Boy, Are Weeeee Busy!

I'm not sure if it's the holidays, our latest product offer, or just the fact that we keep growing by leaps and bounds, but the shipping department is moving at break-neck speed today to get all of our customer's orders out and on time. They barely let me in the warehouse... The camera was just about a death wish walking in there. LOL!

They were very gracious with me however and let me document these shots. The first shot is Rob - Sharon is in the second. These two are the movers and shakers in the warehouse. If you order a product; they pull it, dust it, wrap it with love and bubble wrap, sing it a song, then give it a gentle push as it begins it's journey to it's doorway (which should be yours).

And today is no different... even with the hustle and bustle, they will still find the time to be extra sure your orders are accurate and at your door in a jiffy.

Thanks Rob and Sharon. Also, Thanks to Jana who processes orders and makes sure the warehouse has what it needs to get the job done! She's just as busy!

Our Little Cait

Hello everyone! it has been quite some time since I've written so I thought I'd give you a little bit of news. Caitlin, (she works with me here in the Marketing Department) has recently moved on up the ladder. She not only went to full time but she has a new title "Jr. Marketing Liaison" Cool huh?

Yea, we're pretty proud of her. She has new duties added to her old which include mail processing, creating shipment lists, filing, picking up lunch, staff hospitality and much more! So there you have it just one of the many happenings here at Hair Direct. You should be hearing from us again real soon!

We like praise at Hair Direct

We put up a new "praise board" here at hair direct HQ! It's kinda neat to see the cool things people say and the way our service has helped people. I just thought I would give a small sampling of some of the things people are saying lately.

"Mary, ...I must commend your efforts, and your team, too. ...The point: I congratulate you on a job well done." -Ted

"I wanted to give you guys a very heart felt thank you. You company is very prompt with order processing. I am very happy to receive my order first thing this morning. I placed an order with another company on Nov. 25th and I am still waiting for the order. I will definitely do business with you again. Thanks Much! Keep up the good work. A Satisfied Customer!!" -Priscilla

"Hi Christie, You guys are the best! I was a HCM client for 10 years and I felt like a dollar sign to them...your service, and products are far superior to anything I have seen, and since I had to remove and reattache my units so many times at HCM, I got pretty good at it! ...thanks for all your help, and I hopeyou have a very happy Holiday!" -Tony

These next two comments came from our hair replacement forum community. Click on the title of the post to go directly to the forum post itself.

Julie Rocks! "I just wanted to take a moment ro praise Julie. It's great when a hair tech really stops to make sure your getting the best service possible. So, THANKS Julie!" -Forum Member: philk

Grateful and Thankful "I just want to say THANK YOU to all my new friends on the forum for your patience, input, ideas and humor. Your help and optimism have been absolutely invaluable in making the transition from "club hair care" to "home hair care" unbelievably smooth. I'd like to thank Kathy, my rep at Hair Direct and all the other folks I've spoken with at HD for all of their patience, assistance, kindness and help. And after my previous runaround in the hair replacement industry (outside of HD), I'd especially like to thank Bill, Sr. for not only opening the door to affordable, do-it-yourself hair replacement, but for running an ethical, transparent company with integrity (not to mention being a pioneer of hair system design of course). You all have helped eliminate the fear associated with the process of buying, wearing and maintaining a hair system and for that I am truly grateful." -Forum member CurlySue

Bosses Day!

Today is Bosses Day and boy, did we surprise our bosses! When we called them in to the break room and they didn't see anyone at their desks on the way there they thought they might have a coup on their hands.

Far from it. In fact one of the great things here is the culture and atmosphere that "the bosses" have allowed to happen. I have worked at jobs where the main thing people do all day is complain about working. While all of us have had a bad day every now and again, this is generally a pretty fun place to work.

This might be a reason some of our hair replacement customers have left voicemail praise for our customer service. Though I'm not an expert, I'm sure a great environment makes it easier to give better customer service and keep friendlier attitudes.

