Have I done anything wrong? Please give me some advice!

[Amanda mao]

I’m running a startup that helps brands and artists get offline exposure in places like hair salons and cafés. For example, salons can get sample hair accessories from us without needing to hold any inventory. If their customers purchase through our platform, we can track the sale and pay them a good commission. I've received great feedback from hairdressers who have tried my platform so far.

Two months ago, I launched a small email campaign targeting venue owners, and I was thrilled when a lady running workspaces for hairstylists responded immediately. This was especially exciting as it happened the same week I started working on my startup full-time, after leaving the tech industry.

After an online meeting with her and her assistant, I visited one of her salons. The assistant was super friendly and gave me a tour of their spaces. Since we were also planning to hang artwork, she mentioned that they often host events where the art might need to be temporarily removed. She also pointed out the salon’s humidity and warm temperature as factors to consider. I appreciated her honesty and went back with a carefully thought-out plan. Instead of fine art, I suggested displaying fashion posters, and I also proposed helping them launch their own branded products for higher margins—since the salon owner wanted her members to promote products, I thought this idea was a good fit.

I spent a lot of time doing market research and selecting a range of products for them to review. However, after sending these suggestions, I never heard back. Despite following up with five emails, I received no response.

Having worked in the tech industry, I wonder if I made any major mistakes along the way. I’m sharing my experience here in hopes of getting feedback. If I did something wrong, I want to learn from it and avoid repeating the same mistakes. The only thing that stands out is that I mentioned the humidity and warmth in the salon—something the assistant brought up first—which I thought was important to address for the sake of the artists I work with.

Any advice or honest feedback is welcome! Thank you, and have a great weekend!

 

[BannerPenguin]

I’m a little confused on the business…

So you are offering both products and art essentially on consignment in salons?

Why? Why wouldn’t the individual brands do this themselves directly? Why would they, assuming, have you take a cut to do it for them?

Also, typically salons usually will only sell what they use/are trained on/can get behind/trust. And they go direct to the brand and get their own commission anyway, why would they use you?

Art feels an odd choice to me. I have no idea why an artist would want to display in that sort of premises and I can’t see that being the place the clientele will ever make a purchase like that.

 

[Amanda mao]

I’m a little confused on the business…

So you are offering both products and art essentially on consignment in salons?

Why? Why wouldn’t the individual brands do this themselves directly? Why would they, assuming, have you take a cut to do it for them?

Also, typically salons usually will only sell what they use/are trained on/can get behind/trust. And they go direct to the brand and get their own commission anyway, why would they use you?

Art feels an odd choice to me. I have no idea why an artist would want to display in that sort of premises and I can’t see that being the place the clientele will ever make a purchase like that.

I apologize for not explaining my business in detail earlier. My platform allows hair stylists to earn commissions when their customers purchase products online, even if those products are from other lines within the same brand. It functions like an affiliate program, which is why individual brands struggle to implement it on their own.

Thank you for informing me that salons typically go directly to brands to secure their own commissions. I want to emphasize that we are not competing with those brands; instead, we aim to create a new revenue stream for salons. For example, we can provide white-labeled hair accessories for salons, enabling them to earn significantly higher profits on each sale.For the brands already working with those salons, we can help them sell more.

 

[Trinity]

Without knowing or going in to the ins and outs of your business, it's good to realise early on that you may make 100 pitches but only convert a very small amount into actual leads/deals. It's the joy and pain of selling. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong, it could stall for any number of reasons not directly attached to your performance

 

[TheDuchess]

Hi Amanda

Hmm this is a tough one for you to reflect on. I’d have thought the obvious answer was that the salon owner was interested in your original pitch and proven track record but not the follow-up proposal. There’s quite a difference between original artwork and fashion posters and between hair samples FOC and investing in a range of branded products.

I think I’d be confused why I received a pitch from someone claiming experience with hair salons and cafes that was then modified on grounds of unsuitable warmth and humidity because I’d have anticipated all hair salons and cafes having similar environments. Speaking as a hands on beauty salon owner, I’d have been quite startled to be presented with a proposal that was so different from the one that caught my attention, inspired by a conversation I knew nothing about with my assistant.

