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De Lorenzo hits Queenstown
[Tue 20/09/2011 01:20:59]
The Millenium Hotel overlooking lake Wakatipu bestowed more than 160 hairdressers for De Lorenzo’s first offshore conference. Themed ‘Evolution’ the empowering 3 days transpired the company’s commitment to growth with like-minded professionals, discovered Cameron Pine.
Points of Difference never fail to fall short for the De Lorenzo family - Australian made and owned products, no nasty chemicals, philanthropic alliances and a loyal customer following provides more reason than one for such allegiance to be rewarded and recognized in an erratic salon industry. In true form for the Australian brand – it was both a celebration and an inspirational platform for development all while acknowledging the 2011 ASPYA Salon of the Year Finalists and Winner.
Upon arriving in Queenstown, some of our country’s most enthusiastic hairdressers were greeted by General Manager Greg Long preceeding a Toni Maticevski directed fashion show. The Sogo Salon team from Melbourne collaborated with Maticevski for an A-class avant garde execution that paved the way for the exciting ‘Neon Nights’ Spring/Summer collection that was launched later in the conference.
Models with designer Toni Maticevski, Anthony and Chris De Lorenzo
“2012 will continue to be all about the growth of your business and our business,” said Greg – before Anthony De Lorenzo addressed the core principles of a successful salon.
“A strong business in the hairdressing industry is a fusion of fashion and business sense but how do you maintain this balance while combining enthusiasm with staff and with clients,” Anthony said.
“We must look at the growth opportunities and get involved with local causes, embrace new technologies and Impress your clients with environmental stands. We need to offer advice for the hair and scalp using our foundation of Advise, Analyze and Prescribe,” Anthony said.
Anthony then touched on the unique family heritage of the business – a stronghold that has been in the industry for more than 80 years. “It was over 50 years ago that De Lorenzo introduced the ‘salon only’ philosophy to hairdressing in Australia and throughout this time we have stayed at the cutting edge of technology and are proud of our credentials,” Anthony said.
“ASPYA is a chance for you to network, to re-focus on your business, to be inspired and to have some fun. For us it’s about acknowledging your professional achievements in the industry so we can continue to grow together,” he said.
The first speaker, Nick Bowditch tackled the most talked about topic on a business’s lips -social media via a program titled ‘How to Not Get Your Salon’s social media marketing effort horribly wrong.’
Nick Bowditch Travel opened its virtual doors on September 1st, 2008.
Having worked in retail and wholesale travel, as well as working many years in the scuba industry all over the world, Nick returned home to Australia and wanted a new challenge.
So he and his wife, Kelly, started Nick Bowditch Travel – Australia’s Family Travel Expert. In the last 3 years, the blog has grown to a point where it has more than 10,000 subscribers and, through various means now, has turned over more than $1 million.
They have been able to achieve all of this without a shopfront, only virtual staff, and without doing any traditional marketing or spent one cent on advertising – instead opting to market the business using online and social media marketing, most notably on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Nick built his travel business from his home on the central coast all through social media marketing – having worked for a large travel company that still advertises solely via the Sunday papers. With just $400 in the bank and a pregnant wife who was studying , Nick had no choice but to quickly establish himself as a family travel expert.
Nicola Rees (Hair Lounge), Sherryl Anne McFarlane and Louise Wright (Salon 66)
“There are a lot of social media experts around who call themselves complete guru’s – 95 per cent know nothing about your business at all and are complete wankers and everyone says as long as you have a Facebook page you are social media marketing. Not every business needs a Facebook page or needs to interact on Facebook at all,” said Nick.
“We embraced online video via Youtube which dramatically grew our following and we have a lot of staff including mums in pyjamas that work for us all over Australia,” he said.
Australians are the biggest consumers of social media networking in the world per capita even when compared to North America.
“That audience is already there but do they know about your brand yet? Only 14 per cent of small businesses in Australia have a social media strategy while 50 per cent of 21 year olds in Australia have created their own web content or engaged in their own blog. 70 per cent of 4 year olds also play on a computer every day so you can see why there is a shift in thinking in Australia,” said Nick.
In addition, 82 per cent of us use the internet daily while 10.3 billion searches are conducted every year on Google. In the US there are more people on Facebook than use Google searches and 78 per cent of consumers online conduct product research while 24 per cent of adults and consumers have posted something about anything they buy.
“48 per cent of 18-34 year olds check their Facebook when they wake up and 30 per cent do it before their feet even hit the ground,” Nick said.
“People don’t just tell their neighbour over the fence or their mum anymore about a bad customer experience. Now if someone has a twitter account they can tell 300,000 in a matter of seconds and its happening now,” he said.
The largest and growing demographic at the moment is 55 and 60 year old Baby Boomers and a significant number of them are even using Facebook.
Anthony De Lorenzo with Roca Verde Salon
“Your website needs to be integrated with Facebook – consumers are 6 times more likely to make a purchase while they’re on Facebook. We test about 12,000 people per week on their nerdy behaviours – keep them on your website and make it seamless with your social media,” Nick said.
