Mark Garrison on Facing Challenges

Mark Garrison

Mark Garrison

Last Wednesday, I opened the doors of Mark Garrison salon for the Kerastase “Our Treat†event, offering complimentary treatments and blow-outs throughout the day. Although the official invitation to the event went out the Friday before, bloggers were out of the gate a week before that, and the salon was quickly being booked to capacity. The phones (which are still ringing with inquiries about the event as I write this) were out of control and the front desk staff began referring to the event as “The Nightmare.†Our regular clients grew agitated due to lack of attention and our technicians began to worry about giving up their commission to dedicate their time to the day. And then, the unthinkable happened. When the official invite went public—in New York magazine, on the Kerastase website and all over the internet, on postcards in hotels and other tourist milieus, on the CW 11 morning show—the words every salon manager superstitiously refuses to speak out loud were on everybody’s lips: NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY.

With nearly 100 reserved appointments for the day (the salon has only 34 chairs), not including our regular clientele, we anticipated an angry mob of disenchanted ladies crying “false advertisement†at our doorstep.. Then, we asked ourselves the question that should accompany all of life’s obstacles: How can we make it better?

We can assume the best of one another. We can keep our eyes open for any opportunity to help. We can focus on the clients directly in front of us and make sure they are being provided a service that exceeds their expectations. We can make standing online outside of Mark Garrison Salon well worth the wait once you get inside. We can train our staff to think on their feet and be solution-oriented. We can use our resources creatively. Most importantly, we can remember that we will go further together than we can alone.

There’s no limit to what you can do as a team. Being a superstar stylist will only get you so far in this business. To really make it, you also need the right combination of skill and support from motivated individuals who understand that the real beauty in the beauty business is that we have the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our clients.

- Mark Garrison

Mark Garrison's name is synonymous throughout the country with beauty expertise and celebrity cachet. Mark's success depends on his innate ability to identify with each client and to create a personal look based on his understanding of their lifestyle, along with his artistic eye for proportion and sensitivity to the particular nature of their hair.He owns the Mark Garrison Salon in New York City