I was recently lucky enough to tour New Zealand where I got to meet and train salon owners throughout the North Island. During one of my training sessions I was asked about branding. How do we develop a brand then market that brand once it is established?

My reply was to ask every salon owner present to quickly tell me what makes their salon different. What was their belief statement about their business? You can imagine (as you are wondering what is your own salon’s point of difference), not one owner could quickly state what was the essence of their business. Some quoted that they were the best, others mumbled that they were results orientated, but no-one could clearly define what it was that made their salon special and have it roll off the tip of their tongue as a practised statement of belief.

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My point was, that if they couldn’t clearly, succinctly and immediately pronounce what their salon stood for, then how could they even begin to brand themselves. If you don’t have a very definite idea of what you stand for then how can you project that image or brand out to the public?

In my own salon we have two very definite belief statements that permeate everything we do. They brand us.

“We are your local experts in skin” and “We are committed to exceeding your expectations each and every time you visit us.”

These statements underline exactly what it is that defines my salon and clearly show what makes us different to the many other salons in our local area. We are experts and service is of utmost importance.

Now I don’t mind what it is that you are trying to brand your salon as. It could be quality, prestige, all natural, experience, price point, luxury, eco friendly, results or relaxation. But whatever it is that sets you apart you need to believe in it and be able to shout it from the roof tops.

Your brand is not the products you sell. It is a deep held belief in why your salon is the way it is. This belief has to be interwoven into everything about your salon so that it reflects exactly what it is your salon stands for.

It tempers who you employ, what training is undertaken, product selection, treatments you offer, equipment available, the style, layout and colours of your salon, your advertising, image, signage, phone spiel, website and even your name. I believe your business name should reflect something of the essence of your business. Are you a beauty salon, a clinic, a spa, a resort or a medispa? My own salon incorporates our two belief statements by:

• Having them written on letterheads, price menus and newsletters
• Our pricelist has no facials listed on it so our clients must undertake a full skin analysis in order to have a facial prescribed to meet their individual needs. This shows off the expertise of my staff.
• Every staff meeting has a permanent agenda item of how to improve our customer service.
• We only stock salon exclusive brands that cannot be purchased over the internet
• My staff attend regular external training or in-house training every fortnight
• Focus groups of clients meet quarterly to suggest improvements in our service
• Consultation times are regarded as an important element to our service and a private consultation area is available with diagnostic skin analysis equipment.
• Staff name badges include titles such as senior aesthetician and skin consultant.
• Staff qualifications and post graduate training certificates are proudly displayed.

Just to highlight a few things….

But the real strength in this kind of branding is when your staff project this image, message or belief to your customers. When they walk, talk and act out whatever the belief statement of your business is. In my case when they walk, talk and act like experts in skin. Do your staff project the image you want your clients to see? What do they look like, how do they speak, what do they speak about, how do they conduct themselves and do they believe the branding as much as you do? In the end no matter how much brand advertising you undertake, if your staff can’t sell it then it was a waste of time and money. The only way your clients will see your differences and therefore have the ability to make a viable choice about where they go for their services, is for your staff to show them the underlying belief of the clinic.

It all gets exciting when your clients recognise and adopt your salon’s branding as their reason for choosing you. When they are able to pinpoint why they like coming to your salon and it matches the belief statements you have been projecting. This is when clients become not just loyal but advocates of your business. They start to tell others about you. Of course this is the best advertising on the planet because it comes with a personal recommendation.

We have clients who walk through the door asking,
“You are the people who will look at my skin with that special machine – aren’t you?”
“Is that man Paul here, we were told that he could look at my skin and tell me what I need to do? “
“My friend told me you guys really know what you are talking about!”
When your branding is all about being experts in skin, these statements are positive proof that your belief branding is working and attracting business.

Now I don’t care if you want to be the cheapest, the biggest, the best equipped, the most luxurious, the largest range, all natural or environmentally friendly. But for your business to be successful you need to qualify exactly what it is you stand for then get your staff and clients to believe in it as much as you do. This is branding. We are not multi-national corporations that have millions to spend on developing a brand through massive advertising campaigns. So it is vital that everyone associated with your business knows exactly what you stand for and can state it. It gives the salon purpose, staff direction and customers a reason to return whilst telling all their friends.

So sit down and figure out exactly what it is that you want your salon known for. This must become your point of difference over opposition, the reason behind all your decisions and something you can shout for all to hear. Work hard at getting your staff and clients seeing the same vision you have and start building the most effective branding your business could experience – Your reason for establishing the salon in the first place, what you believe in.

Basically, the ideas I am going to provide here are the same tactics we should employing whether we are approaching a recession or not – It’s just more pertinent in difficult economic times. I teach that there are two major areas we need to concentrate on when times get a little tough. The first is to cut back on some of your costs. (I know what you are thinking – easier said than done!) But cutting back significantly on costs could simply mean doing things a bit smarter, not necessarily making wholesale changes to your business. It certainly means putting some time and effort into maintaining a healthy, loyal data base so that less money needs to be spent on attracting new clients through expensive advertising.

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The second is to secure and even increase known income streams. We make our money through services and retail sales. Getting professional help to improve rebooking rates, retail sales and the up-selling of services might just prove to be the best spent money you could ever outlay. None of this is too difficult nor terribly time consuming but like so many things we need to prioritise that we will actually implement them sooner rather than later if we want to manage our businesses better through these tough times!

You don’t have to be mathematics major to realise that the biggest costs to your salon are rent, wages, stock and advertising. Now most of us will not be able to renegotiate rent very easily so that leaves wages, stock and advertising to make money saving changes to our businesses.

Wages

The question of wages can be looked at in two different ways.

Reducing the amount of hours actually worked.
Altering the hours through clever rostering that makes the working hours most productive at peak customer flow periods.

My salon is in Queensland where casual employees are available. There are a number of states in Australia that allow us to utilise casual employees in our staffing mix. Now whilst you pay a premium price for the hours they work, it allows for enormous flexibility in both quiet and busy times. I can utilise short three hour shifts, send staff home when the salon is not busy or retain them for extra hours when we are busy. Staff can be called in at short notice and rosters can change week to week to reflect forward bookings. Basically, I can utilise these staff to meet peak demand periods and not have them unproductive for long periods of time when we are not busy.

However, not all states allow for such flexibility and demand either part time or full time employees to have set rosters. In this situation it is vital that you adjust your rosters to meet client demand. So many salons I visit merely open their doors “nine to five” because of some historical convention in the labour laws, when actually there is much more flexibility allowed without penalty rates for both full time and part time employees. I often undertake a review of customer demand in salons.

