At Topps Salon Day Spa, owner Suzanne Van Houten is going for a look that is "very seamless."
Clients are greeted by name and offered something to drink before their hair, skin or nails get a tuneup. A list of values -- "creativity, commitment, integrity, loyalty, trust, fun" -- is displayed throughout the small Oakland salon.
It wasn't always this way.
Just a couple of years ago, stylists would routinely arrive for work late and unprepared, Van Houten said. With clients waiting, they would rush to the bathroom to style their hair or apply makeup. Employees would set their own schedules and make other business decisions without informing her.
"My salon was run by my employees," Van Houten, 47, said. "Not by me."
Van Houten credits her salon's turnaround to UCLA. The university's business school has developed an unusual sideline: fluffing up beauty salons.
Last year, Van Houten attended a five-day program created for owners and senior managers in the beauty industry by the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
School officials developed the course after learning that salon managers worldwide share similar problems with handling employees and keeping their businesses going. Since 2005, the annual Executive Salon Management Program has drawn salon entrepreneurs from a dozen countries, including South Africa, Australia and the Netherlands.
"It was incredible -- it's probably one of the best things I've done professionally," Van Houten said. Without the program, "I don't know if I still would have my business."
Her customers have noticed the change.
"It's not just about styling people's hair; it's about approaching this as a business," said longtime client Deborah Kaplan, 57, a technology administrator with the California State University system. "People know what they're supposed to be doing. Things run smoothly."
Although there are many leadership seminars targeted toward cosmetology professionals, programs focused exclusively on the business side of managing a salon are much less common, said Alfred E. Osborne Jr., program faculty director and Anderson senior associate dean. The goal of the program is to give salon entrepreneurs an "MBA-like experience without having to go to business school," he said.
Among the challenges that participants face in their salons are inadequate marketing strategies, high staff turnover and problems managing cash flow. Many come to the program with the hope of expanding their businesses but don't know how.
