'GURU'MER SPOTLIGHT - CETANA MAN (PART 2 OF 3)

Today’s post is the second of a three-part series documenting a recent interview of Jay Torre and Nick Finley by ManPossible (“MP”), which was conducted on 06/05/14.  Jay is the General Manager of Cetana Salon (“CS”) in San Francisco, and Nick is a Senior Stylist there.  Both have over a decade of experience working in the industry.  Cetana is an upscale salon that features Aveda products.  It’s located in San Francisco’s South Beach neighborhood, between the city’s financial district and AT&T Park.  For the purposes of this series, we have amalgamated Jay’s and Nick’s responses to our interview questions.

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Click to read Cetana Man (Part 1)


MP:  Approximately what percentage of your clientele is male?  Do you have a strategy for attracting more male clients?

CS:  Men comprise about 35% of our clients.  The industry norm for higher-end salons is 5-10%, so we do very well with men.  We make a conscious and consistent effort to attract men to Cetana.  Our initiatives include internal and outward-facing signage targeting men, and giving prominent positions on our shelves to men’s products.  Men are not an afterthought for us – they are a core part of Cetana’s clientele.

[Salon side-bar.  It was really interesting to hear Jay and Nick talk about male clients’ habits and tendencies.  We learned that men are much more cost-sensitive than women are, and tend to begin with junior-level stylists who charge much less than the senior stylists do.  No surprise here, right?  Let’s be honest – many manly men are used to paying $20, give or take, for a haircut, which is half of what even a junior stylist at a high-end salon charges. 

We also learned that when a given male client’s junior stylist graduates to a more senior (and thus pricier) level, one of two things tends to happen.  In some cases, a man who has seen the value of a better-looking and longer-lasting haircut remains loyal to his stylist and stays with him or her despite the price bump.  Other times, a male client asks to transition to a more junior stylist for budgetary reasons.]

MP:  Why are your male clients coming to you – what is their motivation for choosing a premium salon like Cetana instead of a low-cost option?

CS:  One of the most common reasons is that some clients have specific needs a barber shop or lower-end salon simply cannot meet.  For example, Asian men have thicker hair and it can be challenging to cut it well.  Or a client may want a specific type of haircut that is complicated to execute properly, and the skill set of a well-trained, experienced stylist is required.

Another reason is that a man may have gotten feedback from someone that he needs to improve or update his look.  Typically, this type of friendly advice comes from a significant other or a friend.  One variation on this reason is an even more specific motivation for a given client.  It could be incident-driven – such as wanting to look great for an important interview, or the first week on a new job.  Or it could be to try and get more dates – we have had clients who come in and say they are just tired of being single and want a haircut to help them attract that “special someone.”  And some men just love the experience of getting a haircut and all the tangential services that go along with it.

[Salon side-bar.  MP readers may remember the almost religious experience described in our posts from 04/25/14 (click to read) and 04/29/14 (click to read), chronicling a haircut at a high-end salon.]

Finally, a more straightforward reason has to do with location and demographics.  Cetana is close to a lot of start-up companies and other offices, making it a natural choice to walk to for a number of working men.

Thanks for reading, MP followers – and watch this space for the final part in this series!

by ManPossible