In other words we look at when your clients actually want their appointments. How busy is your 4 o’clock – 5 o’clock period each day? If it is always booked out then perhaps you should consider staying open until 6 o’clock. In my own salon we start at 8am each Saturday because the demand was for early Saturday morning rather than late in the afternoon. We now close earlier, work the same number of hours, but meet the demands of our clients and therefore have staff fully booked and highly productive.

Many salon owners are amazed at how willing good staff are to work rosters that take in late nights or Saturdays, especially if it is shared or only one in every two or three weeks. Try sitting staff down individually and explaining the need for roster changes. Ask if they are willing to work a late night, start earlier, work weekends or have Mondays or Tuesdays off. You might be surprised at just how flexible your team can be.
Which are your busiest days?

Where is the highest demand each day?
Do you need as many staff early in the mornings?
Would starting one or two staff later and finishing them later extend the possible booking hours for your clients?
Instead of 8 hour days some staff might be open to some longer days when you have late nights and shorter days earlier in the week.
Do you utilise rotating rosters over a 2, 3 or 4 week rotation to manage staff fairly through late night trading and weekend work?

Many of the salons I visit can extend their available hours to clients and not spend a cent more in wages by simply monitoring when the highest customer demands are. Whatever the solution you come up with the fact is that wages should be viewed as a percentage of your total income not a fixed cost like rent. Profitable salons manage their wages below 30% of their total income.

Stock

Another area of saving can be in the amount of stock you are holding in the salon. Many salons have tens of thousands of dollars of stock on their shelves. Now whilst I am an advocate of looking like you are serious about selling retail by having plenty of retail stock to sell, many items are slow moving and yet have large stock holdings. Use your computer software to ascertain exactly how many of each retail line you have sold over the past month and adjust your shelf holding accordingly. By only holding what you will sell in a normal ordering period you will free up cash flow.

And it’s not just retail and professional stock that requires some careful consideration. This is the time to start comparing prices from various distributors that provide you with salon supplies. I recently informed my usual supplier that I could purchase the same wax cheaper from another distributor and they quite happily matched the price saving me almost $5 per kilo. If this was done with all salon supplies and the saving calculated over a year you can save thousands of dollars. But don’t just think about salon supplies. Get quotations on printing, office goods, insurance and even bulk cleaning products to help slash costs.

Advertising

Then there is your advertising budget. By far the most expensive advertising mediums are the newspaper, radio or regional television. At the moment they are desperate to find advertising dollars and will cut great deals if you are willing to agree to multiple advertisements. Even so these media are still very expensive to use. Concentrate on your existing, known data base through newsletters, flyers and special offers at a fraction of the cost and you should expect a far greater return on your dollar spend.

In fact, your existing data base is a one of the most precious assets your salon owns. Yet so many salon owners do very little to keep this asset current. Set up a reactivation scheme for clients you haven’t seen for more than three months. Contact these clients by letter, phone or email with an offer to attract them back to your salon. In the process you will get return mail from changes of address or customers who just don’t want to return for any number of reasons. This allows you to clean up your data base and make clients who are no longer visiting inactive. Many salons spend enormous sums of money mailing and SMSing to clients that are no longer active but because their data base hasn’t been kept up to date these people still receive all your advertising. This is a waste of money that could be utilised in extra advertising to those who are still active visitors to your business.

Secure your Income

Difficult economic times require us to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way. With less money to spend, every inquiry must be converted, rebooking must become a priority, up-selling is a skill that all staff must make second nature and retail sales opportunities must be taken advantage of. It is necessary right now to spend time re-training staff in these four vital areas. If fewer clients are going to be spending less money, then it is vital that every opportunity that appears in the salon must be taken full advantage of. If you don’t feel that you can do this training then get some professional help. Here in Australia we are blessed with a number of very skilled consultants that offer expert training in all four of these key areas. It may well be the best money you ever spent.

Every staff member must be proficient at answering the phone and converting inquiries into bookings. This maximises the effectiveness of every dollar spent on advertising.
Every staff member must be trained in how to effectively rebook each client they treat no matter what service was performed.
All staff must be actively suggesting add on treatments to every service and additional home care sales whether the client is in the salon or on the phone.

Clients must be prescribed home care as an integral part of their treatment no matter what the treatment is. They are buying product from somewhere - you must make certain that it is from your salon. In fact, in most cases the value for money of salon exclusive products when you take into consideration the amount used and how long the product lasts, is better than the cheaper pharmacy and supermarket lines.

It is simple mathematics. If your staff were to sell just two extra items per day at $100 total, over 300 working days in a year that is $30,000 extra income. Similarly, if one extra booking per day was secured at $50, there is another $15,000 added to your total. Add to that two or three up-graded treatments and securing re-bookings ensuring clients return.
That is a significant boost to helping you beat these difficult times.

Many of us get so busy in our salons that we sometimes neglect to take a big step backwards and look at how we need to work on our business to secure our prosperity. As an individual you are limited to the amount of income you will return working in a room all day. However, by managing your salon better you can significantly increase your return on advertising and the income of every staff member under your control. Despite your desire to save on wages by taking on more clients yourself, think about working diligently on the advice mentioned above and securing your salon’s financial return during these difficult times.

Every year salons contact me with problems concerning staff just before the Christmas rush. And every year I wonder if there had been more planning and concern for the staff member’s needs would the problems have occurred in the first place. Many of our team are just not well enough prepared for the deluge of customers, lack of breaks, no days off, longer hours, new stock lines, special deals, time constraints and greater demands placed on them. Consequently many find it difficult to cope, necessitating time off or not being able to maintain the high standards expected in the salon.

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Remember that outside of work they are also experiencing the demands of Christmas. Social functions, family celebrations, Christmas shopping and holiday planning can all lead to an exhausted and very emotional employee even before they set foot in your salon.

I know what you are thinking… All employees should ignore boyfriends, family and all social functions. They should get someone else to do their Christmas shopping, they should all be in bed by 7.30pm, tell visiting family they are not at home and concentrate solely on their work in your salon. Well that’s not going to happen! So best we start planning to help them prepare for what is always our industry’s silly season.

Plan Time Off

By asking for requests for time off early (September / October) and having rosters prepared months ahead, all staff get the opportunity to plan their social functions and family celebrations well in advance. It also gives you the opportunity to roster some days as breaks for employees or to set aside days where staff can be on-call if needed. Research has shown that when staff are aware and can plan for busy periods they are able to cope better whilst in the workplace. Experienced therapists know what lies ahead and appreciate that forward planning has taken place to enable them to have days off. They are also more likely to accept changes in rosters to accommodate extra trading days, late nights or 24 hour trading in some of the major shopping centres.

