Curl Cult - Selling a New Service Class

All right. Hello, Hello. First of all, welcome everyone to our newest class. This is selling a new service and specifically selling a Crow cult service. What we're going to do today is walk you through how to convert some of your current clients into pro cult clients and also to grow your perm clientele with the Curl Cult service. My name is Lauren Kanoki. I am the director of education here at Curl Cult. Hopefully you've seen me other places. But I am definitely excited to present this new class to you guys with Ms. Shannon, who is one of our senior cult leaders and also a like rock star salesperson. So she actually helped create some of this curriculum with us to today. Shannon, do you want to introduce yourself real quick?

Thank you, Lauren. Yes. My name is Shannon Dicola. I work here in New Jersey for Calcult. I am nice and on the east coast and yeah, I'm really excited to be here. Love selling services. It definitely helps bring confidence to ourselves and confidence to the people in our chairs. So that's really important for everybody today. Thanks.

This is going to be a pretty quick 30 minute class and if you have any questions, feel free to put any of them in either the Q and A box or the chat and we will answer those for you. Also, if you are watching this not live and have questions, feel free to DM us with any follow ups along the way. But we will go ahead and get started. I will share my screen. There it is. All right. All right. So learning, learning how to grow your texture clientele. So we're going to start off with just a slide with a lot of information, but really where I want to start and then I'll let Shannon kind of dive into some of this as well, is that we as hairstylists are problem solvers first and foremost. We have our clients sit in our chair and ultimately, if you think about what they say to us when they're talking about what they want during a consultation, they're oftentimes describing to us something that they don't like about their hair that they want to change. And they're really coming to you for your professional guidance. We are the ones who have all of the tools in the toolbox and we can help them decide which of those tools are best for us to, to take care of them and get them, you know, the hair that they've always wanted. And like we've said in many of our other classes that a curl quilt service is really a texture solution. So this is not just making straight hair curly. This is providing a client who doesn't love their natural texture, whether it's straight and flat, curly, frizzy. With a service that can help them have an easier to style and more manageable daily hair routine, I think that's ultimately what a curl cult service can do. Shannon, I'd love just to, you know, not necessarily reading off the slides, but when you have a client in your chair, where do you usually start? And let's maybe even say this is a current client of yours who hasn't really thought of a text or service before. Yes.

So most of my guests aren't people who come to me asking for a texture service. They're mostly people. I wouldn't say I convince them, but I definitely talk them through starting it and I definitely plant a seed in their head about what the service can do. Most of the time when they sit in my chair, they tell me all their issues and I'm hearing what they're saying and. And I don't want to start off with, well, I have the solution. I know exactly what you need. I just asked them so many questions on what they would want, how they would want to fix it, what their maintenance would be like to fix it, and if they could do anything that they could possibly want to change it, would they? And they usually say yes. And then I explain the service that I do, I explain the difference of it, because even when I say the word permit, people are immediately like, I have ptsd. And then I just show them our Instagram and I show them the curl called everything, and I show them our calic fixes, our braids. I show them everything that is possible. And then their eyes, like, widen up and they're just like, oh, okay. So then they feel a lot more confident, definitely starting with that initial conversation, listening to them. Let them react. I do get very excited because I know what this service can do for them. I know that what I can do to help them in their chair and help them in everyday life. But I ultimately let this decision be theirs and be their own. And as much as excited as I am for it, I let them book it. I let them move it around. I let them know that the maintenance is not too strong so they could feel super, super comfortable even getting it done every once in a while. There's no harsh line of commitment right there.

