Have You Got a Minute?

Photo by Salvatore Vuono

May I ask you a very quick question?

What can you do in just 1 minute each day that will profoundly affect your business profitability?

Well you won't have the time to do your business plan, design a marketing promotion or even make a cup of coffee.   What you can do however, is take one minute to say "thank you, I appreciate your effort" to the people who are driving your business.

You know the people I am talking about.  They are the ones that come into the salon every day, greet your clients, provide fantastic services, sell your retail product, clean the salon rooms and floors, take the payments.....amongst many other things!

Yes, I am talking about your team members.  These are the people who can make or break your business and without their support and focussed effort, you could find yourself in deep doo doo.

I have yet to meet a single team member from any salon that does not appreciate being thanked for their effort and support.  When you take one minute to show your appreciation for the support that they give you, the team member who is receiving your thanks will feel valued and know that you have noticed their efforts. This in turn will result in that person making a greater effort so that the praise continues.  After all, who doesn't like  to feel appreciated and be thanked by their boss?

Recently, when I shared this thought with a salon owner, she said to me "But Pam, one of my girls is so terrible that I really haven't got any idea what I could thank her for".  After a few minutes of brainstorming the best she could come up with was to thank her for turning up each day...and so that is just what she did.  The funny thing is, that particular staff member was so surprised to be receiving a thank you instead of being scolded for doing things badly, that it had an even greater impact on her desire to improve. 

My point here is, by simply focussing on what is being done well, instead of only focussing on what is being done poorly, we encourage those around us to strive to reach higher personal standards.

So, think about taking a leaf out of this salon owners book, and find something every day to praise each of your team members for and see how this impacts on their productivity in your salon (even if it is simply turning up to work!)




Wishing you prosperity and success in 2011
Pam