Nancy and Jennifer Gregory will be celebrating eight years in business this October. However, when the mother-and-daughter duo opened Sage Salon in Land O’Lakes, Florida, they did it with no experience in the beauty industry. But they did bring other talents to the table. While her children were young, Nancy ran various small businesses and built up valuable experience as an entrepreneur, and Jennifer established a background in marketing as a young adult. So why didn’t they open a boutique or sandwich shop? It was Jennifer’s sister, Jessica, who opened their eyes to the beauty business. Jessica graduated from the Aveda Institute at a time when Nancy and Jennifer were searching for an entrepreneurial idea they could jump into together. “Jennifer and I visited the Institute and said, ‘We have to do this. We have to have a salon,’ even though we had no background as stylists,” says Nancy. Sage Salon was born with Nancy and Jennifer as partners and Jessica as a stylist. Each woman brought her own strengths to the table, Jennifer in marketing, Nancy as a former small-business owner and Jessica as a beauty professional. “Everyone had their own sandbox,” says Nancy. The result was a thriving salon that has seen growth every year it has been open. A couple years ago, Jessica accepted a position working for the Aveda Institute, but Jennifer and Nancy continue to build the business they created together.

Nurturing Growth

Growing year after year isn’t always a slam dunk, especially during recent recessions, but the Gregory women have stayed focused on goals and remained strong. “When the recession hit, we stuck with our belief in Aveda and the services,” says Nancy. “We just forged ahead and were lucky to make it through,” adds Jennifer. But there was a little more than luck involved. Jennifer and Nancy are very present owners. The salon is open seven days a week and at least one of them is there six of those days. “Both our customers and our stylists see they’ve got our support,” says Jennifer. “When they have challenges, we are always available to them,” she adds.

In the eight years they’ve been in business, the Gregorys have built a solid reputation in the community, which is fairly new, and Jen says whole neighborhoods come to see them, creating a warm atmosphere.

“Places can be very cold and mechanical these days, and we are not,” says Jennifer. “For example, one of us personally follows up with new guests,” she says. Nancy adds, “It gives our clients the chance to mention something like being unable to blow dry correctly, so she can’t get the style right. That gives us the opportunity to say, ‘Your stylist has a half hour available tomorrow if you’d like to come in and have her show you how.’” The clients aren’t the only ones who love Sage. Stylists also love it and are there for the long haul. In fact, Sage has gained a reputation at the Aveda Institute as the “salon where stylists don’t leave.” “We look at people as individuals and try to be really supportive of them,” says Jennifer. This includes flexible scheduling and a friendly, team-oriented environment. Sage stylists also receive a lot of coaching from Jennifer, Nancy and their leadership team, which includes an assistant manager and two lead stylists.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

A lot of the coaching at Sage revolves around numbers. Both Jennifer and Nancy have strong accounting skills and keep a close eye on the salon’s numbers as well as individual stylists’ benchmarks. “We are laser-focused on the bottom line, our benchmarks and numbers,” says Jennifer. “Before we even opened the salon we attended classes to figure out the industry, so we knew exactly what we were doing,” she adds. “We’ve always known about stuff like pre-booking. Our guests and stylists are used to our systems because we’ve used them from day one.” The Gregorys do all their accounting in-house daily. “We want to know exactly what’s going on,” says Jennifer. “We’re good at it and like to keep our hands in it.” As a result, they know exactly where they need to be in retail, services, prebooking and all other benchmarks. They meet weekly with their stylists for an update and coach them if numbers dip in a certain area. “By nature, stylists are not numbers oriented,” says Jennifer. “But if they see a need for improvement, they get the number back up the next week.” Staying focused on the salon’s overall culture also helps stylists’ motivation for growth. “It’s not an option for a guest to leave with her hair not blown dry or not approached for prebooking/retail,” says Jennifer. “Retail is a challenge all the time, but we don’t ‘sell,’” she adds. “We have to position it as solving a problem for the guest. Stylists love to help people feel good about themselves.” While they do run retail contests between the stylists on occasion, they don’t feel the need to do it all the time. “They must sell retail,” says Jennifer. “It’s their job.”

