{"id":89335,"date":"2014-01-26T19:21:22","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T03:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/HeartOfTheCustomer\/~3\/YopSElRNkC8\/"},"modified":"2014-01-26T19:22:18","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T03:22:18","slug":"customer-experience-drives-37-consecutive-quarters-of-same-salon-growth-an-interview-with-rhoda-olsen-ceo-of-great-clips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/customer-experience-drives-37-consecutive-quarters-of-same-salon-growth-an-interview-with-rhoda-olsen-ceo-of-great-clips\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Experience Drives 37 Consecutive Quarters of Same-Salon Growth \u2013 an Interview with Rhoda Olsen, CEO of Great Clips"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Aiming-for-the-Heart-of-their-Customers.png\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1745\" alt=\"Aiming for the Heart of their Customers\" src=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Aiming-for-the-Heart-of-their-Customers-300x94.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"94\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\r\n<p>This is the fourth in our Aiming for the Hearts of their Customers interview series, with seven Minnesota customer experience leaders sharing their strategy for the coming year. You can see all of the interviews here:<\/p>\r\n<ul><li><a title=\"Permanent link to Setting the Customer Experience Stage \u2013 Interview with Dave Kirsch, CEO of Shipper\u2019s Supply\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/interview-dave-kirsch-ceo-shippers-supply\/\"  rel=\"bookmark\">Setting the Customer Experience Stage \u2013 Interview with Dave Kirsch, CEO of Shipper\u2019s Supply<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a title=\"Permanent link to Creating a Customer Experience Capability \u2013 Interview with Mara Bain, Chief Experience Officer, Western National Insurance\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/mara-bain-western-national-insurance\/\"  rel=\"bookmark\">Creating a Customer Experience Capability \u2013 Interview with Mara Bain, Chief Experience Officer, Western National Insurance<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a class=\"c1\" title=\"Permanent link to Serving Diverse Customers \u2013 an Interview with Ghita Worcester, Senior Vice-President of Public Affairs and Marketing, UCare\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/ghita-worcester-senior-vice-president-public-affairs-marketing-ucare\/\"  rel=\"bookmark\">Serving Diverse Customers \u2013 an Interview with Ghita Worcester, Senior Vice-President of Public Affairs and Marketing, UCare<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a title=\"Permanent link to Creating a great customer experience for agents AND consumers \u2013 an interview with Lisa Hoene, VP of Brand and Marketing Services, Allianz Life\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/lisa-hoene-allianz\/\"  rel=\"bookmark\">Creating a great customer experience for agents AND consumers \u2013 an interview with Lisa Hoene, VP of Brand and Marketing Services, Allianz Life<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a title=\"Permanent link to Customer Experience is a Partnership \u2013 Interview with Robin Schribman, VP of Customer Insight and Customer Experience, Thomson Reuters\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/customer-experience-partnership-interview-robin-schribman-vp-customer-insight-customer-experience-thomson-reuters\/\"  rel=\"bookmark\">Customer Experience is a Partnership \u2013 Interview with Robin Schribman, VP of Customer Insight and Customer Experience, Thomson Reuters<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a title=\"Permanent link to Driving a Customer Experience Culture Change \u2013 Interview with Ingrid Lindberg, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Prime Therapeutics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/driving-customer-experience-culture-change-interview-ingrid-lindberg-chief-customer-experience-officer-prime-therapeutics\/\"  rel=\"bookmark\">Driving a Customer Experience Culture Change \u2013 Interview with Ingrid Lindberg, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Prime Therapeutics<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul><h2>Overview<\/h2>\r\n<p>I originally interviewed Rhoda Olsen to learn more about her customer experience efforts in 2011. You can read that interview <a href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/great-clips\" >here<\/a>. At that point Great Clips had experienced 30 consecutive quarters of same-salon growth. That record has now been extended to 37, and the company has grown to over $1 billion in revenue.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Defining Customer Experience<\/h2>\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/OlsenRhoda1-2013.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1742 alignright\" alt=\"Rhoda Olsen, CEO of Great Clips\" src=\"http:\/\/www.heartofthecustomer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/OlsenRhoda1-2013-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>Unlike some franchisors, Great Clips defines their customer as the end consumer, not the franchisee. CEO Rhoda Olsen explains, \u201cWe believe that if we don\u2019t stay focused on that customer in the salon, the franchisee will not be successful. We define the customer experience from the time they check into the online app or walk in the door to the time they leave. Everything that happens in the wait time and what happens when they leave is part of the customer experience. The interaction with the stylist is their primary brand driver, but if somebody waited 45 minutes and been treated poorly, the stylist has to dig herself out of a hole.