At Lorna Evans Education we consistently get requests to visit various areas all over Australasia. As much as Lorna would love to host her workshops everywhere, her travel has to be worth the many expenses involved. The great news is, there is so much YOU can do to help, as was the case earlier this year.
One evening in February, Lorna received a random Facebook message asking her to come to Invercargill, New Zealand. Lorna had time available so she wrote back a few options. Together, the ladies were able to find a mutually beneficial time, and Lorna’s travel was promised based on a minimum number of students.
Combined, the women embarked on a path that resulted in a phenomenally successful venture. Not only that, but a lady from a town called Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast caught on and invited Lorna to her area as well, which resulted in another terrific workshop! The ladies from both areas can be completely credited for making this all happen. This is their story:
Natasha King – First Point of Contact and Member of the NZ Association of Registered Hairdressers
“I am based in the Southland of New Zealand. Our sub committee wanted to have someone of Lorna’s status visit our region to give an opportunity to our local stylists that would normally be out of reach. I took a chance and reached out to her via a Facebook message. Lorna started interacting with me right away and was very positive about the possibility of travelling to our little area. Together with the ladies from Halcyon Salon, who ended up hosting the event, we found the perfect class format and dates for her visit”.
Kyla Mclean – Halcyon Salon and President of the NZ Association of Registered Hairdressers
“We never get the likes of Lorna on our doorstep so to have her here was huge! We began marketing the possibility of her visit by putting a survey on our Association Facebook page asking what they would like to learn from Lorna if she were to visit our area. A lot had seen her at an Expo, plus follow her on social media, so the mention of her name got people excited.”
“The survey gave us a great idea on what the majority of our stylists wanted to learn from Lorna, which helped us determine the type of classes to offer. We ended up giving our stylists a choice: A Look & Learn evening, an interactive day, or attending both. This set up was terrific and easier to sell – it allowed more levels to get the benefit of Lorna while she was here, from apprentices all the way to senior stylists”.
Once the class dates, format and locations were locked in, the staff at Lorna Evans Education were able to create professional artwork to help sell the class. Lorna shared all of the information throughout her own personal networks and on social media, but the ladies from Invercargill were the ones to ultimately get the numbers:
Natasha King
“The next piece of the puzzle was to sell the class and sell it quickly. We needed a minimum of 15 bookings to make it worth Lorna’s expenses to come over. Thankfully, we have a very active and passionate membership here in Southland so we were quite confident of getting the numbers required. It’s not often that we get people of this caliber so we knew it would be popular”.
Kyla Mclean
“We marketed her visit within our Calendar of Events, we used Facebook to engage with all of our local and neighbor industry peers, plus word of mouth and Lorna’s reputation speaks for itself. If I were to offer any advice I would say go around and personally invite your local peers, the power of interaction is greater than an email! Get excitement buzzing over social media, make sure to get everyone to like and share and it will happen”.
“I decided if it was good enough for Invercargill to host Lorna it was worth trying to get her to come to the Kapiti Coast. I asked Lorna how many people she would need to attend to make it work and made it my mission to get the numbers. Lorna made it easy to organise. I put it on my Facebook page and we got people to share it. We also put it on the New Zealand professional hairdressing Forum Facebook page. Our Wellington Regional Hairdressing Association worked hard to promote it as well. It was amazing. Everything ran really smoothly. Lorna was great, she kept it fun and it is always nice to be in the company of like-minded people. The group size was good and having Lorna at our salon was really special”.
The Invercargill ladies were very successful in selling the class. Nearly 30 people attended the Look & Learn session, with 16 following on to do the workshop the next day. In Paraparaumu the class was a terrific size of 11 students. Both trips were well worth Lorna’s travel and time, and the exercise proved that, by combining local area knowledge and Lorna Evans Education expertise, Lorna can successfully visit anywhere.
The ladies had a few final tips to share:
Kyla Mclean: “This was HUGE for us – we are barely a city located at the bottom of the South Island often forgotten about. No one comes here – we wanted to change that! We have the most passionate hairdressers down here that are hungry for education. It really meant the world to us to have her in our space. Halcyon was designed so we could accommodate education like this, so, build it and they will come!”
Natasha King: “The courses delivered were very well received. We have only had positive feedback. I have already suggested to all the other regions that they can approach Lorna themselves to offer a similar setup to their membership. They were surprised to find out that there was very little cost to us as such and that made them very excited”.
Angela Enoka: “People need to invest in their careers because you never stop learning – it’s inspiring and motivating. Encourage maybe two like-minded salons to get together. Get the hairdressing associations together and get on board with promoting the class”.
Kyla Mclean: “Don’t be afraid to ask”!
