Business Old School with Mario Fallace, NEW YORK BARBERS

Welcome to the first in a 4-part series highlighting some of the finer aspects of running a successful barber business. Here we will be treated to some invaluable advice, tips, and insights on how to run your barber business to ensure your business is around for years to come.

Mario Fallace, a 36-year industry veteran and owner of New York Barbers, 2021 AMBA winner of both Best Barber Business and Best Design categories will be our author, guide and host. Mario has seen it all, he started when Barbering was not even recognised as hairdressings poor cousin, it just wasn’t rated as a skill or trade at all. Nowadays, we get treated like Rock Stars and go straight to the front of the que. It’s a recognised profession and respected… but what about business knowledge to make sure your business’ is kickin’ it and payin’ da bills, not just now, but for years to come. Button your shirt up, sit up straight, clear your desks, push your chairs in and pay attention!

Mario: Customer service is one of the most important pillars to a successful barber business. After all, there is no barbershop without your clients! Ask yourself the question: “Who am I here for?” - Yes, this is your career and business, so of course you are here for yourself, but you are also here for your clients.

To create and offer them a service that will keep them coming back and growing your business. Here are some important points to consider when it comes to customer service in your barber business:

EFFICIENCY & CONSISTENCY

Here at New York Barbers, we are walk in only. This means it is very important that we are working efficiently and implementing time management to ensure we don’t leave our clients waiting too long. This also would apply to an appointment-based barbershop, as a lack of time management can result in running behind and delaying your clients.

Most people these days are time poor. There is never enough time in the day to get everything done. So, if clients are having to wait excessive amounts of time to get a haircut, this serves as a great inconvenience to their day. Sure, sometimes as barbers it can be out of our control. We can get incredibly busy and no matter how hard you are working, there is a long wait. Some days you may be short staffed and there are only so many customers you can serve at a time.

However, by ensuring you are paying attention to time management, this can allow you to decrease the time clients have to wait which will improve their experience overall. Improving efficiency can come from implementing simple actions such as sticking to a structured process when it comes to delivering your services and being consistent with that process. This reduces how long it takes you to complete a service because you follow a structure and step by step process with every client. Using the same process will ensure consistency with every visit which is one of the most important factors in customer satisfaction. Clients want consistency, the same service and results every time they visit. Offer them this and you will find yourself with a very loyal clientele! We have found this consistency has also made our clients comfortable with seeing any of our barbers, because they know they are going to receive a quality service from any of us.

We also open quite early in the morning (8am Monday-Friday, 7am Saturdays) which gives our clients more of an opportunity to fit in a haircut during their day. This has proven to be very effective, as we already have customers waiting before we open the doors most mornings. It brings convenience to the clients - which they are attracted to. This is our way of helping them manage their time.

CONCIERGE

The word ‘concierge’ and the concept of having one in a barbershop may sound a little outlandish. However, it is one of the best things we have implemented in our business. It especially works for walk-in based barbershops who have a high volume of customers coming through the doors each day, especially on the busier days. We average around 600 clients per week. It can sometimes be absolute chaos!

These examples below may be more geared towards a walk-in barbershop but makes sense for appointment-based shops as well. We have a full-time concierge, Shannon, and part time, Mariah. Having a team member, whether it is an apprentice, or dedicated concierge/receptionist, manning the front desk, greeting clients, and checking them in & out, eliminates the chaos and improves your clients’ overall experience. The concierge also manages the barbers, and their break times, as well as ensuring the right customers are matched with the right barber when a specific request, or expertise/style is required.

Here are some benefits in more detail:

1. Allowing you to focus on what you do best: cutting hair.

If there is someone at the front to answer the phone, greet customers, put their name on the list, advise of the waiting time, and answer questions - it allows the barbers to focus purely on the customer in their chair and give them their full attention

2. It makes clients feel more comfortable and looked after.

For a client, it can be daunting walking into a barbershop full of people. “Where do I sit?”, “How do I know if it’s my turn?” are just a couple of the things racing through their minds. However, the concierge will be able to put their name on the list, whether that is through a check in system (recommended) or keeping track manually, tell the client how long until a barber will get to them, and that they will call up their name when it’s their turn - this makes the experience much less stressful for the client, in turn improving their overall experience.

3. Extra Benefit: Increasing your retail product sales.

Our concierge is very knowledgeable on the retail products we stock and will ask the right questions to the client on their way out to see if they need any hair, beard, or shaving products and are able to make recommendations tailored to the client. This is something barbers can easily forget to do when we are just trying to get to the next client as soon as possible.