Liz McKeon looks at ways to increase your gift voucher sales

How much business will slip past your salon this Christmas? How many opportunities will be lost to your competition? Get ready to boost your sales, enjoy the party season and look forward to a healthy start to 2011. Use the elements that captivate the senses of passers by, make them stop, come in and shop…

Music and movement are traditional attention-getters, but aroma can be an overlooked resource to assist shoppers to part with their money in your salon. Sound, smells and visual merchandise will get attention where a pretty, but static and ordinary display may go unnoticed.

Increase gift voucher sales

The Christmas season is always an opportune time of the year to make some profit for your salon or Spa. Selling gift vouchers or gift cards is a great way to keep clients coming back and stay busy after the holiday season. Gift vouchers can prompt multiple appointments because the voucher has already been paid for.

Continue to focus on increasing voucher sales all year round to help maintain a healthy cash flow, ensuring that they will attract more clients on a continual basis.

Here are just five easy ways to increase your Christmas voucher sales:

Place gift vouchers around the salon. Use these items as part of the décor, so that clients are aware that gift vouchers are available. The key to making sure these marketing materials don’t get lost in the décor is to move them around on a regular basis. Change these items at least once per week to maximise exposure.

Send an email newsletter to your database highlighting the benefits of gift vouchers. Announcements about gift voucher availability can help to increase voucher sales and promote your brand. Make sure to time your email distribution appropriately. A 10-day lead time before the Christmas rush is a good starting point to help clients begin thinking about giving your vouchers as gifts.

Make sure your salon contains information about gift vouchers. Ensure your website is up-to-date about how easy it is to purchase gift vouchers from you. Provide lots of information about gift voucher availability, highlighting the benefits of giving a gift voucher to your salon.

Offer free gift wrapping. Clients and shoppers appreciate this extra touch and this step adds more perceived value to the purchase. Invest in some eye-catching envelopes, decorative ribbon or small gift boxes for your vouchers and turn it into a real ‘gift’.

Include a coupon or offer with purchase. Give the giver a small gift such as a free product, a coupon for a future service they can use for themselves, or a salon voucher with a smaller amount already loaded onto it. Incentives to purchase a gift voucher can boost sales and encourage more clients to turn to you instead of a competitor when narrowing down the field of choices.

Selling gift vouchers regularly helps to secure your business and the right marketing strategy can help to promote your brand. Use some of these tips, ideas and suggestions to increase gift voucher sales and keep your appointment books full, even during the non-holiday season!

Making the best impression

Liz McKeon’s guide to getting it right first time

Every experience your clients have with your salon or Spa begins with a first impression. Your business can only make a great first impression once, so what is the best way to do this?

The first impression can be nearly impossible to reverse, making these first encounters extremely important, for they set the tone for all future transactions with the client – if you want all your clients to become long-term lifetime clients, make sure to create a great first impression.

People buy people,so make sure every team member gets it right.

The telephone

The main reason a good first impression is often missed on a phone call is the lack of proper customer service procedures that
place an emphasis on call scripting, consistency and converting enquiries to appointments.

Be on time

A new client you are meeting for the first time is not interested in your ‘good excuse’ for running late.

Be yourself, be at ease

If you are calm and confident, your client will feel more at ease, and you have a solid foundation to build trust, introduce new services and make recommendations.

Present yourself appropriately

Surveys show that employees with high levels of personal presentation create pride in the salon, while increasing the
company’s credibility. Is your appearance saying the right things to help create the right first impression?

Keep your individuality

Of course, within a salon environment you need to ‘fit in’ and conform with the team, but the great news is that you can
usually create a great first impression without losing your individuality and personality.

A winning smile

“Smile and the world smiles too” There is nothing like a genuine smile to create a great first impression.

Be open & confident

When it comes to making the first impression, body language, as well as appearance actually speaks louder than words. Stand tall, make eye contact, greet with a firm handshake.

Small talk goes a long way

Conversations are based on verbal give and take. It helps to prepare questions you have for the clients you are
expecting,relative to the treatments they have booked.

Be courteous & attentive

It almost goes without saying that good manners and polite, attentive and courteous behavior helps to make a
great first impression. Every client deserves 100% of your attention.

Be positive

Your attitude shows through in everything you do. Project a positive attitude, even in the face of criticism or
in the case of nervousness. Strive to continually learn, always maintaining an upbeat manner.

You have just a few seconds to make a great first impression and it’s almost impossible to ever change it. So, it’s
worth giving each new client your best shot. Much of what you need to do is common sense. But, with a little extra
thought and preparation,you can make sure every first impression is not just good, but great!