Plan Training

It is essential with many special gift lines, Christmas parcels, summer deals and gift voucher packages that staff are fully trained in each treatment, that they know the products in each Christmas pack, prices are remembered and times for treatments are adhered to. The only way staff can be expected to remember all of this is if they are given the opportunity to prepare well in some in-house training sessions. Physically going through the procedures step by step, noting times and product use as well as taking apart the various packs to understand their value. Because more special deals are offered at this time of year staff require more direction and more time to learn them all.

Clear Expectations

Plan and discuss with staff now what sales targets, number of gift packs, retail targets and average dollar spend per client should be. Calculate realistic goals for staff based on a set percentage increase on last year’s totals. Explain how you arrived at these targets or allow staff to be involved in the planning of targets so they believe that the agreed target is achievable. By having clear expectations set out well in advance, staff are better prepared and more likely to achieve the set marks. They have an exact idea of what is expected of them and can plan how they are going to achieve these goals, often increasing their sales in weeks leading up to December in preparation.

Staff Involvement

By allowing staff to be involved in the planning for Christmas they tend to take on some of the ownership for the extra duties that are required of them. The setting up of additional retail displays, window dressing, organising gift certificates, stock control, rosters, coordination with shopping centre managers, newsletters and VIP evenings are just a few of the seasonal tasks that can include staff involvement in the organization. By involving staff better communication of information usually occurs, which in turn means staff feel more in control with the extra pressure of the season.

Health and Nutrition

As much as we plan to be organised, too often girls will miss breaks, go without meals, do extra hours and squeeze in more clients. In an effort to maintain their strength, supplying light, healthy snacks, plenty of water and energy sustaining supplements can really help staff get through a long and hectic day. Providing these things for staff to grab whenever they have a break will often mean less complaints and greater willingness to alter break times to suit client needs.

Extra Help

There are many tasks around a salon that can be undertaken by non-skilled staff, making the best use of qualified therapist’s time. A number of salon owners I work with utilise family members and friends to take over duties such as washing, folding of towels, cleaning basic areas such as floors, taking away rubbish, checking orders, displaying stock, mailing newsletters even answering phones and doing banking. All of these menial tasks are a regular part of a beauty therapist’s role during a normal week, however they become an extra burden when we are trying to treat as many clients as we can over the busy Christmas rush. Extra help in these areas can really assist staff to see more clients and to get away from the salon at the end of each day on time, ready for another busy day to follow.

Safety

Christmas will often mean many more late night trading hours. Organise for security staff in shopping centres to walk staff to cars often parked a distance from the shopping centre. For smaller salons, try to have staff finishing their shifts together so that they can leave the salon in a group. Do not ask staff to carry large amounts of money around, or leave staff alone in the salon if it can be helped.

Thank You

It’s easy to do, you get so busy yourself that you can sometimes forget to thank staff for all the extras they do. I know you pay them for these extras, they are part of the job. But saying thank you, giving a card, buying some flowers or something similar to say that you really appreciate their efforts goes a long way to maintaining staff morale and enthusiasm. Staff retention surveys conducted across Australia over recent years have all concluded that the major factor for staff to choose to change employment is the perceived indifference of their employers towards them. In other words they don’t think their bosses care about them or the work they conduct. A simple sincere thank you can go a long way to showing you really do care and appreciate their efforts.

Family

Over the past few Christmas seasons, a few salons I am involved with have attempted to explain to family members and partners what Christmas in a salon is like. It is almost pre-warning them that the staff member in question will be required to work odd hours, often extra hours, be exhausted at the end of a long day and need their support more than ever if they are to maintain their professional standards over this chaotic period. In this way, family members appreciate the extra pressures that are on your therapists.

Because they are also aware of what is about to happen we have found that they hassle less about the time spent at work or the unavailability for social functions and the tiredness. It is important that your staff have good support from home, especially as many still have the responsibilities of being a wife or mother. One of the best ways we have discovered of achieving this is to have a social event for staff and immediate family where apart from the social interaction, a plea for their understanding is requested. By holding such an event in late October / early November everyone can ready themselves for the retail season that lies ahead.

Every year we are faced with problems concerning our staff at Christmas. It seems almost an inevitable circumstance. However, by making sure we think carefully about how we manage our staff through this busy period, the number of problems experienced can be drastically reduced. Happy, energetic, well trained, involved and motivated staff equates to increased profits, less problems and greater staff retention. Take the time now to plan out how you are going to manage your team this Christmas – it will be well worth it!

Marketing 101

The first logical way of making more money in a clinic is to attract more customers. Sounds simple enough, but there are actually two different types of customers that we need to work on. The first and easiest group are our past and existing customers. Here our strategy is to retain clients and establish on-going repeat business. The second is to attract new customers to our business through various forms of advertising.

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Existing Customers

All my studies have shown that it is somewhere between 5 – 8 times cheaper and easier to convince an existing customer to return to your business than it is to attract a brand new client. With this in mind it makes sense to place considerable effort and emphasis on the retention of your existing customer base. Consider this exercise; Print out a list of clients that you haven’t seen for more than two months. How long would that list be? Now imagine how much extra in income you would earn if you had retained the custom of as little as 10% of the people on this list.

The answer is usually a significant amount per year. And yet to achieve this is actually a fairly simple exercise. You see the primary reason customers don’t return is because we don’t continually place in front of them a legitimate reason to come back. Providing our customer service is high, most customers want to use your services again. In fact, most thank you profusely for the services you provided. They just need a legitimate reason to return again. Providing that excuse is the role of the clinic and salon manager, not the customer. By maintaining regular communication with our clients through the use of letters, newsletters, VIP functions, flyers and phone calls that promote special deals, new treatments or equipment, new retail products, seasonal promotions, special events….(and the list can be endless), we are encouraging our existing customers to keep utilising our services regularly.

Try sending out:

• A “Haven’t seen you’ letter with a fabulous special offer on it.
• A happy birthday card with a $10 gift voucher to be used in your business
• A regular seasonal newsletter with special deals, product information, industry news, value added promotions and new treatment or equipment announcements.
• Cross - over letters that encourage users of one particular product or service to try another related product or service. Include an offer that’s too good to refuse to encourage them to try it out.
• A follow up phone call to see how they are enjoying their products or how they responded to the treatment you provided.
• Invitations to VIP events where clients can see demonstrations, listen to speakers, test out products and equipment or just enjoy a social get together.
• Flyers that promote exclusive deals, limited offers, new treatments, the latest products, sales and upcoming promotions, before the general public has access to them.
• In fact, it doesn’t really matter what you do so long as it maintains regular communication with your client and encourages them to return to your business.
• If you had even a small data base of only 500 clients and you retained just 10% of them, visiting your salon 10 times a year and spending on average just $50. That would add up to an extra $25 000!!