Thanks Bosses for allowing Hair Direct to be a great place to work!

HD-Bruno: Unedited.

Today I photographed our new Hair Techs. These are the pictures that we use on our Meet the Techs page.

It isn't easy being put up on a public website. For this reason I thought I would post a picture of me just so all the techs know that I can do it too.

This picture is not retouched, altered or anything. It's the real HD-Bruno!

I hope this act of solidarity shows that I know it isn't easy, but I understand.

Have a great day!

Goodbye and Good Luck!

Yesterday one of our Hair Techs, Mel, wrapped up her employment with us. She left on good terms and is pursuing a career in medical assisting at a dermatologist which she has professional training in. She will be starting at Dermasurgery Center in Lancaster, PA on Monday.

Mel did not work with customers directly but instead did a majority of the cleaning, cutting-in, and repairing hair systems. She will be missed as a valuable member of our team.

As always, we threw a small party.

Good luck Mel! All the best in your new endeavors.

Good Luck Mel!

As always, Nikki divides the goodies

Bill Sr say a few words of thanks.

New Editions to the Hair Direct Family

Hi Friends,

As you may have already read in the previous post by Bruno we've hired 3 great new hair techs. We are very thrilled to have them here and they are already making themselves at home here. Hair Direct makes it pretty easy to feel like you belong as soon as you walk in the door.

These ladies offer a lot of talent and come from diversified backgrounds.

Camille has 36 years working in a salon and not only does hair but is certified as an electrolysis technician! She even owned her own shop for several years.

Margaret has 5 years experience in a salon and also has some with marketing. She has a cool hairstyle to boot!

Krystle has 4 years experience in a salon and also at one time got to work at one of my very favorite places to shop... QVC - sweet! Of course they are all wonderful girls and you should be seeing much more of them.

Till next time! -Nikki

Hair Direct Pizza Party

Left to Right: Hair Tech Lisa with one of our new techs, Krystle!

Our marketing chieftain Brandon, was hoping to get pizza in peace. He wasn't successful.

Bill Jr grabbed a slice and quickly got back to his meeting with Su and Ma.

In honor of our guests this week Hair Direct bought the staff pizza! Pizza varieties abounded and I'm sure everyone was filled and fulfilled. We got the pizza from our favorite pizza place, Little Italy, down the street. Like always, when Hair Direct buys us food we are happy, and within 10-20 minutes, someone is usually moaning, "Why did I eat so much pizza?" But who that may be is a secret I'll keep to myself. I value my health.

Speaking of health. Our hair techs are multiplying. We've added three new hair techs but I don't want to get carried away. Tomorrow Nikki will be blogging to introduce these lovely ladies to you. I'll just let you know that they come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Tune in tomorrow and learn more. Thanks!

Factory Reps Visiting Hair Direct

Su, pictured left, is our factory liaison. Ma, on right,
owns the factory that produces your hair units!

Today some of our factory reps from China came to Bainbridge, PA to our office. Both play essential roles in ensuring that your hair systems are made precisely, accurately and on-time.

As you might know all of our hair systems are manufactured in China (like most of the hair systems worn in America and abroad) so it's important that we actually meet face-to-face every now and again. Bill Sr, Bill Jr and Brandon, our marketing guy, made the trip to China to see the operation and meet with the factory workers in February.

A few months ago Su came to see us and work out HOP program issues and how it will effect her and the factory. Today and the rest of the week Su and Ma will be discussing quality control, turn-around issues, new hairstyles, our plans to introduce full cap systems for women, broadening our African-American/Ebony hair systems offerings.

In fact, as I write this the hair replacement techs are meeting with Su and Ma discussing issues that they have had as they deal with you as customers each and every day.

As you can imagine dealing with a factory in another country and culture can be quite a challenge. But you can rest assured that we are and will always be commited to working hard for your hair... so you don't have to! :)

Thanks Su & Ma!

Talkin' shop with Bill Webcast!