Research First, Then Grow

When it comes to business, Jennifer and Nancy don’t jump into anything without doing their due diligence. They chose the area where they opened Sage because it was up and coming, and while it was no more than a big street with a few houses eight years ago, now new neighborhoods, schools and hospitals are being built, and the demand for Sage’s services is rising. “If we could have five more employees double shifting tomorrow, that would be great,” says Jennifer. “But we have to hire the right people for a seamless transition—everyone working here should have the same vibe,” she adds. The duo also did a lot of research before adding a new service—hair extensions. “We want to make sure we do it with fantastic results,” says Jennifer “We really wanted to investigate it before jumping in,” she adds. Nancy even had the extensions put in herself so she could vouch for them and talk to clients about the service.

“We’re about taking calculated risks with what will work in our area,” says Jennifer.

She advises stylists thinking about opening a salon themselves to evaluate whether they can run a salon and continue to do hair services. “It was difficult the first couple of years,” says Jennifer. “We had to focus hard on getting the business off the ground.” She maintains you must be business-minded and find a great mentor. “I’ve got a mentor who has been in business 22 years who I can go to with questions,” she say. “I also meet with a group of salon owners every few months—it’s nice to connect with others who are having the same problems,” she says. “You’ve got to be working on your business, not in it.” Nancy adds, “You really need to have a good financial picture of what your first six months to a year will look like—it can be surprising.” “But if you plan for it, you won’t sweat it when it happens,” says Jennifer. This year, Sage is on track to grow services 13% over last year in its eighth consecutive year of growth—not bad for two ladies who didn’t know the beauty business.

Sage Salon’s Growth Statistics

Jennifer and Nancy Gregory have built an impressive business designed for growth. Here’s an inside look from Jennifer at some of their most important facts and figures (and a little Sage advice, too).

AVEDA MEANS BUSINESS: What was your percentage of growth over the last three to five years, per year? These numbers represent the total for both service and retail:

• 2012: Up 3% from 2011
• 2013: Up 6.2% from 2012
• 2014: Up 7% from 2013
• 2015: 1Q and 2Q, up 14% from 1Q and 2Q in 2014

AVEDA MEANS BUSINESS: What are your top three new client drivers? We don’t do any special advertising, any referral programs, etc. as we’ve not needed to. We just really focus on being the best at what we do and we have earned a great reputation based on that. We do use a third-party company (Demandforce) to send out follow-up questions to every guest. Our reviews get posted on our web site (which we always share with our stylists on a printout in the breakroom). With potential customers going first to the internet to do their research, this has been very helpful.

AVEDA MEANS BUSINESS: What are your top three staff retention tips?
While we value the diversity of a team, we really find that it works when we hire like-minded individuals. We make sure the staff feels their voices are always heard. Be available and present. Share your reasons for decision-making with them so they understand where you want to go as a salon. Second, maintain the salon as a well-oiled machine as far as equipment, décor, supplies, and necessities. Make it easy for them to do their jobs, which is to take care of the guest. Finally, work with their schedules. We have a good number of working mothers, and they are so thankful to be able to work a flexible schedule. We want them to be happy outside of work as well.

AVEDA MEANS BUSINESS: What advice do you have for other salon owners to have continued growth?
Be present—we truly like to be at the salon with the staff, with the guests, etc. It really lets us feel the pulse of the environment and allows us to ensure it’s going in the direction of our choosing.

Be involved. There are no egos here when it comes to who does what. Though we have a lot of systems in place to make sure the salon runs smoothly, we are never against jumping in to help, work the desk, answer phones, do laundry, etc. We are in this together with our staff.

Know the guests. A little old-fashioned maybe, but when guests come in, we introduce ourselves, chat with them and make them feel welcome and special. They are never just a number to us. We feel we’re in the hospitality business, as well as the salon business.

AVEDA MEANS BUSINESS: What advice would you offer on engaging a salon staff?
Make sure they know how important they are to the success of the salon. Great employees want to be at the best salon. Be present so they feel their voices are being heard. We may not always like what they have to say, but we do want to hear from their perspective and then be able to have a real conversation.