New Clients

If you advertise it should be to attract new clients, not existing ones. The cost of advertising can be quite prohibitive for many small businesses so it is often a worthwhile exercise to get some expert help with the production of radio, television and newspaper advertisements. Existing customers can be reached quite economically by mail, fax or phone, however to reach new clients you need to get out into the marketplace.

Many businesses mistakenly believe that their advertisement will simply sell more of their products or services. This is not usually the case. A good advertisement will attract more enquiries. People will walk in, get on line or phone up to enquire about whatever you featured in your advertisement. This highlights a critical area of advertising that is usually forgotten – the handling of enquiries. I have seen many wonderful ads written that have made the phone ring off the hook, but the person answering those calls has not been trained to handle these enquiries properly and only a fraction of them actually resulted as bookings.

I usually follow some basic rules in preparing advertisements through any media or print.

The first task is to capture people’s attention. So headlines become a vital part of all advertising. A headline is not your name, address, logo or phone number – these are the least important things on the page. A good headline is going to capture people’s attention, instantly. So it is big, bold and easy to read, but has an instant appeal to those who listen to or read it. Your headline is responsible for the potential customer stopping and taking notice of your advertisement. If they are attracted to this then they will read through the information you offer. For this reason you should take more time and effort on getting this part of your advertisement correct than anything else in the ad.

Always have an offer. I prefer value-added offers to discounts, where low actual cost / high perceived value extras are offered as an inducement. Offers give the enquirer a reason to call and shows the value in your services or products.

If you can offer a guarantee on your services or products, even if you are just extending the manufacturers guarantee, it is a powerful message to the potential buyer. A guarantee eliminates any risk in the buyer entering into the purchase, especially on higher priced items.

Make sure you include a call to action. Buy Now! Limited Stock. Call Today!! For the first 50 callers…This special always books out so book TODAY! It’s a funny thing, but a call to action will increase your number of calls considerably. You really do need to tell the consumer what to do.

Include a P.S. It is that after thought that can just seal the deal. Mention that you have convenient off street parking, great gift voucher ideas, open 7 days, open late, easy to find location, extensive or exclusive range, now offering the latest equipment or product.

Imagine if you increased your tiny 500 person data base by just 10% through some better advertising. Now that’s only 50 people or one person per week. They visited 10 times a year and spent on average $50. That’s another $25 000!!

Marketing 102

The second area that will make you more money is to have your clients visit more often. Again there are two aspects to this.

The first is to increase their visiting frequency, whilst the second is to introduce them to new or extra services in the salon committing them to an extra visit.

Increasing frequency

Truly professional therapists ensure that they write out treatment programmes for their clients. These programmes plan out the types of treatments and the time between treatments for the customer to get the best possible result. This practice ensures that the client knows that you are really taking their care seriously, whilst ensuring a much higher rebooking rate. It also means that therapists are thinking through the optimum time between treatments for each individual. Usually this will be much more frequently than the standard once a month facial. To back this strategy up salons can promote treatments in a series. There are many treatments that lend themselves to this type of marketing including; micro-dermabrasion, IPL, peels, tanning, body wraps and facials, just to name a few.

What if every one of your 500 people had just one more visit a year at an average of $50 per visit? Another $25 000!! ( I haven’t even taken into consideration the extra clients through you new advertising and retention programmes.)

Extra services

Cross marketing new or extra services to particular groups within your salon is a great way of increasing the number of visits each client makes to your salon per year. The idea is to offer one group of clients a fabulous special deal to try something else from your list of services. For example waxing clients who have never tried a facial. Or facial clients who have never experienced a lash tint. What about nail clients that have never opted for a pedicure? Indeed the permutations and combinations are endless. Try giving out special offers as these customers leave your salon. Mail to a particular group a fabulous deal. Even getting on the phone during quiet times can produce excellent results.

If every one of your 500 visitors tried just one new treatment at an average of $50 per treatment, you would have another $25 000. (Again I haven’t taken in the increased number of clients, nor have I dared to suggest that many might actually enjoy the new treatment and decide to have it regularly!)

Marketing 103

The third area to market towards is the strategy of inviting your customers to spend more each time they visit. Again there are two distinct methods of achieving success in this area. The first is to increase prices. The second is to train staff to up-sell additional services and add-on extra home care products to their beauty regime.

Putting up prices.

I can already feel you squirming at the suggestion that prices need to be adjusted several times a year. I have heard all the arguments about how your customers will leave and I just don’t believe that this is the case if you have the correct strategy. Ask yourself this question: Do you really know how much your clients are prepared to pay for your products and services? If you are like the vast majority of people who answer no, then the only way of finding the point that your clients are prepared to pay is to put up your prices until you begin to get comments. The way to do this is to raise prices gradually. I only ever print a short run of 1000 price menus. This way I need to reprint every few months. On each reprint I only touch up the prices of one section of my price list and only by a small amount.

For example, I might put only my waxing prices up by one dollar and not change anything else. Now how many customers wouldn’t come back for one miserly dollar? The next price list might see facial go up just a fraction, the following one has pedicures and manicures go up, Eventually you will get back to your waxing and you put it up another dollar. The beauty of this strategy is that facial clients don’t care about waxing prices and waxing clients won’t be affected by a price rise in facials. So not everyone even realises that there have been increases.

If half of your 500 strong data base had some sort of waxing on a regular basis and we charged them $1 extra each session, you can expect 250 people x 10 visits x $1 = $ 2500! And that’s just the waxing clients. Add the facial and pedicure, tinting and tanning increased prices as well and this is a considerable amount of extra income.

Up-selling and Add-on sales

The first task of this strategy is to ascertain exactly what each therapist’s average dollar per client or average dollar per hour is. Most of the beauty software systems can calculate this for you. By setting targets based on their averages, staff are conscious of the need to up-sell and add-on additional sales. To help staff in this area utilise staff meetings and training times to continually reinforce that for every treatment there is a secondary treatment that can compliment it.

Similarly every product has a number of sister products that work in harmony with the first. For example a facial can also have a lash tint, or a special eye masque, or even a neck and décolletage treatment. They can all be done whilst the facial masque is applied so they take no extra time and yet can earn the salon an extra thirty to forty dollars. Home care sales are just the same. We sell cleansers, exfoliants and moisturisers regularly, but very few masques or serums or ampoules. Body lotions need loofa gloves and body exfoliants. Every fake tan application should include either a body exfoliation or a home care body moisturiser, exfoliant and loofa glove.

When therapists are made aware of these easy extra sales they will increase their average spend considerably.

If all of your original 500 clients purchased only one extra product throughout the year at an average price of $50. Then they all had just one extra service sometime throughout the year added to their usual treatments valued at an average of $50. That would equal an additional $50 000!! This figure is for only a single add-on product and a single up-sell service. Imagine the result when your staff perform this way regularly.

