April 30, 2025 • 33 mins
The Headliner for Meevo Live is John Dijulius and tickets are available at Meevo.com/meevo-live
Ever wondered how a teenager with braces transformed the beauty industry through technology? This enlightening conversation with John Harms, founder of Meevo (Millennium Evolution) software, reveals the fascinating journey from a simple college-funding project to creating the most awarded salon management system in industry history.
John shares captivating stories from his early days working behind a salon front desk, where real-world challenges—like accidentally revealing a husband's surprise gift card—inspired innovative software solutions. His unique approach of listening deeply to stylists' needs led to groundbreaking features like segmented appointment booking that revolutionized how salons operate.
The discussion dives into powerful yet underutilized features that can dramatically impact your salon's performance. John explains how the Sales Ranking tool provides unprecedented visibility into staff performance across key metrics, allowing owners to identify coaching opportunities and drive growth. He reveals that most users access less than 25% of Meevo's capabilities, representing enormous untapped potential for businesses.
Looking toward the future, John shares exciting developments in AI technology that will transform client experiences. Imagine a system that automatically identifies when a client's package is expiring or when they've accumulated enough loyalty points for a free service, all presented to your front desk staff at exactly the right moment to enhance the client relationship.
For salon owners feeling overwhelmed by technology, John offers practical wisdom: take time to explore what your current software can actually do, and consider summer as the ideal time to transition systems if needed. His passion for helping beauty professionals succeed shines throughout the conversation, reminding us that when you build the right systems around your team and clients, growth truly becomes inevitable.
Ready to transform your salon business through technology? Join us at Meevo Live in Nashville this September to connec
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Salon Success Secrets Podcast.
We are so excited today becausewe have a legend on the call.
But before we jump into whothis legend is, I want to take
you back to the year 2006.
So if you can imagine the year2006, I had just purchased the
salon company from mygrandmother you know I'm
(00:26):
learning all the ins and outsand she was still doing
everything by hand.
So appointment book by hand,cash register, the credit card,
what was the thing you had toslide it across?
Can you remember what that wascalled?
We still did that.
Everything was by hand.
And so I knew in that moment Iwas like man, I'm not super tech
savvy, but this seems like alot of extra work.
Knew in that moment I was likeman, I'm not super tech savvy,
but this seems like a lot ofextra work.
(00:47):
So in that moment, you know, Idid a little research and I
found a software and honestly, Idon't even remember.
I think the software might'vebeen called Advantage and you
know it worked for us for maybelike two or three years.
The most it could do was takeappointments and pull maybe a
service report for total salesand a retail report for total
(01:08):
sales, but it didn't have a lotof bells and whistles, and so,
as we grew as a salon fastforward maybe three to four
years I knew that that softwarewas no longer working for us.
And that's when I discoveredMillennium Software.
And you know, I remember, likea new kid at Christmas, when we
first got it, I was like, wow,this has a lot of bells and
(01:28):
whistles, I don't even knowwhere to start, but it was such
an incredible software where westarted getting the reports we
needed.
Our salon companies startedgrowing more because we were
able to really collect the datawe needed.
The marketing aspect of it wasjust like a really incredible
tool that helped our salon grow.
And I even remember, like backduring COVID 2019, 2020, with a
(01:53):
mentor that we used to work with.
They're like yeah, this is thetime you have time, salon owners
, let's change our software.
You know, go out there, explore, look at all the softwares.
And I remember like, like, okay, maybe I should do that.
And so I remember going downthis rabbit hole, rabbit hole of
looking at other salonsoftwares.
And you know what?
There was a part of me that waslike nobody out beats me,
(02:14):
though.
Like they're reporting their,their marketing, the way they do
their appointment book like,and so you know, if you've ever
had a mentor that created chaosin your life, I feel like that's
what was happening in mine atthe time, but in that moment I
knew I had to stick with Mevoand we did so.
We've been a client of Mevo'snow for gosh, I don't even know
14, 15 years, and you knowthere's one thing about Mevo
(02:38):
that I love is that one of thefounders or one of the legends
of Mevo, john Harms, who's onthis podcast today.
You know, the one thing aboutMevo is John is so active in his
communities and his Facebookgroups.
You know he's always givensuggestions and ideas and you
know I think that is somethingthat no other salon software
does.
So we are so excited to welcomeJohn to our podcast and really
(03:04):
dive in and uncover, like, howcan Mevo or, you know, how can
we make our industry better alltogether?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I'm excited to be here.
That's a great story.
There was a lot of switching ofsoftware during COVID, for sure
, and it definitely to ouradvantage.
We had a really good year.
And the thing is I started thiscompany when I was 17 years old
(03:33):
.
So I had spiked hair, a lotmore hair, spiked braces, and I
needed money for college.
And there was a local salon andmy sister was a stylist and I
said, oh well, how long couldthat take?
So I made a deal with the salonowner that if she paid for my
college one semester of mycollege, she would get the
software and she would never payfor updates.
I think she had the softwarefor about 25 years, so it worked
out for her well and I wouldjust go in there and learn.
(03:57):
I just sit behind that desk andI think you know I went from
saying, oh, I could write thisin six months to realizing how
complex the beauty industry was,how complex the salon industry
was, and I just totally fell inlove with it.
I'm like, wow, the intricacies.
And I could come up with somany little stories of what I
learned behind the front desk.
(04:17):
And I'll give you one quick one.
You know I was behind the frontdesk and a lady came in and she
went to pay and they're likewould you like to use your gift
card?
She's like I don't have a giftcard.
No, you have a gift card, $200gift card.
No, I don't have a gift card.
Do you know, tom, that's myhusband.
Oh well, tom purchased that foryou, you know, three weeks ago.
And she's like oh, mybirthday's tomorrow.
And I was like, oh my God.
(04:51):
So we were the first ones in theindustry and this is like 1997,
where I added a valid from ongift card, so that.
But guess what, unless you'rein the grind and you're doing
those things, you don't learnthe things that I learned.
And so I'm very grateful forall the thousands of salons I've
been into and you know whatI've learned and what I've been
able to bring to the industry bydoing it firsthand, not some
little geeky programmer in thecorner, although I was really
good.
I've got really smart peopledoing that, but I lead the, I
(05:15):
work very strongly with theproduct development department
and programming and, as youmentioned, jen and Lindsay
support.
I mean I answer as manyquestions as my employees do on
the community site and itbecomes a challenge and it's fun
.
I beat John to an answer, youknow, or I'm like wow, I got it
right, I got it wrong, so Istill love it.
(05:35):
It's been 38 years.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
That's incredible, you know.
That's super fun that you spentsome time behind the front desk
.
That's actually how I gotstarted in the industry as well,
john.
I think you know just seeingthat aspect of it obviously has
helped you to, you know, createan incredible software.
And so when you first startedin the industry, what problems
(06:01):
were you most passionate about?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
solving for salon owners?
Great question, and this wouldbe so shocking to everybody
watching this.
In the early 90s, nobody andwhen I say nobody, nobody wanted
to use a digitized computerappointment book.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
They were fine to ring up sales.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
They were put formulas in, they would do, you
know, reporting.
Do not take this huge paperbook that I turn these huge
pages and I erase and I write.
And poor lady's been comingthere 20 years and they ask for
her phone number every timeshe's there.