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><span id=\"more-1822\"><\/span>Great Clips does not have a specific customer experience group. \u201cThe entire organization is responsible for helping to drive a consistent customer experience.\u201d Rhoda showed a Brand Delivery Document that defines their customer experience. \u201cEvery one of our executives \u2013 marketing, operations, education, even real estate, will always have this with them. Great Clips, the franchisee, down to the individual in the salon, all need to have a commitment to customer experience that defines the brand in meaningful ways for the customer. You can look at the rational items, like price and location, but really what connects customers is the emotional feelings they get in the salon throughout the customer experience. This is really focused on the feelings of comfort, freedom and connection,\u201d Great Clips\u2019 three brand pillars.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Measuring Customer Experience<\/h2>\r\n<p>The company does not rely on surveys. Instead, Great Clips\u2019 Brand Delivery Document includes a scorecard with customer-focused measurements that tell them if they\u2019re accomplishing their goals. \u201cWe define the customer experience emotionally and confirm it rationally,\u201d Rhoda explains.<\/p>\r\n<p>There are very few businesses where you physically touch your customers, which is what makes the emotional link even more important than in some other businesses. \u201cOur customers want to look better and feel better without spending too much time or money.\u201d Their metrics \u2013 items like wait time and repeat customers \u2013 helps the company understand how their franchises are delivering against those goals.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Bringing the Customer to Life for the Corporate Employees<\/h2>\r\n<p>In my previous interview I outlined Rhoda\u2019s incredible salon visit schedule, going to 500 salons in one year. In that interview she reflected on the challenge of getting the rest of her senior staff out of the office and into the field. In reaction, her business services team creating Salon Immersion Days. \u201cAll of our staff go into the field and fully immerse themselves in a salon for a couple of days. They act as the receptionist. They\u2019re on the floor. That\u2019s a key part of the business that we really need to understand.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>They have also broadened their focus groups participation to get as many as possible to observe. As Rhoda explains, \u201cThat\u2019s a way that people can listen to customers, get a sense of them. It\u2019s almost a more intimate way of learning than being in the salon, because you\u2019re hearing their preferences, their experience, those kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<h2>Creating a Customer-Focused Culture<\/h2>\r\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t go into any meeting anywhere without viewing this information,\u201d Rhoda explains, showing the Brand Delivery Document and customer scorecard. \u201cAll our manager and franchisee recognition is focused around this information, which tells us if we\u2019re treating the customer well. We have great data to let us know whether the customer is coming back, how long they waited, whether or not we\u2019re staffed appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThe way you create a customer-focused culture is to make sure you\u2019re treating your stylist right.\u201d In the old days of overhead projectors, Rhoda used to begin meetings with a 3-line slide:<\/p>\r\n<ul><li>Treat your employees well<\/li>\r\n<li>Treat your customers well<\/li>\r\n<li>Then count your money<\/li>\r\n<\/ul><p>And do it in that order. \u201cThere is no way we have a franchisee who is successful without creating an incredible connection with their staff.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<h2>Planning for 2014<\/h2>\r\n<p>Rhoda was able to share three 2014 initiatives related to the customer experience. One is to build a global customer database. When one of your value propositions is to get a great haircut no matter which location you visit, having ready information on a customer and their preferences is critical.<\/p>\r\n<p>The second initiative is to deploy additional iPads into salons to assist with checking customers in and out, and the third was to better integrate promotions into their social media channels and their app. This will allow them to react to local conditions. For example, if it\u2019s a rainy day and business is slow, they will be able to identify customers who are due for their haircut and offer a promotion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the fourth in our Aiming for the Hearts of their Customers interview series, with seven Minnesota customer experience leaders sharing their strategy for the coming year. You can see all of the interviews here: Setting the Customer Experience Stage \u2013 Interview with Dave Kirsch, CEO of Shipper\u2019s Supply Creating a Customer Experience Capability [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7586,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[128,84],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}