Martha has a follow-up to an earlier call about why hairstylists advise clients to use product on their hair. At least in the food business, product often refers to the item before it’s ready for consumption. For example, coffee grounds might be called product, but once it has been brewed, it becomes coffee. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “More Product for Your Hair”
Grant, recently we were talking on the show about how hairstylists talk about using product on your hair and how strangely that strikes some people’s ears.
We had an interesting email from Bob Vincent in Springfield, Illinois. He writes, I work in the commercial food service industry, and the coffee beans or even its grounds for the tea or the syrup are referred to as product. This is a distinction between the before and after state of the product. Once the beverage is ready to be consumed, it is called by its common name known by the public. For example, the coffee is product before being brewed, but it’s coffee after being brewed. Same for tea. The tea is product before steeping occurs, but the finished beverage is tea.
He goes on to say, I think what caused the caller to take notice is that normally industry people don’t use the word product when talking with the general public.
Very good point.
Yeah.
So I thought that made a lot of sense. He may be right. You’ve got to have those generics inside your business because the tea and the coffee, when they’re just shipped, are probably handled in precisely the same way, right?
Right.
It’s all product. It’s the collective term.
Right.
And the hairstylist is working with you directly as opposed to the people who are putting the coffee into the machines.
Very good.
So I like that explanation.
Me too.