As a beauty salon owner I don’t think I’d be interested in unproven retail suggestions from a start-up business owner wanting a slice of my profits after I took all the financial risk of launching a branded range. I could easily research a range of branded products myself based on my intimate knowledge and experience of my clients. - who by the way would love original artwork displays but not fashion posters. I don’t think I’d be interested in partnering with someone happy to learn and prepared to work hard, I have assistants who can do that for me..

I’m a bit surprised to be honest that the inside of a hair salon is so damaging to artwork displayed for a brief period. It’s not like the poolside viewing area of a leisure centre. In beauty we need our clients comfortable - we need to manage the humidity, otherwise some of our treatments won’t be successful. So I have humidity and temperature settings on my climate management systems. i know the maximin and minimum readings that I need fo maintain. If I was asked, I could provide technical information that could be fed back to the artists for them to consider what artwork might not be suitable. I’d feel strongly that my environment was much more art friendly than a cafe or indeed the period property homes of my clients..

I’d suggest that you lost sight of who your client was. You should have gone back to the owner to ensure she was on board with a different option before you invested time and effort in research. You have assumed that she wanted to work with you, rather than seeing you as a means to access the displays and products she was interested in.

This is all part of the journey of being in business. You’ve moved from dreaming about possibilities and opportunities to actually doing the work. It’s time to think very carefully about what you are selling and to whom. When I first set up my business I thought my market was “anyone looking for the services I offered”, but I was wrong. Not everyone wants to walk in my door. Not everyone that buys from me once will return. I had to understand what inspired my potential customers to step over my threshold and what kept them returning again and again. Gradually I modelled my “dream” client. I started to understand what made her tick and how to market to her. I realised that I was selling body confidence to those looking for a supportive and friendly “cheerleader” as they managed a transition period in their life. To those who wanted reassurance that caring about appearance wasn’t vain or frivolous, and who didn’t want to feel “dumb”. This is very different to selling to someone who wants to set trends in her peer group, to someone who is curating her image in pursuit of an aspirational “look”. I started to notice what my clients had in common - even if they weren’t the same age or at the same lifepoint. Over time I started to edit my services and focus on certain types of customers, this was just good business sense.

It will take you time to learn where to focus your energies. Lost sales are just as useful as sales, learning what didn’t work is very powerful. I never begrudge the chance to grow, even if the lesson is painful.

 

[TheDuchess]

Oh and I’m not sure if you really understand a professional salon sales environment, hair salons usually partner with a brand who help them with marketing and training and offer them wholesale prices in return for a minimum amount of annual sales. It’s a big investment for a salon and they have to deliver the product sales. For example when I invested in a make-up line I worked out that every therapist that I put through training would need to sell £3000 of make-up for me to break even on the expense of training and that didn’t include the lost service revenue when she was on training courses. The brand supported us by offering event selling days with a brand rep and on those days we usually sold £1500 of products - so it was hugely helpful.

When I had excited staff suggesting that we sold make up bags, pretty compacts, vintage jewellery and any number of other items, I had to consider whether this would undermine the selling of my partner brand products to my clients. It was much more valuable to sell them a product where I could guarantee repeat sales, year on year than to sell them a one off item. I couldn’t really risk distracting them with impulse purchases until I’d locked them into buying the products that they would love and that would have them returning to me and recommending me to their friends.

However having art exhibitions creates a marketing opportunity to host a discovery event, with refreshments and goody bags where products and services can be discussed whilst looking at art and hair accessories is a nice add on for a hair salon just as make up was a nice add on for my beauty salon. I can see the marketing value of both of these, I’m just less convinced about offering generic white label products - I never went down this route in beauty, because it’s a bit downmarket for me. High end, expert beauty salons have the clout to give clients access to top brands unavailable in the high street and we want to shout about this.

 

[Amanda mao]

Without knowing or going in to the ins and outs of your business, it's good to realise early on that you may make 100 pitches but only convert a very small amount into actual leads/deals. It's the joy and pain of selling. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong, it could stall for any number of reasons not directly attached to your performance

Thank you so much! I knew it wouldn’t be easy to introduce a new business model to a traditional industry. I just didn’t want to make the same mistake again if I really offended that lady. Your words mean a lot to me.

