Business leaders share their latest innovations and solutions to make their company thrive in 2023 and beyond.
Australian Colour Technologies
WHAT WAS SOME OF THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU LEARNT WHILE RUNNING YOUR OWN SKIN AND TATTOO CLINICS?
Georgie Westley, Founder: “The lessons are still coming. I’m always learning – Kelly has had her own clinic longer than me so I learn a lot from her which has been great. I guess over the years I’ve learnt to be stronger and learnt not to be scared of saying no. I very much like to keep my team happy and close so everyone gets along and communication is EVERYTHING… without clear communication things get blown out
of proportion and taken out of context. Don’t forget to remind your team how much they mean to you and how appreciated they are – it’s the small things that count.”
Kelly Inglis, Founder: “My biggest lesson was to listen to and trust my own instincts, in business and in people. At the end of the day, I’m proud of what I have achieved and how far I have come. Opening and running your own company in no easy task and to anyone who is currently waist deep in doing it themselves I would advise to surround yourself with people that have a voice. People that have ideas, that have passion and that you can trust. I have always encouraged people to shine in their own ways and that has been my reward to watch them grow.”
The Touch Up Kit (T.U.K)
TELL US ABOUT THE TOUCH UP KIT (T.U.K) – WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO LAUNCH THIS AT REVEAL?
Iola Ciavarra, Managing Director, Reveal: “A mutual friend connected me with one of the founders of the brand prior to its release and I was instantly hooked on the concept. Months later as the product was finalised it was love at first sight. All I could think was: “this is exactly what salons and clinics need”! I knew T.U.K was something special that hadn’t been done before. Creating the pre-set palettes was the final nod to supporting the professional space. Making makeup accessible to all salons and clinics regardless of space, time and makeup skills, fits perfectly with the Reveal ethos.”
Square
WITH COST OF LIVING PRESSURES TOP OF MIND FOR MOST AUSTRALIANS NOW, WHAT TIPS DOES SQUARE HAVE FOR BUSINESSES LOOKING TO RETAIN CUSTOMERS AND CONTINUE TO GROW?
Cathryn Reed, Product Marketing Manager: “The important things for businesses to be doing to grow during these times are to sell wherever their customers are, automate tasks, and delight their clients. Here are a few ways that can be done:
Sell online: create an online booking site and integrate into your social channels. Develop a social media strategy to catch the attention of local customers that might be interested in your business.
Automate marketing: Square Marketing helps businesses bring back lapsed customers, keep current customers engaged with promotions or discounts, or just to keep clients in the loop with changes to the business.
New revenue streams: Identify new revenue streams such as selling retail in-store and online, running classes or workshops to demonstrate how to style hair at home. Alternatively, you could offer subscriptions that customers could redeem throughout a period of time.
Reward loyalty: Tech like Square Loyalty are powerful tools to incentivise repeat visitation with rewards for your customers.
Provide other ways to pay (such as Afterpay): Buy now, pay later is an important budgeting tool for consumers. Offering BNPL at the check-out helps cost-conscious shoppers more easily budget their money and reduce the upfront burden.”
Elleebana
WITH SO MANY STOCKISTS – WHAT BUSINESS SUPPORT AND SOLUTIONS DO YOU OFFER TO THEM?
Otto Mitter, Owner/Director: “Our model has many layers of support and solutions for our different stakeholders. We supply distributors, educators and salon owners who in turn perform services on the public, so we need specific support packages that are tailored to everyone’s needs. Product innovation and education are the key components of our brands ethos when it comes to setting our partners up for success.
Our distributors need customised product information files along with education and marketing packages that showcase all the benefits to salon owners, whereas our salon partners and educators require specific programs that go deeper into the application and theory of the treatment process. Our education programs also give educators and salon owners the tools to effectively market the services so that they can have successful outcomes and increase revenue. Our passion for inspirational education is reflected in the many awards Elleebana has received over the years and we take huge pride in inspiring our Elleenetwork and the industry as a whole. We have held our annual international symposiums for seven years running now in the USA and EU which allows that personal connection between the Elleebana family of distributors and educators and gives us the chance to perfect our systems, education delivery and importantly inspire our team to keep lifting to new heights with the array of industry leaders and guests that we have speaking at our symposiums.”
Curtis Collection
WHAT SUPPORT AND SOLUTIONS DO YOU OFFER STOCKISTS?
Victoria Curtis, Founder: “We learnt early on that our stockist had as little time as we did to process orders, organise in store training and so on. So we developed an exclusive website for our stockist where they could access all things Curtis Collection on their own time and their own schedule. An information hub if you will. They can place their orders on this website, watch video tutorials, download social media imagery and access product information.
The time this saved us all was phenomenal. I believe strongly in supporting our stockists and educate most of them myself. When I cannot be present, this exclusive stockist only website is basically an extension of me in store. I also developed an online ‘Makeup Styling Guide’ that allows our stockist to enter the colour tones of their client, eyes, skin, hair etc and our guide will suggest the most suitable shades in our collection for their clients colour profile. Yet another business solution that saves our stockists time in store. It’s also a fun, interactive way for our stockists to introduce their clients to the brand.”
Dermatonics
YOU HAVE SOME GREAT EDUCATION SESSIONS TELL US ABOUT THAT…
Donna Marcal, Founder: “We provide continuous Mini Education Sessions for our clinic partners that encompass product, formulation, skin condition and ingredient knowledge. In person training days occur at least twice a year in key locations around the country, both at facilities where multiple clinic owners and therapists can come together and within clinic facilities themselves for businesses that have teams we train and educate all together. These various training day formats allow tailored events that enable clinic partners to connect with each other and learn and allows teams to be trained within their own business. We have a team of area managers that we work with that are in consistent contact with our clinic owners, checking in on them, helping them with their business and connecting between them and us as the founders of Dermatonics. Connection with our clinic partners is and always will be a very key part of our business, as we truly enjoy the community that has been created and the family feeling of Dermatonics clinic partners.”
Beyond
Georgie Mariouklas and Larry Prosser: Today Beyond Payments offer a full suite of services from payment gateways to virtual terminals and reporting as well as ordering and payments apps. Whether it is in person or online, Beyond Payments will tailor a payment solution that’s right for their respective client’s business. Their most popular product however continues to be their ‘Feeless’ service. Larry Posser explains their intent in addressing complex and excessive card processing fees.
“Payments have always been complicated and hard to understand, especially when it comes to surcharging. The cost of the convenient ‘tap and go’ has markedly increased the costs associated with accepting card payments. This, and the move to a cashless society, has meant a steep increase in merchant fees for small and medium sized businesses,” Prosser says.
This is a cut-down version of an article that originally appeared in the May-June 2023 print issue of Professional Beauty.
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