Photograph by Paul Myers
Eric Restani styles Hagit Mayo's hair at James Craig Haircolor and Design on Big Basin Way in Saratoga.
Local salon owner decided to give his business a makeover
By Rebecca Ray
Five years ago, Craig Stanley became dissatisfied with the way he was running Options, a hair salon in Saratoga. So he gutted the business operations and plans, changed the salon's name to James Craig Haircolor and Design and instituted a new system.
Since then, Stanley's business has boomed, prompting Salon Today, the industry's business trade magazine, to name James Craig one of the 200 fastest-growing salons in North America for the past four years.
Many salons in California operate under the independent system, where stylists rent their chairs and work at more than one salon at a time. But under Stanley's system, stylists and assistants work in teams. Co-owner and artistic director Robert James instructs stylists in psychology and communication skills to help them understand and respond to the needs and desires of the customer.
When Stanley replaced Tricia Hardt as owner of Options in April 1994, he continued to run the salon under the independent system. Stanley had worked as a stylist under Hardt since the mid-1980s. According to Stanley, the conglomeration of stylists with different ideas made it hard to develop a game plan.
In 1996, James, who was then Stanley's assistant, suggested that he start from the ground up and create a team-oriented environment. So Stanley, who describes himself as always being "one to reinvent the wheel," thought about what he disliked about California salons and his 18-year career. He looked at the way other salons around the country ran and developed ideas for change. He and James renamed the salon, at 14567 Big Basin Way in Plaza del Roble, and hired assisting stylists, developed their skills and provided clientele.
"We kind of blew everything up," Stanley said.
Stanley established a training program to help stylists listen better to customers, he said, because he believed that about 90 percent of clients' dissatisfaction stemmed from stylists talking, rather than listening, to them. Stanley's stylists even spend extra time working with first-time clients. During the training program, which runs five days a week, assisting stylists also learn about goal setting, personal finance and color. Stanley learned psychology, communication and business principles from Dick Corso, a business consultant from Chicago who advises various types of industries nationwide.
James Craig is team oriented because it is in a customer service industry, which requires that approach, Stanley said. Each client works with one of nine stylists and one of four assistants.
Stanley, who worked 15 years as an independent stylist before taking a vacation, also made sure his employees had benefits--retirement, health, vision, dental, sick days and vacation time. His employees get one to two weeks of paid vacation annually, depending on their longevity. After the salon's bills are paid, one-third of the profit is divided evenly between employees. All 18 staff members--stylists, assistants, three front desk workers and two owners--work 32 to 40 hours a week. Stanley practices open book management, which means at the end of each quarter, he tells workers how much money the salon made.
James Craig doesn't just operate under a "consultation" model in that stylists work on listening to customers. Stanley, who stepped away from the chair two years ago, now focuses on the business, financial, instructional and marketing aspects of the salon, and does consultation to help other salons use his system.
When Stanley took over the salon several years ago, it consisted of just the upper story. In 1999, he decided to expand by acquiring the two suites below his business. He also wanted to remodel the upstairs.
He bought the downstairs portion and moved the whole salon there. A construction crew finished remodeling the upstairs in June. Now the salon occupies both the upstairs and downstairs.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
