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A facelift for our business
Itsmybusiness.co.za - 04 September 2006

These entrepreneurs are putting their salons on the map by thinking outside the beauty box

Shelene Sher 		 
Belinda Leftwich
MOST of us go to the same hair or beauty salon because, well, they’re just around the corner – where they’ve always been – and because we’ve been going there for years. Shelene Shaer and her partner Richard Wories, owners of Tanaz Hair, Body and Nails, want to change that mindset; they want their beauty salons to become destinations. They’ve been in business for just over a decade, and today turn over about R3-million from salons in Johannesburg (two) and Cape Town, employing 30 people. It was only three years ago that Shelene and Richard decided to turn their little one-salon business into a brand, a brand that would attract customers from across Cape Town, Johannesburg and even further afield. Branding, the pair decided, was key to growing Tanaz. But building a brand costs time and money. While they were building the Tanaz brand, Shelene and Richard were trying to re-invest every bit of profit they could spare back into the business. Last year the pair (both 39) bought the house next door to Tanaz’s Johannesburg premises, upgraded the in-house coffee shop and have even added a wireless hotspot for those clients who, while relaxing, just can’t keep away from their email.
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE: Tanaz today employs 30 staff

Public relations

One of the solutions adopted by Tanaz was to hire public relations consultant Belinda Leftwich. A Johannesburg-based freelancer, Belinda doesn’t have the same overheads as bigger PR agencies, so she is able to charge less. Belinda wasn’t particularly expert in the beauty business but, she says, she was keen to learn. Shelene made Belinda an interesting barter offer: in return for PR services, Tanaz would pay Belinda with vouchers for massages and other services. Belinda says the massages help her to deal with the stress of her deadline-driven work and she can also pass the vouchers on to third parties (for example, other clients). Not all PR consultants are willing to entertain barter deals, and none of them can afford to work exclusively on this basis but Belinda says the arrangement is working for both sides. So far Belinda has earned vouchers to the value of about R4 000 – a smallish project for her.

Cash savings

For Tanaz there are several advantages; especially the fact that they don’t have to pay cash. Also, Belinda has become a brand ambassador for the business, introducing friends, colleagues and clients to the salons. Shelene has no doubt that, by thinking out of the marketing box, she has achieved a coup for Tanaz. “The kind of exposure that we have got is very difficult to quantify. But if I work on Harvard University’s principle that editorial is worth 10 times more than an advert, then we are getting great exposure for our business.”

The experts

Shelene doesn’t expect Belinda to do all the PR work for Tanaz. She has worked hard to position Tanaz among the media as the first port of call for any information related to hair. If they want a difficult or interesting question answered, they tend to phone Shelene. As a result, Tanaz gets positioned as the hair experts, and every time her name or that of her business appears in, for example, a women’s glossy magazine, the Tanaz brand rises a bit higher. Another brand-building exercise Belinda brokered for Tanaz was a sponsorship deal in terms of which staff groom presenters of the various SuperSport TV channels. This costs up to R30 000 a month in time. In return, Tanaz gets three 10-second commercials a night, seven nights a week. It doesn’t directly drive new clients through the door but it is an invaluable brand-building tool. Plus there is the fact that customers enjoy seeing TV celebrities being pampered next to them. “It makes them feel like they are in the right place,” Shelene says.