Well last night Bill had his first webcast! He did a pretty swell job too seeing as he self-proclaims he's technologically-challenged. He had Brandon and others from the marketing department to help him out with all the computer stuff.


We had participating guests from China, Brazil, England and all over the United States. At the peak of the evening we had around 35 guests and they came prepared with all kind of questions for Bill. We had so many questions in fact that I noticed several of our Hair Replacement Technicians chimed in on the chat board to help them out.

Some of the questions and topics covered:

• Different types of ventilation
• Synthetic -vs- Human Hair: Different types of hair
• Our SOP (Standing Order Program)
• How to get started with Hair Direct
• Hair Replacement Maintenance tips

One of our before/after photo clients had and interesting question regarding Bill's succession plan if and when he retires... he said nothing around here will change. Which is nice because we really like it here.

We also had surveys running through out the webcast which answered many question such as how easy it was to access the webcast. Most said it was a breeze. What time of day was the best? The evening as it turns out, but we'll also be experimenting with other times as well. What is most important in a hair system. Over 72% said appearance.

We plan on doing more webcasts in the future but as of now have no exact date. Check back though because I'll be sure to let you know a date and time. Leave a comment if you have any particular subject or issue you would like covered. I'll pass it on to the rest of the marketing dept.

Like Bill says in his Hair Replacement Blog, "Have a Good Hair Day!"

Crazy Day

Hey everyone- it's been a while but I thought I'd fill you in on the activities of the day. We hired 3 new techs so some of our seasoned veteran techs are moving to different cubies to make room, everything gets pretty cluttered and hectic when this goes on.

Barry is busy setting up their cubies with new computers so everything will be ready to go when they arrive on Monday. We're always happy to welcome new people to our HD family.

I'm pretty sure Bruno will be posting some pictures after they start so keep your eyes open!

Have a wonderful day!

Hey HairDirect Intern!

This is Barry. Barry is Bill's grandson and all around good guy. He is interning with us till mid-January and we welcome him aboard! Barry will be helping us with various marketing, video and support initiatives. He drives an ultra-cool car and is still in high school. The girls probably love him.

The Basics:
Name: Barry
Age: 17
Fav Food: Unknown- Pizza?
Future Ambitions: Go to Princeton and stay out of poverty.
Automobile: Audi TT Convertible
Intern Goal: It's not just to get out of school. I would like to experince an online business culture and more about the hair replacement industry.

Welcome, Barry! We hope you have a great time here and learn a lot!

New Man at Hairdirect!

Yesterday we added eight very cool looking products from New Man to our store. Though I haven't heard anything good or bad about the products themselves they certainly look very cool. These products are, for the most part, designed especially for hair wearers. Breifly, the products we added are:

• New Man Cleaner Concentrate - is a heavy duty residue cleaner for synthetic hair. Cleaner Concentrate is for off the head use only.
• New Man Deep Cleansing Shampoo - for deep cleaning of synthetic hair, off the head use only.
• New Man Volumizing Shampoo - creates Volume in all types of hair.
• New Man Light Conditioner - adds body and luster as it conditions all types of hair.
• New Man Fiberguard with Lusterizer - the ultimate in protection for synthetic and human hair from the sun’s rays and dry climate.
• New Man Finishing Spray - retains hairstyle while adding protection from sun’s rays.
• New Man Scalp Freshener - provides cooling, tingling conditioning of the scalp.
• New Man Deep Conditioner - specially designed deep conditioning treatment for all types of hair.

Oh and I did notice that the prices are pretty reasonable! Check them out and let your Hair Tech know what you think of them - we always like to know what clients think of the products we sell. Have a great weekend everybody!

It's Friday!

Hi Everyone- It's pretty quiet on the home front today, which is very unusual for a Friday especially with a 3 day weekend ahead of us because of the Labor Day holiday.

It could be because the weather here in PA is pretty dreary. I hear it's been raining a lot but I don't look out the windows too often when I'm busy typing away. Things got a little stirred up this morning when Kathy, yes Kathy again, discovered we're out of Kit Kat bars but it was short lived, she quickly found a replacement.