Nick imparted some useful tips on enhancing online content including that in 2006 Google paid 1.65 billion for Youtube which people thought was mad – who would favour Youtube over the tv networks? Now Youtube is valued at over 14 billion.
“24 hours of video is uploaded every minute onto Youtube and there is a lot of really good useful stuff as well. 30-90 seconds max is when you’ll lose a man. Women will turn off after about 6 minutes on average so make the videos brief.”
With social media marketing you can be really specific about who you target and narrow things down to a select age group who might be getting married and how much they spend. You can marry 31,400 people getting married in a year down to a small 620 who would spend more than 500 a night on accommodation.
“You can target those people and none of the dead wood you don’t want. We did this and made $16, 240 in revenue sales and it cost us $27.With Facebook its even possible to create ads that only appear on their profile the day of their birthday,” Nick said.
Tom Potter created Eagle Boys Pizza – the largest privately owned Pizza Company in Australia and New Zealand. After finding himself jobless for the third time at 23 he opened his first pizza shop in Albury, NSW in 1987. His story is about change as well as about a family of three generations that had to struggle with the future and evolve. Tom imparted a story of a family in a struggle to strike a profitable business before he moved to Wodonga at 15 years of age to start his apprenticeship as a baker.
“The greatest thing that happened to me is that my first job was my worst job. My employer after two and a half years congratulated me on completing my apprenticeship and then they sacked me. There was a meatworks next to the baker and 50 guys would line up every morning – unemployment then was at 17 per cent,” he said.
Tom’s message is a great story about wealth creation with an empathic spin on the daily problems and perils every small business owner faces when opening and marketing their business, “It’s a long-term proposition and we are in the position of growing slowly steadily and it’s not a huge race,” he said.
ASPYA Loyalty Award Winners
“After franchising with Eagle Boys I then had the enormity of problems – I had to go from being a player to a coach while trying to control the 80 staff and $75,000 in turnover per week. We got to a point where we couldn’t maintain it, we can’t build the chain anymore we didn’t have the company.”
Robyn Moore is one of Australia’s most in demand voice over artists and is known for her uplifting qualities that impart unrivalled enthusiasm and fresh perspectives among conference groups. Robyn deconstructs the meaning behind what we do and the ‘power of the word’ in an entertaining and uplifting package.
“In the 1950s we laughed 18 minutes a day and now it’s gone down to 4 minutes. People need you to laugh and you need to be the holders of laughter in your lovely sanctuary,” Robyn said.
“If you own a salon business and you don’t open the hole in your face you have to open the hole and connect, listen and engage,” she said.
Taking guests through a host of relatable metaphors about ‘finding the star when times are tough’ juxtaposed with belly busting examples for comedic satiation Robyn believes success is all about touching people and their lives.
“Companies have spent billions of dollars trying to work people out. Researching Gen X and Y – it’s all nonsense if you just get to know them as individuals. People say they won’t be loyal but who they are is based on their experience, their choices and mentors,” Robyn said.
“We need to live with urgency before the emergency. The emergency brings out the best in us and we need to behave as if we are in an emergency now,” she said.
Towards the tail end of the conference Laura Perugini from the De Lorenzo marketing team took guests through a visual presentation of the more than 35 editorial placements in print and online just since the launch of the new Elements range. Coupled with a powerful social media campaign De Lorenzo has increased their followers from 260 to over 1,000 fans in a matter of weeks. In succession to the remarkable success was the recent crowning of Mud Slide receiving ‘Best New Hair Product’ in the 2011 ACP Beauty Awards.
ASPYA Salon of the Year Finalists
Laura then spoke about the launch of the bright ‘pop-colour’ inspired Neon Nights collection – “This collection is all about colour blocking and breaking the rules of colour with Fluoro and Neon accessories – red hair is everywhere,” said Laura.
Perfectly accompanying this trend-inspired presentation was Deb French who launched the brand’s new Vibrants colours. Vibrants has unlocked what De Lorenzo calls a ‘DNA colour code’ that releases stronger luminosity as the molecule has a greater molecular weight to the previous colour range.“Reds are notoriously difficult to stay in the hair but the new reds are brighter and richer than ever before,” said Deb. Guests witnessed before, during and after images of the colour processes with the new range which produced remarkably stronger results.
The closing of the conference came via the tear jerking story of Peter Hughes, A Bali Bombing survivor who lapsed into a month-long coma during which he briefly ‘died’ three times while on life support.
Peter was one of many Australians who suffered or perished in the Bali bombings but his swollen blistered face was the first we saw on television during the shocking first hours of the news coverage from bombings.
Peter’s story revealed how he gathered the incredible courage to help others while in a critical condition and is a shocking recount into the unfortunate hours following the incident. There was not one guest who wasn’t touched by his story of survival and human spirit.
ASPYA Salon of the Year Winner, Bella The Cut + Colour
On the final evening of the conference guests were transported to Queenstown’s Skyline Restaurant by Gondola for an entertaining affair featuring comedy act Sammy J and Randy as well as the local area’s Haka tribe before culminating in the 2011 ASPYA Salon of the Year Awards.
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