And so I think one of the firstthings I did is dive into why
(06:38):
would they not want, you know,an appointment book.
And I think one thing that mademe good and I think I still
pride myself in that is I alwayssay I'm not the smartest person
in the room but I'm probablyone of the better listeners when
it comes to software in theindustry.
Like the industry knows whatthey want and they know why.
Who am I to say why, right?
So I dug in and figured out likeyou can't do a hair color the
(07:03):
way you want it, you know's asolid, all appointments for
solid blocks.
So when they showed me, oh, Ican do a men's haircut during
the gap time and then, or duringprocessing time, right, and
then sometimes I finish andsomebody else finishes it.
So I need to be able to breakthat segmented appointment
across employees.
Why?
Well, because I have anassistant and they blow it out
at the end and I apply the colorand I do the.
(07:23):
So I said okay.
So when I came out with the andI do say I at that time it was
me myself and I the software atthat time is called Salon
Solutions.
It was all written by me and Icame out with the very first
segment in a point book whereyou could say single process
color and it broke it out intothree segments and that finished
(07:44):
segment could be with someoneelse.
I went from 40 clients to 400to 4,000.
Overnight had to leave AT&TBell Labs.
I was still working for them onthe side, doing this on the
side, and I'm like, wow, thisthing's real.
So the appointment book didn'texist the way the industry
needed it in the early nineties.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So good.
I love that story.
Thank you for sharing that,john.
And so when you think about it,like, if you have, we have a
salon owner who wants to go fromgood to great, which I truly
feel like that's what Millenniumdid for me at the time Like,
what mindset shifts do youbelieve are most important for
salon owners?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, now that's kind of the next step of how this
company grew.
It became okay.
Now we've got all these greatfeatures, but what are the
things that are going to keeppeople wanting to stay with our
software?
And it was easy for me.
If I can make them successful,why would they leave?
What tools do they need to helpthem grow?
So we were the first ones thatreally focused on client
(08:45):
retention, frequency of visit,productivity.
Then I started to understandthat too much productivity
becomes negative, because weactually did all the scientific
stuff where we could see whenproductivity approaches 100% or
over 90%, your frequency ofvisit goes down.
Well, the detriment offrequency of visit going down is
worse than productivity beingat 85%.
So it's all this stuff that Istarted going wow.
(09:06):
And so we created these reportsand these tools and our goal
setting Jen right, all around tohelp you grow.
It's not a point for everyservice dollar, a point for
every retail dollar.
Yes, you can do those things.
Those are just like nice littlethings.
So every time I come in I seemy points go up.
But trying a new servicerebooking, my service rebooking
(09:27):
on the first time I ever come in, I get a bunch of points
because I want them to come backin and use it towards retail or
a service, right?
So, yeah, I mean, my passion isstill about those KPIs and and
I've seen, quite frankly, and asyou both have to, lindsay and
Jen, I've seen it transform asmall salon that's barely
(09:47):
getting by to medium and justkeep growing, because it's
pretty scientific and it worksas long as you're providing a
good service.
That frequency of visit andbeing on top of that retention
makes all the difference in thisindustry.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
So good, that is great.
And really it's like you're,you know, basically hiring a
bunch of people Because you know, like Jen mentioned back in,
you know when we first gotstarted in the industry, writing
out our books by hand was athing.
You know, having an actual.
You know P&L I know that's alittle different, but still like
(10:24):
all of those reports that we'reable to just pull in seconds.
You know it&L I know that's alittle different, but still like
all of those reports that we'reable to just pull in seconds.
You know it used to take hoursto create those to see.
And you know, for somebody likeyou to have such a passion to
see like hey, we know that theseKPIs really tied to real
results that people are seeing,it's basically like you know
you're trading a couple hundreddollars a month for you know a
(10:45):
whole bunch of employees back inthe day is kind of what you're
getting out of that deal.
So, you know, would you say,are there hidden features in
Nevo that most salonsunderutilize or features that
could add major value to theirbottom line?
Like what stands out for you?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely.
So I'm going to talk about acouple of things there.
One, first of all, to yourpoints you were making.
When we went from Millennium,our installed base system, that
was the most popular system andmost awarded system in the
history of the beauty industry.
Then we said, okay, we're goingcloud, we have to go, and we
named it Mevo.
Mevo, by the way, stands forMillennium Evolution.
We had M-E-V-O.
(11:22):
We couldn't get the trademark,so we added an E, so Mevo is
Millennium Evolution and so Isaid I don't want the background
to be a white screen or a logo.
So if you notice in Mevo youdecide you design your KPIs that
matter and the minute you login, the minute your staff logs
in, it's by role they see thethings that matter most to them.
So that's the first thing, whatmatters most to you.
(11:43):
You see all day long.
You know what you're freaking.
You know that you've rebookedfour out of five clients.
You know that your week rebookpercentage is this right that
you're, you've hit your goal ornot.
So those things are important.
Underused feature that I talkabout on the community side a
lot is a feature that we call.
(12:04):
It's under our management menuand it's called sales ranking.
So sales ranking in Millenniumwas just my retail sales, my
product sales, right, who arethe best by employee or by
product or by service?
What are my most sold services?
What are my least sold services?
Who are my best employees, theleast best employees on certain
categories?
(12:24):
Well, we took that and reallyblew it out and added the key
performance indicators to it soI can actually go to sales
ranking and say give me myranking across all my staff on
Rebook.
That doesn't exist anywhereelse other than Mevo.
But even Mevo clients, when Ishow it to them they're like
I've been on Mevo for four yearsand I'm like it's right there,
(12:45):
you know.
So I would say sales rankingbecause it's just so cool.
You get in there and you'relike a kid in a candy store.
I mean you're going OK, well,let's check productivity, let's
go, average ticket let's go, andthen all that ranking is
happening.
But you reverse the order.
Who would I need to talk to andwork with to improve their
numbers?
And then, of course, like Isaid, the goals actually tie
(13:07):
into those things that mattertoo.
So there are many things Iwould say.
The average Mevo clientprobably uses less than a
quarter of the system.
So there's just so much valuethere as people continue to grow
, yeah, so good.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Sales ranking actually is one of my favorite
parts of MeVote, john.
I love it to use from a guestperspective or client
perspective too, how you canpull the reports and then you
know, look at clients who spendthe most or clients that you
haven't touched in a while, howcan you nurture them to get them
back in?
So I think that is likemarketing is such a big aspect
of it, and that report rightthere gives you all the data you
need to create all themarketing that you desire.
(13:46):
So that is actually one of myfavorite features of Mevo too,
so I love that.
And so speaking of that.
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I'm sorry to interrupt you but I'm like I
have to say this because this isthe most underutilized thing
and I'd be curious, jen, if youeven use it.
One of the things I kepttalking to owners about is
retention matters.
So much, right, new clientretention, separate from repeat
client retention.
And they said, wouldn't it begreat if I knew about my
(14:12):
retention for next month or nextweek or in the next two months
not being what I needed it to be, because I can't fix.
You know, we're in May rightnow or coming up on May.
Let's just say we're in May,right, I can't fix February,
right, but I could probably fixJune.
So we came up with theindustry's first proactive
retention algorithm thatactually looks at the
(14:34):
appointment book, looks at salesthat have already happened.