Other than that Bruno's busy adding new hair replacment products to our store and all the techs are answering phones and placing orders.

Oh, Cait, my sidekick here (she does a variety of office support duties) came in from the rain earlier displaying her wet pantlegs, ooooh I hate when that happens.But it didn't bother her much she's on cloud 9 lately because of her new boyfried and we're all happy for her too!

I imagine you'll be hearing from Bruno real soon, he's usually full of interesting inforamtion. See you all later!

Meet Babe! Eat Stromboli!

WOW! Today was a great day at Hair Direct HQ!

Babe with a Mane came in today to make a new "meet video". Babe has her own blog on the Hair Direct website.

The Bills bought Stromboli for the office staff. They do this every once and a while and it's always fun... or sometimes confusing (as you'll see on this new slide show).

Enjoy!

Female African American Styles at Hair Direct

A project that I've recently been heading up here (and loving) at the Hair Direct offices are scanning and organizing a brand new batch of female African American hairstyles.

It's always important that we are up-to-date with modern styles. Of course I doubt that once we have a style we would ever take it down. We just add more and more!

These styles were handpicked by Bill Sr. after he visited a hair show in Atlanta, Georgia. In the photo above you'll see 30 of the over 100 new hairstyles we should have up within the next week. This will bring our hairstyle gallery to well over 200 female hairstyle options for you to choose from.

If you happen to be more interested in full cap hairstyles for men, we have plenty to choose from as well.

Kathy's Cryin'

Kathy was crying today because we were out of Poptarts! She didn't know what to do without breakfast!

As soon as Bruno got here she expressed her concern and he joyfully noted he would make his biweekly run to BJ's Wholesale Club to pick up the goodies. Which he did!

We are lucky enough to have a small "store" to purchase things like mac 'n' cheese, candy bars, granola bars, soda, water, juice etc. at a very small price.

So hopefully Bruno learned his lesson and will stop making Kathy cry! Keep those Poptarts stocked man!

Some of our HD snacks!
Kathy's smiling once again!

Ordering Hair Direct Can Be Noisy...

I thought that it would be interesting if you could see and hear the inside of Hair Direct. This is a small snippet of the sights and sounds in the middle of the Hair Replacement Tech area. I hope you enjoy it.

The Dark, The Dymo, The Day.

Today was really quite interesting, productive and at times frustrating.

Before I arrived at the office I learned that the power was out. I tried to get in early enough to get pictures... But it was restored in short order. By the time I arrived the florescent ceiling panels were beaming.

Several of the Hair Replacement Techs had issues printing labels on their Dymo printers. The issue really had to do with Microsoft Office not being installed completely. I reinstalled MS Office 2003 and from there I reinstalled the Dymo software. At least I tried to.

On both computers I had problems either installing or getting the Dymo software to interact correctly with MS Office.

I need to say this... Dymo has GREAT customer service! Both times I called Dymo today I spoke with Heidi and each time she easily guided me to the root of the problem and the issue was resolved.

Today actually was the 2nd and 3rd time I called Dymo Customer Service. I didn't have to push a bunch of buttons, (only once) nor did I have to talk to a voice guided machine that never quite gets me where I want be, nor did I have to be frustrated by someone I didn't understand. All three experiences were great and though no one ever wants to contact technical support, I'm glad to know Dymo will at least make it a good experience.

Today, as I sat amongst the Hair Techs fixing computers, I really got to hear a dose of what they have to go through. Giving great customer service is never easy and in fact takes an extra dose of care. I'm glad to know that though our Hair Techs at times suffer through the day they work hard to continue to bring our customers the best service they know how.

Thanks Techs!

HOPin' Around!

One thing I have noticed about Hair Direct since I’ve been working with them is they never get comfortable with where they are amongst others in the industry. When they do something that raises the bar they don’t sit proudly waiting for others to catch up. Instead, they raise it a bit further. After another level has been reached they go do something else that inches them even a bit higher. I’m not sure if others in the company have really noticed it, but it’s a neat thing to see from my position within the company.