So yeah, Yeah, I love that. I love that. And you know, you know, the kind of main thing on here after the client's looking for our guidance is that pace is important. And I think, you know, you. You hit on it, that you want you want to give them the information, but you ultimately kind of want it to be their idea because you never want to push someone into something that they're not comfortable with. But I have that. Even just starting that conversation, like plants a little seed. And it may not be that, you know, that first conversation or even the second, but sometimes that third or fourth, like that interest just continues to grow. So the more you continue to just share your knowledge about it, your excitement about it, and you know, how it can truly help them is definitely important. And yeah, like, let's talk about the word perm for a second because, like, you know, this is something that, you know, for the last year, being a part of curl cult and bringing perms back. I don't know if you've heard that, but some loud honk. But bringing perms back is definitely a feat. And you know, if you're not comfortable trying to convince someone that this isn't a perm, like, we as curl cult leaders and founders, we can't bring this in front of a group of stylists and say, yo, it's not a perm, because ultimately it's doing the same chemical process as a perm. So technically it is. But to a client, you don't have to use that word if you don't want to. You can say, this is a custom texturizing service. It can be a retexturizing service. So lean into something that you are comfortable talking about. And if that hurdle isn't something you are comfortable trying to get your clients over, you don't have to call the perm. We are totally cool with you calling it whatever you want on your menu, on your blog, on your social media. Like, we are happy to support any way you get a client into your chair to get this service, whether you call it a perm or not. But yeah, it is. It is fun to like break those barriers down though. One, when you show them the Instagram or when they see their hair for the first time after getting it, the whole idea changes and you can really see it relay off of your client.

Yep.

You had this point of the questions to ask and you kind of touched on it a little bit. But I'd love if you just dive in to just a little bit of these, of why you ask them. Because when you brought this to me, I was like, this is brilliant. Like, ask them. You know, they could change anything. What would it be? So I'd love if you could just kind of dive in a little bit more on these.

So I started getting into asking these Questions because I wanted to do, I wanted to do this service so badly. I wanted to do curl cult perms so badly in my chair that I knew that I was just going to take a little bit of extra work. So it was mostly for my hair, my hair cutting. Guests that come in and I would see their hair and I would see the potential that they would have in their hair. So that's when I started asking the questions of, do you like the texture of your hair? And I just like, try to ask it as normal as possible. Not in an insulting way at all, just like as I'm cutting it and, and their lifestyle and what they try to do. And most of the time they're like, sometimes it's wavy, sometimes it's really like, whatever. So I usually just blow dry it because it's the easiest thing I could do. And I'm like, okay, but you, you have like a beautiful potential in your hair. Like, I see texture even though it's not consistent. So if I ask them if they have a choice, what would they do with their hair if they could have more volume or texture or wave? Most of them say that they would like to have some volume, some texture, some movement. It's just very flat and plain and they would just like it to hold a curl. So even talking about giving them a blow dry and how they're going to have a support with their curl cult wave, it's going to benefit their hair so much. And as I cut their hair as well, I'm like, go on. You have Instagram. They're like, yeah. I was like, okay, go on Instagram and just look through it. And like, that's the one that I think that would look great on your hair texture and your type. And it's usually just at least something that they think about all the time whenever they leave.

Yeah, yeah. And I love to, you know, thinking about your clients also who have naturally curly hair and if they are like struggling with it, fighting against it, they're blowing it out all the time because it doesn't have a nice consistency to it. Those are also great candidates for perms and they can, you can ask these same questions to them and get you down that road as well. I think some of my favorite perm clients are those that have kind of a little bit of a natural curl to it, but it's not a nice, like actual pattern, is just kind of frizzy and sits there and they, they do everything they can to try to like scrunch and make it, make it look great. But they just fight against it. And the second they get a perm in their hair, it's like it was what their hair was always supposed to be. And I think that's, that's something that's interesting too is, you know, this, this isn't just for one type of person, it's for a lot of different types of people. I love the listen for cues of cues of convenience. So we've always said that, you know, this is a great service for people who do things already that cut down like time in their daily lives. So, you know, if they're getting microbladed, if they're getting the like eyeliner tattoo, like that's kind of popular. Lip brushing, like these people don't want to sit there, do a full face of makeup. Do they also want to sit there and like style their hair for 30 minutes a day? Probably not, but even like not beauty related, like if someone's talking about like just how busy they are and how much time they don't have in the day and they don't even have time to cook themselves dinner, they're eating out all the time. Like those are cues of convenience where if you're like, hey, like, you know, you spend, how much time you spend styling your hair, you know, you could spend five minutes instead of that. That might be another little opening into, you know, converting a client into a curl called Client and then ultimately being knowledgeable and able to answer any of their questions is super important. That's where you gain trust. You know, being able to talk about why it's why Curl Quilt is different, what the results will feel like, what they will look like and answer even like down to some of the like more technical and technological questions as well. So just making sure that you're brushed up on all that information so that you can answer any questions that they have. And then like Shannon said, showing them real life results is definitely important in our Instagram is a great place to do that. But also as you build your book, show them your own Instagram and the looks that you yourself have created. Anything else you want to touch on on any of those?