Does this little whatever tokind of say here's your
predicted, for instance, like Isaid, we're coming up on May,
here's your, what May is goingto look like if you don't make a
change or you don't makeimprovements.
So it allows you to proactivelygo after things.
So I think that's a greatfeature too.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yes, and just as a salon owner, that's so helpful.
So so good, because you guys Ifeel like Mevo is always on top
of the trends or what's comingdown the pipeline.
You know, I even saw, maybe,that you guys are going to be
interlocked with Zapier orZapier soon, so that that will
give salon owners some freedomas well.
So, like when you are thinkingof trends, what are you seeing
(15:15):
now that you think salon ownersneed to pay close attention to
over the next maybe three tofive years?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, you know, it's obvious, the big one is AI, and
I'm a developer and I'm amazedat AI.
So we took all of our helpcontent, the stuff that I help
people with on the communitysite, that's in this brain right
cranked in all these ideas,cranked in all the documents
I've written, all the educationmy team's done, into an AI
(15:43):
engine and now we have it inMevo.
It's called Mevo InteractiveAssistant and there are so many
times I'm helping people on thecommunity site where I'm like
I'm pretty sure it's this, butlet me just check.
I'll go over to Mevo and shelays it out so nicely Step one,
step two, step three, and evenif you spell it wrong you spell
the word package wrong, youspell it just figures it out.
(16:04):
You call it a reservation, Icall it an appointment.
She doesn't care.
I mean, ai is incredible.
So that's on help, where AI isreally going to get great, and
what we're excited about is whenwe can use AI to really do that
hard work for you.
Again, jen and Lindsay, you bothtalked about it.
It's like Mevo replaced a bunchof back office employees or
(16:25):
people chunking through numbersand creating spreadsheets.
Well, with what's coming withthe AI, a lot of owners are
behind the chair, a lot ofmanagers are super busy, A lot
of owners own multiplebusinesses.
This AI stuff that we'reexcited about will be what do we
know?
What have we learned thatmatters?
And pumping that data into anAI engine that can identify the
(16:46):
trends for you to say hey again.
I'll use an example.
May is coming up and last yearyou had a spike in this sale of
this product and you're like, ohmy God, I didn't realize that.
So now you're getting ready toorder and you're going to order
more of that product because youran out last year, like things
that just are incredible.
Like I said, I'm a programmer.
I'm amazed by it.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
It's everything people are saying.
It is, and maybe more.
That is so incredible and soexciting.
Like I think you know, really,ai has brought so many wonderful
things to the world.
Ai has brought so manywonderful things to the world
and I would say for a salonowner, john, who's listening,
(17:30):
who maybe feels a littleoverwhelmed with technology,
what is one simple thing thatyou think that they could even
do, maybe this week, to moveforward inside of their business
?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would say this you know,whether people use Mevo or not,
whatever software you use, Ithink what happens is we get so
caught up in the everyday andthe day to day that we don't
just pause and go what can mysoftware do?
Kind of what we just talkedabout.
So again, if it's Mevo, go tothat help menu and just kind of
(17:58):
look through some of the littleclasses we've done.
Go to that help menu and justkind of look through some of the
little classes we've done.
We have Mevo Academy with littletwo, three minute clips where
you can just quickly get someinformation and get that aha
moment Right or say you knowwhat I should be setting goals,
I'm not, how hard is it?
You go in there and realizethat Mevo can help you set it up
and you're like, oh my God, Ican't believe I haven't been
(18:18):
doing that.
So I think anybody you knowthat's technology a little
scared or concerned.
I think part of it is decide ifthe tool you're on is the right
tool and can grow with you andis doing most of what you needed
to do.
If it's not, then you know,look at other stuff out there,
because a lot of us areprogressing faster than others,
and there's several softwaresout there now that are really
good.
Obviously, I think ours isreally great.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
So definitely, you know we agree, yeah, we agree.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Definitely have a reason to feel that way.
But yeah, I would say, take thetool that you have and just
invest some time into it.
We get so caught up in and Iwill guarantee you, whatever
software you're using, if youjust give it a little bit of
time and go into those helpdocuments or search for a term
that matters to you.
You heard us talk aboutretention.
I don't think my software cando that.
Maybe you go in there and typeretention.
(19:08):
You're like, oh my God, it doesdo that.
So I would just say, startingthere and seeing what you've
gotten, if it can do the thingsyou need it to do, and if not,
then look what's out there.
I think the best time forpeople to change software,
depending on the industry, butespecially kind of salon, and
depending on where in the UnitedStates, summer is a good time
to switch software, believe itor not, because it slows down a
(19:30):
little bit and you can kind ofput the brakes on.
You get through Mother's Dayand graduation and you're
finally, like you know before,back to school.
That might be the time toswitch software.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I love that idea.
All right, salon owners.
So if you're listening andyou're feeling overwhelmed,
you're like, okay, summer'scoming up and you've been
thinking about switchingsoftware.
John said it, the legend saidit, summer is the time.
So what a huge gift.
So thank you for that, john.
And so when we think about onething we like to do at salon,
business schools really talkabout, you know, a better guest
experience.
You know thinking, how can wemake the salons like the Disney
(20:05):
worlds of the world, like thatexperience so exceptional that
people want to come back thatwhen they think of salon,
whatever salon you're working atis always top of mind for them.
So, like, what tools in Mevocould a salon owner use besides
the reports?
I know there's, emma, if youwant to go into that a little
bit to like create that betterguest experience.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah for sure.
Well, we've got some things upour sleeves that I'll tell you
are coming, so I'll give you alittle forward focus.
We're creating a whole new viewand look of our appointment
book and anytime you touch aguest, that when it comes up,
it's the beginning of AI.
We call them opportunities.
So when you click on something,so there's a little feature and
(20:45):
I'll talk about what you can dotoday.
But one of the things we'reworking on now is you click on
something and it'll know thattheir package is about to expire
.
It'll know that they only haveone left of the package that
they bought, right as an example.
Or it'll realize their giftcard's about to expire or low.
It might realize they'veaccumulated 100,000 points worth
$100 that they could usetowards a service they haven't
(21:08):
tried.
So this thing that we'recreating where the front desk
you know, here's the honesttruth that I can say to the
industry and to say to you theaverage front desk person is,
you know, if you keep them there18 months, you're like, yes,
wow, they lasted 18 months.
Right, there's a lot of churnat the front desk, so you want
the system to be serving upopportunities to whoever's at
(21:32):
that desk, including a stylist,might jump in there to do a
transaction and here's anopportunity to, you know, to
upgrade them or to do something.
So that's something that we'reworking very hard on that will
be coming out by the end of thisyear.
Now things for today.
About the customer, I wouldjust say that we have a loyalty
system in there where you cangive the points that we talked
(21:54):
about, points for things thatmatter like rebooking.
We've got docs and forms thatare really nice that allow you
to kind of communicate to theclient before they show up or
say they're in a hurry and theywant they have to leave.
You can actually have them goright on their phone and do what
we call self pay.
So we're doing a lot of thingsto make that client experience
(22:17):
better.
Where they're like I like goingthere, they're online booking
slick.
You know, I can buy a packageonline, I can self-pay and just
run out the door if I'm in ahurry.
So a lot of great opportunitythere inside the software
already for kind of aclient-centric approach and even
the way our appointment bookworks and the rebook
automatically coming up beforethey pay.