Now I have used very low numbers to highlight my points, the average salon in New Zealand has more than 500 regular clients and could obviously experience much larger increases. So consider what happens when your salon is retaining more clients than ever before, attracting more new visitors weekly, increasing the regularity of client services, introducing extra services into each client’s beauty regime, increasing your prices and selling more each time someone enters your premises. Each on their own may only be a small amount, but collectively it can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars!

As my seminar progressed, we discussed the types of letters and phone calls I utilise. The area that most interested participants was the need to follow up clients.
It seems very few salons bother to follow up both new clients and customers that have purchased a product or tried a new service. And they should!
Yes it takes a bit of time, but the benefits vastly outweigh the costs or time considerations.

Here’s why:

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In the group there was a salon owner who admitted that she once did do follow up calls but some of her clients weren’t happy with the service they received and asked for a refund. So now they don’t do the calls because they might encounter more customers that were unhappy. In other words they had solved the unhappy client problem by not making the calls. But they had missed the point. Yes, you might encounter a few that want refunds which you can avoid if you don’t make the calls, but in effect if you don’t make follow up calls you will be refunding many times over because you won’t be getting their business ever again.

Whereas, if the problem was dealt with effectively where a replacement or refund was offered, you may still pick up business from that customer. It is far better to redeem yourself with the view to a lifetime worth of business from that customer than miss the opportunity and lose that customer’s business forever.
In fact, my own experience in this area is that, many patrons who’d sworn that they would never return to your salon, become advocates of the business if their grievances were dealt with satisfactorily.

You see, following up on customers to ascertain their satisfaction levels or to address any concerns they may have allows you to deal with any problems, maintaining the relationship and ultimately the business of that client.

Another factor is that many clients buy home care retail products from your salon, take it home and have forgotten how they were supposed to use it. The follow up call allows you to reinforce the timing, amount, order and safety of using the products to gain the best possible result. Many customers appreciate the thought that you were concerned about them enough to check to see if they were enjoying the products. They are chuffed that you took the time to contact them. I know, they tell me every time I call them!

One of the best reasons to do follow up calls is to reinforce how much the customer loves what you have offered them. Recently, my hairdresser called and asked me how I was enjoying my new hairstyle. I immediately told her how my friends had all noticed and that I really liked the feel of my hair after using the product she sold me. What had happened during this conversation was that she had reinforced how happy I was with their service. It also compounded the loyalty I had to return to that salon and strengthened the belief that salon exclusive products were better quality.

Some people in the seminar complained that they almost had a phobia about getting on the phone to people they didn’t know very well. The good news is that letters can be just as effective. Imagine that you had just recently been to a salon for the first time. Whilst there, you enjoyed a facial treatment and purchased some home care products. A few days later this letter arrived in your mailbox:

Mrs Smith,
Just a quick note to say “Thanks” for choosing to visit our salon recently. We recognise that you had numerous alternatives and so we were really pleased that you chose us.
You have made a terrific purchase with your new moisturiser and cleanser and I’m sure that you’ll enjoy the hydration they provide for your skin. Having said that, if there are ever any problems with our products or the service you receive, (or even if you get a little stuck on how to use the creams properly) please feel free to call me at the salon on 123 4567. I will do my best to fix things for you personally and immediately. And if there is any other way we can help please let me know. It will be a pleasure to assist you again
Best regards,
Paul Carbis

Now although this letter is somewhat generic, you would have to be impressed if you received one. Wouldn’t you? Imagine how impressive you could make it by personalising it to your salon. People who receive these kinds of letters are pre-disposed to do further business with you. For the sake of a stamp and some time there probably isn’t a better client retention instrument you can implement .It makes sense to hang on to existing customers that you have already spent advertising dollars on to attract to your salon. You will never be able to acquire a new customer for the cost of keeping an existing one happy.

You see, nearly all of the salons that I visit perform a “good” service. On average I am satisfied that they served me well. But the point of difference I am talking about is when a salon is anything but average and they serve me with extraordinary excellence and expertise.

I believe that the greatest point of difference we can establish in this industry is being recognised as an expert. That’s right an expert – Someone who is perceived to have greater knowledge, experience or skill.

The best part is that it doesn’t take a lot of effort to walk and talk, act and sound like an expert. The primary difference between a salon of excellence and an average salon is their attitude. I firmly believe that the vast majority of our customers want to be directed in their skin care. They want their therapist to sound confident and be up to date with the latest treatments, technology and information. It’s our role as professionals to inform, educate, direct and nurture our clients, assisting them to improve the look and feel of their skin. So here’s how it can be done:

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Your name says it all.

You are no longer a beauty therapist you will now be called a professional skin therapist. It’s true that you will probably still do waxing and some nails throughout your week, but the real money in salons is in treating skin. So start really concentrating on your skin treatments. Professional skin therapists provide specific facials for anti-aging, pigmentation, sun damaged, cuperose, dehydrated, acne and sensitive skin types. You will know how to correctly diagnose these problems and you will have a range of solutions for each of these skin problems. You are well trained in skin analysis and well versed in your product knowledge. Your services menu will reflect your expertise in dealing with these skin conditions as will the way you handle enquiries over the telephone or reception counter.

You know more about the skin than your customer does.

What is the point of letting customers choose their own treatments such as facials, when we all know that very few of them have any real idea about the condition of their skin. Yes we must listen to their concerns and try to address them, but the average woman that enters your salon has never had her skin properly diagnosed, knows very little about how the skin works, doesn’t know what caused her problem and has no idea about how to fix it. So an expert doesn’t simply take her word that her skin is dry, you check for yourself, examine the skin closely, prescribe a treatment plan and recommend home care products.

Then because you do this with confidence, assuredness and authority, your client feels reassured in the knowledge that they are in the hands of an expert.

Learn to diagnose skin like an expert.

Nothing will give you and your salon a greater edge over your opposition than becoming proficient in skin diagnosis techniques. Being able to confidently diagnose problem areas correctly places you in a position of authority with your client. Once your customer allows you to look at her skin she expects you to give your opinion. Providing accurate advice confidently will not only force your client to listen to you but also to believe you. The chances that they will then follow your advice are significantly increased meaning extra treatments in your salon, home care product sales and results for your client. Attending post graduate advanced skin analysis courses are a fantastic investment for you and your staff to make and will give you a legitimate mantle of “expertise’ that can be felt by your clients.

Know your products.

