You crack me up! I’ve got a mental picture going… 🙂

Hey, wait a minute…

Man ‘n Beast Barber Shop

The shop is set up exactly like a kitchen; you even stand at the kitchen sink to get your hair washed. Then you sit at the kitchen table (on one of those kiddie stools), get a towel draped over your shoulders and out come the clippers and scissors. Of course, dogs are welcome to stay at your feet and when the cut is done, if Ol’ Yeller is a good boy, he gets a nice big knuckle bone right out of the refrigerator. Cool?

One of the most successful hair places in my little hometown is run by one woman who is a barber. She cuts men’s and women’s hair but doesn’t do any perms or colors – just wash, cut, style, done. Men and women both like it A LOT – no yackin’, no fumes, and no shuffling clients between other clients. Basically you’re in and out in 10 to 20 minutes depending on your hair. And she’s what you’d call a ‘precision barber.’ So, quality and no frills; she has cornered a market by knowing what the area wanted.

As far as finding stylists who only want to do men’s hair, I know several stylists personally who would appreciate doing ONLY hair cuts on men. The turn over is fast, the tipping is fast, the return is fast. Anyway, that’s what they tell me. Starting any business requires finding people who want to work your way – that’s a priceless commodity to have in any business.

Now, in Pensacola it’s all about location. To most people who live here, if there’s a Sports Cuts in west P’cola and you don’t live there, it might as well be in Mobile. I know what Nicole means; Sports Cuts just opened here if it just opened HERE – near us. Sports Cuts was smart to build a location over here as they just opened themselves up to a previously untapped clientele. Even the best business ideas won’t go very far if you can’t miss clients because of limitations like location/hours/products/service, etc. etc.

So, I see the beauty in Sports Cuts opening another location to gain more exposure and clients, niching down their focus, and offering not only clients but employees a fresh new approach to hair cuts and business. This is niching down that works.! Thanks Nicole!

Anyway, I thought this was a great example of niche marketing and knowing your target market.

Celene

Anyway thanks for the marketing lesson, Nicole. I’m a pleaser and like to have something for everyone, but I had learned to narrow it down somewhat.

I know you need to know who your customers are, but I’ve always wondered exactly how you go about finding out that information with an online business. How do I know how old they are and who they are when you don’t have real face to face contact? Sometimes you can’t even tell if they’re male or female if trying to go by their email addies. Obviously asking them on a survey is one way, but how else can you do it?

Thanks,
Peggy

Once you’ve established as an agency that its easy to to get people to talk to you about say SEO – then you’ve got a focus, and things will get easier from there in terms of defining your customers and how to communicate with them.

Your blog post was very informative. It made me realize that I need to focus more on a smaller niche and target them more specifically. Thanks for making me think a little bit more out of the box.
I’ll be seeing you occasionally and in the meantime have a great and successful 2011!

Steve

Sport Clips hasn’t been doing such a great job of marketing in that you say they “opened here in Pensecola recently.”

A salon did open recently, but they’ve had two other stores in that area for years.

As for “knocking it out of the park” more Sport Clips have closed in the state of Florida in the past couple of years than have opened. Ask the owners how much they’ve lost in this business.

Also ask the owners about “efficiency in hiring.” The flip side of your efficiency argument is trying to find stylists who only wnat to do men.