(22:38):
What we've learned.
Here's a tip for peoplemillennials, nevo or not.
You want to ask for that rebookbefore they pay.
What we've learned?
Here's a tip for people,Millennium, Nevo or not, you
want to ask for that rebookbefore they give you the credit
card.
Once they give you the creditcard and you swipe that card or
you dip that card and go.
Oh, by the way, as they'rerunning out the door, we'd like
to.
Oh, first of all, big mistake,Would you like to rebook?
Oh, I'll get back to you, Don'task the question.
(22:58):
Oh, so our system will.
As they go to pay before theypay, we'll say up to three
openings.
Oh, your haircut.
We actually have these threeopenings again with Jen this
date and this time, this dateand this time, or this date and
that time.
So here's your three choices.
So, oh, that one sounds better,or I'm not sure.
Well, let's lock one of thosein and you let me know if it
doesn't fit Right.
(23:19):
So, getting that rebook beforeyou take the credit card.
So again, that's a clientcentric thing.
That Mebo's serving up, that'salready scanned, found the
openings, knows who theynormally go to, and you can
rebook them before you even takethe payment.
The other advantage to that isguess what shows up on their
receipt their next appointment.
So those are great things that asystem can help you improve
(23:41):
that client experience.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Oh good, you know that is something that we have a
new program that we'relaunching soon called Million
Dollar Beauty Pro.
That, you know, talks about theverbiage and the mindset and
all the things that it takes toreally create a six-figure
income behind the chair, and youknow a team-based environment,
and you know that's a big thingfor us too.
When you're talking aboutrebooking that next visit, you
(24:06):
know we compare it to, let'sjust say, like online dating.
You know, do you want to go ona date with a guy who's like you
want to go out next Tuesday?
Where do you want to go, like,are you in the mood for Italian?
Or, or do you want to go outwith somebody who's like hey,
I'd love to take you out todinner next Friday at 7pm at the
new Italian restaurant.
Does that work for you?
So the same thing happens insideof our industry.
(24:27):
So I love that you touched on.
You know how.
How can we really make thatguest experience incredible?
And it is by setting up thepre-book properly.
So I love that you mentionedonce you swipe that credit card.
You're done, you're good,they're out the door, they're on
to what they're doing next.
They're already at the grocerystore, wherever they're headed.
So you know, we know, that youcare deeply about the industry.
(24:49):
You care deeply about, you know, service providers, salon
owners, everybody we heard youhave.
You're bringing back your epicevent this fall.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that, John?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, super excited about it.
We're calling it Mevo Live.
We kind of created the liveevent when it came around
software 25 years ago and therewere big events and we had stage
, you know main stage stuff.
But then we had all thesebreakout centers and people
would lead just huge ambassadorsof us as a company and our
(25:23):
product.
Well, when COVID happened, weobviously stopped, like
everybody else, and it's justtaken us a while to kind of get
going again and put our toe backin the water.
Last year what we did is Mevoon tour.
We hit six cities and just didit that way, had great response,
at least 100 plus salons ineach of those locations, 100
(25:43):
people, 50, 60, 70 salons ineach location.
And so we're like, okay, Ithink we're ready.
So we in September are going toNashville and we're doing Mevo
Live.
We have some great speakers.
As a matter of fact, our mainspeaker talks about client
centric approach and I'mblanking John.
You guys know him, john, helpme.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It'll come to us.
It's probably the second thatwe get off here.
We'll be like, oh yes.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, here I'm going to promote him, and now he's
like you can't remember my name.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
John that's a good name though, john.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I know that you're going to be able to edit this
and we're going to get that nameand you're going to just put it
right there.
But he's going to be our mainstage speaker and he's known,
for he goes to a lot of bigcompanies but he owns salons and
he's built a whole thing aroundthe client experience and
making sure you have a clientcentric approach.
I'm going to do some main stagestuff and then we have all
(26:49):
these breakout classes wherewe're going to just really dive
into the tips and tricks of Mevoand the main stuff around what
it takes to grow your business.
So we're excited.
I love the in-person stuff andI'd say 50% of it is the
education you get from us andthe other 50% is just rubbing
elbows with other people thatuse the same product as you.
So I could be sitting next toJen and go, wow, I really wish
they had this and Jen would belike, ah, they do.
It's called the MR 200.
And that shows all theemployees exactly what their
totals were.
Well, but I don't want them tosee everybody else's totals.
(27:11):
Well, there's a setting insecurity that they only see
their own right, so they end uphelping each other a lot too.
So that's I love it.
I miss it, I'm excited about itand, of course, Nashville is
always a good time.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, love Nashville.
So September 28 through the30th we'll have the link in the
show notes.
So, yeah, I mean, even ifyou're not a partner of Mevo,
this is still a greatopportunity for you.
I would say right, john, justanybody in the salon industry.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean we, we anything?
Beauty and wellness, I mean?
you know, at the end of the day,a lot of times, depending on
what exact type of salon youhave, or spa, or a mix of salon
and spa, or med spa everybody,there are nuances for sure,
believe me.
We know we're having to keepadding all these features, but
(28:00):
the core of what we do inserving clients and trying to,
you know, provide qualityservices but also provide that
great client experience withdocs and forms and proper visit
notes and making sure that Iunderstand exactly what John
likes.
You know, I'll even know thatJohn likes cream in his coffee
before he shows up, right.
All that stuff matters.
(28:21):
So the core parts of theproduct really transcended the
nuances of which industry.
We also do cover some of thosenuances.
If you're a med spa, you want totalk about Botox injections and
how I track that.
If you're doing color and youwant to integrate to one of the
color tracking systems out there, or you want to use Tippy for
tips which, by the way, a lot ofpeople don't realize it, but we
(28:42):
purchased Tippy a couple ofweeks ago a few weeks ago.
So we actually own Tippy now.
So it's Millennium Tippi.
We just see it as a greatadd-on and people's tips
actually go up and the expensesfor the owner go down.
So I'm like that's right inline.
Service provider's happy, ownerhappy makes me happy.
So, yeah, we're making somemoves like that that just make
(29:06):
our product that much better forthe people that you know,
support us and use it.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Awesome, well, time to grab your cowgirl boots and
cowgirl hat head on down to NashVegas, as we like to say, and
and learn from Mevo.
So if, john, so many listenerswanted to connect with and learn
more about Mevo besides theamazing upcoming event, where
and how can they learn more?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
You know, just go to Mevocom or you could email us at
education at Mevocom,m-e-e-v-ocom.
And, of course, within thesoftware itself, we've got Mevo
Academy and there's so muchgreat resources in there.
And another thing I'll justremind people that use Mevo we
(29:52):
hear all the time where can Ifind the webinars that you've
done?
We do webinars all the time.
We do all these.
Every update we do, which isevery eight weeks, six to eight
weeks, we actually do a videoshowing exactly what's in the
update and release a documentshowing what's in the update.
And all that stuff can be foundright within your software by
going to help and vivo academyor update notes.
(30:13):
So just stay on top of that.
But, um, yeah, I mean uh, they.
If they want to get more aboutthe mevo live, I think the the
website is mevocom slash, mevolive.
I'm pretty sure.
Let me just look real quick.
Mevo live, okay, mevo dash live.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
So Mevocom slash, mevo dash live.
