DAMIAN AND CASSANDRA COLEFAX: JUST CUTS

Salons: • Devonport

• Eastlands (Hobart)

• Glenorchy

• Cat and Fiddle Arcade, Hobart • Kingston

• Meadow Mews Plaza, Kings Meadow • Quadrant Mall, Launceston

The

Colefax story is a true testament to the strength of franchising in Australia and the Just Cuts system. Cassandra Colefax started her career as a stylist with Just Cuts in the Illawarra region of

New South Wales during the ’90s while raising two children. Husband Damian also launched his career as a stylist in a Sydney salon, working his way up to team leader.

He saw potential in a life-changing move to Tasmania where a franchise was available. They opened Just Cuts Eastlands in Hobart in June 1999, and now the couple owns all seven Just Cuts salons in Tasmania.

Just Cuts founder/CEO Denis McFadden says their overall commitment and adherence to the brand has never wavered. “They excel in all areas of the business, and their willingness to participate in pilot programs has helped Just Cuts achieve significant growth as a franchise system. They are true ambassadors of the brand and great mentors to other franchisees and potential franchisees.”

In 2014, the couple were named Australian Franchisees of the Year at the Just Cuts Annual Franchise Awards for their continual contribution to building the brand.

Since joining the Just Cuts community, the Colefaxes have been continually praised for their exceptional customer experience, outstanding business performance and positive representation of the brand. Working closely with the Just Cuts Academy head-office team, Cassandra and Damian also regularly organise and implement local marketing initiatives to actively engage communities, and have established a large and loyal client database across Tasmania.

“Finding each other’s strengths and focusing on following the system are key to our success,” says Cassandra. “Damian and I are not alone with our commitment to the brand. We have a great team of brand ambassadors that helps us achieve our goals day-in, day-out and who share the Just Cuts vision.”

Damian says they have put a focus on following the system, putting their faith into the finely tuned Just Cuts procedures that have been developed over the past 27 years.

However, the most challenging obstacle to expansion is still the process of streamlining practices. “There are recurring tasks we hoped to streamline when expanding, but in many instances we are still seeking the best path,” says Damian.

There is also an ongoing recruitment challenge.

“Finding quality team members and leaders has always been a significant obstacle as well,” he says. “Despite our efforts to provide a positive, ethical and rewarding working environment, our industry has always struggled to provide the volume of quality applicants to adequately service and grow our clientele.”

One way forward has been to offer positions only to applicants who meet quality and experience expectations. “With our team being predominantly female, we have found they often fill the role of primary carer in their families, so career longevity and roster reliability can be affected,” says Cassandra.

“We’ve had many children born to our team, and often have mums return to work after maternity leave. We believe this is because of our flexible return-to-work arrangements.”

The couple runs a leadership group comprising regional managers, team leaders and second-in-charge from its seven salons. “We focus heavily on communication and streaming information, so established this group to help support this,” says Cassandra.

“Delegating is key to running a multiunit franchise, and having a leadership group ensures that any procedural changes, system updates or important promo information is noted and acted on, and in turn trickles down to all team members.

“We believe that implementing a leadership group was the perfect way to harness the salons and become a conglomerate as opposed to being a collection of standalone entities.”

Expansion and funding go hand in hand, and the Colefaxes have taken a positive attitude toward their relationship with their financial institutions.

“With clear short-, medium- and longterm goals shared with them regularly through our business life spans, our lenders have a clear understanding of where we came from, where we are as well as where we are going,” Cassandra says.

It has also paid off for them to err on the conservative side of financial and expansion plans, keeping one eye on a pessimistic view. “This way we have found that any negative variation from expectations can be accommodated without too much impact, and we can also easily meet budgeted versus actual variance tolerances to satisfy the lender’s requirements,” says Damian.