9 Big Reasons Why You Should Avoid Staff Training in Your Salon

Training your staff could have a serious impact on your bank balance

When I speak to my clients about the need for ongoing staff training, I often hear "I hate spending the money to hold staff training, because eventually they will leave and I have wasted my money"

While this may sound like valid reasoning to some, I wonder if much thought has been given to the repercussions of continuing to think along these lines.


So, here are my (tongue in cheek) 9 TOP reasons why you should never train your staff:

9. Well trained staff generate substantially more income through effective, relationship building retail sales.  I can certainly understand why you wouldn't want that! All those extra retail sales mean you will never be off the phone, ordering more stock...now that's a pain!

8. Well trained staff generate substantially more income through up-selling of services and elimination of gaps in the appointment book.  That's a real problem.  When will there be time for coffee and chatting in the lunch room?       

7. Well trained staff deliver substantially better customer service.  That's just scary.  Now all those customers you have spent so much money on attracting will actually want to come back and spend more money!

6. Well trained staff stay longer in their jobs. This is a real problem for those of you who love spending time and money on recruitment and new employee training and indoctrination.  Not to mention having to keep all those customers who leave when their personal technician leaves your salon.

5. Well trained staff are happier and more motivated in their jobs.  This can be downright depressing if you enjoy working in a tense and moody environment every day! Happy people can be so depressing to be around.

4. Well trained staff retain more clients.  So what are you supposed to do with all those cash generating, extra clients coming in? Sounds like a problem to me.

3. Well trained staff get more personal referrals.  That's a problem too - even more clients wanting to spend their money in your business.  Where will it all end?

2. Well trained staff get better rebooking percentages.  If those clients keep coming back regularly, you are going to be forced to hire more staff and you know what that means!

And last but not least

1. Well trained staff work more efficiently.  You know what this means.  More work, more money and then. in the blink of an eye, you have a tax problem to deal with!

I hope you enjoyed my tongue in cheek list of why you should never train your staff and would like to finish this post by sharing one of my favourite quotes with you.

"There is only one thing worse than training staff and having them leave and this is it..... NOT TRAINING THEM AND HAVING THEM STAY!"

Wishing you prosperity and success
Pam
Photo by Idea Go

Getting Your Staff to Sell, Sell and Sell Some More!

Getting staff to sell is literally a huge pain in the butt for most salon owners.  Are you one of them?
Would you like your staff to sell more product and make more money for your salon?  I can almost see you nodding your head as you read this blog!
It is possible and you can do it - but like most worthwhile things in life, you have to put in a little effort to reap a great reward.

Your staff can sell more retail but they need your help!

Resistance to selling by salon staff is not big news. It seems to be a common problem suffered by most salons but can we simply just place all the blame on the shoulders of those we employ?
Of course the answer is a simple but emphatic "NO".


Why won't they sell?
After surveying many salon teams about this situation, I have come up with a few reasons that really stand out from the rest.  They are:

• They don't want to feel that they are being pushy with their clients
• They don't want to risk losing their friendly relationship
• They don't think that their clients can afford a service and retail at the same time
• They think that the clients will like them better if they don't try to sell them anything
• They don't really believe that the products are worth the money being asked for them
• They don't really have enough knowledge about the products to make a good recommendation
• They don't get rewarded for making additional sales
• They don't get enought external motivation on a daily basis to keep selling
• They don't have time to recommend retail between services, and the biggy is
• They don't want to face REJECTION from their clients.

What can you do about it?
Lots!
There is not just one answer to cover all the reasons why your staff are not selling as much retail as they could.  Each of the reasons I have listed above is valid in the eyes of your staff and therefore each one needs to be dealt with and a solution found.
I believe it is important to begin by changing the mindset that your staff have around selling, first and formost. Until this happens, no amount of sales tips and techniques training is going to improve your sales for more than a few days. 

Action Plan
Try listing out all the reasons why your staff are not selling as much as they could be, and then begin to think about what you can do to overcome each problem area. Why not ask them to participate in this process so that you can achieve greater buy in from your team
At your next team meeting try asking them to tell you about the great benefits that can be achieved for the client, the salon and most importantly for themselves when a client is equipped with the right products to achieve a fantastic long term result.  Lets face it, clients want to look and feel great for longer than a few days after they have been to your salon....don't they?

Zig Ziglar said: People often say, "Zig motivation is great, but it does not last." I just tell them, Bathing does not last either, that is why I recommend it daily.
If you would like to know more about improving your teams sales results, grab a copy of my new book 3 1/2 Secrets to Salon Success

Wishing you prosperity and success in 2011
Pam

Photographer: Idea Go

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

If You're Not Managing Your Business.......WHO IS?

Feeling Frustrated?

Working with salon owners can be stimulating, exciting and sometimes downright frustrating.  Why do I say that?  Because these wonderful, hardworking people should be making much greater financial returns from their businesses than they normally are.  They are often the hardest workers in their salons, see the most clients, sell the most product and usually work the longest hours but in too many instances are taking home very little (if anything) in the way of financial recompense.  It's just plain crazy!

The question I have for you is "does this sound like a familiar story in your salon"?  I can almost see you nodding as you read this blog.  Yes, you are the hardest worker and yes you often have to forfeit your paycheck so something or someone else can be paid.  Are you wondering what went wrong?  When did your dream slowly turn into a nightmare that has robbed you of your life and happiness?

You need to know something.  This CAN all change.  It won't be an overnight process but it is doable.  The first thing that you need to think about  is how you are going to go about taking back the management of your business. Stepping off the floor and taking the time to think about ALL the aspects of your business that will make and save you money.

Taking a few hours a week to work on your business and not in your business is the first step to gaining back your control.  Having time to think about quality cost effective marketing that will actually make you a profit instead of simply overpaying for a quick advert in the local paper or magazine that you didn't have time to properly construct.  Looking at your roster to see if you are overstaffed for the amount of work coming through your salon doors.  Spending time with your staff to train them in how to upsell and retail to their clients.  Time to develop staff incentives to boost performance.  The list goes on.

It's time to be happy!

What are you NOT doing in your business that you need to make time for RIGHT NOW.  Don't procrastinate any longer.  Start planning to make your business the success you deserve to have TODAY!




Wishing you prosperity and success
Pam

3 1/2 Secrets to Salon Success

Finally, after much writing, editing, rewriting and more editing, my new book, 3 1/2 Secrets to Salon Success has been released.

The book enjoyed a very successful "soft" opening at the APAA's Educational Convention held at the Palazzo Versace in June of this year.

3 1/2 Secrets came about as a way of reaching more salon and spa owners to help them to become more profitable in their businesses and to educate them in ways to improve their business performance in 3 key areas.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of my new book, please simply cut and paste the link into your browser and you can purchase then purchase the book through the paypal system.

http://www.pamstellema.com.au/ProductsYouCanPurchase.php

Wishing you prosperity and peace of mind!
Pam