Attend as many product knowledge days as you can, read your product manuals so as you understand what the different ingredients do on the skin and how they interact together. Cosmetic chemistry is another area where you can show your expertise. But it’s not all about ingredients. You also need to know how much to use, how long it should last, what products it works best with, what order you use these products in and how much it costs. All without having to run off to get a manual or reach for a brochure. Again, direct your customers to what they should be using rather than simply letting them choose. Your job is not to presume what people can afford, it is to show them what they need and then it is up to them to decide what they will take. The more expertise you show in your product knowledge the more your client will feel confident that you can help them.

Three things skin experts always do.

Firstly, you always recommend a programme of in-salon treatments for your clients. This means prescribing a series of treatments over several weeks or months depending on the client’s individual needs. This might include treatments a week apart, fortnightly or a mix of treatments together then a break before resuming with more treatments. Whoever decided that we should book our facial clients in once a month was not an expert. We need to tell our clients when and how often we need to see them to get the best results possible. This programme can also include a range of different treatments to achieve the desired result. The rule is – DON”T THINK SINGLE TREATMENT. A single treatment is not going to have long-term positive effects on your client’s skin.

Secondly always prescribe home care products. Simply coming in for a treatment in-salon is not enough. All salon treatments need to be supported with home care. If you believe they require five products, it is your responsibility to show them those five products. The rule is – DON’T PRESUME HOW MUCH THEY ARE WILLING TO SPEND. Your role is to tell them what they need. They will decide what they can afford.

Thirdly write it all down. Tell them what to use in which order, how to use it, morning and night, for every day of the week. Tell them how often to exfoliate, what nights to use a masque, why they need to use eye creams… Write down for them the recipe to maximise the desired result. If you don’t they will forget, they will get lazy and they will give up. The rule is – IT’S REAL WHEN IT’S WRITTEN DOWN, SO WRITE OUT A PRESCRIPTION EVERY TIME.

I could go on about looking the part with uniforms, make-up, hair and accessories and how language is important in your guise as an expert. Or how the salon environment needs to look and feel professional and your customer service commitment must be outstanding. But none of these things will ever happen until you take on the crown of a professional skin expert. If you start thinking of yourself as an expert, speaking with the authority of an expert and aim for excellence in your treatments, it is amazing how quickly people start to refer to you as an expert!

Let me give you an example. I recently went to a new local hairdresser to have a haircut. I had noticed her new shop signage as I drove down the main street of my suburb. Once, inside, we started chatting about how expensive it is to advertise. Like most salons, there was literally thousands of dollars worth of advertising including:

• Yellow Pages
• Shop Signage
• A-Frame chalk board for footpath
• Local paper ads
• Flyers for mail drops
• Brochures
• Price lists
• Business Cards
• Motor Vehicle Signage
• Chamber of Commerce / Networking Club members fees

I agree that these require thousands of dollars worth of advertising, which is very expensive but necessary in order to entice new clients to the salon. My next question was, “So what has been the most effective way to attract new clients?” Her answer wasn’t unusual. – “I don’t know.”

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Had the salon owner asked me as a client what had attracted me to her business I would have happily pointed out that it was her bright yellow street signage. And no, I didn’t notice the advertisement in the local paper. To a business owner, this type of information is vital in determining where to advertise next.

What if every person who phoned or entered that salon was asked one simple question – “Excuse me, but I was wondering how did you find out about us?” Then these responses are recorded. I see salon owners regularly who spend hundreds of dollars on advertising without ever knowing exactly how many people it attracted, whether it paid for itself or how much profit was made.

I have conducted this exercise in many businesses where customers are asked how they found out about the salon. The responses are recorded, often with surprising results. Educated decisions can be made with this type of information. A particular form of advertising can be dropped in favour of one that is working well. A different headline or size or colour can be tried to improve poor results. Deficiencies in areas like word of mouth can be addressed with a deliberate referral system. Successful advertising techniques can then be repeated, while ones that didn’t work are eliminated.

In fact, it is just as important to know what doesn’t work as it is to know what has been successful. You can even ask a second question, “Which part of the advertisement caught your eye?” It may have been the headline, or the colour of the paper, its size, or perhaps it was the ‘guarantee’ or the ‘special offer’. Again, this information is important in formulating what you do with your next advertisement.

With valuable feedback mechanisms you now can make informed decisions about where, when and how you should spend you advertising dollars in a way that will best work for you, resulting in improved results and stopping wasted money from going into advertising that just doesn’t work.

Many of today’s salon computer programs will allow you to flag particular treatments that are advertised specials or will record information on how clients select your salon. Of course, you can simply keep a manual record behind your counter that will work just as effectively. They key factor here is that it is worth the effort to systematically ask and record responses. By trialling and testing a variety of advertising methods and then measuring their effectiveness, you can build up a successful arsenal of advertising techniques that will bring in new customers and greater profits consistently throughout the year.

Let me explain…..

Become an expert.

Beauty therapists are experts in the skin. There are very few people in your community that know more about the condition and care of the skin than you do. Certainly we know that our customers don’t. They don’t know the difference between dry or dehydrated skin, what is healthy oil flow or not, they have no idea what is causing their acne and they turn to us for help. This makes you an expert. One of the easiest ways to demonstrate your expertise is to conduct a full diagnostic skin analysis. It immediately places you in a position of expertise and control.

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You have the perfect opportunity to display your knowledge and confidently educate your client. Firstly with what you see and secondly with what you determine they need. Your clients are far more inclined to listen to your recommendations if they are confident you know what you are doing. The skin consultation phase of their visit gives you an opportunity to display your professionalism. That’s why confident, well-trained therapists have no trouble recommending retail products to their clients. Their clients actually trust their expertise.

Conducting an analysis of the skin

1. Homework

One of the disciplines that experienced therapists have a habit of doing daily, is the task of doing homework on their clients. Much can be gleaned about a client’s skin just by looking at what products they have purchased, what treatments they have had and how often they visit the salon. Notes about a client’s skin from previous visits or suggestions made to the client at their last consultation can assist greatly in preparing for a customer’s skin consultation. Doing homework means that you recommend products that they do not already have.

Reminders about products that should be running out can be made, reiteration of past suggestions can be reinforced and clues as to what to look for in a client’s skin condition can be found. All this can be achieved easily just by looking closely at the client’s history. The therapist can have thought through their suggestions and mentally prepared for each client, they can prepare their treatment rooms with appropriate products and equipment and they can learn about the products they will be recommending even before their client enters the salon. This gives therapists a focus for each client, which in turn enables the consultation to be conducted with the confidence of an expert.

2. Ask your client about their concerns

Even though you have done your homework on your clients, it is important to ask them what their concerns are about their skin. My favourite question is;

If you could change one thing about your skin, what would it be? It is a direct question that will usually result in the client telling you their greatest concerns. I have often heard therapists ask the more general question of:

“Do you have any concerns regarding your skin?” Only to be told:
“No, not really.”

