What a haircut taught me about trust

For as long as I can remember, I have been blessed by the hairdresser gods.

Over the years, I somehow lucked into befriending high quality hair stylists who provided me with low cost or free hair cuts throughout my twenties.

But when it comes to my hairdresser magic, it all began with Bri. 

Finding clients everywhere

I met Bri in the aisles of a Sephora one afternoon.

“Excuse me,” she said as she handed me her card. “I know this is strange but could I blow dry your hair for free?”

Bri was a student at Vidal Sassoon and she was on a mission to find people with bob haircuts to whom she could give supervised blowouts. I was in grad school at the time, broke and with lots of time on my hands, so I accepted the weird yet harmless offer. 

A few days later, I was sitting in her chair in the chic Newbury Street salon. I learned that Bri was around my age, from LA, and had a much younger brother just like me. She told me about the Sassoon training program and the many steps involved - not just in hair styling but also in business development.

I learned that our interaction at Sephora was not unusual for Bri. Client acquisition was a major emphasis of the Sassoon training. In order to advance to the next level of haircut training, trainees had to secure over 10 people with each haircut type to come in to the salon on specific days of the week. Bri listed off the various locations and tactics she had used to find the people necessary to advance in her training.

“Doesn’t the salon help you find these people?” I asked. The whole process seemed extremely stressful and very awkward.

“No,” she replied. “Besides, part of being a hairdresser is knowing how to build your client base.” 

She went on to explain that even the prestige of the Vidal Sassoon name couldn’t guarantee that clients would just waltz in off the street. Sure, sometimes people would. But the lead stylists with booked schedules were not successful because of Sassoon’s marketing department. They had built most of those client relationships one at a time over years and years.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is loyalty

I speak with a lot of business owners who hope and wish and pray for a situation where pre-enrolled clients will just fall into their laps. They believe that if they didn’t have to worry about getting clients, then they would be free to focus on their “actual” business. 

And this is exactly the point where I see these entrepreneurs veer severely off course from their goals. They want to believe so badly that the process of getting clients is the one thing holding them back, that they pour copious amounts of money and time into the avoidance of building client relationships.

The thing is, most people want a sustainably thriving business. They want to have a reputation for providing dependable value. They want a loyal client base and community. 

And yet, when we start to seek out ways to speed through the client acquisition part, we quickly eliminate the space necessary to build the dependability and loyalty we want. We are opting for instant gratification instead of sustainable success. 

As Bri pointed out - even the most elite, branded, and polished hairdressers don’t rely on people walking in off the street as a sustainable business practice. The stability and the loyalty comes from the relationship building. Even if it’s awkward. Especially when it’s awkward.

Every hurricane begins with a single cloud

Bri was my hairdresser until I left Boston. Even after I left, I would make it a point to get a haircut with her every time I visited. 

I’ve had many hairdressers since, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t cut hair anymore, but if we were ever in the same location again, I would return to her in a heartbeat. I would pay her full rate in a heartbeat. I would refer people to her in a heartbeat.

I mean, here I am 10 years later writing an entire blog post about her. She obviously made an impact in my life.

Entrepreneurs - don’t you want clients like that?

I do.

I want clients who I have a story with - who I have a history with. I want clients who are in the process to grow and create together. I want clients who, after years of not working with me, are still emailing me about their wins.

That longevity, that loyalty, is not built through skipping steps. It’s not built through fast tracking relationships. It’s not even built through expensive branding. It’s built through power of one. 

When you truly focus on the one who is in front of you - and cultivate that relationship, wherever it is at - before you know it, you will be in the eye of a powerful storm that you created.

And you will be unstoppable.