With barbering becoming an ever increasing popular career, how do you set yourself apart from the old ‘hole in the wall’ barber shops?
Here are the top ten barbering secrets that we share with our students enrolled in the Johnny Matthew’s barbering program.
1. Diversity: don’t limit yourself to guards and fades but reach into mastering cutting both ladies and mens hair. Clipper cuts to round and inversion layers.
2. Career Development: with 100 hours of the barbering program dedicated solely to Career Development in Oregon, we lay a strong emphasis on film, graphic resumes and financial tracking for your career development course. Marketing and branding yourself are one of the keys to success in your chosen career field.
3. Tool choice and maintenance: choosing the right tool for the job is 1/3 of the battle. Knowing how to sanitize and maintain your tools is another 1/3. The final 1/3 is artistically using your chosen tool to its full capability. With so many different clippers, shears, razors and dryers out there, Johnny Matthew’s guides you in your decision making for school and career.
4. Scheduling: at the end of the day you’re in the barbering business to make money. Scheduling your book of business is key. Your time goal by the end of Johnny Matthew’s barber program should be 20 minutes per mens cut and 45 minutes per ladies cut to maximize your time.
5. Licensure preparation: you can’t be a barber unless you hold a current State license and that means you have to pass the State Boards. Our licensure preparation class gives you what you need to pass successfully. We download onto your free iPad mini quizzes and interactive media to aid and assist you for success.
6. Interview ready: introducing you to barber shop owners and operators is important. At Johnny Matthew’s Barber School we have local barbershop owners come and talk to you about the business and current job openings at their shops so in some cases you may have a job lined up before you even graduate!
7. Retailing: retail sales should be 20% of your total revenue sales. If you’re missing this mark you are missing the mark. In an industry where beauty products account for billions of dollars per year in revenues, don’t cut yourself out of the lion’s share of potential income. Our Career Development class teaches you how to attain retailing excellence.
8. Up selling: if a gentleman comes in for a cut why not suggest a hot towel shave or vice versa? You could even offer it for free the first time and get a shave client for life. Maximize your service potential!
9. Pre-booking: don’t let a guest leave without securing them for their next appointment. Pre booking is the key to business growth and security. One lost pre-book can easily equate to one lost guest and all the potential revenue connected to that person.
10. Proactive or reactive: are you going to be a proactive or reactive barber? We train our barbers to look 3 days ahead into their schedules and try to fill the gaps through social media marketing. We encourage our students to plan how they can suggest and additional service or special product by reviewing their guest customer profiles before they start their work day.
We hope these top ten barbering secrets help you in your careers, we know that they’ve certainly helped us and our team of successful students here at Johnny Matthew’s Barber School Salem, Oregon!