GENTS Barbers in York offer the latest styles and techniques from traditional hairdressing to skin fade barbering. And everything else you will need from a great gents barbers in York

Situated in the historic city of York we pride ourselves on great customer service with a keen eye for detail. Our fully trained staff actively participate in competitions to stretch their abilities to the maximum. So all our Gents barbers in York clients know they’re getting the best product for their money. At Barbers in York, our staff respond really well to these challenges and thrive when they push themselves this way. So we actively encourage our barbers to learn new skills and strive for new heights. Over 30 years of combined experience and training amongst our barbers.

Our salon is modern and friendly and we’ll make you feel welcome the moment you walk in our door. And once you’re a customer you won’t go anywhere else for your hair cut again. Because our ethos is to create a relaxed friendly atmosphere in the salon, without compromising on quality or service. We put you, the customer first in every aspect of what we do to give you the ultimate barber experience. So if you want completely new style or just a quick trim then call in today. Appointments aren’t always required and we’ll do our best to get you in.

The effects of the pandemic and its knock-on effect on our barber industry and general everyday life have been extensive. So I don’t want to drone on about how to survive the covid crisis, however, I feel I need to at least talk about how to get back to normal afterwards, well normal as normal can be.

Your Client service is of paramount importance as a barber 

Customers that receive great service will always return but you need to recognise what good service looks like to them. When you’re giving a great service, clients will come back to you – but you’ve got to know what great service looks like in their eyes. Every facet of what they receive matters. The customer journey has to be seamless and making them know they are important. The journey has to leave them feeling pampered and special in every sense, from walking in, to leaving your barber salon make sure they know that they count. Having this ethos can make a massive difference to each client and should be encouraged throughout your barbers and floor staff equally.

Customer feedback is crucial in your barber salon

If you have a website like ours that was built by STRAWBERRY WEB DESIGN one way they can help is by providing a customer feedback area on your website which you can incentivise by offering a discount if the client leaves feedback. Acting on this feedback is critical because listening to your customers is exactly how you can develop your business and shape the client journey to suit their barbers’ salon experience.

It’s not just about the skill of the barber – it’s the whole package that counts

Marginal gains are the key goal here, concentrating on the last five minutes of a clients time in the salon is just as important as the actual skill of the barber that performed the cut. People remember the beginning and the end of most experiences and this is true of even the smallest barbershop. The last time you visited a restaurant, you would’ve been thanked by the mater de when leaving, if you weren’t then this probably stuck in your mind. This is based on the recency effect and is a tried and tested principle recognised as an effective tool to build repeat custom.

Focus on what you do best

The best clients are those that appreciate our efforts, enjoy coming to the salon and are happy to pay full price. So concentrate on this section of your clientele, as there’s no better client than one who’s already happy so ensuring these clients are the ones you cater for will attract further clients of the same ilk. Concentrating on any other section of your clients will merely water down your service and this will in turn distract you from your core customers.

Other than small incentives to get the feedback to grow your barber salon avoid discounting, clients will pay the price if the service you provide is good, it’s that simple. Our best customers are the ones that already value what they get from the journey.

Be adaptable and resilient 

Believe in yourself and in what you do, doubting yourself only feeds into the insecurity and after all, you’re already a business owner so take stock of how far you’ve come already and build on this confidence. Always present your best self to all your clients as being in a customer-facing environment any barber salon owner can’t simply just mooch along and hope their clients won’t notice – it’s all about the service and the feeling you relay to your customers. Things can’t always be perfect but you have to acknowledge this and work with it rather than try to control everything.

Push yourself out of your comfort zone

When first starting out everything is new and outside of our comfort zone but as the norm changes and we get used to the everyday running of our barber salons there’s nothing better than challenging ourselves. Don’t just stay in your comfort zone, push your boundaries and test yourself with new experiences after all it’s all a learning curve so we may as well continue to learn.

Take on board any advice from industry authority

Somebody once told me that no one knows everything and we all learn so take advice from people in the same industry wether it’s on blog posts like this or other barber shop owners. We’re all here to make the best out of ourselves and listening to others that have already walked the road is a valuable lesson we can all adhere to. Recovering from obstacles is a great skill to learn but without help and guidance we can get lost along the way – listen to your mentors and learn from them. Most people will gladly share their experiences with you so take head and seek out these resources.