Sometimes I ask people if they're a night shower or a morning shower and if they tell me that they're a morning shower, I'm just like, great, fantastic. Do your thing. Put some product in and go. If you're a night shower, it'll still work fantastic. But you either want to shower and let your hair dry a little bit or you want to do a nice little wet to dry set while you're sleeping just to make sure they're not waking up with, like, some dents in your hair. So I also like to tell them that as well.

Yeah, that's a great, great tidbit. And then, last thing, we don't need to dive too far into this, but this is something I think we always need to be reminded of, is that our time is valuable and our prices are what they are for a reason. We are getting paid for our expertise, our knowledge and our skill. And you don't know what someone is willing to spend their money on. So stay out of their pocketbook. Tell them what the price is, don't be apologetic. And if they're excited about it, they will do it. If it's too much, you may be able to work out some sort of scenario where they get it done once a year and fades out instead of twice a year. So just want to add that because it's always a good reminder for us.

As professionals to think about someone doesn't have money. That is very inflatanting.

Exactly. All right, so kind of a fun little, little game here. So there's some things that you can listen for during consultations, conversations that you're having with clients or even just people out in the world. I can't tell you how many times I'm just like, at, like out somewhere chatting and that, like, somehow you being a hairstylist comes up and then they start asking all these questions. And that's a great way to meet people and gain clients as well. But so keep things to listen for that their hair is flat, that they're low maintenance. If the hair doesn't hold. Like, oftentimes getting a perm just so that it can hold some, like, even the heat. Style. Texture is super helpful if they're feeling frustrated with their styling or if they're bored, just want something different. If they have cowlicks or if they fight frizz. All of these things can be solved with a curl cult service. And I don't know if you want to kind of talk through the actors and what. What they can really give you.

Yes. Especially when they are flat and doesn't hold. These are great to add body, to have some wash and go styles, add texture. Texture, it really does. It styles itself frizz free. We do a lot of curl reformation as we were talking about earlier, where people are just frustrated with their inconsistent curls and we're able to just give them a little bit more consistency in their hair, a little bit more definition in their. Their curls, and then we have, sorry, this is in my way. And then we have corrected.

Yeah.

So like we can correct Calyx and just moving things that are always growing in a weird direction in our little worlds. I know some salons even hate the word cowlick, so but there's something that we could really fix and just benefit. I've done also a lot of straight perms on just bobs so that they could lay flat and people don't have to blow dry them as much. So I just see it as a multi use thing and I love it so much.

Awesome. Great, great. All right, so now I know this is about selling your service, but a consultation is a big part of that. So we just wanted to go over some key consultation tips and to really, you know, do, do that thing that you learn over time as a stylist to under promise and over deliver that always will get you, you know, a satisfying results for your client is setting, setting and managing like realistic expectations. So with mastering your consultation, we obviously want to know our client's hair history. If they are not your current client, you want to ask a lot of good questions about that. I'm sure. Shannon, you have had many clients sit in your chair and be like, I have virgin hair. And then you do some sort of a process on them and you're like, you've been virgin for about six months. Yeah. And the rest of it was a bleach and tone to a level of. And then you put box dye over it. So yep, we've all been there. So you want to make sure that you ask those questions and if for some reason the answers seem a little dicey or like they are uncertain about timing of things, that's obviously when you would lean into Strand before any service just to ensure the integrity of the hair and that the curl pattern will be what you're looking for. And inspo photos, do you have your consultation clients send you inspiration photos?

