Are you a salon owner or manager looking to improve your business? From my experience as an owner and salon business coach, I’ve come to realize that truly successful salons have five things in common. And today I’m going to share those with you!
#1: Opportunities for Growth
Successful salons offer their employees ample opportunities for professional growth. For example, a level system, or a way for a Stylist fresh out of school to get from where they are now to a master level. Having programs in place provides your team with benchmarks they need to hit to continually move up the ladder at your establishment.
#2: Offers Education
Education is key. The most successful salons have training and education built into their culture. And it should be offered to your Stylists at every level. When a new Stylist starts at your salon, do you have a program in place to help them become more developed? What about your seasoned pros? Do you have programs in place to help drive their continued success? It’s important to provide educational opportunities that will empower and inspire your Stylists to become better!
#3: Provides Structure
Deep down, most humans desire structure. While you may have some employees that will always want to do their own thing, this shouldn’t stop you from providing structure at your salon. Structure encompasses a lot of different things including boundaries, expectations and accountability.
An easy way to implement more structure into your work environment is to provide your employees with a handbook or “playbook.” This would include the rules your Stylists needs to play by to be a part of your team. This could also include important information around boundaries. For example, what are your vacation and compensation programs? Are there rules around whether your Stylists can purchase equipment? Or do you provide equipment? Topics like these can be outlined, and boundaries can be set with clear communication and a tool such as a playbook.
You can also use that playbook as a good starting point for setting expectations and accountability. This ties in well with providing opportunities for growth. A successful salon will outline what is expected from a Stylist fresh out of school versus someone who’s been at the salon for a few years. This can include things such as the skill level you expect them to be at, to the attitude and behavior you expect them to bring into your salon. And when you have your structure documented, it helps everyone stay accountable.
#4: Strong Collaborative Marketing
This is a great tactic and one that is a win-win. Successful salons take a collaborative approach to promote not only their amazing salon, but their talented Stylists. It’s a strong effort to help build your Stylists’ clientele while building your business.
Meet Your Stylist is a great customer retention tool to help you do just that, but with little effort and big return. This tool helps you match new clients with the Stylist at your salon that is the best fit for them! And the best part is, you are empowering your Stylists by providing them the opportunity to work with clients that fit in their wheel house of expertise.
If you aren’t using a tool or you don’t have a strong collaborative marketing program in place – you need to make sure you are getting the word out about your Stylists’ talent and help build their clientele! Your business will benefit from the collaboration.
#5: Creates a Team Environment
A strong team environment means there is a strong team effort. There is a parallel between working in a salon and being on a basketball team. When you have a team mentality, your goal is to make sure the team wins – it doesn’t mean you’re the point guard who scores all the points. A great team has a common goal in mind they are all working towards. It’s not about “me and my clients,” it’s about “US and OUR clientele” as a salon. Successful salons don’t compete internally, they work together to compete against other local salons! Successful salons have a team effort that’s constantly trying to build each other up to get to that next level and achieve the bigger vision.
With that being said, do you have a bigger vision for your salon? Have you shared this goal with your team? Before you can create a team environment, you need to make sure everyone at your salon is on board!
So, how do you start implementing these five things? The first step is putting it out there to your team. Call a team meeting and go over your vision, your new playbook, or your new education program - whatever it may be. Make sure to listen to your team’s feedback, they might have an awesome idea for collaborative marketing or a conference they think would be useful to attend. There might also be some resistance, but that’s okay. Don’t let that fear stop you from implementing new things, because in the end, having these five tactics in place will help you become a more successful salon!
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