The latest and greatest bar raiser around here is called HOP. We’re hoping to get a “cooler” name at some point, but the name isn’t the really coolest thing about HOP. HOP (Hair Order Program) is a completely new kind of software. In fact Hair Direct has engineered it vertically from the ground up. Nothing in the hair replacement industry has existed like it before and it has come at a considerable investment.

The software has had many generations and has come a long way from where it started. It also isn’t completely being utilized to it’s potential yet but still I think you’ll find the overall aspects to be something really amazing.

Here is what makes HOP so wonderful:

• Connectivity: HOP is connected by the front end (you), back end (us), accounting (your wallet) and factory (your hair), all at once and in real-time.

• Streamlined SOP (Standing Order Program): This will be really great for standing order program customers. You’ll see why in a bit.

• Accurate Ordering: It will be much easier for your Hair Tech to vary the lead time, if need be, for more accurate ordering time. Also all specs about your hair unit are in the automated process.
  

• Track Your Order: It’s a completely automated system that allows you to know where in the ordering, manufacture, shipment, and delivery your hair system is at any given time.

• Real Time Communication: Any changes to a unit can be seen by the factory immediately after you make them online. In fact, if you want to make any change from hair to credit card to address, it’s all done immediately and you would never need to talk to a Hair Tech to do any of this. Of course they never mind hearing from you.

• Visual Timeline: A future (10-12 weeks) web interface will give a visual depiction allowing you to pin-point where your hair system is at any point of the process right from inside your account.

• In The Know: You will be given automated responses via email that will alert you to new orders placed, when your system has started manufacture, when it is being shipped to us, and when it is being delivered to your door.

Basically, this list means less redundancy (or mistakes), and more responsiveness (better service). Hopefully, you won't notice a thing more than your receiving your hair systems and with exceptional service.

P.S…

I spoke with Bill, who’s in charge of day-to-day operations here and he said that HOP was built to be completely flexible and customizable. Though he didn’t want to tell me just yet what the future holds, he did mention a secret list of future features that they will be building into HOP.

See, as soon as they reach one plateau, they're on to the next!

Happy Birthday Mary!

Every time one of us here at Hair Direct turns a year older we always have a company sponsered Birthday Bash! It's really never a surprise... though we act like it is.

Yesterday was Mary's Birthday! She turned... Ahhh, ouch, ohhh, ehhh, thud! She just slapped me across the back of the head and made me swear to not tell everyone! Not really but if she were behind me she might slap the back of the head. Your secret is safe with us Mary.

I took a few pictures (which was difficult because Mary hates modeling for the camera). The party was a bit scarse due to the fact that sometimes techs just can't get away from their desks, vacations, accounting is going through software updates, etc.

But your welcome to join the party by viewing the images below!

Surprise!

Mary only took one breath to blow out the candles.

As usual, Nikki is in charge of serving.

I just want a "small" slice, Nikki.

The pies were great! They came from Country Table Resturant in Mt. Joy. The ice cream is from Kreiders! They were a fantastic combo!

8 Months (we're still good)!

It’s been just under 8 months since the last post. I’ll give you a run down of what has happened since that time.

• Hair Tech Tori was hired in December.
• HD-O’Neill left for a good opportunity in Florida. (the warm weather played into the decision)
  
• I was brought on board in February to cover O’Neill’s vacancy for 2 months.
• Hair Tech Tori left the company – she didn’t feel it was a good fit.
• Hair Techs Julie and Terri were hired soon after that.
• We started working with a video team to produce regular web videos.
• Hair Tech Terri left the company – there were some scheduling conflicts or something.
• We’re looking for a new Hair Tech.
• We sponsored a technically-challenged web cast.
  
• I’m still here.
• Now I’m blogging.

I’m planning on posting a few times a week to give you a real “insiders” look at what happens here at the office and continue what HD-O’Neill started.

I think you’ll be amused – Stay tuned.