They never really send many photos, but they used to. And they used to always show me like a curling iron set and you're just like, that's unrealistic. That is not anything. I usually look at them and be like, it's going to look like my waves. It's like the loosest wave you're gonna look. You know, that's more. Yes, it's very organized, but it's also very natural. We are not perfect people out here. No one should be. So we will not have that type of thing. Even though if you look at these pictures, especially the bottom one of the left, like those curls Just put together still look just so organized. They're just not with a curling iron.

Yep.

So definitely setting realistic expectations and showing them what natural curly hair can be like.

Yeah, absolutely. And I will say too, I love to ask questions my consultation clients for photos that they don't like too. Yeah. So like send me a bunch of photos that you do and a bunch of ones that you don't. So then you know when you're setting the hair and choosing your rod size, what not to do as well as where they would like to go. That's really helpful. And like when we're talking about setting realistic expectations, we want to, to manage what they envision the end result will be because as we've mention in many of our other more technical certification classes and things like that. Because our a, because our solution is cysteine based. It's less damaging, it makes more medium strength curls, but we also have that protein in it which creates the softness. So if your client wants stand on top of their head like the perm from the 80s, but maybe a more modern version, Crawlpol might not be their cup of tea because what they're going to get is more natural soft results, not that roughed up dry cuticle that can like live in this like you know, teased. Exactly, exactly. So setting those expectations. But what's important with that too is if that's what they want. I do think it's really important to have a conversation with them about, hey, I can give you that, but the health of your hair will suffer. You know, we could also do this other thing which would be the curl cult service and we might not get it quite as like tight, tight, curly and voluminous. But you're going to get some really great texture in there that you can work with and we can work with a cut to create that shape and your hair will feel a lot better longer. So I think that's important to bring up too is to give them the option as well, like you know, to get this look, your hair is gonna have to suffer to get this one. It's gonna feel really nice and healthy. So you know, those are definitely things to consider.

Yeah.

How many of your clients refuse to get haircuts after their oh, I don't let them.

They all have to. So I kind of include a haircut in my perms so that it's like mandatory for them. Because it's just also so silly to say you perm a one length haircut. It just doesn't do what I want it to do. It will never do what I want it to do. You need some type of layering, even if it's just like internal layers where you take out gaps in the hair. And I even offer for them to come in two weeks later and they could book a bang trim and I will recut their perm 2 weeks after I've permed their hair. So it's all about building that trust and confidence and that's just something that I do not mind taking out of my day in order for them to feel comfortable. So I always offer that for them as well and majority of the time they don't come back and sometimes they do. You know, it's all about their own preference and what's bothering them and how I can make it better. But cutting your hair with the perm is essential. And our perms are only as good as our haircuts and our products guys. So even if they say that they don't want to do products at home, it's just not realistic for them to have this service because then you're going to go back to that frizzy, unorganized hair that they're just going to put up in a hair tie or a bunch of. And that's just not fair to like anybody, honestly.

No, no. And it's okay in your consultation if you get to this point and they're unwilling to spend the money on product and, or a haircut, it's okay for you as the artist to say I don't think you're a good candidate. And that's, you know, that doesn't mean you won't get any more perms in your chair. But you also have to remember your own, you know, artistic value and what you want walking around out there with your name on it. So I would say like one out of every 10 people, I'll be like, this is probably not the service for you if that's like, if XYZ is what you're looking for, you know. Yeah. So definitely the results are dependent on natural density and hair type. I think. I have had numerous very fine haired, flat haired models and clients show me these pictures of like someone with like five heads of hair and it's like curl just like stacked and stacked and stacked on top of itself. And I'm sorry, but no, no text or service is going to get you there. Like only eight pounds of extensions and.

