Kurt Sayce Ventures

[caption id=”attachment_227″ align=”alignleft” width=”290″ caption=”Shanika and another happy customer”][/caption]

What is a Hottie?  That is a good question.  One person’s Hotties is another person’s Nottie.  Here at Too Hotties Haircuts we will be attempting to answer that question.  This short video, which will be the first in a series, attempts to answer that question in a fun and entertaining way.  Check it out.

What is a Hottie video.

Too Hotties Haircuts is introducing online appointment booking!  Everyone these days seem to be getting busier than ever.  Many of you already utilize a calendar of some sort or another and many of you have your calendar on your computer.  In order to make things easier for you, you can now book your haircut appointment online.  Your can pick your stylist, and services and times with just a few clicks of a mouse.  We get your request and then send you back an email verifying your appointment request.  That’s it.  You show up and have a great experience at Too Hotties Haircuts.  Here is a snap shot of the home page.  ”Book your Appointment Online” is featured on the right top.

Another feature that we have added to the web site is a downloadable coupon.  You can now download a coupon book with over $50 of free and discounted services directly to your computer where you can print it out at your convenience.  What could be easier than that?  This helps our clients by saving them money and helps the stylists build their clientele faster.  Go to www.TooHottiesHaircutsVA.com and click on the “See our online coupons” in the upper left corner of the home page.

One more addition to the web site is a new photo gallery.  Click on the pictures tab and you will see a few dozen photos of the shop and some of the stylists and clients.  We are working on making some additional enhancements to the site, so stay tuned.

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Salon Directory

Get ready for winter and Holiday fun by getting yourself a head-to-toe makeover!

We proudly salute these nationally respected hair and beauty professionals for their special talents!  Now is a great time of year to get inspired with an exciting seasonal makeover, including a new cut, color, manicure, pedicure, and facial!

Too Hotties Haircuts

Gold’s Gym Plaza

7770 Richmond Hwy

Suite A,

Alexandria, VA 22306

www.TooHottiesHaircutsVA.com

At Too Hotties Haircuts, you’ll discover a new grooming escape, designed primarily for men but still offering services for women and children. They feature haircuts, color, tanning, eye brow trims, shoe shines, hot towel treatments and men’s hot lather face shaves. You’ll be able to relax and hang out with XM Radio, PS3 and XBOX games, plasma screen TV’s, a Peanut Butter and Jelly bar, a pool table and more. Ask about their Lady Killer hair care products. Their Monday Men’s Club offers a cut, style, eyebrow trim, hot towel treatment and tanning session all for only $29.95

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Here is a reprint of a recent article on Too Hotties Haircuts

Too Hotties Haircuts Celebrates Grand Opening

Kurt Sayce, Master Area Franchise Director and owner of Too Hotties Haircuts in Alexandria, announces their recent Grand Opening of their first flagship location here in Northern Virginia. While open to the entire family, Too Hotties Haircuts specializes in men’s grooming services.

Men can now receive a very complete shampoo, haircut and style with many extras like shoe shines, razor shaves tanning services and hot towel treatments. Too Hotties will also have regular weekly specials. Every week, men will be able to celebrate their complete grooming needs by joining their Monday Men’s V.I.P. Club with a haircut, style, eyebrow wax trim, a hot towel treatment, a tanning session, a shoe or boot shine plus 10% off any professional take-home retail haircare products.

Too Hotties offers Fat Tuesdays Specials with discounted men’s haircuts and styles every week. Wednesdays will be their Twofer Day where men can save by paying a discounted price for pre-paying for two haircuts while getting the second haircut at a later date. On Thursdays, Too Hotties offers a free shoe shine with any salon haircut service. On Fridays, they will help men celebrate date night, by getting a free rose and splash of cologne with any regular priced haircut. Saturday is Too Hotties Day with special discounts off all Too Hotties merchandise. Whereas most salons are closed on Sundays, Too Hotties is open for their Family Day where moms and dads will be able to get discounted kids haircuts with any parent’s regularly priced haircut and style service.

In the haircutting world, men have few options. They can go to a major haircut chain and never have the same hairstylist twice or they can make an appointment at a more traditional salon and spa, which caters primarily to women. Neither provides men with what they really need. As part of a new fast growing national salon chain, Too Hotties Haircuts provides an exciting new alternative. It was this realization that inspired three men to successfully launch Too Hotties several years ago in the Midwest. They wanted to create the ultimate barbershop for men and kids. At Too Hotties, men not only receive the best haircut from the hottest hairstylists, they can also receive neck shaves, beard trims, shoe shines and tanning sessions. It doesn’t stop there though. This is also a place where men can hang out, watch sports on wide screen plasmas, shoot pool, play video games, access the internet and enjoy an all they can eat at the free peanut butter and jelly bar.