 

[Amanda mao]

Hi Amanda

Hmm this is a tough one for you to reflect on. I’d have thought the obvious answer was that the salon owner was interested in your original pitch and proven track record but not the follow-up proposal. There’s quite a difference between original artwork and fashion posters and between hair samples FOC and investing in a range of branded products.

I think I’d be confused why I received a pitch from someone claiming experience with hair salons and cafes that was then modified on grounds of unsuitable warmth and humidity because I’d have anticipated all hair salons and cafes having similar environments. Speaking as a hands on beauty salon owner, I’d have been quite startled to be presented with a proposal that was so different from the one that caught my attention, inspired by a conversation I knew nothing about with my assistant.

As a beauty salon owner I don’t think I’d be interested in unproven retail suggestions from a start-up business owner wanting a slice of my profits after I took all the financial risk of launching a branded range. I could easily research a range of branded products myself based on my intimate knowledge and experience of my clients. - who by the way would love original artwork displays but not fashion posters. I don’t think I’d be interested in partnering with someone happy to learn and prepared to work hard, I have assistants who can do that for me..

I’m a bit surprised to be honest that the inside of a hair salon is so damaging to artwork displayed for a brief period. It’s not like the poolside viewing area of a leisure centre. In beauty we need our clients comfortable - we need to manage the humidity, otherwise some of our treatments won’t be successful. So I have humidity and temperature settings on my climate management systems. i know the maximin and minimum readings that I need fo maintain. If I was asked, I could provide technical information that could be fed back to the artists for them to consider what artwork might not be suitable. I’d feel strongly that my environment was much more art friendly than a cafe or indeed the period property homes of my clients..

I’d suggest that you lost sight of who your client was. You should have gone back to the owner to ensure she was on board with a different option before you invested time and effort in research. You have assumed that she wanted to work with you, rather than seeing you as a means to access the displays and products she was interested in.

This is all part of the journey of being in business. You’ve moved from dreaming about possibilities and opportunities to actually doing the work. It’s time to think very carefully about what you are selling and to whom. When I first set up my business I thought my market was “anyone looking for the services I offered”, but I was wrong. Not everyone wants to walk in my door. Not everyone that buys from me once will return. I had to understand what inspired my potential customers to step over my threshold and what kept them returning again and again. Gradually I modelled my “dream” client. I started to understand what made her tick and how to market to her. I realised that I was selling body confidence to those looking for a supportive and friendly “cheerleader” as they managed a transition period in their life. To those who wanted reassurance that caring about appearance wasn’t vain or frivolous, and who didn’t want to feel “dumb”. This is very different to selling to someone who wants to set trends in her peer group, to someone who is curating her image in pursuit of an aspirational “look”. I started to notice what my clients had in common - even if they weren’t the same age or at the same lifepoint. Over time I started to edit my services and focus on certain types of customers, this was just good business sense.

It will take you time to learn where to focus your energies. Lost sales are just as useful as sales, learning what didn’t work is very powerful. I never begrudge the chance to grow, even if the lesson is painful.

Thank you so much for your feedback. We have gained the trust of our artists, which is why I’m being very careful when selecting venues for them. Some of the artists we work with have had their artworks displayed in top venues like the V&A Museum and the Royal Academy, so humidity really matters. Especially, the issue actually was raised by the lovely assistant, who warned me to be cautious. Anyway, I should have used better wording when I mentioned this in my email.

My daily rate ranges from £500 to £1,000 when I offer my design/engineering services to companies. I’m pretty good at what I do, and I also have a way to help venues get their own branded products, even in very small quantities, or create a well-packaged sample to test the market. That’s why I was confident in pitching. When I showed my plan to a friend who runs a marketing agency, she said she would charge at least £2,000 for a plan like the one I proposed to the salon owner. That’s why I was shocked not to receive even a polite rejection email.

