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A watertight team

At Rainbow Room International extensions services are only done by the top tier of stylists. "A client may be paying up to £900 for a head of extensions so the quality of consultation is extremely important," says Wil Fleeson, director of the Stirling branch. Mova salon in Staines sent the whole team to do an induction with Cinderella Hair. "We made sure our assistants and juniors were included too," says Lorenzo Mortellaro.

Michelle Griffin recommends appointing an extensions expert or supervisor for your salon. "They can be responsible for maintaining standards by overseeing people's work, arranging training and ordering hair from suppliers," she says. "It's also important to have at least two members of staff trained just in case one is off sick or on holiday."

Do weddings, parties, anything!

There's a trend towards shorter hair and it's now widely acknowledged that extensions aren't just for length – they are also perfect for colour without chemical commitment, adding volume, adding shape to short styles and for weddings and hair up.

Wil Fleeson believes his younger clients tend to opt for length while their mature clientele books in for added va-va-voom. "We have clients who are in television or CEOs whose image is very important to them," he says. "They categorically don't want their extensions to be visible but they want a fuller, bouncier head of hair."

Claudio Contrasti does a lot of colour work with extensions. "We do a lot of asymmetrical lines on short hair using bright reds, coppers and pastel tones," he says.

Michael Rudyk, director of Karm Salon in Leicester uses the new rapid Rapture extensions system on bridal clients. "Most extension systems take hours but I can apply a full head of Rapture in about half an hour, which means the appointment can even be on the big day itself,"" he says.

Bump up your retail

Clients with hair extensions are virtually a captive audience when it comes to retail, as most extensions systems require different cleansing and styling products to keep them looking their best.

"If you buy an expensive dress you would take it to the dry cleaners," says Claudio Contrasti. "Extensions are the same. Your clients have invested a lot of money in their hair so it's vital they are careful about the products they put on it. We always give first-time extensions customers a brush free of charge, plus we recommend a shampoo and conditioner."

Build your repeat bookings

Booking in the first appointment is one thing but how do you make sure your extensions clients keep coming back to you? Claudio Contrasti offers clients a free maintenance check two weeks after their appointment. "We offer a free maintenance check and a free blow-dry as we really want to take care of our extensions business," he says.

Ensuring a client's visit is as enjoyable as possible helps keep their custom. Rainbow Room International gives clients the option of having their extensions done over two appointments. "Some clients can't sit for four or five hours, in which case we book in two sessions," says Wil Fleeson.

Shout about it

Jayne Morgan was the first salon to start doing extensions in her area and being an early adopter paid off. "We've done so many extensions now and we've become very fast at doing a full head, which means clients come to us because a faster service means we can charge less," says Jayne. While most salon owners will agree that word of mouth has helped them build their extensions business this doesn't mean clever PR and promotional exercises can't also pad out your columns.

Status Hair design in Bristol staged a hair show in aid of a local charity with 800 guests. Owner Richard Hillier used Great Lengths extensions to create the flamboyant hair and the event received local newspaper and radio coverage.

Mova Hairdressing ran a text promotion offering clients 20% off extensions services throughout January. Choosing a quiet period enabled the salon to devote more attention to those clients.

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