Customer Relationship Management

Last post, I talked a little about how analytics can be used to improve a barbershop’s operations and business processes. The three key areas that I mentioned were:

  • Customer Profile
  • Buyer Behavior
  • Cross-selling/Upselling

How do these three things relate to the analytics of increasing the amount of business my barber does with me? Great question!

First up is the customer profile. I expect I fit into that population of men who just want to have hair taken care of without thinking about it too much—very different from my wife who likes to go in and spend 4 hours getting the perfect new hair do “teased” out, the conversations with the hair dresser and other patrons, the fresh magazine that she takes with her to augment the experience, and the latte that they offer at the parlour… There are likely men out there who appreciate that experience as much as the ladies, but it’s kind of lost on me.

Second – the frequency that I’m a customer over the year. Men want to be taken care of, and I believe, to not think too much about hair. If you’re taking care of my hair needs, I wouldn’t notice (or care) that you’re getting me into the chair more frequently than I would if I were left to my own devices. I’d notice that I’m being well taken care of – and that would resonate with me. So, when I’m done my cut and standing at the till paying, my barber’s software should come up and suggest a time for my next appointment (typically a few days earlier that I’d come in on my own). I’ll look in my calendar; if the time works – with a click of the button, the barber’s software should send me a calendar invite so I just “accept” the new appointment. Easy peasy.

There are other buckets of typical male customers. A young single man for instance, would probably be in the bucket of responding well to a text message from his regular barber a week or a couple of days before it’s time for his next cut, suggesting a schedule opening that she’s holding for him (again, a few days earlier than he’d come in on his own). With ample personal time (no family obligations) and a need to look his best (to attract those fairer possible partners), it’s an easy effort.

Third – the up-sell. Additionally, there are a slew of new products that come available for the female market every few seconds. For men, the numbers of products (I suspect) are smaller, but new developments in hair care are released regularly. Having a stacked shelf of new and established products allows for upselling of new products or whole packages of products (which might include lotion, styling gel, shampoo and soap). Depending on the selection and price point, that shelf could have a lot of options for people like me, and also for single male customers or older customers.

In the next post we’ll delve a little into the numbers and you’ll get an idea how customer analytics are determined, and what ways we can begin to look at it.