My wife and I got married in 2010. By that time, she already owned a string of beauty salons around Metro Manila, and was aggressively expanding her own brand in and around the National Capital Region. Although I never had any experience or background in running a business, she sometimes consults me on some things especially when it comes to managing human resources. It has been almost eight years now since we got married, and more than a decade since she started the business. The salon has already about a hundred branches now most of which are owned by franchisees. The business has grown, and so with the challenges and the challengers. She says it comes with the territory. Lately, I asked her what happened to other salons- her competitors which I don’t see anymore. She said some have went out of business while others have slowed down. So, what is her company’s secret to longevity? How did it last this long while others withered?
She said the salon is certainly a cutthroat industry where competitors can easily sink you down using various marketing ploys and industry tradecrafts. As a business owner, you must master the art of defending your territory, and protecting your brand. By the way, my wife trained as a lawyer and not as a businesswoman and that probably helped her survive amidst a tough and extremely competitive environment. She said it was a struggle to position her own brand in the industry but it is harder to maintain foothold as competitors are always out to unseat you. The company has got to figure out how to secure and defend its position because both existing players and new entrants want a (big) piece of the cake- the people. Choosing and getting customers are both challenging tasks but keeping and growing them are equally, if not, even harder. And these reminds me of John Roberts who said that “if a defender can’t hang on to what it has, it loses the foundation on which to build its own growth”.
Indeed, in any business undertaking, the significance of analyzing the environment cannot be simply understated. For you to protect your battle position or basecamp, you must understand the threats, leverage on your strengths, improve on your weaknesses and seize on every opportunity to defeat the enemy. The salon thrives on its strength which is in providing the best quality of service to its clients. It willingly goes the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction knowing that it is a perishable commodity. Loyalty is difficult to build and maintain hence keeping its clients happy is on top of its priorities along with neutralizing or besting its opponents. It reaches out to its clients through traditional means and modern media. It invests on advertisements, endorsements, tie- ups and x-deals (with celebrities) to promote and solidify its brand.
However, despite its relative success, the salon has a long way to go towards its goal of becoming the local industry leader. I told my wife to adopt a “careful hurry” mode- to be aggressive yet defensive, optimistic but vigilant and most of all, to focus not only on beating the competition but also on refusing to get beaten. Now, she thinks I am a smart guy.
She said the salon is certainly a cutthroat industry where competitors can easily sink you down using various marketing ploys and industry tradecrafts. As a business owner, you must master the art of defending your territory, and protecting your brand. By the way, my wife trained as a lawyer and not as a businesswoman and that probably helped her survive amidst a tough and extremely competitive environment. She said it was a struggle to position her own brand in the industry but it is harder to maintain foothold as competitors are always out to unseat you. The company has got to figure out how to secure and defend its position because both existing players and new entrants want a (big) piece of the cake- the people. Choosing and getting customers are both challenging tasks but keeping and growing them are equally, if not, even harder. And these reminds me of John Roberts who said that “if a defender can’t hang on to what it has, it loses the foundation on which to build its own growth”.
Indeed, in any business undertaking, the significance of analyzing the environment cannot be simply understated. For you to protect your battle position or basecamp, you must understand the threats, leverage on your strengths, improve on your weaknesses and seize on every opportunity to defeat the enemy. The salon thrives on its strength which is in providing the best quality of service to its clients. It willingly goes the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction knowing that it is a perishable commodity. Loyalty is difficult to build and maintain hence keeping its clients happy is on top of its priorities along with neutralizing or besting its opponents. It reaches out to its clients through traditional means and modern media. It invests on advertisements, endorsements, tie- ups and x-deals (with celebrities) to promote and solidify its brand.
However, despite its relative success, the salon has a long way to go towards its goal of becoming the local industry leader. I told my wife to adopt a “careful hurry” mode- to be aggressive yet defensive, optimistic but vigilant and most of all, to focus not only on beating the competition but also on refusing to get beaten. Now, she thinks I am a smart guy.
