Have I Got Your Retention? | Katya Milavic Davies

Back in 2009, Katya Milavic Davies launched Myla and Davis, an independent, South London hairdressing group with four salons. In an exclusive series with Pro Hair, Kayta explores how to cultivate a supercharged salon culture with thoroughly modern mindset.

At Myla and Davis, exemplary customer care isn’t just a policy; it’s our culture in action. We’ve built an incredible community of loyal clients across our salons, many of whom have been with us since the very beginning. With repeat retention rates holding strong at 84%, we’re especially proud that so much of our continued growth has come through genuine word of mouth.

However, in hairdressing, customer care goes beyond great hair – it’s as much about how we make people feel as about how we make them look. As customer-centric businesses, visions need to be both proactive and reactive, which we implement at Myla and Davis to ensure that every client interaction meets our ever-increasing standards.

While our industry is continually evolving, the constant is the human connection, which, when coupled with consistency, can yield the greatest results. It’s about remembering the smaller, often-forgotten details while creating a seamless customer experience that supersedes transactional thinking.

To ensure this, it’s important to be receptive and reactive to client change. Post-Covid, people craved human connection more than ever, and the vital role of salons on the high street was front-page news. This is what I love about our industry – it’s the nuanced, individual connections that matter the most.

As a group, we place strong emphasis on brand cohesion, which significantly shapes our service commitment to clients. This starts with shared values and clear communication. Each salon has its own character, but the principles of kindness, professionalism, inclusivity and quality underpin everything we do.

Cohesion comes from investing in our team; regular training, creative sessions and leadership development keep us aligned. Our tone, design and client journey are carefully considered, so while each space is different, the client experience stays consistent.

As experiential businesses, it’s this consistency that is key. Maintaining standards is an ongoing commitment, and defining your own customer-centric vision will serve as an internal blueprint. It is this that will set the tone for your business and underpin your retention.

Here are my top tips for increasing your client retention rate:

• Rather than resisting change, embrace it. Update your policies to reflect the modern-day mindset. Remember, sometimes you have to pivot to progress.
• Never miss an opportunity to learn from a mistake – we all make them! Try not to take criticism personally, and instead implement the learning.
• Acknowledge that the way people value their time and money has shifted, and so have their service expectations. We’ve had to adapt to more flexible booking patterns, clearer digital communication and heightened expectations around sustainability and inclusivity.
• Build a customer care approach based on clarity, fairness and empathy – for both clients and team members in equal measure. Operational excellence should remain key, and policies around cancellations, timings and pricing should be transparent and communicated in a warm, human way to prioritise trust.
• Understand that the heart of customer care is listening – to clients, to your team and to the wider world. Always balance professionalism with warmth, structure and flexibility.
• Know that when clients feel understood, they come back and when staff feel trusted, they deliver a better service. That’s the real secret to longevity – not just great hair, but a genuine human connection that evolves with the times.
• Foster authentic customer care to build loyalty. This is built on relationships, not just appointments. When clients know they’re in good hands, both technically and personally, they remain loyal, even when life or locations change.

Remaining adaptive and responsive to client needs is key. A transparent customer policy – with kindness at its heart – shows clients you have a business that extends far beyond a transaction. It shows you have a proactive service commitment, helping you to resolve friction and increase loyalty as you go.