So, yeah, that's awesome.
Well, john, it's no wonderyou're a living legend in our
industry.
Your passion for people, youknow, if you, even if you just
catch you on a forum somewhere,you can see that you just
radiate love for this industry.
And you know, we know, thatit's important to be connected
to the right people and it justmakes your life run so much
(31:08):
better.
So today's conversation reallyreminds us that when you build
the right systems around yourteam and your clients, growth
truly becomes inevitable.
So we're so grateful for youbeing on today and if you're
listening, thinking, hey, I knowanother amazing salon owner
that could benefit from hearingthis, share this podcast with
them today.
(31:28):
Reach out to John, see, youknow, hopefully you'll be in
your cowgirl boots in Nashvillein no time.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
John, we appreciate you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Bye, bye-bye.
Welcome to Salon Success Secrets Podcast.
We are so excited today becausewe have a legend on the call.
But before we jump into whothis legend is, I want to take
you back to the year 2006.
So if you can imagine the year2006, I had just purchased the
salon company from mygrandmother you know I'm
(00:26):
learning all the ins and outsand she was still doing
everything by hand.
So appointment book by hand,cash register, the credit card,
what was the thing you had toslide it across?
Can you remember what that wascalled?
We still did that.
Everything was by hand.
And so I knew in that moment Iwas like man, I'm not super tech
savvy, but this seems like alot of extra work.
Knew in that moment I was likeman, I'm not super tech savvy,
but this seems like a lot ofextra work.
(00:47):
So in that moment, you know, Idid a little research and I
found a software and honestly, Idon't even remember.
I think the software might'vebeen called Advantage and you
know it worked for us for maybelike two or three years.
The most it could do was takeappointments and pull maybe a
service report for total salesand a retail report for total
(01:08):
sales, but it didn't have a lotof bells and whistles, and so,
as we grew as a salon fastforward maybe three to four
years I knew that that softwarewas no longer working for us.
And that's when I discoveredMillennium Software.
And you know, I remember, likea new kid at Christmas, when we
first got it, I was like, wow,this has a lot of bells and
(01:28):
whistles, I don't even knowwhere to start, but it was such
an incredible software where westarted getting the reports we
needed.
Our salon companies startedgrowing more because we were
able to really collect the datawe needed.
The marketing aspect of it wasjust like a really incredible
tool that helped our salon grow.
And I even remember, like backduring COVID 2019, 2020, with a
(01:53):
mentor that we used to work with.
They're like yeah, this is thetime you have time, salon owners
, let's change our software.
You know, go out there, explore, look at all the softwares.
And I remember like, like, okay, maybe I should do that.
And so I remember going downthis rabbit hole, rabbit hole of
looking at other salonsoftwares.
And you know what?
There was a part of me that waslike nobody out beats me,
(02:14):
though.
Like they're reporting their,their marketing, the way they do
their appointment book like,and so you know, if you've ever
had a mentor that created chaosin your life, I feel like that's
what was happening in mine atthe time, but in that moment I
knew I had to stick with Mevoand we did so.
We've been a client of Mevo'snow for gosh, I don't even know
14, 15 years, and you knowthere's one thing about Mevo
(02:38):
that I love is that one of thefounders or one of the legends
of Mevo, john Harms, who's onthis podcast today.
You know, the one thing aboutMevo is John is so active in his
communities and his Facebookgroups.
You know he's always givensuggestions and ideas and you
know I think that is somethingthat no other salon software
does.
So we are so excited to welcomeJohn to our podcast and really
(03:04):
dive in and uncover, like, howcan Mevo or, you know, how can
we make our industry better alltogether?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I'm excited to be here.
That's a great story.
There was a lot of switching ofsoftware during COVID, for sure
, and it definitely to ouradvantage.
We had a really good year.
And the thing is I started thiscompany when I was 17 years old
(03:33):
.
So I had spiked hair, a lotmore hair, spiked braces, and I
needed money for college.
And there was a local salon andmy sister was a stylist and I
said, oh well, how long couldthat take?
So I made a deal with the salonowner that if she paid for my
college one semester of mycollege, she would get the
software and she would never payfor updates.
I think she had the softwarefor about 25 years, so it worked
out for her well and I wouldjust go in there and learn.
(03:57):
I just sit behind that desk andI think you know I went from
saying, oh, I could write thisin six months to realizing how
complex the beauty industry was,how complex the salon industry
was, and I just totally fell inlove with it.
I'm like, wow, the intricacies.
And I could come up with somany little stories of what I
learned behind the front desk.
(04:17):
And I'll give you one quick one.
You know I was behind the frontdesk and a lady came in and she
went to pay and they're likewould you like to use your gift
card?
She's like I don't have a giftcard.
No, you have a gift card, $200gift card.
No, I don't have a gift card.
Do you know, tom, that's myhusband.
Oh well, tom purchased that foryou, you know, three weeks ago.
And she's like oh, mybirthday's tomorrow.
And I was like, oh my God.
(04:51):
So we were the first ones in theindustry and this is like 1997,
where I added a valid from ongift card, so that.
But guess what, unless you'rein the grind and you're doing
those things, you don't learnthe things that I learned.
And so I'm very grateful forall the thousands of salons I've
been into and you know whatI've learned and what I've been
able to bring to the industry bydoing it firsthand, not some
little geeky programmer in thecorner, although I was really
good.
I've got really smart peopledoing that, but I lead the, I
(05:15):
work very strongly with theproduct development department
and programming and, as youmentioned, jen and Lindsay
support.
I mean I answer as manyquestions as my employees do on
the community site and itbecomes a challenge and it's fun
.
I beat John to an answer, youknow, or I'm like wow, I got it
right, I got it wrong, so Istill love it.
(05:35):
It's been 38 years.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
That's incredible, you know.
That's super fun that you spentsome time behind the front desk
.
That's actually how I gotstarted in the industry as well,
john.
I think you know just seeingthat aspect of it obviously has
helped you to, you know, createan incredible software.
And so when you first startedin the industry, what problems
(06:01):
were you most passionate about?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
solving for salon owners?
Great question, and this wouldbe so shocking to everybody
watching this.
In the early 90s, nobody andwhen I say nobody, nobody wanted
to use a digitized computerappointment book.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
They were fine to ring up sales.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
They were put formulas in, they would do, you
know, reporting.
Do not take this huge paperbook that I turn these huge
pages and I erase and I write.
And poor lady's been comingthere 20 years and they ask for
her phone number every timeshe's there.
And so I think one of the firstthings I did is dive into why
(06:38):
would they not want, you know,an appointment book.
And I think one thing that mademe good and I think I still
pride myself in that is I alwayssay I'm not the smartest person
in the room but I'm probablyone of the better listeners when
it comes to software in theindustry.
Like the industry knows whatthey want and they know why.
Who am I to say why, right?
So I dug in and figured out likeyou can't do a hair color the
(07:03):
way you want it, you know's asolid, all appointments for
solid blocks.
So when they showed me, oh, Ican do a men's haircut during
the gap time and then, or duringprocessing time, right, and
then sometimes I finish andsomebody else finishes it.
So I need to be able to breakthat segmented appointment
across employees.
Why?
Well, because I have anassistant and they blow it out
at the end and I apply the colorand I do the.
(07:23):
So I said okay.
