Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Chic Copps 2009/10
This is our latest series of ad campaigns which will be featured in STYLE, one of KL's top fashion magazine. We have shared the story about this collection earlier, you would see them if you scroll down further.
We like this particular one featuring Gloria Ting. All the models in this collection are very easy to work with.They are professional, ready to accept change and fun. I will definately miss Gloria and Emmeline Ng, Gloria had relocated to L.A and Emmeline is in Melbourne currently with her family.(Emmeline, are you coming back to Malaysia?)
The whole experience from conceptualising to realizing it had been a great journey.Special thanks to all the models, our photographer-Bernard Ooi of Dreamz Studio and the team at The Met KL for styling their hair.
We are currently planning color collection 2010/11....
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
You think you are just a receptionist?
This is my first attempt as a writer for this established magazine, and let me start by getting something straight - I am not aiming to be a professional writer, I just wish to share a few thoughts about my passion in this industry. In later stories, I’ll share more thoughts and tips on hair related issues, but to begin, I’d like to touch on service skills.
Let’s pretend we are all customers for a while. What do you usually see when walking by a salon? Maybe you have seen this, maybe you have not, but I would definitely like to share with you what I have experienced. A few days ago I was at a shopping mall, and walked past a reputable hair salon. As usual, I am always keen to find out if the salon is busy. I think most hairdressers do that. If they are, then we envy their success, and are curious to know how to achieve it ourselves. When they are not, then we console ourselves that they are not busy either, so it is normal. Most of the time, I tend to observe more than that, because it allows me to learn, progress and stay motivated.
Reception always gets my attention, given the prominent space.
Most salon reception areas are located at the front of the salon facing the main entrance so they are a highly visible place for everyone who walks past, regardless of whether or not they are our customers. This makes the person or persons working at the reception very important. This is because they will be the first impression a customer has when walking in, and as the saying goes, first impression are lasting, which is generally true. What I saw that day was both hilarious and appalling. Imagine the scenario - two female employees of the salon at the reception, facing the main entrance, performing a hair braiding service for another female employee! This certainly left a very lasting impression for me.
Receptionists are the ambassadors of the salon; they represent the brand and the company. They are the first point of contact for customers who walk or call in. Sometimes they are also responsible for retailing, because professional hair care products are most of the time placed at the front.
The person who is responsible to work at the area should be highly competent, able to multi task and should understand what service is all about, because it involves more than just taking appointments and settling payments for customers. They’re certainly not allowed to do hair services for fellow colleagues at the reception, whatever the situation might be!
Here are the other actions that I think should not happen at the area at all. Simple actions like reading newspapers, nail filing, chit chatting in a group, the reception area left empty, phone calls ringing more than 3 times without being answered, phone calls on hold for too long, no appropriate greetings, eating, negative body language, unfriendly tones when communicating, a lack of courtesy, not being polite, and the most importantly, the most important feature of the reception area is the SMILE. In fact, even our very own government tried to implement a smile campaign, complete with its own jingle, many years ago.
It goes like this;
A smile is quite a funny thing,
It lightens up your face,
And when you smile you will never find
A secret hiding place
For more wonderful it is
To see what smile can do
You smile at me, I’ll smile at you
And so one smile makes two
I am amazed that I still remember this jingle, but I do, because it is part of me now. I smile everyday at home, at work and at play because a smile is FREE. Just smile more and the returns will be greater than you could imagine. You will have more delighted customers, which leads to rewarding business and a richer life.
This is my first attempt as a writer for this established magazine, and let me start by getting something straight - I am not aiming to be a professional writer, I just wish to share a few thoughts about my passion in this industry. In later stories, I’ll share more thoughts and tips on hair related issues, but to begin, I’d like to touch on service skills.
Let’s pretend we are all customers for a while. What do you usually see when walking by a salon? Maybe you have seen this, maybe you have not, but I would definitely like to share with you what I have experienced. A few days ago I was at a shopping mall, and walked past a reputable hair salon. As usual, I am always keen to find out if the salon is busy. I think most hairdressers do that. If they are, then we envy their success, and are curious to know how to achieve it ourselves. When they are not, then we console ourselves that they are not busy either, so it is normal. Most of the time, I tend to observe more than that, because it allows me to learn, progress and stay motivated.
Reception always gets my attention, given the prominent space.
Most salon reception areas are located at the front of the salon facing the main entrance so they are a highly visible place for everyone who walks past, regardless of whether or not they are our customers. This makes the person or persons working at the reception very important. This is because they will be the first impression a customer has when walking in, and as the saying goes, first impression are lasting, which is generally true. What I saw that day was both hilarious and appalling. Imagine the scenario - two female employees of the salon at the reception, facing the main entrance, performing a hair braiding service for another female employee! This certainly left a very lasting impression for me.
Receptionists are the ambassadors of the salon; they represent the brand and the company. They are the first point of contact for customers who walk or call in. Sometimes they are also responsible for retailing, because professional hair care products are most of the time placed at the front.
The person who is responsible to work at the area should be highly competent, able to multi task and should understand what service is all about, because it involves more than just taking appointments and settling payments for customers. They’re certainly not allowed to do hair services for fellow colleagues at the reception, whatever the situation might be!
Here are the other actions that I think should not happen at the area at all. Simple actions like reading newspapers, nail filing, chit chatting in a group, the reception area left empty, phone calls ringing more than 3 times without being answered, phone calls on hold for too long, no appropriate greetings, eating, negative body language, unfriendly tones when communicating, a lack of courtesy, not being polite, and the most importantly, the most important feature of the reception area is the SMILE. In fact, even our very own government tried to implement a smile campaign, complete with its own jingle, many years ago.
It goes like this;
A smile is quite a funny thing,
It lightens up your face,
And when you smile you will never find
A secret hiding place
For more wonderful it is
To see what smile can do
You smile at me, I’ll smile at you
And so one smile makes two
I am amazed that I still remember this jingle, but I do, because it is part of me now. I smile everyday at home, at work and at play because a smile is FREE. Just smile more and the returns will be greater than you could imagine. You will have more delighted customers, which leads to rewarding business and a richer life.
(The above article will be featured in h4ufme, Malaysia's leading hairdressing magazine)
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