I was listening to one of my favorite iTunes shows, “Help, My Business Sucks,” and its host, Andrew Lock, shared a lesson about making an impression.

Lock spoke about how he had a collection of business cards that he laid out on a table and asked, “You know what I saw? That’s right, a table full of business cards.” 

He explained that when someone asks him for a business card he gives them his book.Yes, it is more expensive, but now the people he meets take him home and they get to spend time with him through the book. Plus, because he has a book, he instantly becomes more interesting and important. 

After listening to this, within five minutes I had the concept finalized for our team book, “50 Ideas That Will Make Your Hair Better.”  

I then went to our team and asked every member to submit a minimum of five hair tips their guests could use.  In one weeks time we had nearly 100 ideas. I spent the weekend categorizing the ideas into chapters based on the ideas submitted:

Hair Color & Shine
Conditioning
Styling
Healthy Hair
Curly Hair
Volume & Body
Special Occasions
Travel Tips
Updating Your Hair
And A Bonus 20% off for New Guests

The book offers ideas and tips, and each chapter was edited to give a feeling of one voice and the booklet is written as if our team was sought out because of our talent for the tips.  

Once organized, I returned the edited booklets to the team on Tuesday, and by Friday, they read and made corrections. Then, the following Tuesday, a final edit was redistributed to the team and we were able to send it to the printer by Thursday. The following week our team had 5,000 books, 3” by 4” with 22 pages of great hair tips to hand out. We distributed initially at gyms, restaurants and community groups, and because of its format, people started grabbing them.

Now, we use them exclusively at our studios, giving them to every existing guest when they leave, in hopes of them distributing it to their friends.