So when I came out with the andI do say I at that time it was
me myself and I the software atthat time is called Salon
Solutions.
It was all written by me and Icame out with the very first
segment in a point book whereyou could say single process
color and it broke it out intothree segments and that finished
(07:44):
segment could be with someoneelse.
I went from 40 clients to 400to 4,000.
Overnight had to leave AT&TBell Labs.
I was still working for them onthe side, doing this on the
side, and I'm like, wow, thisthing's real.
So the appointment book didn'texist the way the industry
needed it in the early nineties.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So good.
I love that story.
Thank you for sharing that,john.
And so when you think about it,like, if you have, we have a
salon owner who wants to go fromgood to great, which I truly
feel like that's what Millenniumdid for me at the time Like,
what mindset shifts do youbelieve are most important for
salon owners?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, now that's kind of the next step of how this
company grew.
It became okay.
Now we've got all these greatfeatures, but what are the
things that are going to keeppeople wanting to stay with our
software?
And it was easy for me.
If I can make them successful,why would they leave?
What tools do they need to helpthem grow?
So we were the first ones thatreally focused on client
(08:45):
retention, frequency of visit,productivity.
Then I started to understandthat too much productivity
becomes negative, because weactually did all the scientific
stuff where we could see whenproductivity approaches 100% or
over 90%, your frequency ofvisit goes down.
Well, the detriment offrequency of visit going down is
worse than productivity beingat 85%.
So it's all this stuff that Istarted going wow.
(09:06):
And so we created these reportsand these tools and our goal
setting Jen right, all around tohelp you grow.
It's not a point for everyservice dollar, a point for
every retail dollar.
Yes, you can do those things.
Those are just like nice littlethings.
So every time I come in I seemy points go up.
But trying a new servicerebooking, my service rebooking
(09:27):
on the first time I ever come in, I get a bunch of points
because I want them to come backin and use it towards retail or
a service, right?
So, yeah, I mean, my passion isstill about those KPIs and and
I've seen, quite frankly, and asyou both have to, lindsay and
Jen, I've seen it transform asmall salon that's barely
(09:47):
getting by to medium and justkeep growing, because it's
pretty scientific and it worksas long as you're providing a
good service.
That frequency of visit andbeing on top of that retention
makes all the difference in thisindustry.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
So good, that is great.
And really it's like you're,you know, basically hiring a
bunch of people Because you know, like Jen mentioned back in,
you know when we first gotstarted in the industry, writing
out our books by hand was athing.
You know, having an actual.
You know P&L I know that's alittle different, but still like
(10:24):
all of those reports that we'reable to just pull in seconds.
You know it&L I know that's alittle different, but still like
all of those reports that we'reable to just pull in seconds.
You know it used to take hoursto create those to see.
And you know, for somebody likeyou to have such a passion to
see like hey, we know that theseKPIs really tied to real
results that people are seeing,it's basically like you know
you're trading a couple hundreddollars a month for you know a
(10:45):
whole bunch of employees back inthe day is kind of what you're
getting out of that deal.
So, you know, would you say,are there hidden features in
Nevo that most salonsunderutilize or features that
could add major value to theirbottom line?
Like what stands out for you?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely.
So I'm going to talk about acouple of things there.
One, first of all, to yourpoints you were making.
When we went from Millennium,our installed base system, that
was the most popular system andmost awarded system in the
history of the beauty industry.
Then we said, okay, we're goingcloud, we have to go, and we
named it Mevo.
Mevo, by the way, stands forMillennium Evolution.
We had M-E-V-O.
(11:22):
We couldn't get the trademark,so we added an E, so Mevo is
Millennium Evolution and so Isaid I don't want the background
to be a white screen or a logo.
So if you notice in Mevo youdecide you design your KPIs that
matter and the minute you login, the minute your staff logs
in, it's by role they see thethings that matter most to them.
So that's the first thing, whatmatters most to you.
(11:43):
You see all day long.
You know what you're freaking.
You know that you've rebookedfour out of five clients.
You know that your week rebookpercentage is this right that
you're, you've hit your goal ornot.
So those things are important.
Underused feature that I talkabout on the community side a
lot is a feature that we call.
(12:04):
It's under our management menuand it's called sales ranking.
So sales ranking in Millenniumwas just my retail sales, my
product sales, right, who arethe best by employee or by
product or by service?
What are my most sold services?
What are my least sold services?
Who are my best employees, theleast best employees on certain
categories?
(12:24):
Well, we took that and reallyblew it out and added the key
performance indicators to it soI can actually go to sales
ranking and say give me myranking across all my staff on
Rebook.
That doesn't exist anywhereelse other than Mevo.
But even Mevo clients, when Ishow it to them they're like
I've been on Mevo for four yearsand I'm like it's right there,
(12:45):
you know.
So I would say sales rankingbecause it's just so cool.
You get in there and you'relike a kid in a candy store.
I mean you're going OK, well,let's check productivity, let's
go, average ticket let's go, andthen all that ranking is
happening.
But you reverse the order.
Who would I need to talk to andwork with to improve their
numbers?
And then, of course, like Isaid, the goals actually tie
(13:07):
into those things that mattertoo.
So there are many things Iwould say.
The average Mevo clientprobably uses less than a
quarter of the system.
So there's just so much valuethere as people continue to grow
, yeah, so good.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Sales ranking actually is one of my favorite
parts of MeVote, john.
I love it to use from a guestperspective or client
perspective too, how you canpull the reports and then you
know, look at clients who spendthe most or clients that you
haven't touched in a while, howcan you nurture them to get them
back in?
So I think that is likemarketing is such a big aspect
of it, and that report rightthere gives you all the data you
need to create all themarketing that you desire.
(13:46):
So that is actually one of myfavorite features of Mevo too,
so I love that.
And so speaking of that.
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I'm sorry to interrupt you but I'm like I
have to say this because this isthe most underutilized thing
and I'd be curious, jen, if youeven use it.
One of the things I kepttalking to owners about is
retention matters.
So much, right, new clientretention, separate from repeat
client retention.
And they said, wouldn't it begreat if I knew about my
(14:12):
retention for next month or nextweek or in the next two months
not being what I needed it to be, because I can't fix.
You know, we're in May rightnow or coming up on May.
Let's just say we're in May,right, I can't fix February,
right, but I could probably fixJune.
So we came up with theindustry's first proactive
retention algorithm thatactually looks at the
(14:34):
appointment book, looks at salesthat have already happened.
Does this little whatever tokind of say here's your
predicted, for instance, like Isaid, we're coming up on May,
here's your, what May is goingto look like if you don't make a
change or you don't makeimprovements.
So it allows you to proactivelygo after things.
So I think that's a greatfeature too.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yes, and just as a salon owner, that's so helpful.
So so good, because you guys Ifeel like Mevo is always on top
of the trends or what's comingdown the pipeline.
You know, I even saw, maybe,that you guys are going to be
interlocked with Zapier orZapier soon, so that that will
give salon owners some freedomas well.
So, like when you are thinkingof trends, what are you seeing
(15:15):
now that you think salon ownersneed to pay close attention to
over the next maybe three tofive years?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, you know, it's obvious, the big one is AI, and
I'm a developer and I'm amazedat AI.
