More Than Skin Deep

Back in the fall of 2005, Larry Gaynor enlisted the Gallup Organization to work with his company. The founder and president of B-to-B salon supplies cataloger The Nailco Group (TNG) had read about the firm’s extensive business consultancy, most notably The Gallup Path, a method that connects employee performance with a company’s bottom line. With annual sales of $85 million and a talent pool of 315 (at TNG, you’re not an “employee,” you’re “talent”), TNG is considerably smaller than most of the companies Gallup works with. Gaynor, however, believed that Gallup’s guidance on employee and customer engagement would benefit his team and, ultimately, the company’s customers.

Before training began, TNG already had made an impression on Gallup’s educators. “All of the Gallup team was so impressed with the people and their ability to get things done,” recalls Jennifer Mellein, consultant at The Gallup Organization’s Detroit office. “They already had that whole mind-set that in order to reach the experience that their customers want, they needed to do that through the hearts and minds of who they are.”

This mind-set dates back to 1985, when TNG began as a counter in a health and beauty store. Since then, the company’s catalog, The Industry Source, has served as the organization’s backbone. Circulation has remained steady at 225,000, as new salons replace those that have closed their doors. TNG since has expanded to offer products and equipment for nail and hair salons, spas, and tanning salons. The company distributes Beauty Direct, a catalog that mails to 1,500 beauty dealers and distributors, as well as manufactures its own product lines: FPO, TISPRO and Be Professional.

Focus on Customer Success
What’s more, TNG provides educational resources for its customers, such as the bimonthly The Industry Source magazine, as well as The Pavilion equipment and furniture showrooms, which are housed at TNG’s headquarters in Farmington Hills, Mich., Chicago and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In addition to seeing products and equipment up close, business customers have access to spa planning and design services, and educational seminars focused on everything from massage to business management.