The real reason for asking such questions is to listen carefully to the answer and then show off your expertise by digging deeper with further probing questions to isolate either the exact concern or what might be causing the problem. I encourage therapists to write down notes to show the client that they really are listening and really do care.

3. Look at the skin

If ever there was an area of training every therapist should constantly be practising then diagnostic skin analysis is it! It is the key to determining client treatments and home care, effectively providing the client with the best result possible. For this reason I ask therapists to map out the face and draw what they see on this map. Many clients have a better understanding of the technical terms such as pigmentation, dehydration, couperose, rosacea, lipids, epidermis and the like, if they can see it represented on paper. It makes the condition seem more real. Remember when looking at the skin to look for the areas of concern that the client mentioned.

I love skin scanners and the latest technology in photographic and video imaging because the client can see exactly what you see and can easily identify what you are talking about. But a Woods Lamp or even a Maggi Lamp in the hands of a skilled therapist can still provide the perfect opportunity to show off their expertise.

4. Today’s Treatment

I have considered not having facials with names on a pricelist because this places the choice of treatment in the hands of the customer who rarely knows what their true skin condition is. How can they choose the most appropriate treatment when they cannot accurately assess their own skin? Surely, treatments should only be decided upon after a consultation and discussion about what would be best for each individual’s skin condition. For this reason I ask therapists to be open to suggesting a change of treatment if it is not the most appropriate for that client’s skin type. Of course there are constraints such as price and the amount of time allotted to that treatment when it was booked. However, in most cases there is plenty of flexibility available for an experienced therapist to suggest changes to bookings. This is also the perfect opportunity to up-sell the treatment.

5. A Programme of Treatments

For the vast majority of our clients they will never get a noticeable result with just one treatment. As experts we need to educate our clients about a plan or programme of treatments to best treat their concerns. This requires two important factors. First, the programme must contain a series of treatments that will compliment each other, building on the effects of the previous treatments and the home care routine the client follows. Secondly, each treatment on the programme must be spaced to maximise its effect for the client. Whoever decided that facials should be four weeks apart must have only had one client! It makes sense that every client will require different time frames between treatments depending on their skin condition and the type of facial they are having. By booking clients on programmes, there are no problems with rebooking and customers are less likely to try another salon’s services.

6. Write out a Home Care Prescription

As vital as checking their skin and booking a programme of treatments is the issue of home care. The only way our clients are going to get results is to see a therapist regularly and to use salon exclusive home care products. By prescribing home care products as a part of the skin consultation you are connecting the on-going treatment that is done at home with their salon treatments. Write down the order they should use their products both in the morning and at night. Include the names of these products and any special application instructions. Don’t forget less regular products such as exfoliants and masques as well. Whenever I write out a prescription for home care, I imagine that I am writing it for a fifteen year old. That way I keep it simple and easy to follow. Watch as your clients start to tell you what they need to buy next, because you took the time to write them a prescription of home care products at their consultation.

The practice of conducting a skin consultation is the perfect opportunity to show off your salon’s best point of difference – Your expertise. As you can see it opens up numerous possibilities to display staff talent and knowledge, can be the best retail sales environment and is ideal for up-selling treatments to additional or more expensive services. Make sure your customers get this sort of expert attention and watch your salon profits grow!

Those who know me, will know that I am an avid Apple Macintosh Computer user. I have owned Macs for years now and find them wonderfully easy to operate and incredibly reliable. Yet, I can’t give the same high praise to the sales representative that greeted me recently when I inquired about upgrading my current model.

Yes, I was greeted warmly.
Yes, the showroom was presented beautifully and;
Yes, the salesperson was enthusiastic to serve me.
But as soon as I muttered the word “upgrade”….I was whisked away into the far off world of computer speak.

Now, I don’t consider myself a fool, but I was lost after the very first sentence of gigabytes, RAM, DVD – ROM / CD Drive, and Fire wire. If this young man was trying to impress me with his knowledge, he was doing a great job. But if he was trying to sell me a computer system, he had no chance at all. You see, I had no idea what he was talking about, nor did I care. I felt a mixture of foolishness and anger. The salesperson wasn’t interested in my needs, my lifestyle, or my understanding. He was too busy impressing me!

Consequently, I chose not to purchase from that particular outlet.

Jargon in any field of business can kill sales. Doctors who presume we have a degree in anatomy or mechanics who think we can do more than put petrol in and change a tyre. Even cook book writers who believe we all grow exotic herbs and Asian vegetables. Or worst of all, beauty therapists who talk about active ingredients that other than industrial chemists no-one else has heard about and how they work on layers of the skin with really strange names. To make it worse, many of these products have French names that many of us cannot even pronounce correctly, let alone understand.

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Great sales people in our industry do not presume that the average woman thinking about buying products from us knows the difference between an AHA or a BHA. They don’t take it for granted that Collagen and Elastin are household words. They don’t think that everyone knows where the epidermis is or understand terms such as iontophoresis and high frequency. They don’t use confusing ingredient names or strange aromatherapy plant extracts in their speech, without explaining themselves in common, easy to understand, every day language. Our industry is constantly changing and many of these changes are on the cutting edge of science, medicine, chemistry and engineering. So, it’s easy to get caught up in the latest industry jargon in our enthusiasm to inform our customers of the benefits of products and treatments they can receive in our salons.

However, until you have asked sufficient questions about your clients needs and wants, you cannot possibly talk at that customer’s level of understanding. Jargon sounds great if you are at a conference with peers from your industry. But the average man and woman (your customers), want things explained to them in language they can understand. How else can they make an informed decision to buy?

To highlight this point, I have noticed solicitors and accountancy firms include terms such as; “explained in plain English” in their advertising. Even restaurant menus have an explanation following the names of dishes only a chef could dream up.

I am pleased to say that some therapists do brilliantly when it comes to explaining both products and services. On a recent trip to Auckland, I was able to overhear a conversation a young therapist was having with her customer. What impressed me most was the lack of talking and the careful listening that was taking place. Initially, she asked; “So what do you want to achieve with your products?” The emphasis was completely on assisting the customer rather than just pushing the newest, latest, most expensive cream in the salon. After intently listening to the customer’s response, the therapist asked a few more probing questions, again listening carefully to the answers, before making her recommendations. In each case, she explained the procedures and benefits of using the products she had selected in easy to understand language. Throughout her discussion she demonstrated her professional knowledge and expertise by utilising industry specific words, but each time this was done, she made sure the client fully understood what she was saying by offering a simple explanation of these terms. Her customer felt extremely comfortable buying from her.