So we took all of our helpcontent, the stuff that I help
people with on the communitysite, that's in this brain right
cranked in all these ideas,cranked in all the documents
I've written, all the educationmy team's done, into an AI
(15:43):
engine and now we have it inMevo.
It's called Mevo InteractiveAssistant and there are so many
times I'm helping people on thecommunity site where I'm like
I'm pretty sure it's this, butlet me just check.
I'll go over to Mevo and shelays it out so nicely Step one,
step two, step three, and evenif you spell it wrong you spell
the word package wrong, youspell it just figures it out.
(16:04):
You call it a reservation, Icall it an appointment.
She doesn't care.
I mean, ai is incredible.
So that's on help, where AI isreally going to get great, and
what we're excited about is whenwe can use AI to really do that
hard work for you.
Again, jen and Lindsay, you bothtalked about it.
It's like Mevo replaced a bunchof back office employees or
(16:25):
people chunking through numbersand creating spreadsheets.
Well, with what's coming withthe AI, a lot of owners are
behind the chair, a lot ofmanagers are super busy, A lot
of owners own multiplebusinesses.
This AI stuff that we'reexcited about will be what do we
know?
What have we learned thatmatters?
And pumping that data into anAI engine that can identify the
(16:46):
trends for you to say hey again.
I'll use an example.
May is coming up and last yearyou had a spike in this sale of
this product and you're like, ohmy God, I didn't realize that.
So now you're getting ready toorder and you're going to order
more of that product because youran out last year, like things
that just are incredible.
Like I said, I'm a programmer.
I'm amazed by it.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
It's everything people are saying.
It is, and maybe more.
That is so incredible and soexciting.
Like I think you know, really,ai has brought so many wonderful
things to the world.
Ai has brought so manywonderful things to the world
and I would say for a salonowner, john, who's listening,
(17:30):
who maybe feels a littleoverwhelmed with technology,
what is one simple thing thatyou think that they could even
do, maybe this week, to moveforward inside of their business
?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would say this you know,whether people use Mevo or not,
whatever software you use, Ithink what happens is we get so
caught up in the everyday andthe day to day that we don't
just pause and go what can mysoftware do?
Kind of what we just talkedabout.
So again, if it's Mevo, go tothat help menu and just kind of
(17:58):
look through some of the littleclasses we've done.
Go to that help menu and justkind of look through some of the
little classes we've done.
We have Mevo Academy with littletwo, three minute clips where
you can just quickly get someinformation and get that aha
moment Right or say you knowwhat I should be setting goals,
I'm not, how hard is it?
You go in there and realizethat Mevo can help you set it up
and you're like, oh my God, Ican't believe I haven't been
(18:18):
doing that.
So I think anybody you knowthat's technology a little
scared or concerned.
I think part of it is decide ifthe tool you're on is the right
tool and can grow with you andis doing most of what you needed
to do.
If it's not, then you know,look at other stuff out there,
because a lot of us areprogressing faster than others,
and there's several softwaresout there now that are really
good.
Obviously, I think ours isreally great.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
So definitely, you know we agree, yeah, we agree.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Definitely have a reason to feel that way.
But yeah, I would say, take thetool that you have and just
invest some time into it.
We get so caught up in and Iwill guarantee you, whatever
software you're using, if youjust give it a little bit of
time and go into those helpdocuments or search for a term
that matters to you.
You heard us talk aboutretention.
I don't think my software cando that.
Maybe you go in there and typeretention.
(19:08):
You're like, oh my God, it doesdo that.
So I would just say, startingthere and seeing what you've
gotten, if it can do the thingsyou need it to do, and if not,
then look what's out there.
I think the best time forpeople to change software,
depending on the industry, butespecially kind of salon, and
depending on where in the UnitedStates, summer is a good time
to switch software, believe itor not, because it slows down a
(19:30):
little bit and you can kind ofput the brakes on.
You get through Mother's Dayand graduation and you're
finally, like you know before,back to school.
That might be the time toswitch software.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I love that idea.
All right, salon owners.
So if you're listening andyou're feeling overwhelmed,
you're like, okay, summer'scoming up and you've been
thinking about switchingsoftware.
John said it, the legend saidit, summer is the time.
So what a huge gift.
So thank you for that, john.
And so when we think about onething we like to do at salon,
business schools really talkabout, you know, a better guest
experience.
You know thinking, how can wemake the salons like the Disney
(20:05):
worlds of the world, like thatexperience so exceptional that
people want to come back thatwhen they think of salon,
whatever salon you're working atis always top of mind for them.
So, like, what tools in Mevocould a salon owner use besides
the reports?
I know there's, emma, if youwant to go into that a little
bit to like create that betterguest experience.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah for sure.
Well, we've got some things upour sleeves that I'll tell you
are coming, so I'll give you alittle forward focus.
We're creating a whole new viewand look of our appointment
book and anytime you touch aguest, that when it comes up,
it's the beginning of AI.
We call them opportunities.
So when you click on something,so there's a little feature and
(20:45):
I'll talk about what you can dotoday.
But one of the things we'reworking on now is you click on
something and it'll know thattheir package is about to expire
.
It'll know that they only haveone left of the package that
they bought, right as an example.
Or it'll realize their giftcard's about to expire or low.
It might realize they'veaccumulated 100,000 points worth
$100 that they could usetowards a service they haven't
(21:08):
tried.
So this thing that we'recreating where the front desk
you know, here's the honesttruth that I can say to the
industry and to say to you theaverage front desk person is,
you know, if you keep them there18 months, you're like, yes,
wow, they lasted 18 months.
Right, there's a lot of churnat the front desk, so you want
the system to be serving upopportunities to whoever's at
(21:32):
that desk, including a stylist,might jump in there to do a
transaction and here's anopportunity to, you know, to
upgrade them or to do something.
So that's something that we'reworking very hard on that will
be coming out by the end of thisyear.
Now things for today.
About the customer, I wouldjust say that we have a loyalty
system in there where you cangive the points that we talked
(21:54):
about, points for things thatmatter like rebooking.
We've got docs and forms thatare really nice that allow you
to kind of communicate to theclient before they show up or
say they're in a hurry and theywant they have to leave.
You can actually have them goright on their phone and do what
we call self pay.
So we're doing a lot of thingsto make that client experience
(22:17):
better.
Where they're like I like goingthere, they're online booking
slick.
You know, I can buy a packageonline, I can self-pay and just
run out the door if I'm in ahurry.
So a lot of great opportunitythere inside the software
already for kind of aclient-centric approach and even
the way our appointment bookworks and the rebook
automatically coming up beforethey pay.
(22:38):
What we've learned.
Here's a tip for peoplemillennials, nevo or not.
You want to ask for that rebookbefore they pay.
What we've learned?
Here's a tip for people,Millennium, Nevo or not, you
want to ask for that rebookbefore they give you the credit
card.
Once they give you the creditcard and you swipe that card or
you dip that card and go.
Oh, by the way, as they'rerunning out the door, we'd like
to.
Oh, first of all, big mistake,Would you like to rebook?
Oh, I'll get back to you, Don'task the question.
(22:58):
Oh, so our system will.
As they go to pay before theypay, we'll say up to three
openings.
Oh, your haircut.
We actually have these threeopenings again with Jen this
date and this time, this dateand this time, or this date and
that time.
So here's your three choices.
