Disruption is synonymous with innovation. Disruptors bring new ideas to the forefront that are typically linked with technology to support innovative ways of working or performing. In today’s world, it’s never been easier to cause disruption. The question we must ask ourselves is, why disrupt? Is the disruption for attention or innovation?

The professional salon industry is not the first industry to attract publicity seekers. For years, publicity and attention were garnered for talent, intelligence, and results. Thankfully, those attributes hold true today, but there are new discussions percolating that unfortunately do the opposite. There are ‘hot’ ideas that remove measurements. An emerging theme we have been hearing lately is, “Why even bother?”

As described by the media, the "great resignation" has caused a lot of disruption in recent years. Even before 2020, SSBC taught and promoted flexible schedules and asking employees what makes them happy. We have since encouraged the companies we serve to embrace employee feedback and consider new ideas.

In 2006, when SSBC started talking about double-shifting and a 30–32 hour work week, many salon owners and professionals thought the notion was impossible. There is no doubt that double-shifting disrupted conventional thinking. It did, however, do something else that is noteworthy; it provided a math model to support the idea. Based on data, the average stylist had 8 hours of downtime during a 40-hour workweek. Further, upon testing and following salon professionals working shorter shifts, attitudes improved, and so did daily service averages—a win-win.

As we navigate the noise, an underlying theme emerges with disruption:

IS MEDIOCRITY THE NEW DISRUPTOR?

"Remove retail from your salon company’s shelves..."

There is a loud movement to stop promoting corporate brands. The irony is when you research the most vociferous proponent, that very proponent promotes a brand. Yep. More importantly, why would a person or entity recommend removing retail? Oh, let me guess…. so you don't have to measure or achieve? Is that not the essence of mediocrity?

Retail has never been about selling. It has always been about integrity. At SSBC, we routinely express the mantra, “stop selling and start telling.” Until a professional connects retail to the service, it will always be an after-thought or nuisance. Career-minded professionals' conditioned beliefs are rooted in seeing retail as an extension of every service. Feeling inspired when telling the client what was used and why, and using that inspiration to deliver a consistent message will lead to authentic retail sales that serve the guest.

"Stop pre-booking your guests.."

Another "insta-famous" mantra is to stop securing future reservations. If you do not consider inviting someone back to be worthy of your time, by all means, don’t ask people to return. If you decided to eliminate future reservations because someone might cancel or no show; the math doesn’t support your stance. If you choose to stop inviting people back because you're afraid of rejection and it impacts your mental health, I suppose that's a plausible argument. Is that mediocrity if you decide to eliminate future reservations because you don't want to meet a goal?

At SSBC we coach service providers to be honest about how long the guest's services are going to last, and when that guest should return to ensure that they never have a bad hair day. We understand that our guests lead busy lives, and the last thing we want is for them to look in the mirror one day and dislike what they see, while subsequently not being able to reserve time with their stylist for days or weeks. Not only do pre-booked guests exhibit more loyalty to their service providers, they visit 2-3 times more per year, which exponentially increases the service provider's earnings.

Surely we can do better than trying to pass off mediocrity as disruption. We should always embrace new ideas and new ways of defining happiness and success in our industry; but when we trade sound data and merit for likes and link clicks, we are disrupting our industry in all of the wrong ways.

As industry professionals, I would encourage you to evaluate disruption by answering three simple questions: Is it good for the service provider? Is it good for the guest? Is it good for the company? To pass the test, the answer to all three should always be a resounding YES!