Maybe the industry has its own rules when working with brands. From what I understand, hair stylists talk to their clients every day and know their pain points. This is why we have brands like Tangle Teezer, which is worth millions. I also know a hairdresser who made £200,000 in three months by promoting a small gadget to his clients and Instagram followers because he knows the market well. His profit could easily have doubled if the brand had been his own. That’s why I wanted to help my potential business partners gain more from their existing customers. I would be over the moon if I can help someone build the next Tangle Teezer.

Anyway, I really appreciate your advice. It seems I still have a lot to learn.

 

[MovinOn1]

As a business owner - you need to know that you will come across many time wasters. All work you do for a client needs to be paid work, stop doing stuff for free.

Check out this guy on YouTube -


Don't work on anything until you have a signed contract in place stating clearly what payments are owed to you, what dates those payments are to be made, and what penalties you will add (like late payment fees) if the payments aren't made on time.
A valuable lesson has been learned here, I hope you have much future success in your business.

 

[TheDuchess]

As a business owner - you need to know that you will come across many time wasters. All work you do for a client needs to be paid work, stop doing stuff for free.

Best advice ever!

 

[Amanda mao]

Oh and I’m not sure if you really understand a professional salon sales environment, hair salons usually partner with a brand who help them with marketing and training and offer them wholesale prices in return for a minimum amount of annual sales. It’s a big investment for a salon and they have to deliver the product sales. For example when I invested in a make-up line I worked out that every therapist that I put through training would need to sell £3000 of make-up for me to break even on the expense of training and that didn’t include the lost service revenue when she was on training courses. The brand supported us by offering event selling days with a brand rep and on those days we usually sold £1500 of products - so it was hugely helpful.

When I had excited staff suggesting that we sold make up bags, pretty compacts, vintage jewellery and any number of other items, I had to consider whether this would undermine the selling of my partner brand products to my clients. It was much more valuable to sell them a product where I could guarantee repeat sales, year on year than to sell them a one off item. I couldn’t really risk distracting them with impulse purchases until I’d locked them into buying the products that they would love and that would have them returning to me and recommending me to their friends.

However having art exhibitions creates a marketing opportunity to host a discovery event, with refreshments and goody bags where products and services can be discussed whilst looking at art and hair accessories is a nice add on for a hair salon just as make up was a nice add on for my beauty salon. I can see the marketing value of both of these, I’m just less convinced about offering generic white label products - I never went down this route in beauty, because it’s a bit downmarket for me. High end, expert beauty salons have the clout to give clients access to top brands unavailable in the high street and we want to shout about this.

Thank you for the insights – I really appreciate your sharing your insider perspective on my startup. Those brands are smart to partner with hair salons, but I feel salons have been missing out on opportunities to create something even bigger. I’ll do my best to develop some successful case studies and revisit this concept with the salon. Many trainers in London and New York have launched their own protein lines, and I believe it’s entirely feasible for salons to create their own hair and beauty products. I’m glad I asked in the forum and received honest feedback from experienced voices like yours. Thanks again!

 

[Amanda mao]

As a business owner - you need to know that you will come across many time wasters. All work you do for a client needs to be paid work, stop doing stuff for free.

Check out this guy on YouTube -


Don't work on anything until you have a signed contract in place stating clearly what payments are owed to you, what dates those payments are to be made, and what penalties you will add (like late payment fees) if the payments aren't made on time.
A valuable lesson has been learned here, I hope you have much future success in your business.

---

Thank you so much for your thoughtful advice – it really means a lot, especially coming from someone with your experience. I’ll definitely be more mindful about setting clear terms and protecting my time going forward. The YouTube recommendation is really helpful too; I’ll check it out for more insights. Thanks again for your guidance – it’s invaluable as I navigate these early stages. Wishing you all the best in your own ventures!

 

[TheDuchess]

Salons tend to overlook the potential offered by retail sales. I know of a hair salon where the retail went into 7 figures, completely dwarfing the services revenue.

There are coaching businesses operated by very successful salon owners who share their expertise. Maybe you could reach salon owners keen to build their retail by connecting with these mastermind businesses.

I am thinking in particular of Caroline Sanderson of Salon Jedi who has a very powerful personal story. There are a number of similar companies but she seems the most inspirational. I did some training with John Assaraf who trained Caroline, and I earned my investment back so quickly it was humbling.