Keeping up with employment law

Liz McKeon explains the importance of NERA compliance

The importance of compliance with the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) cannot be understated. With over 100 inspectors and a potential fine of up to €250,000, as a salon and Spa owner, are you very familiar with your NERA obligations? If not, now is the time to get compliant!

NERA is an office of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It aims to secure compliance with employment rights legislation and to foster a culture of compliance in Ireland through five main functions: Information, Inspection, Enforcement,
Prosecution, Protection of Young Persons. In general, inspectors can:enter any premises at a reasonable time, demand sight of records, take copies of records, and interview and require information from any relevant person.

The following list sets out the standard records which an inspector will require access to during the course of an inspection:

1. Employer registration number with the Revenue Commissioners;
2. Full name,address and PPS number for each employee (full and part-time);
3. Terms of employment for each therapist;
4. Payroll details (gross to net,rate per hour, overtime, deductions, shifts, commissions, bonuses, tips etc);
5. Copies of pay slips;
6. Employees’job classification;
7. Dates of commencement;
8. Register of employees under 18 years of age;
9. Hours of work for each employee (including starting and finishing times, meal breaks and rest periods);
10. Whether board and / or lodgings are provided and relevant details;
11. Holidays and public holiday entitlements received by each employee;
12. Any documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with employment rights legislation.

How an inspection is undertaken NERA inspectors undertake both ‘announced’ and ‘unannounced’ inspections. In the case of ‘announced inspections’, the inspector will contact the employer by letter or telephone to advise the employer that it is intended to carry out an employment rights compliance inspection on their business and to make the necessary arrangements for undertaking the inspection.

In the case of ‘unannounced inspections’; the inspectors just turn up and asks for the production of appropriate records.
In carrying out the inspection, which typically lasts two to three hours, the inspector:

• Ascertains the name of the person who keeps and updates the records;
• Examines the records to establish that they are compliant with the relevant employment rights legislation;
• Determines the rate of pay in respect of each employee from the rosters and the wage records presented;
• Informs the employer of any breaches under the legislation identified;
• May interview employees.

After the inspection NERA will contact the employer in writing to advise them of the outcome of the inspection. If
breaches have been identified, NERA may:

• Issue a letter to the employer asking them to rectify the breaches;
• Refer the matter to the Legal Services for prosecution;
• Undertake a further inspection.

So, make sure your salon is compliant so you can get on with the business of running your business!

Is your pricing right?

Liz McKeon offers seven tips for higher profits

Determining prices of services in your salon or Spa must be based on a broad,thoughtful basis. It requires a basic understanding of both your financial and business goals.

The right price should meet the requirement of the buyer and seller. If you hit the right price,your clients will be happy,your profits will be higher and your bottom line will be healthy.

However,setting the right price is one of the most difficult decisions to make when starting a business or introducing a new service. Many salon owners make the mistake of setting up a flawed pricing structure. As a result they find themselves working very hard for so little.

7 tips for setting your prices

1. Keep your prices realistic:

A realistic price is the price you set after taking into consideration various factors:

• The direction of your business;
• Your cost structure and expenses;
• Your resources.

Avoid setting your prices on‘what every other salon is charging’. What is right for your competitors may not be right for your salon. Set your prices based on your own situation.

2. Cover all costs

The price of each service should cover the cost associated with it, its contribution to overheads and profit. A successful strategy is one that results in the most euros after all the costs have been met.

3. Check your prices against inflation

Your prices must keep up with inflation. Inflation increases your cost of doing business,with the prices of your materials,overheads and other costs increasing. Once you’ve established your prices,remember to constantly monitor operating costs to insure profit.

4. Include the value of your time in your pricing

Avoid committing the mistake of not including a salary for yourself – your time is valuable and you need to include it when calculating your prices.

5. Clients are not always looking for the lowest price

Price is not always the topmost concern of clients. Many clients are willing to pay premium prices for quality service, speedy delivery, helpful and friendly customer service, excellent product knowledge and advice.

6. Price low, price smart

A common pricing strategy for small salon owners, particularly new entrants into the sector, is to price low just to get
the work.By pricing low, the aim is to penetrate the market and get as much repeat business.

However, be aware that pricing low can have adverse repercussions on your business. First, a low price may signal a low quality service.Second, it may be difficult to raise prices later once clients are accustomed to your low prices. Third, your start-up business is yet to develop economies of scale that makes it hard to compete on price.

7. Use discounts with care

Offering discounts is a good strategy for encouraging repeat sales, bundling sales and early payment from clients. Just make sure you don’t give out the wrong signal or give the impression that your business is in difficulty. Pricing is important for several reasons – it will determine the profit margins for your salon, and in the end, your own salary!

