6 QUESTIONS TO CYRIL CHURLAUD

1. You are at the head of 10 salons. What are your daily challenges ?

Before everything, the satisfaction of my clients is my priority. My teams and myself must be sure that the diagnostic is professional and that we meet the expectations of our clients. This goes with an active listening of the clients and a real sense of dialogue.
In the second hand, I'm constantly preoccupied by the motivation of the teams; and for me, 99% of the motivation comes from the development of the hairdresser and his/her work . In both cases, training has an important role within my group, that's why each of my co-workers is trained about 4 times a year.

2. How one can create a group like yours ?
As my Mum used to say: " with two kids, everything is all right because you can hold their hand; things get complicated with a third kid or more ". It's the same for the salons. That's why it is important to rely on your teams to develop your business. Furthermore, a rigorous management and a very good organization are essential.

3. The quest of new doors is not a an end in itself. What pushed you to develop yourself ?
My partners ! Some of them, with their sense of responsibility and their desire to meet the challenge pushed me to create all that business. And with time, there was a real relationship of trust with the backers which made things easier even if I don't "chase" addresses.

Regarding the pitfalls to avoid, three things:

• Ignoring the importance of your co-workers.
• Feeling you know everything and deciding alone without sharing with the others.
• Having an approximate management.

5. What do you think of the current hairdressing market and according to you, what are the major challenges facing the hairdressers to see future in a positive way ?
It is clear that in France or in Switzerland, there is less visits. For me, the major issue is to work on the quality of the service and why not the quantity of service for a same price ! Loyalty definitely depends of the service of the offered service.
And we must work on the confidence of the clients who felt for a long time not understood enough. Look for example how much it is difficult today to propose shorter haircuts to our clients: are we not a bit responsible of the long hair phenomenon by dint of layering the hair during a certain time ? This probably also goes with an evolution of our vocabulary like the permanent.
Regarding the male clients, we also feel a more important demand with a net return to comb-scissors.
We must stop using the easiest methods and we must impose to ourselves bigger quality standards that way we will have more profits.

6. Finally, new projects for the next five years ?
Currently, I'm in the stabilization phase and consolidation of the business. On the other hand, I have the priority to renew the salons making them evolving toward new concepts. That reform program will offer novelties to the clients but also will boost the motivation of the teams.
And then, in a few time, who knows, a new project will be born…