Indeed, some of the worst jargon comes in the form of abbreviations and acronyms. To quote a certain computer salesperson, we have megs, gigs, Mhz, Cd Rom, PC’s, Bits, Bytes and DVD’s all at RRP.

How often in the beauty industry do we fall into the trap of forgetting that our customers simply might not understand? It’s very easy to do and may be killing your sales!

If only the computer salesman had bothered to speak with me, rather than speak at me in some kind of alien dialect, I may well have been writing this article on a new computer!

In it’s purest sense the word professional simply means to be paid for services and knowledge. What I’d like to discuss is the contentious issue of what should salon owners and managers expect in return for this payment.

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Let me start off by recognising the complexity of the role of today’s therapists. Not only must they be highly competent in the basic hands on skills involved in waxing, facials, massage and the like, but the modern salon now includes sophisticated machinery such as micro-dermabrasion, IPL and body toning equipment. That’s not forgetting computerised point of sale, new product ingredients and a litany of breakthrough research on skin function and product infusion techniques. Add to all of this, retail selling, cleaning, stock control, banking, marketing or window dressing and it is clear that the modern therapist must be a multi-functional expert with a wide variety of skills.

Still, these are what many of us now include as core skills in our position descriptions for staff. I believe that the real professional is recognised by their commitment to mastering each of these basic requirements and continuing to develop their skills through professional preparation. Here are just a few areas that I believe can help you identify a true professional.

Personal Appearance

Now I know that therapists come in all shapes and sizes. I am not advocating that all therapists need to look like models. However, I do believe that they need to look the part and that means taking pride in their personal appearance.

It is very difficult for a therapist to convince the public about the products and services they sell if their own skin is not in good condition. I don’t mean they cannot ever get a pimple! But too many late nights, improper diet, smoking and sun exposure are areas where therapists can be careful. Similarly, hair care, the presentation of their uniform, posture and language are all personal presentation features that represent pride and professional appearance. Professional staff attend work looking like they represent the beauty industry. They already have their make-up on, their hair done, their uniform clean and pressed. They arrive having already eaten, without rushing in a frantic effort to be ready on time for their first customer, (who by the way, expects them to be absolutely 100% prepared for the service that they are paying hard earned money for).

Diligence

Professionals are not late for work, they do take into consideration traffic conditions, they do remember rosters, they don’t have late nights or drink heavily the evening before their next shift. Similarly, they will stay back and make sure everything is completed satisfactorily, they will complete their daily tasks without minute by minute supervision, they won’t take extended breaks or simply “pop out” to complete personal chores. Diligence is an expectation that staff will maintain set times for their services and utilise free time wisely with client call backs, cleaning and preparation. Diligent staff believe in professional preparation. They make sure their rooms are ready, they check daily correspondence, they undertake reviews of their client’s histories.

Training

Professional therapists understand that continual training is necessary to maintain a competitive edge in this industry. New equipment, product knowledge, techniques, advanced skin analysis, retail skilling, ….the list is endless. In fact, this industry is one of constant change, the only way to maintain a consistently high levels of service is to be prepared to undertake continual post graduate training. There are many opportunities for training for therapists ranging from in-salon staff meetings to product companies that regularly offer training in technique and product knowledge, whilst seminars are conducted by specialists all over the country.

Instead of jumping at opportunities to improve their skills and knowledge, many therapists don’t see post graduate education as necessary and go years without undertaking any additional training. Professional therapists have a mindset that sees ongoing training as a mandatory part of their preparation to provide the very best services for their clients. For many years I have been advocating that in order to maintain a therapist’s qualifications a certain number of points per year must be attained through attendance at post graduate training sessions conducted by certified industry approved trainers from product companies or allied industry training organizations. This would ensure industry standards were maintained by all practising therapists.

Professional Reading

Regular reading of professional journals, product manuals, business books and course materials helps to maintain professional standards. Therapists who undertake to keep up to date with what is happening in their industry are better able to assist their customers. Our clients are better educated about our industry than ever before. They are well aware of the newest trends, latest techniques, new products and industry terminology. The plethora of magazines that deal with our appearance, our lifestyles and our desire to look younger, means that our clients are now very well informed.

Recently, a therapist who was using a new product range suggested that because she had yet to attend a product school, she did not know anything about the products and therefore could not be expected to sell them. She was shocked that I suggested that she take the product manual home and learn about the products from this resource. Her argument was that she shouldn’t have to do this in her own time. My response was that she was paid to make retail sales and that it was her responsibility to prepare herself to be able to be a successful retailer.

Professional Talk

I am astounded when I am told about some of the conversations therapists have with their clients during their services. Most of these conversations I regard as gossip and much of the content is of questionable appropriateness. What happens when therapists guide the salon talk towards professional issues such as skin conditions, product discussions, home care regimes, problem skin solutions and new or seasonal services and products? Customers then take note of the professionalism, they listen to recommendations, they take advantage of special deals, they try new ideas, they rebook and buy retail. Yes we need to be friendly and yes, our customers initiate much of the gossip, but professionals are able to take control of the time available and conversation topics to make sure their clients are informed and have every opportunity to get a fantastic result from their visit to your salon.

Attitude

In the end, what all this boils down to is the attitude therapists bring to the workplace. Too many simply see their employment as a wage rather than a vocation. Professional attitude is what separates great and average therapists. Attitude contends with issues such as pride, respect, willingness, eagerness, serventhood and thoughtfulness. A professional attitude reflects the importance of the role, the pride in their employment and the respect for their customers. The result is that our customers receive what they deserve, the best care, advice and service available. It might also means that salon owners start to make a profit because clients are rebooking, telling others, attending regularly, buying homecare products, trying new services and loving their salon experiences.

Salon owners throughout Australia need to address this issue by clearly stating what their professional expectations are of their staff, then regularly and formally reviewing staff performances. We are all really good at thanking and rewarding staff for good performances but many salon owners struggle with the idea of consequences for poor performance or lack of professionalism. If clear standards are consistently expected and staff know that there are serious consequences for poor behaviour, then standards will continue to rise in salons. It is one thing to talk about staff expectations and professionalism, but we need to actually act by setting industry standards that we are prepared to train therapists towards.

The areas I have discussed need to be included in contracts and position descriptions and salon owners need to take a stand with staff when they fall short of these expectations. It may sound like I am disappointed with the standard of therapists in this country, but actually I am constantly delighted by the endeavours of many of the girls I meet. I have always responded to owners who complain about staff standards, that they are the ones who have to instigate change in the salon. I believe that owners have to set the standards of “professionalism’ and police them to maintain salon standards.

If you are concerned about any of the issues discussed in this article I suggest that you have a review of your staff contracts and procedures manuals. It is a great way to stipulate clearly what your expectations of a professional therapist are.