Morale in your barber salon is important within your team

Without a strong crew working alongside you, the task of running a salon is made all the harder if your salon morale is low. Your staff take the tone from you, the captain of the ship, so if your mood is low this will be mirrored by them. Pick yourself up and the crew will follow, stay down and the salon will suffer. It’s really that cut and dried.

It’s not always easy in a busy business environment to take the time, but I’m learning to notice the signs during our day-to-day work and interactions and provide feedback and support on an ongoing basis – and not leave it to team meetings or monthly reviews, as that’s too rigid and probably too late. 

Competition winning doesn’t translate into more business

Winning industry awards is all well and good and we all relish recognition in our own sector. However, this won’t lead to further business growth, it will bolster your reputation within the industry and your local standing but the rest takes hard graft to bring in the new business. Don’t rest on your laurels when it comes to awards but see them as a tool to show your team that they are achieving which will boost morale no end.

To end  

These are just a few thoughts from us here at Gents barbers in York and we wish you all the best when our salons get back to some kind of normal and if you’d like to contact us directly please click here

When looking for a new barbers what should you look for? We hear this all the time from our new clients.

In our experience over the past 15 years of building our barbers in York we’ve found one thing that really counts – service, that’s right, good service that is.

And we don’t just mean being polite and paying lip service to clients. We mean actually paying attention to what clients need and delivering that in the form of the latest hairstyles and cuts and always being ahead of our game by actually influencing the trends available to clients.

We achieve this by attending as many barber shows as is possible throughout the year and ensuring our barbers are up to speed on the latest in gents hair fashion and training them continually.

We constantly encourage our hairdressers to enter as many national and international competitions as possible ran by industry heavyweights like Wella.

This approach stands us in good stead because it keeps our hairstylists switched on and proud to be achieving at this high level, unlike competitors hair salons all our barbers are employed by us here in our York barbers and we don’t rent out chairs to self employed barbers that way we can control exactly the standard of the barber that cuts your hair.

With that in mind the next time you go to a barbers in York or anywhere for that matter just ask them if they are an employee and if they have been to any trade shows lately. You’ll find out a lot about a barbers salon just from these innocent bits of small talk.

The National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) predicts hair salon closures and massive job losses with increased mental health fallout across the hair and beauty industry if the Government doesn’t intervene with some kind of rescue package.

In the NHBF’s latest findings when carrying out a National survey conducted across hair and beauty salons and barbershops in the uk, the significant impact of the current covid restrictions on hair salons and barbers and the financial and psychological impact on hair salon owners and employees was escalating, as they see their empty salons running up massive bills as their debts escalated with no way of generating revenue.

The results will be put forward to help assist the case for more government financial help for hair salons and barbers as an industry that contributes vastly to our economy but which hasn’t up until now received any of the additional support measures offered to other sectors in the leisure and hospitality industries during the pandemic.

Some of the more arguable findings were:

• 1 in 8 hair salons and barbers were reporting redundancies were increasing by 13% as a result of the pandemic.

• with 56% not ruling out further lay offs without financial intervention when the furlough scheme ends. 1 in 9 (12%) were adamant that redundancies are inevitable

• 53% of salon owners had reduced employees hours to save costs. This rose to 61% when looking at the barbers sector alone.

• 62% were uncertain that their business would be able to last beyond the end of the financial year, with almost a third – 18% certain that business would cease completely

• 2 in 5 (38%) of hair salons were below break even In the hair salon and barbers interviewed and only 1 in 5 are simply existing just above breaking point

• Only 9% had received any financial assistance

• 96% couldn’t see themselves hiring new employees in next 3 months down over 20% industry wide compared to previous years

• 96% were unlikely to create apprenticeships despite incentives

The NHBF said, “The responses to the findings show that the future of hair salons and the barber sector has a poor outlook without financial assistance from the government.

• Without help, we will be fast entering the coming financial year with empty hair salons, significant unemployment and increasing mental health issues

As a face to face service sector, the hair salon and barber business have been affected heavily by salon closures and restrictions without the ability to adapt and generate profit through alternate means, such as online custom and the like.

With help the government can bolster current hair salons and barbers to ensure their survival during this uncertain time by increasing grants for hardship, reducing the rate of VAT and lowering business rates, extending this until further notice.

Those who have not been eligible for support previously need to also be included going forward.

The NHBF will highlight these issues faced by the hair and barbers industry and lobby to receive the help needed.

For more information and FAQs, please visit www.nhbf.co.uk/coronavirus and follow the National Hair & Beauty Federation on social at @nhbfsocial.