Kids Entertainment Salon Franchise Taps Growing Children's Sector in $5 Billion Hair Service Retail Industry

76 Smart Tech Solutions (part II)
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NATICK, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Haircutting has gone the way of pediatric dentistry, children's clothing retailers and indoor fitness centers - to the kids - and the money has followed.

Gone are the days when parents have to shell out adult-prices for little Johnny's first trim at grandpa's barber. Offering a no tears and a great fun alternative, privately-held Snip-its (www.snipits.com) is leading a newly recognized and lucrative sector of the hair care market with a children's focused franchise concept that just marked its 52nd store opening in Cortlandt, New York. Its 67 percent growth in 2006 has set the pace for 2007: already 20 new franchise commitments in 13 states are in place across the US and more are expected. Even movie studios, such as the Weinstein Company, have found Snip-its a powerful partner for coifing the youth market. The companies recently partnered on a cross promotion to push the Weinstein's film, Arthur and the Invisibles. Movie sets are actually familiar territory to Founder Joanna Meiseles - her father was famed producer Robert F. Blumofe, credited with Yours, Mine and Ours and she's also the granddaughter of comic legend Jack Benny.

"For parents and children, visiting a Snip-its is unlike any other salon experience," said Meiseles, Snip-its president and mother of four, who founded the company in 1995. "It's a welcoming, uniquely sunny destination for kids who look forward to coming back because it's like being inside a Saturday morning cartoon."

Meiseles attributes the salon's distinctive concept to its endless entertaining fun with propietary wholesome singing characters, bright primary colors, plus animated gadgets and computer games. The salons are designed for children and geared for happy results.

"Children leave smiling with a picture-ready haircut," said Meiseles. "Our services don't stop at a trim either. Snip-its makes grooming enjoyable with fun mini spa treatments, birthday celebrations and even 'Glamour parties' where children receive a full celebrity-style pampering, from hair-dos and make-up to dress-up and fingernail polishing."

Snip-its Listed as Top Franchise Opportunity

Snip-its' franchise growth strategy has hinged on the swell of parents nationwide for whom discretionary income is strong enough to secure the best experiences for their children. It also reflects the increasing impact of entrepreneurial moms who are creating successful business ventures that fit with their lifestyles and personal experiences. With a low cost, convenient service and an initial investment of approximately $210,000 that generates high returns, Snip-its' success has spawned would-be competitors.

"In developing Snip-its, I took all of my personal worst customer experiences with my kids and created solutions to prevent them," said Meiseles. "I wanted a place where kids could feel happy and comfortable, where strollers and baby gear weren't a problem and stylists really understood the trepidation of the youngest of clients. My father loved Snip-its and told me just like a Hollywood producer, I can make anything happen. Snip-its has become my Academy Award winning production."

Meiseles Offers These Lessons to Entrepreneurs

1. Brand Your Product. Brand loyalty starts at a young age and the larger-than-life Snip-its cartoon characters are the equity. Meiseles' Snips and his hair care friends (Curly Comb, Flyer Joe Dryer and the Clip-ette Sisters) help associate the brand with grooming. The characters appear in the salon interior, in videos and games, on products and in the waiting area. Soon Snip-its will launch its own book club.

2. Understand Your Customer Needs. Children feel more comfortable with their parents beside them. At Snip-its, each styling station has a cushy parent's chair next to the child to ease all involved in the cut from the little customers to the stylists.

3. Provide Incentives So Customers Return. At the conclusion of each haircut, children receive a prize from the "Magic Box" in exchange for a lock of hair and loyalty card customers are awarded a 9th haircut for free.

4. Apply Customer Service Principles. Customer's brand perceptions are shaped by every interaction with a company from the front desk to the website. As Meiseles knows first hand, "Customers return if treated right." Snip-its fine tunes processes that don't work and trains its franchisees to reflect its founding principles: quality haircuts, positive interactions and sanitation.

5. Bring the Experience Home. Snip-its offers a line of self branded all-natural, tear-free shampoos, body washes, styling products and brushes that kids can call their very own. The cleverly packaged product line outsells early forecasts at more than 1,000 bottles per week, sold at salons and online.

