How an American with a hair dryer in her hands earned 20 million dollars
'20.12.2017'
Source: Forbes
Created by the 37-year-old mother of two, Drybar hairdressers provide only one service for women - hair styling. How Allie Webb made a business out of thin air ... from hot air, - says Forbes.
Eleven in the morning. Tuesday. Barber Drybar in the basement of the Manhattan hotel Le Parker Meridien. Adele is singing from the speakers, overlapping the roar of nine full-power hair dryers, with which women aged or older than 21 to 62 smooth or curl their hair. Stylists alternately turn their clients to the mirror so that they can evaluate the results.
“You look amazing,” says Drybar founder Allie Webb, a middle-aged lawyer who admires her reflection. “Great job,” Webb nods to the stylist, and she, in turn, whispers to her colleague: “Lord, how amazing she is.”
Amazingly, Webb, the 37-year-old mother of two children, managed to create a case worth $ 20 million from virtually nothing, except for hot air.
Four years ago, she was driving around Los Angeles in a used Nissan, offering her services to everyone. “I could only get a gas station or a nanny,” recalls Alli Webb.
A single salon visit costs $ 40 - this is the price of styling, without using scissors or paint, which takes 40 minutes. This is the essence of Drybar's successful business - wash your hair, put your hair beautifully and do it all in 40 minutes.
Her 41-year-old brother Michael was not sure about the success of Drybar, especially when Ally asked him for $ 250 000 to open his first showroom in Brentwood, California.
“Alli has always said that women need just such a service, that they lack it,” explains Landau, who initially served as Yahoo’s vice president of marketing and then co-founded her own marketing company.
Michael was confused: a bald man could not understand why a woman needs styling, and even more so why can't she put her hair on her own and agree to pay for it?
During the first few weeks of Drybar’s existence in Michael’s brilliant, like a mirror, everything changed. Considering the future of the enterprise, he and Webb suggested that in order to maintain the work of the salon they would have to do from 20 to 30 styling per day. However, the demand was so great that the salon was almost smashed to pieces, and even before it was opened. After emails were sent to notify Brentwood women about the opening of Drybar, thousands signed up right there.
According to Landau’s calculations, orders for six weeks in advance were made in the first five hours. He laughs, recalling this: “If we assume that the salon will now do from 20 to 30 styling, then it will be the worst day of his work.” During the first weeks they had too many visitors, there were not enough employees, Landau and Webb were afraid that their business would fall apart.
They assumed that the secretary would record by telephone, as they do in all hairdressing salons, but it turned out that the voices of the clients could not be heard because of the noise of hair dryers, and as a result dozens of orders were lost.
A few weeks later, brother and sister began to use IP-telephony and hired a secretary who took orders at home and then immediately forwarded them to the salon. This is the case today, although now the call center uses more than 50 operators accepting orders. You can make an appointment and pay for a styling on a stylish looking and simple site, already made by husband Ally Webb.
Quality of service is the most important thing. Each Drybar salon looks approximately the same: a dish with sweets and a large carafe with flavored water on the table at the reception desk, soft, warm (that is, highlighting the dignity of the clients) lighting, furniture and walls of white, light yellow and bluish-gray colors.
Clients sit facing a curved or elongated rack, with their backs turned to the mirrors, since no woman wants to look at herself until her hair is in perfect order.
Clients can listen to music (various melodies are recorded that change throughout the day so that hairdressers don't go crazy) or watch “female” films with subtitles.
What does the client get besides laying in Drybar? It all starts with a consultation at the counter, where the hairdresser asks you which of the five styling options you prefer. Each of the styling options carries the flirty names of women's favorite drinks, which is also part of marketing. Then you are led to a secluded shower in the depths of the cabin, where you wash your hair and collect hair in a bun.
“Would you like to drink (water, coffee, champagne to choose from)? Do you have any allergies to hair cosmetics? ”- they are interested in the client.
Then the barber goes to the main case. The styling starts from the front, the hair is curled into curls or stabbed at the crown, separated with a parting and spread on the shoulders, making the same final movements on both sides. Immediately before completion, remove the studs. “Are you ready?” The hairdresser asks the client and unfolds her chair. The hair is slightly adjusted and sprayed with spray.
Then another ode to marketing. “Well, really, she looks great / great / great?” - your hairdresser turns to her colleagues. Done!
