In human terms, turning 18 can be seen as the door to personal growth, when dreams are nurtured, and aspirations come alive. In business terms there are few who thrive year after year with a clear vision. Throughout September BOS Hair & Beauty in Amersham celebrates its 18th birthday with a stylish, month-long theme for both team and clients. We caught up with business partners Brendan O’Sullivan and Wendy Higgins to look back at their memories, key points for success, and vision for the future.
Respect For Hair: 18 years is a long time to continually progress a business, how’s it going?
Brendan: It is a long time! We’ve kept our foot firmly on the accelerator and are pleased to report very healthy growth over the past few years, especially this year. It’s always important to be moving in a positive direction, we feel just as excited about the future now as we did 18 years ago.
Respect For Hair: There must have been some highs and lows over the years, what were they?
Wendy: Our biggest low has to be Covid. It was tough for the business financially and the future felt uncertain. For everyone, Lockdown was mentally tough; we kept in contact with our team and checked in with clients who might have felt vulnerable or lonely. But we kept planning and had team training sessions prior to re-opening so everything felt as good as it could. We’re very proud of how our team navigated all the additional challenges post-lockdown.
There have been so many highs. Team education and development is a big priority for us, so it’s always a thrill to see our team advance with NVQs, complete Fellowship projects, or be promoted within the salon. We’ve held accredited training status for some years now and that felt a great achievement. Recently we’ve won customer-led awards, which mean the world to us. These include the Phorest Five-Star Review Award, which we’ve had five years in a row, and the Best Salon Bucks & Oxon, which we’ve had for two consecutive years in the Muddy Stilettos Awards. It’s been amazing to receive such great feedback and support from our lovely customers, we really appreciate it.
Respect For Hair: You’re known as the best salon locally, what is it that gives you the edge?
Brendan: We go the extra mile in lots of ways. As hairdressers we are visual creatives; many years ago I read a book called The Secret; it’s about visualising your dreams and we wanted to have a salon where we made every customer look and feel fantastic. This became our team vision which we share repeatedly, it hasn’t changed in 18 years, we adapt our strategic plan around it, and it remains our key goal.
Both Wendy and I come from a strong background of hairdressing education, nationally and internationally, so this has always been important to us. Our team stays with us a long time and that builds trust with customers. I do lots of session work around the world and particularly at various Fashion Weeks where my team often have the opportunity to join me. It brings a new artistic angle where you’re helping to create trends and can pass elements of this on to your commercial hairdressing. I regularly send team members on the Unite Runway Ready course which prepares them for backstage work and guarantees them a place on the Unite Fashion Week team. Clients love hearing about our fashion work, even if their own style might be a little more conservative; it’s a great talking point.
Respect For Hair: With all the knowledge you’ve gained over the years, what advice would you give to salon owners starting out?
Brendan: Communicate your vision clearly, remind your team of it often, and check your plan of action aligns to it. Recognise what you’re not good at. For instance, some time ago on the Unite Paramount Business course my friend Dale, founder and CEO of Unite, said ‘Do what you do best and outsource the rest’. I learned from that. We now outsource social media and marketing which works well for our business. Never lose your passion for fashion and always be curious about new trends and techniques that are engaging for both your team and customers.
Wendy: Customer experience is everything and you must keep evolving. Sometimes looking at the big picture and sometimes sweating the small stuff – for example, you wouldn’t believe how much a quality cup of coffee means to some customers. Keep your team development moving forward, plan it into the year ahead no matter how busy business feels. We have an exceptional team here and it’s important to continually invest in them.
Be confident with your pricing – a price increase might feel uncomfortable, but you have to do it to keep up with inflation. And don’t forget technology; we’ve benefitted from launching our own app, developing our website, and encouraging online bookings. We are experiencing a growing trend of customers booking online, it’s more efficient for everyone.
Respect For Hair: You’ve been using Unite Hair products for some years now, why do you choose them as a brand partner?
Brendan: I work with Unite on the salon floor and when leading hair teams backstage; the products perform brilliantly for both. It’s a compact, easy-to-stock range with simple systems for both hairdressers and consumers to understand. Our best-selling product in the salon is the 7 Seconds Detangler. This really does what it says, along with providing heat and UV protection and is great for extensions too. Backstage, you’d have to go a long way to beat Unite styling products, especially their range of hairsprays.
Respect For Hair: So, let’s talk about the celebrations at BOS this month, what’s happening?
Brendan: We are so excited! We kicked off the celebrations with a team meeting followed by drinks. We’ve created a BOS 18 logo and our team are looking fabulous in their themed t-shirts which are a also great advert when they are out and about locally. For ambiance, we’ve put together a playlist from 18 years ago which we’ll play in the salon and send out to customers. For our customers we have a special in-house refreshments menu including prosecco and cupcakes.
We don’t do discounts, but regularly give treats to our VIPs, so it’s extra TreatCard points in September. And, throughout the month customers can pop into the salon to enter the draw for a prize, whether they have an appointment or not. At the end of the month we will pull the winning tickets for the draw. All the BOS team are looking forward to an action-packed month; if you’re in Amersham come and join us for a celebratory drink!
