Our brand ambassador, Mark Maciver, on growing his A-list clientele

Mark Maciver opened SliderCuts Studio in 2018, but has been cutting hair since 2003. Over his career he’s nurtured an impressive client list, which includes UK rapper Stormzy and world heavyweight champion boxer Anthony Joshua.

He’s an expert in his field. He’s been recognised as one of the UK’s top Black business people following his win at the Black British Business Awards in 2018, and nominated for an Evening Standard Business Award in 2019. 

And his highly recognisable brand, SliderCuts, has had an impact far beyond North London’s barbering community. He’s featured in Nike’s “Nothing Beats a Londoner” campaign and magazines like GQ and Time Out. Mark is a role model to many, and continues to keep community at the heart of everything he does. 

In this next episode of our Meet the Partners series we talk to Mark about how he uses Fresha to keep his business flourishing, and why he doesn’t mind teaching his competitors his business secrets. 

“Fresha has played a big part in the growth of my business”

“It’s helped me make more money and streamline my day to day. I used to spend about four, five hours a day booking people in and I thought to myself one day, I’ll be able to spend those four, five hours cutting hair.”

Using Fresha has allowed Mark to spend his time more wisely. “It means that I don’t have to worry about the system working, how to squeeze this person in, which payment to use and so on. With Fresha I don’t have to worry about that because they take care of it.”

So rather than getting “caught up in making sure the business is growing or marketing”, he gets to focus his time on the important things: creating the barbershop community he set out to. A space where “where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came and you feel that when you walk into the shop”.  

And of course, having time for family: “having a booking system in place means that you get to live your life, have more time with your friends, your family and so on, but still receive even more bookings.”

When we walked into SliderCuts Studio, Mark was giving a tutorial. For him, competitors aren’t a threat. They’re a part of that community in the same way his clients are. 

“I get told I’m silly because I teach competitors things that will put me out of business." 

"I feel like there’s enough room for plenty to flourish. Not only one tree can grow in a forest.”

“We could have a fully packed barbershop and they could have a fully packed barbershop. And there's still space for another barbershop to open. As long as I live out my vision and this shop runs in a way I want it to run, and it has the impact in society I want it to have, what does it matter?”

“I would always recommend Fresha to other people in barbering”

“I use the reports from Fresha a lot to assess my business, to see where it’s at. The marketing promotions from Fresha have helped me make more money. Fresha is the perfect partner.”

And Mark’s favourite Fresha feature? Smart pricing. 

Smart pricing is a feature that allows you to change how much your services cost depending on when. So if you find that more people book between 1pm and 6pm, you can lower the prices around it to encourage more bookings. Or, if you want to offer slots you don’t usually work (say early in the morning, or on a Sunday) you can charge higher. 

“I do different prices based on time and days.” Mark tells us. “I’ve got my basic price, which is 9am - 6pm, but I also do early morning haircuts which cost more.” 

“And the marketing promotions have also helped me make more money. I can just send out a text message or email to all of my clients, or a certain group of clients (like clients who have booked multiple times, or only once). I once sent a message to all my clients and the revenue I made was around £4,500.”

“What you don’t realise is that a lot of people want haircuts, but they just haven’t been prompted.”

“And this is why I have a great partnership with Fresha. Because they care for me and I care for them.”

“And when I say I care for them, that’s a lot. I care about their product, and I know it would be helpful for other people. When I'm selling it to other people and I'm telling people about it, it’s because I know how good it will be for them.”

“In five years I see SliderCuts as a brand that’s bigger than just the barbershop”

“I hope for it to be a hub that started off with a haircut, and people still know it for its haircuts, but it’s also associated with mentoring, community projects, books, talks, things like that.”