Kurt Sayce of Too Hotties Haircuts, notes “It’s Habit Forming!” Don’t miss out on their one-of-a-kind men’s haircutting experience. You can’t beat a great haircut accompanied with a “Guys Night Out” atmosphere. Too Hotties Haircuts is unlike most any other salon you may have experienced! Open 7 days a week, Too Hotties accepts appointments and walk-ins are always welcome. Gift cards are also available online. Area franchise opportunities are now available in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.

The Too Hotties in Alexandria is located at 7770 Richmond Highway ~ Suite A in Alexandria, VA 22306 next to Gold’s Gym. For a free haircare consultation and tour, call 571-312-6007 or visit www.TooHottiesHaircutsVA.com.

571-312-6007 www.TooHottiesHaircutsVA.com 7770 Richmond Highway, Alexandria VA 22306

[caption id=”attachment_186″ align=”alignleft” width=”295″ caption=”Thanksgiving “][/caption]

Today is Thanksgiving not turkey day!  Yes, turkey is the traditional main dish on Thanksgiving, but why don’t we call Christmas “gift day”  or Easter “ham day”?  It seems to me that Thanksgiving is becoming nothing more than the date on the calendar when people can officially start to shop for Christmas.

How did we get to the point that Thanksgiving is nothing more than the start of Christmas shopping.  It seams to me that words mean things.  I never heard the term “turkey day” referred to Thanksgiving until about ten years ago.  That seems to correspond to the time when the notion of diversity and political correctness started to become mainstream.  The notion that traditions can be discarded to sanitize an event as to not to offend someone is itself offensive to the majority who cherish those traditions.  Just in case you were not paying attention during 3rd grade history here is a short time line for the origin of “Thanksgiving” courtesy of History.com.

FDR establishes modern Thanksgiving holiday

I wanted to write about the concept of value for some time. What is a good value? How do price and quality fit into the picture?

It amazes me to see how many people get so excited when they buy something on sale. It is obvious that these people perceive value as the lowest price. But doesn’t price follow quality? Doesn’t a lower price usually mean lower quality? The answer to that question is yes. Lower price usually means lower quality. The cost of a tangible product such as a car is based on the cost of the raw materials, the engineering, the labor and the advertising. All of that costs money. A $3000 car and a $30,000 car are different. One is better quality than the other. Services are the same way. Someone with more knowledge and skill will charge more and someone with less knowledge and skill should charge less. But is one a better value than the other?

It seems to me that the best definition of value is where the amount of quality received is in greater portion than the price paid. In the chart below if you pay a dollar you should receive a dollar worth of quality. The same goes for $2, $3 etc. That represents the line in the middle.

If you pay $2 for something and get $4 of quality then you have a great value. If you pay $3 for something and get only $2 of quality then that is a poor value. The yellow triangles that are above the line are a great value and the ones below the line are a poor value for what was spent.

The best value is where you are getting more quality than you are paying for. Price is only one half of the equation. Don’t get fixated on the price. Many times paying more for something is the best value because you get far more quality for the amount spent than you would buying something less expensive. It is always better to buy the best quality you can afford.

This same common sense approach applies to services as well as products. At Too Hotties Haircuts we strive to give our clients “the best haircut they have ever had” and be the best value in a men’s haircut. If you add up all of what we do in our basic cut, (before and after shampoo with a scalp massage, hot cream neck shave, cut and style) then you see why we are the best value.

Look at how you spend your money. Determine what you get from different businesses for the same service. If one company is offering much more for a little more in dollars that may be the best value if those extras mean something to you.

So don’t become fixated on price.  Keep your eye on the big picture.  Look at all the features and benefits associated with a product or service and compare that to the competition.  More often than not you will find that the best value is not the cheapest price.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten.”

Too Hotties Haircuts: Outside the box thinking!

Many people we hire are experienced stylists or are just out of cosmetology school. There are two perspectives on the expectations of what is required to be successful in the hair industry. Let’s call them inside the box as one and outside the box as the other. Inside the box thinking is what most stylists have. They know that they will have to cut hair and take care of their customers and clean up the salon. But there is so much more to being a successful stylist in the competitive environment that we exist in today. The only commonality between Too Hotties and the rest of the hair industry is that we expect our stylists to cut hair and clean up. I would dare to say that all stylists that go to work in a salon expect to cut hair and clean up. Unfortunately, in order to build a business you must do more.

