdressers nationally.
Michelle said there are five keys to M Hair and Co’s success:
Staff who are truly supported, with some employed for more than 25 years.
Being tenacious with the difficult task of finding, training, pleasing, and keeping apprentices. “We stick with it for the future of the industry,” Michelle said.
Continual training that is actually implemented in the salons and adds to the bottom line—no training for the sake of it or without developing the business.
Maintaining solid relationships with team members so that communication flows.
Understanding how the client feels, always.
“Clients give up their time for us, so it’s our job to make them feel really great. We do everything from creating a plan for their hair to doing strand tests to making their visit a lot of fun.
“But at the end of the day, it’s Trinity’s and my job to make M Hair and Co and TLB Hair work—to prepare, flex, and change to move forward. That’s what you do.”