6. You Can't Be All Things To All People. Stick to your core product and focus on one or two items that your company does very well. Don't compromise your quality or the brand. For example, Snip-its only cuts children's hair, not adults.

7. Become an Expert. With blogging in vogue, Meiseles recently launched a blog to share her challenges and rewards of being a working mom and an entrepreneur. The Great Working Mom Adventure can be found at: http://greatworkingmomadventure.blogspot.com.

"Our best customers are kids and parents who love the Snip-its experience and share information with friends" said Meiseles. "Originally, I just wanted to solve a tedious customer service problem of salons not catering to children. Now, my goal is to build the brand and make visits to Snip-its one of the most positive experiences in a child's life."

The Snip-its Corporation is based in Natick, Massachusetts and is the fastest growing franchise of children's hair salons in the United States. The salons are designed to untangle the hair-care challenges of children and their parents. Founded by Joanna Meiseles after a heartbreaking salon experience with her then young son, she discovered a business opportunity for salons to cater to children and offer a unique entertaining experience. Today, the company has salons in more than 21 states and provides cuts for nearly one million children annually. For more information, visit www.snipits.com or call 877-SNIP-ITS.

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Getting on Board With Online Meetings

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During the course of doing business, there will come a time when you need to meet with customers, employees, partners or advisors but don't have the time or resources to meet with them face to face.

Your schedule is already jam packed—do you really have time for a meeting with your sales rep in Nebraska? Or time to stop in on a client in Boston? What about meeting with a potential partner or investor from Seattle who needs to talk with you in the next week? And that doesn't even take into account your routine business operations and the day-to-day aspects of working with your customers and employees.

So what's a smart business owner to do? Here's one solution: Consider setting up your office (mobile or otherwise) for remote online meetings. Although online meetings may never take the place of a firm handshake and face-to-face eye contact, they're a good substitute, especially if you and the other party are technically and psychologically ready for it.

Two weeks ago, I lead an online meeting about e-mail marketing. I was near New York City, the moderator was in Australia, and the participants, about 15 of them, were scattered throughout the United States. With the service we were using, they were able to see the presentation (and whatever else I put on the screen), use instant messaging to chat with me, and use their computer’s microphone, if they had one, to talk to me--and I could talk back. For all of us involved, it was a very productive time.

Getting Started
Before considering any of the available options, the key is to make sure you have a fast internet connection. If your connection is slow or frequently drops, your online meeting experience won’t be that good.

There are many companies that provide online meeting services (also known as web conferencing), and they all work in a similar fashion. After choosing a vendor, you sign up for the service online, then download the web conferencing software. This software will enable you to manage the entire meeting, see who’s online and manage polling, and provides other features that vary depending on the service used, such as allowing you to have audio or video conversations with your participants. You’ll also be able to share your desktop and applications with meeting participants so you can conduct demonstrations, show presentations, conduct sales or product training sessions and more.

The number of people you choose to have in your audience depends entirely on your budget. You should expect to pay $100 and up for five to 10 users. (Your participants pay nothing to view your web conference.) Prices vary considerably from service to service, so if price is a concern for you, be sure to shop around.

In order to verbally communicate with your conference participants, you have two options, depending on the online meeting service provider you've selected. Participants can either dial in to a telephone conference number or be connected via the internet. If they're dialing in, they'll have to pay toll charges, or you'll be paying per-minute charges if you decide to use a toll-free number. Connecting through the internet will either be free or very low cost.

If you want to enable video, you’ll have to have a "web cam" that connects to your computer. Fortunately, these are relatively inexpensive, running as little as $50 you’re your local computer or technology retailer.

You’ll never know the benefit and value of something until you try it. Since most web conferencing services offer a free trial, there’s no excuse not to test it out by conducting a web conference with one or two of your employees. Then, once you're familiar with it, consider using it for real. And the next time you think about declining a meeting half way cross town or half way round the world because of a tight schedule or budget, don't: You now have another option.

Ramon Ray is Entrepreneur.com's "Tech Basics" columnist and editor of Smallbiztechnology.com. He's the author ofTechnology Solutions for Growing Businesses and currently serves on the board of directors and the technology committee for the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

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