The real work of being a successful stylist falls outside of the box. Too Hotties does many things that are outside the box thinking compared to a typical salon.

Here are some examples of the things that Too Hotties does that are outside the box.

Environment:

The Too Hotties waiting area is in the center of the salon inviting you in to relax and feel at home. We have massage chairs to soothe you, HD TV to stimulate you, video games to entertain you, a pool table to challenge you and a Peanut Butter and Jelly bar to satisfy you. No one else in the hair industry has this combination of extras.

Tipping:

Too Hotties creates a unique atmosphere that encourages bigger tips. Most stylists think that the size of their tip is entirely related to the quality of their service. That is true to a point. Our customers recognize the WOW factor that all the extras create and expect better service and therefore they expect to give a larger tip. We allow stylists to offer free extra services to build repeat business. This promotes bigger tips. We give them free hair cut coupons to help build their clientele. Those free haircut customers give bigger tips. Too Hotties encourages tipping by creating the monthly Big Tipper contest. Whoever gives the largest tip that month gets free haircuts for a year. The stylist gets the entire tip and cuts the customers hair, but Too Hotties pays for all of the back bar and other expenses associated with this program. That is a huge benefit to the stylist. This is an example of outside the box thinking.

Pricing:

Most salons have a menu of pricing that does not change from day to day. Too Hotties has daily specials to help the stylists plug their customers into a price and service they will be comfortable with and will come back for. No one else does that in the industry.

Marketing:

We teach our stylists about client building. We allow them to give away coupons for Free and discounted cuts to build their business. We use this as a tool for them to get new customers, plus we allow our stylists to keep all the tips on these free services. Who else does that!

When you go to a restaurant and the waiter comes over to you and offers you a free desert you appreciate it. It makes you feel special. You also reward the waiter or waitress with a bigger tip. Too Hotties encourages our stylists to give away services like Hot Towel treatments, shoe shines, tanning passes etc. to build loyalty and customer retention. This gets the customer to try them out, enjoy them and pay for them in the future. By the way, they tip bigger when they get a free service!!

Extra Services:

Tanning is available for our clients and staff. Again, this is an extra-added service that you will not find in most salons geared toward men.

At Too Hotties we expect you to cut hair and clean up. We also expect you to:

Hand our free haircut coupons

Give away free services

Educate your customers on the daily specials

Give excellent shampoos to your customers. Our standard is two shampoos for each hair cut with a scalp massage. We give a before shampoo to prep the hair for cutting and an after shampoo to get rid of clippings.

We expect our stylists to sell hair products to our customers. The job of helping your customer’s appearance doesn’t end with the cut. They need to maintain it. No one knows what is best for their customers’ hair more than their stylist.

We expect you to buy in and follow the Too Hotties system. It you do you will become a Too Hotties stylist that will make a lot of money, build a great clientele and have fun while you do it.

Do you have what it takes to be a Too Hottie? If you think you do contact me, we are always looking for good people.

[caption id=”attachment_148″ align=”alignleft” width=”295″ caption=”Boy meets Girl”][/caption]

I was asked an interesting question while sitting out side at a wine bar/cafe.  My wife and I sat down for a glass of wine and started a conversation with Emma and Jeff sitting next to us.  They own a consulting firm in Old Town Alexandria, A.  Emma asked me, what are the three most important things to know to be successful in sales.  Being the president and face of the company she is out there getting business all the time.  Coming up through the business world doing most of her business with existing customers she wanted some insights into how to me more effective at getting new business and getting through the inevitable fear of rejection that comes with the process.  That is a great question because it made me think about a few basic concepts that make you successful.

Rule #1:  Knowledge breeds confidence.

You have to know what you are talking about.  You need to study and read material related to what you are selling.  You are providing a solution to someone else’s problem.  You don’t need to know details but you need to grasp the concepts and understand how they work in order to solve your customer’s problem.  For example, I was the clothier to many successful men in my former career.  I never stitched together one piece of clothing during 20 plus years.  However, I had the ability to measure and fit my clients better than most tailors who sew them together.  I learned about postures, shoulder slope, incline etc.   I told the tailor what to do and he or she did the necessary work and I would deliver it and the customer would be thrilled.  I learned what I needed to know to talk to my customers and ask the right questions.  This gave me confidence and gave confidence to my customers also.