A perm and a haircut and products.

And yes, but like the perm will change your texture. Yes. But it won't change your hair type. Like you're not Going to all of a sudden have thick, dense hair after a perm. So keeping that, that in the front of their mind as well. And then Shannon already touched on just how important the at home care is. Setting them up with what to expect, what they should plan on purchasing to support their new look, and what the maintenance is for returning to get another service, which luckily for Curl Cult, it is very low maintenance and kind of can be dependent on what the, what the client wants in terms of like we have some guests that get one perm and then let it fade out almost completely out over the course of a year and then they re up and do it again. So other, other people are getting it done every three months because they want to like keep that, that extra curly look up. So. But just. Yeah, setting them up for success at home is important. Anything else you want to share on this slide?

No, I think, I think we said everything.

Yeah. All right, so next thing up is pun intended. Promote yourself. So here are some ways that you can make sure that clients can find you. So this isn't necessarily about converting your current clients. This is about finding new ones. So you want to make sure that this is added to your website, your service menu, your booking software. Because I will tell you, we have had people DM us, clients DM us and say, I can't find anyone in my area that does your service. And we go on our salon locator and we're like, there are these four to five people who are certified.

You guys actually got men?

No. But then they contact us back and they say, I checked their website and it's not on their web. Like the service is not on the website. So there's some like confusion, like, yes, they can find us on this one locator. And a lot of times that's just enough. But oftentimes they want to see that like it's actually on there, what your prices are, like all of that stuff. So make sure to, as soon as you're certified, add it to these things so that clients can easily see that you do the service at your salon. Also add to your Yelp page services because people do rely just on Yelp sometimes and Google unfairly, but they do.

Yes.

Yep. So you want to, you want to make sure it's all on everything that you are connected to. And oftentimes too, when this is a new thing, place something that will be a conversation starter at your front desk with your opening order. I know you receive a shelf talker putting that out in front so that guests will see it and ask about it is helpful just to start conversations and then you want to talk about posting it on social media.

Posting everything on social media is definitely super important. What I like to do, yes, you'll have your posts but also try to do your highlights. You know, I like to record my process during the day and I like stories more than posts. That's just who I am. And they disappear within 24 hours. So make sure that you create a nice little highlight and you can put it as perms, you can put it as texture services, you could do it as whatever you like. And even for your other services, highlights, low maintenance, hair color, all the above. Definitely put it on your social media so that people can click it, maybe see the process all the way through that they're not just seeing a finished product and they're like I'm going to sit there for 20 minutes and I'm going to be done. So I think setting realistic expectations of also how long a service can take, which could be anywhere from hour and a half to three hours depending on the person, depending on their hair. So setting that up for them too so that they feel comfortable and then send an email out blast to your current clients because how sometimes you see people like once a month or once every three months so people don't even realize that you do it. So I think it is very important to also send that message out. I'm very lucky for my team in my salon and they up talk my perms even when they just see the product on the shelf and someone asks about the shampoo and conditioner and they'll just upsell it with me. So I'm very appreciative of them as well. I've trained them very well.

