The REALtalk Business Forum in its third iteration kicked off Hair Festival 2023, as hairdressers streamed into Carriageworks, through the MarketPlace and up the stairs for a morning filled with essential takeaways and learnings far beyond business. With a clear overarching theme of self-care, three keynote speeches and two panels focused on mental health and wellness, education, valuing your work, the power of technology and embracing futurism, to send salon owners back to their business with the best possible way to elevate it, attract clients, empower their teams and retain profits – by starting from within.

Lisa Conway of salon coaching business The Zing Project kicked off the proceedings as the morning’s emcee and its first keynote speaker. After welcoming the packed crowd to the event, she started with an inspirational speech on valuing your work – and yourself. Sharing the personal insights she’s learned after the tragic loss of her mother, Lisa implored attendees to fill their cup and addressed the emotional state of ourselves and our team, and how that affects the salon dynamic. With her trademark humour, Lisa explained how to leave your bad day outside the salon, make it an island, and communicate that with your team. “Teach them to understand that their state is everything,” she said, connecting that to selling retail more consistently. Lisa anchors this mindset on the pillars of state, story and strategy – “it’s the story you tell yourself”, she explained about perfecting your approach.

Beyond dealing with these emotions in business, Lisa shared important lessons for both the salon and life, reminding the audience that the best things in life, such as exercise, sleep, sunshine and water, are free, and asking attendees to commit to just investing in one of these things. She discussed ‘habit stacking’, such as drinking a litre of water before you have your coffee, as a way to get into better routines. She reminded the crowd that “you can choose your tomorrow, inspire yourself to be the best version of you”.

The first panel of the day harnessed the power of REALtalk’s ‘creating conversations that matter’ tagline, with mental health and wellness as the focus. Compered by INSTYLE Editorial and Creative Director Cameron Pine, a stellar line-up of Jake Putan of Legacy Education, Michael Kelly of Salon HER, Paloma Garcia of Paloma Salon, Jose Bryce-Smith of O&M and Chris Hunter of Willomina tackled this important topic.

After Chris got the crowd up and laughing with a joke, Jake opened with his own personal experience, in space, boundaries and capacities, and how he found fulfilment beyond just what we earn. Michael talked about being a new salon owner and how he brings everything back to wellness, with emotional positivity, showing up with the right heart and trying not to get overwhelmed by the small things. “If I’m not good then the team, salon and clients won’t be good, it really does start with me,” he said.

Paloma discussed her evolution as a salon leader and creating a healthy environment that leads with wellness and the notion of treating people the way you want to be treated. Jose’s perspective, as the leader of a brand predicated on values of being clean, kind and original, also discussed self-care and the metaphor of putting your own life jacket on first. She also advocated for creating trust with your team so they’re honest with you, and offered wellness techniques in mindfulness, practices and routines so the audience could use all tools available in their wellness journey. Chris discussed how he built his team with laughter and fun as a part of the salon every day and taught to lead with enthusiasm and passion to inspire your team as the creators they are.

Jane Barrett, Chief Executive Officer of Pivot Point, continued the theme of self-care by platforming The Power of Education, which gives salon owners not just the ability to attract and retain the right staff, but also a succession plan and maybe even a day off! She talked through how imperative education and empowering your staff is to the industry skills shortage, which requires 5000 new hairdressers each year to maintain the industry. Jane explained how much education matters to team members staying with the organisation, with 78 per cent of employees across industries saying they will stay with an employer if they understand their career path, something that’s particularly relevant for younger generations. Jane discussed not thinking about employees in a transactional way, but by how we can elevate their future potential and make them excited to come to work with you each day.

Jane also talked through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and what salon owners can deliver to ensure they’re providing a cognitive space to learn, including a safe environment or even just lunch to employees who may be in vulnerable places. She stressed the importance of onboarding and early training and how necessary it is to invest in, find time for and delegate for this stage. She also discussed the significance of personalised training programs for individual team members, using industry examples to show how well that time and investment will be rewarded.

The Salon Improvement Through Technology panel hosted Emma Winen from Shortcuts, Paula Frasca from Sustainable Salons, Adam Ciaccia from L’Oréal Access, Helen Flaherty from Ezidebit, Tamara Reid from Timely and Kate Henderson from Elysium Hair, as facilitated by INSTYLE and Hair Festival National Sales Director Jo Cowan, to tackle technology from all angles.