Rule #2:  You need to be a true believer

The height of your logic is not as important as the depth of your conviction.  People don’t make buying decisions based purely on logic.  The market place is filled with good solutions to your customer’s problems.  Selling is a transfer of emotion.  That emotion is the belief that what I have to offer you is the answer you have been looking for.  If you don’t totally believe that your product or service is the best solution for your customer, they will sense that and that will create doubt in their mind about you and your product or service.  You can only sell a product or service that you believe in.  Go back to rule #1 and learn.  This will build your belief.

Rule #3:  People don’t reject you; they reject what they believe you represent.

This is very important for you to understand in order to be successful in sales and business.  Most sales people have a hard time with rejection and the angst that comes with it.  In order for you to overcome that fear you have to keep things in perspective.  When someone says no to you, they are not rejecting you personally.  They don’t even know you and if pressed would have a hard time remembering your name a few minutes after you left.  People are wrapped up in their own problems and are in their own world.  The most important sound to another person is that of his or her own name.  They are not interested in you.  It is your job as a sales person to have enough courage to approach new prospects with confidence and ask them for their time.  In exchange for their time you will bring your talent, energy and experience to the table to help them solve a problem.  In the clothing business I would sit down with prospects all the time that were very satisfied with their current clothier.  After taking time to ask questions about their life style and work style, I would discover areas of their wardrobe that were not being addressed.   I would bring these to their attention.  All of sudden, they now had a potential problem that needed to be dealt with.  Now they are wondering why their current clothier never brought this to their attention.  It could be a simple fit problem or an event that needed something special.  Either way, my stature just went up with this person.  I am now the expert in their eyes and will give me a shot at their business.  I never would promise something that I could not deliver.  Know what you can and can’t do!!  Remember, in the business world, people never reject you personally; they reject what they think you represent.

Rule #4:  Operate on a structured schedule

All people that I know that are successful follow a routine.  They have work out routines, prospecting routines, planning routines, etc…  They form the habit of following a schedule.  Many people have the mistaken belief that a structured schedule stifles creativity.  That is not true.  Structure allows your mind to use its potential.  This frees up their mind to be more productive.  You brain uses energy to get things done.  It you don’t follow a schedule then you mind is using a lot of brain power to try to figure out what to do next rather than doing what needs to get done.  So follow a schedule of prospecting, and stick with it no matter what.

Thanks Emma for the question.  That was four things not three.  There are many more, but these are basic principles that if followed will help you build a successful business and a better life.

In my years in business I have heard it said that people are our greatest asset.  Have you heard that one before?  How is it then, as soon as things slow down the first thing to go is the people?

If you are in a business that interacts with customers then you have to work with people.  Even if you have an Internet business, people are the ones buying you product.  If you are in a service business then not only do you have to deal with people who are your customers you now have to work with your staff, which are made up of people.  So no matter where you go in business you are going to have to learn how to deal with people.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see business owners make is to fail to recognize that they cannot hire the finished product.  You cannot hire the employee who is mature, motivated, and knows what to do, how to do it and when to do it!  Sorry, I wish it was different, but it is not.  The only thing that you can do is hire people who have character, talent and hopefully ambition.

When I was in the clothing business, I dealt with high-level executives, small business owners, sales people, administrative people, tailors, and factory workers.  In order to succeed I had to learn how to work with all types of people from all different backgrounds.  In the beginning of my career I really did not care about the people I worked with.  I was just interested in doing my job and making a living.  The problem was that I had a lot of turnover on my sales team.  The reason was not that I was not good at my job, but that I was not good at building relationships with my sales team and staff.  I had an attitude of “I am paying you well, so do you job or you are out of here”.  That just doesn’t work.

People want to know that they belong, that you care and that what they do makes a difference.

The problem is that most people are not motivated by money.  If they were the more you paid them the more motivated they would be.  I know that sounds strange, but it is true.  Think about yourself.  Are you motivated by how big you bank account is or by what you can do and where you can go with that big bank account?  People are not motivated by money; they are motivated by what they can do with the money.

You job as a business owner is to help develop people’s innate abilities, their goals and to give them a vision of something bigger than themselves.  How can you do that?  First, you have to learn to do it yourself.

You can’t teach what you don’t know and you can’t lead where you won’t go.

You have to develop yourself first.  You need to have a vision, goals, good work habits, etc… before you can develop others.

Start with this basic principle.  The only thing that changes you are the books you read and the people you associate with. So start reading.  If I had to choose one book I would start with Steven Covey’s “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.   Start communicating with people that you think are successful.  If you can emulate their thinking then you can duplicate their results.  Don’t just look at what they do.  Find out how they think.

Follow these principles and you will be well on you way to a more fulfilling and successful career.