Awesome. And then yeah, so you know, definitely post that you do the service on your social media. But also like consistently posting the service and results on your social media is. Is important rather than just having like one there. So what I recommend especially as you're getting started and growing this business is do either like a half charge or a product charge of like $100 to do the on someone who's going to be a great model for you and kind of let you do your thing and show, show what you can do. And you may want to do that as often as like once or twice a month for the first couple months to really grow that part of your content. And don't be afraid too to like take multiple angles of the perm and then like repost it weekly so you can use one person for Multiple pieces of content. Don't be, don't. Don't think that reposting the same person in a different angle is going to be boring for the people that are following you. It's actually kind of fun to do that. I also love the post of people who, like, come back three months later for a haircut and not a repurm, but you get to be like, hey, this is three months old. Look how great it looks. The kind of like, update posts as well, but just keeping it at the front of mind when people are looking at your page and really growing in that area. Something else that we do at our salon here in Los Angeles is we incentivize our current clients to send us referrals. So we have something called a three in three program. So if a client of yours sends you three people, they get a free service, whether it's a cut or color. And it's. Yeah, it's a great way to grow your business. And so even just telling your perm clients, hey, like, if you are out there talking to someone and they ask about your hair and you send them my way, maybe they get 10% off their next perm. Or if they send you three people, they get a free perm after that. So incentivizing your clients to send you folks, especially in this sort of category, can be really helpful because, you know, I feel like our clients are our best salespeople. They talk us up.

They.

They want, you know, to see us succe succeed, which is really fun.

And then, oh, yeah, best people.

Yep. And then, Shannon, I'd be interested on this last point. When it's a busy day in your salon and you have a perm. Like, I put this in here because I just imagine and this happens here, but, like, all the other clients are kind of like, what is she doing?

What's going on over there?

And like, it. It sparks this conversation. So you just don't know if you'll get a client from one of your fellow stylists that wants the service. And if you're one of the only people, one or two people that do it in your salon, then it can keep you really busy on that. On that front, does that happen to you? Yep.

So I am definitely the only person that perms my salon. And it. It definitely has turned some heads. Even my guests have seen, like, other people get services done and they're like, what is that? And you're just, like, so excited to talk about it. And like I said, my co workers are really helpful in promoting perms with me, even though they don't necessarily do them. They look at their guests there and they hear their issues, and they'll be like, oh, you should talk to Shannon, because this perm can actually probably really help you out. It's very, very interesting when I have multiple people getting haircuts and they're like, in and out of the salon, and then you're just sitting there doing the loveliest perm and, like, making some curly hair. So some people see the start to finish if they are getting color done, and some people only see me wrapping, and some people only see me drying and cutting. So. But I think it definitely turns some heads. I think that because they're also not walking into it's smelling awful in there, that they're not even questioning if it's a perm or not. You know, they just see it going on and they're just super interested about it.

Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, the last point of scheduling perms on busy salon days. So this is definitely for those salons that have multiple stylists, where basically everyone who's in any other chair in the salon can see what you're doing and start some conversations about it. It's a great way to get some. Some referrals from your fellow stylists.

Even. Even when people are talking, because my son's very small, we only have, like, six chairs, and usually three of us work on one and one is working behind us. So somebody will be saying something, and I'll kind of just yell across the room and be like, I could perm that for you. And like, I could just. I just hear it and I just try to be super helpful.

Yeah, I love that. I mean, why. Why not offer your service to. To get them the hair that styles itself, for sure. All right, so that is essentially the information that we have to share. I'm sure this will continue to grow as we continue to grow and, you know, have find new ways to share this service with our clients. For anyone who has not done this already, just want a quick talk about our pro portal. You can use this QR code to sign up. You can get listed on our salon locator there have first access to upcoming educational events and marketing assets. This presentation will be on there so you can revisit. But also if you have. If this is your first introduction to Curl Cult, you can get online certified there. We also have live online certification events that you can find on our events page on our website as well. If you don't know your license number right now, off the top of your head, you can enter the new service 0922 and we'll know you are in this class. And Shannon, it was such a pleasure to have you on and talk about selling curl Cults. I think this is a great addition to our education and always excited to hear from our rockstar sales staff. Salesperson. What what do you do in salon?

So thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here. And happy birthday to curl cult guys. Yes.

Yes. It's our birthday tomorrow. One year launched. So super exciting. And you guys, lots more coming in in the next year where we're excited to see where everything goes. So. All right, thank you. Have a good rest of your Wednesday, everyone, and we will see you. See you soon on another class. Thank you. Bye.