Washington Post - Bella Bethesda Salon

“I have done well in the salon industry because as a
teacher, you have to manage people,” she said. “In a salon,
the students are my employees and the clients are like the
parents.”
She guided me on a tour of her 3,000-square-foot secondfloor
shop overlooking downtown Bethesda. She escorted
me around the 16 hair stations, showed me her colorcoded
computerized log listing 147 appointments that day,
introduced me to her hairstylist sister, Lindsey Dabney
Cabrera, then bid me adieu with a firm handshake.
It seems to be working.
The six-year-old salon just about broke even in 2012 with
gross revenue of $2.4 million — $2.1 million of which came
from hair styling and the rest from sales of products such as
conditioners, gels and shampoos. Bella Bethesda is on track
for $2.6 million this year.
“We want to do $3 million,” said Ramirez, 37. Rent eats
about $13,000 a month. There are 28 employees, not
including Ramirez, with a payroll that reaches $55,000
every two weeks.
This started off as a Mother’s Day column on two working moms who happen to be
sisters who own a Bethesda salon. But it took a sharp turn once I met Stacy Dabney
Ramirez and got a sense of her fanatical attention to detail.
You notice it as soon as you step off the elevator at Bella Bethesda. There’s a pampered
feeling about the place, with high-end tea bags from Tea Forte and the fancy Keurig
coffee machine that dispenses Nantucket medium roast. Frozen fruit will keep your
ice water cold in the summer. There’s the granite counter top at the front desk. There
are Q-tips and hand lotion in the spotless restroom. There’s even reading glasses you
can borrow to peruse the latest Vogue while you get your scalp massaged.
“Presentation is your first impression,” said Stacy, the mother of a 3-year-old and
a 5-month-old. “I care about how the sugar is put in the jar. I care about what the
bathrooms look like. I care about how things are placed on the shelves. I try to
remember people’s names when they come in.”
That last one is no easy task; her business logged 24,000 appointments last year.
When I stopped at her Bella Bethesda salon last week, Stacy was politely and firmly
instructing the three staffers assembled at the front counter — just like she did when
she was teaching fourth-graders.
The cost of a haircut averages $60, though the average
receipt is $93 because of extra services such as coloring or
highlighting.
Ramirez spends about 11 percent of revenue on apprentices,
assistants and managers, which she says is double the
industry standard, because she wants a high level of service.
“When asked why clients choose a certain salon, the top
reasons have nothing to do with their haircut,” Ramirez said.
“It is 90 percent customer service and 10 percent technical.
So we are invested in the customer service, although I don’t
overlook the technical.”
When you call the salon, for example, the receptionists have
a personalized greeting in which they identify themselves
by name.
The result is a 51 percent retention rate after the first
customer visit, she said. That number gradually declines
for repeated visits as customers move away or switch to a
competitor.

customer visit, she said. That number gradually declines
for repeated visits as customers move away or switch to a
competitor.
I don’t have much hair to cut, but I spend about $85 a
month, tips included, at a downtown D.C. salon because
it’s close, the receptionist answers the phone fast, it
accommodates me on short notice, I receive prompt,
polite service. Of course, I like the haircut, too.
I have always wondered about the economics of hair
salons, and Stacy filled me in on her place: the hairstylist
and salon split the revenue from each haircut 50-50. They
can run from $16 for a child’s haircut to $700 for a fivehour,
Japanese “straightening” session.
A stylist with a good clientele can earn $100,000 to
$120,000, including tips, in a good year.
Assistants who help manage the salon are paid by the
hour. Ramirez paid herself about $60,000 last year, while
her sister Lindsey earned about $110,000 styling hair.
The company has no debt, so if the sisters can increase
revenue, they might be able to start taking some serious
profit.
Like all smart business owners, one of the sisters is on
the premises nearly every day. Ramirez, who lives in
Howard County, works remotely from home Tuesdays
and Thursdays so she can be with her children. She is at
the salon the rest of the week, including Saturdays, as well
as two Sundays a month. If that’s not enough, she also
helps her husband manage a successful summer day camp
called Outrageous Occasions.
The sisters grew up in Montgomery County in a family
of six children. Lindsey pursued a cosmetology career.
Stacy graduated from a small college in Ohio in 1999 and
became a fourth-grade teacher.
She eventually worked in Montgomery County schools,
where she became frustrated earning a fraction of what
her sister was making as a hairstylist.
A local salon owner who knew Lindsey suggested they
start a salon together. Lindsey’s clientele and reputation
would bring in the clients. Stacy would handle the
business side.
Ramirez said the vast majority of salons lose money. About
15 percent break even and only 5 percent are profitable.
She was determined to be in the 5 percent.
She wanted to create a customer-oriented culture with
good service, a clean shop and communication with the
clients. Where possible, she would train their hair stylists
organically, starting them as shampooists and then, with
Lindsey’s help, turning them into stylists who bought into
the customer-is-first concept.
“Most hair stylists think they can own their own business,”
Ramirez said. “But many stylists need help on the business
side. That’s why Lindsey and I make a great team. Her
strength is hair. My strength is managing and customer
service. I have tried to create that culture.”
To appeal to the widest audience, Bella Bethesda decided to
be open every day, all day and hire stylists at different points
in their career, so that the salon could accommodate many
budgets.
The sisters also became promoters. They grabbed a blender,
stood on the corner outside and gave ice coffee away to
passersby, urging them to take the elevator to the second
floor and try them out. The sisters joined the Bethesda/
Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce and various network
groups. They talked to everyone they could, trying to get
their story out. They spent $10,000 from savings to build a
Web site.
They built their business, brick by brick. Ramirez would
spend hours with her staff, keeping track of their clients,
advising them on tricks of the trade such as sending
handwritten thank-you notes, tossing in a $5 Starbucks gift
card.
Ramirez knew they were on the right track one Saturday
when the place was so crowded that she had to grab chairs
from the break room to accommodate guests waiting for
their appointment.
The sisters eventually bought out their investor and now
own the salon outright. The only stumble so far was an
embarrassing $30,000 tax bill, which resulted when the
accountant who handled their payroll taxes died suddenly.
Ramirez said Bella Bethesda is one of the top-grossing hair
salons in the country. About 80 percent of the customers are
women.
Formal occasions like weddings, proms and graduations
bring in a lot of business. To keep the business sharp, she and
Lindsey invested $3,000 in a four-day conference in Tampa
on the salon business.
“Finding time to do everything is the hardest part,” said
Ramirez, who gets up at 6:30 every day. Her head hits the
pillow at 11:30 p.m.
Before she had children, “I didn’t understand why everybody
didn’t work as hard as me.”
Now she gets it.