So, oh, that one sounds better,or I'm not sure.
Well, let's lock one of thosein and you let me know if it
doesn't fit Right.
(23:19):
So, getting that rebook beforeyou take the credit card.
So again, that's a clientcentric thing.
That Mebo's serving up, that'salready scanned, found the
openings, knows who theynormally go to, and you can
rebook them before you even takethe payment.
The other advantage to that isguess what shows up on their
receipt their next appointment.
So those are great things that asystem can help you improve
(23:41):
that client experience.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Oh good, you know that is something that we have a
new program that we'relaunching soon called Million
Dollar Beauty Pro.
That, you know, talks about theverbiage and the mindset and
all the things that it takes toreally create a six-figure
income behind the chair, and youknow a team-based environment,
and you know that's a big thingfor us too.
When you're talking aboutrebooking that next visit, you
(24:06):
know we compare it to, let'sjust say, like online dating.
You know, do you want to go ona date with a guy who's like you
want to go out next Tuesday?
Where do you want to go, like,are you in the mood for Italian?
Or, or do you want to go outwith somebody who's like hey,
I'd love to take you out todinner next Friday at 7pm at the
new Italian restaurant.
Does that work for you?
So the same thing happens insideof our industry.
(24:27):
So I love that you touched on.
You know how.
How can we really make thatguest experience incredible?
And it is by setting up thepre-book properly.
So I love that you mentionedonce you swipe that credit card.
You're done, you're good,they're out the door, they're on
to what they're doing next.
They're already at the grocerystore, wherever they're headed.
So you know, we know, that youcare deeply about the industry.
(24:49):
You care deeply about, you know, service providers, salon
owners, everybody we heard youhave.
You're bringing back your epicevent this fall.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that, John?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, super excited about it.
We're calling it Mevo Live.
We kind of created the liveevent when it came around
software 25 years ago and therewere big events and we had stage
, you know main stage stuff.
But then we had all thesebreakout centers and people
would lead just huge ambassadorsof us as a company and our
(25:23):
product.
Well, when COVID happened, weobviously stopped, like
everybody else, and it's justtaken us a while to kind of get
going again and put our toe backin the water.
Last year what we did is Mevoon tour.
We hit six cities and just didit that way, had great response,
at least 100 plus salons ineach of those locations, 100
(25:43):
people, 50, 60, 70 salons ineach location.
And so we're like, okay, Ithink we're ready.
So we in September are going toNashville and we're doing Mevo
Live.
We have some great speakers.
As a matter of fact, our mainspeaker talks about client
centric approach and I'mblanking John.
You guys know him, john, helpme.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It'll come to us.
It's probably the second thatwe get off here.
We'll be like, oh yes.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, here I'm going to promote him, and now he's
like you can't remember my name.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
John that's a good name though, john.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I know that you're going to be able to edit this
and we're going to get that nameand you're going to just put it
right there.
But he's going to be our mainstage speaker and he's known,
for he goes to a lot of bigcompanies but he owns salons and
he's built a whole thing aroundthe client experience and
making sure you have a clientcentric approach.
I'm going to do some main stagestuff and then we have all
(26:49):
these breakout classes wherewe're going to just really dive
into the tips and tricks of Mevoand the main stuff around what
it takes to grow your business.
So we're excited.
I love the in-person stuff andI'd say 50% of it is the
education you get from us andthe other 50% is just rubbing
elbows with other people thatuse the same product as you.
So I could be sitting next toJen and go, wow, I really wish
they had this and Jen would belike, ah, they do.
It's called the MR 200.
And that shows all theemployees exactly what their
totals were.
Well, but I don't want them tosee everybody else's totals.
(27:11):
Well, there's a setting insecurity that they only see
their own right, so they end uphelping each other a lot too.
So that's I love it.
I miss it, I'm excited about itand, of course, Nashville is
always a good time.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, love Nashville.
So September 28 through the30th we'll have the link in the
show notes.
So, yeah, I mean, even ifyou're not a partner of Mevo,
this is still a greatopportunity for you.
I would say right, john, justanybody in the salon industry.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean we, we anything?
Beauty and wellness, I mean?
you know, at the end of the day,a lot of times, depending on
what exact type of salon youhave, or spa, or a mix of salon
and spa, or med spa everybody,there are nuances for sure,
believe me.
We know we're having to keepadding all these features, but
(28:00):
the core of what we do inserving clients and trying to,
you know, provide qualityservices but also provide that
great client experience withdocs and forms and proper visit
notes and making sure that Iunderstand exactly what John
likes.
You know, I'll even know thatJohn likes cream in his coffee
before he shows up, right.
All that stuff matters.
(28:21):
So the core parts of theproduct really transcended the
nuances of which industry.
We also do cover some of thosenuances.
If you're a med spa, you want totalk about Botox injections and
how I track that.
If you're doing color and youwant to integrate to one of the
color tracking systems out there, or you want to use Tippy for
tips which, by the way, a lot ofpeople don't realize it, but we
(28:42):
purchased Tippy a couple ofweeks ago a few weeks ago.
So we actually own Tippy now.
So it's Millennium Tippi.
We just see it as a greatadd-on and people's tips
actually go up and the expensesfor the owner go down.
So I'm like that's right inline.
Service provider's happy, ownerhappy makes me happy.
So, yeah, we're making somemoves like that that just make
(29:06):
our product that much better forthe people that you know,
support us and use it.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Awesome, well, time to grab your cowgirl boots and
cowgirl hat head on down to NashVegas, as we like to say, and
and learn from Mevo.
So if, john, so many listenerswanted to connect with and learn
more about Mevo besides theamazing upcoming event, where
and how can they learn more?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
You know, just go to Mevocom or you could email us at
education at Mevocom,m-e-e-v-ocom.
And, of course, within thesoftware itself, we've got Mevo
Academy and there's so muchgreat resources in there.
And another thing I'll justremind people that use Mevo we
(29:52):
hear all the time where can Ifind the webinars that you've
done?
We do webinars all the time.
We do all these.
Every update we do, which isevery eight weeks, six to eight
weeks, we actually do a videoshowing exactly what's in the
update and release a documentshowing what's in the update.
And all that stuff can be foundright within your software by
going to help and vivo academyor update notes.
(30:13):
So just stay on top of that.
But, um, yeah, I mean uh, they.
If they want to get more aboutthe mevo live, I think the the
website is mevocom slash, mevolive.
I'm pretty sure.
Let me just look real quick.
Mevo live, okay, mevo dash live.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
So Mevocom slash, mevo dash live.
So, yeah, that's awesome.
Well, john, it's no wonderyou're a living legend in our
industry.
Your passion for people, youknow, if you, even if you just
catch you on a forum somewhere,you can see that you just
radiate love for this industry.
And you know, we know, thatit's important to be connected
to the right people and it justmakes your life run so much
(31:08):
better.
So today's conversation reallyreminds us that when you build
the right systems around yourteam and your clients, growth
truly becomes inevitable.
So we're so grateful for youbeing on today and if you're
listening, thinking, hey, I knowanother amazing salon owner
that could benefit from hearingthis, share this podcast with
them today.
(31:28):
Reach out to John, see, youknow, hopefully you'll be in
your cowgirl boots in Nashvillein no time.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
John, we appreciate you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Bye, bye-bye.
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