Staying Ahead Of The Curve With Tony Ong

Tony Ong joined Goldwell as the Vice President for the Singapore and Malaysia market about six years ago. Following his tenure, Goldwell has been thriving in the hair professional market with a growing number of salons—big or small—proudly using Goldwell products. Starting this year, Tony has taken on a concurrent role of Regional General Manager for all ASEAN countries, and H4ufme speaks with him about his journey leading the Goldwell team.

- Melissa de Souza

What are some improvements that Goldwell has accomplished during your tenure as Vice President in the last six years?

Goldwell is a very good brand to begin with. Until today, Goldwell is still made in Germany with top-notch technology and quality. What we did was that we made a switch in the business model from just business selling to business consulting. Basically, we focus on being very “salon professional”. Not just product-wise, but in the sense of really looking into how we can grow the salon business for our clients instead of just hard selling or marketing. First and foremost, we look into how we can develop the salon skills; we delve into what the salon truly needs, and then work in a very fundamental way to give salons a better perspective to help them think about how they can increase their sales. We do not focus too much on promotions to increase sales because we feel that these are short-term solutions—we are looking for long-term solutions for our clients.

How does Goldwell provide education for its customers?