Paul spoke about the recent Sustainable Salons rebrand that communicates directly with consumers, connecting them to salons in the organisation’s leading directory. He discussed how all businesses have to think about their digital footprint in the customer journey and embrace being a technology business, with tech that’s moving quickly and will drive your business. Tamara built on this from a team perspective, examining the pillars of communication, setting expectations, transparency and conversation that create team culture, which can all be facilitated through technology. Adam’s perspective on technology was from his relatable experience as a creative hairdresser, with the wealth of education available on the L’Oréal Access platform merging these worlds.

Emma spoke through the client journey – that is through the three stages of acquisition, in salon experience and retention – and how technology covers this whole spectrum. She explained how to use tech touch points discretely to tell hairdressers everything they need to know about clients so they feel more seen and connected to. Helen described using technological data from a marketing perspective, with, as an example, mobile-based, easy and efficient payment processes that allowed for secure and easy transactions and booking experiences. Kate offered a salon perspective in matching hairdressers and clients through a range of factors facilitated through digital platforms, becoming a unique way to connect hairdressers and clients that suit each other, communicate better and gel more easily, for stronger connections and much better client retention.

Showpony’s Founder and Global President Stephanie Mason offered a keynote speech on Facing The Global Community, fittingly remotely from abroad. On screen, Stephanie discussed the importance of people – and giving people a chance – in business, and how imperative community and relationships are in the hair industry and beyond, wherever you are in the world. Stephanie grew Showpony nationally for a decade before expanding globally, sharing her story internationally so people understood the ‘why’ of the business. Just last year she travelled across 27 countries with over 100 flights to spread this message. Attendees discovered this story for themselves in experiencing the brand video and the all-new My Hair, My Way campaign, which showcases the individuality and innovation in hair extensions.

The day’s final keynote speaker, award winning global futurist, author, podcast host and brand adviser Anders Sörman-Nilsson delivered Re-Imagining a Sustainable Customer Journey Fit for the Future, where he explained the power of purpose-led conscious capitalism, profit and performance, with a sustainable approach ensuring consumer retention, organic marketing and employee satisfaction – with the stats to back it up. Anders broke down the taxonomy of the conscious consumer, explaining that consumers want to choose products with a traceable and transparent origin and view hair as healthcare. He explained that this conscious approach isn’t a luxury, it’s mainstream, and ensuring your business is good for the environment is also good for profits. Twin transformation, he explained, means investing in digital transformation and sustainable solutions at the same time, for an impactful futuristic approach.

Anders also spoke to the impact of forward-thinking and how to best embrace the power of both worlds – man and machine, digital and analogue. He talked through ‘pre-mortem’ decisions, and thinking about what signals and trends may be missed or delayed that lead to businesses failing and what changes must be made to prevent that, so that you can make those choices before this ever occurs. “Today’s luxury experience is tomorrow’s expectation, invest in today’s futuristic technologies, as they’ll be tomorrow’s necessities,” he said, while also showcasing examples that prove the power of AI technology. The accelerating idea of content creation, and how you can win hearts, minds and customers through content, was also paramount.

Anders asked pertinent questions around doubling your impact with half the effort with the necessary upgrades, and queried the compound effect of your competition adopting the right technology while you don’t. “What would your competition not want you to do?” he opined. He inspired attendees to take the opportunity to do something different in difficult situations, and tasked them with making a gutsy move that’s good for people, planet and profit, in a world that continues to prioritise all three. “Start preparing for that future today,” he said.

A question and answer forum with Anders and Lisa to close the day spoke directly with the engaged crowd, building on concepts of the customer journey, and harnessing the power of personal, human touch, to be merged and elevated through data and technology. Relevant takeaways around technological efficiency for customers and client satisfaction were also talking points before attendees broke for lunch to network and discuss the day’s proceedings.

An inspiring morning spent with likeminded business owners in the room and industry leaders on stage, REALtalk painted a picture of salon profit, retention and culture in 2023. Sustainability, wellness, mental health, education, future-thinking and technology aren’t barriers or distractions from business success – they’re the key. Attendees left with not only practical examples to immediately embolden their salons and help their bottom line, but a pivotal and necessary reminder that it all starts with you.

For more information visit www.hairfestival.com.au

Catch up with INSTYLE and Styleicons!

• Subscribe to our bi-monthly magazine
• Check out www.styleicons.com.au
• Subscribe to our twice-weekly newsletter
• View our digital magazine
• Follow us on social media on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn