JC Penney’s is running an admirable promotion for the month of August. Free haircuts for kids (K-6th grade). Great promotion not so great execution. Parents can come in anytime the salon is open, but the stylists have clients that have previously scheduled appointments already on their books. I witnessed these two worlds collide. One of the stylist was trying to cut a boy’s hair, and she did not have adequate clippers, and she ended up cutting his hair with scissors until a new pair of clippers could be secured. Her regular client was twiddling her thumbs as she waiting for the stylist to finish cutting the boy’s hair. As I was leaving another mom was irate because the stylist she wanted was not able to drop everything and cut the hair of her three daughters. I talked to another stylist who said that some of the parents have complained about the haircuts and have asked if the hair could be re-cut. The goal was to get traffic in the store which is great, but do you sacrifice the regular customers in pursuit of some that might not come back until the next free promotion? One has to wonder how a promotion gets the greenlight. Free hair cuts for kids during these tough economic times is a great idea, but did anyone think that it might necessitate having one person devoted to that task and not demanding that exisiting staff do it? Did anyone think that maybe there should have been a specific time devoted to the task? Did anyone bother to talk to the stylists and get their input into the implementation? All good questions, but after seeing the kids come into the salon as I was leaving I wonder if any of the questions listed were ever asked.
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