Taking stock

If you want to manage your money, manage your stock, says Liz McKeon

Effective stock management is one of the main elements required in running a financially successful and profitable salon. If you want to mind your money, learn to manage your stock!

Stock control, otherwise known as inventory control, is used to show how much stock you have at any one time, and how you keep track of it. Effective stock control is necessary if the salon is to offer a full range of products and services.

It applies to every item you use to deliver a treatment and every product you retail. It covers stock at every stage of your service to clients, from purchase to delivery to using and re-ordering again.

Maintaining effective stock control is important in all kinds and sizes of retail operations, but is critical in small business. When stock becomes unbalanced the salon owner / manager is facing losing sales and clients.

A stock control system is necessary if the right merchandise is to be on the shelves when required. An effective stock control system will help to serve clients properly and prevent over or under buying. Stock can tie up a large slice of your business capital, so accurate information about stock levels is essential for your salon’s accounts.

Under stock will result in loss of sales; overstock will result in excessive amounts of money tied up in stock.

A stock control system involves four facts:

1. What is on hand
2. What is on order
3. What you have sold
4. What you need to order

The kinds and number of control records which an owner / manager uses depends on the amount of details that are needed. Stock control systems may be achieved either by counting stock or by counting sales, either on computer or by hand. Either way, a model stock list is required

Keeping track manually

Stocktaking involves making an inventory, or list of stock and noting its location and value. The simplest manual system is to use a stock book, which suits small salons with few stock items. It simply enables you to keep a log of stock received and stock issued.

Stock cards are used for more complex systems. Each brand of stock has an associated card, with information such as description, value, location, reorder levels, supplier details and information about past stock history.

Using computer software

Computerised stock control systems run on similar principals to manual ones, but are more flexible and information is easier to retrieve. You can quickly get a stock valuation or find out how well a particular item of stock is moving. A computerized system is a good option for salons dealing with a lot of brands.

Managing your stock

Identify a minimum stock level and reorder when stock reaches that level this is known as the re-order level, and remember your supplier’s lead times for deliveries. And always implement the ‘first in, first out’ system to ensure that all stock is used efficiently so that it doesn’t deteriorate.

What’s your USP?

Boost sales by positioning your salon as the best in the market, says Liz McKeon

What makes you personally, or your salon, more unique, more valuable, and more visible in the market?

Having a Unique Selling Proposition or ‘USP’ will dramatically improve the positioning and marketability of your salon and products by accomplishing three things:

Unique: It clearly sets you apart from your competition, positioning you as the more logical choice.

Selling: It persuades a client to buy from your salon.

Proposition: It is a proposal or offer suggested for acceptance.

Your USP is the force that drives your business and success. It can also be used as a ‘branding’ tool that is included with every tactical marketing effort you use, such as business cards, brochures or your website. This allows you to build a lasting reputation while making sales.

Develop your USP

Your USP is the very essence of what you are offering. It needs to be so compelling that it can be used as a headline that sells your product or service. Therefore, since you want to optimise all your marketing materials for maximum results, create it before any other advertising or marketing material.

Step 1: use your biggest benefits
Think in terms of what your salon does for your client and the end-result they desire from your service.

Step 2: be unique
Basically, your USP separates you from the competition, and illustrates your salon is the most logical choice. Write your USP so it creates desire and urgency.

Step 3: solve an industry ‘performance gap’
Identify which needs are going unfulfilled in your local market. The need that exists between the current situation and the desired objectives is termed a ‘performance gap’. Many salons that base their USP on industry performance gaps are very successful.

Step 4: be specific & offer proof
Clients are sceptical of advertising claims. Alleviate their scepticism by being specific and offering proof where possible.

Step 5: condense into one clear & concise sentence
The most powerful USPs are so perfectly written, you cannot change or move even a single word. Each word earns you money by selling your product or service. After you get your USP written, your advertising and marketing will practically write itself!

Step 6: integrate your USP into all marketing materials
Variations of your USP will be included in all your marketing materials such as:

• Advertisements
• Business cards,brochures,flyers and signs
• Phone and sales scripts
• Letterheads and postcards
• Website and internet marketing

Step 7: deliver on your USP promise
Be bold when developing your USP but be careful to ensure that you can deliver. Your USP should have promises and guarantees that capture your client’s attention and encourages them to book with you. Having a strong USP can make your business a big success, or a big failure if you don’t deliver on it, thereby risking your reputation.

Build your USP to optimise your marketing materials for maximum results. If your salon has a good, clear and honest USP there is an excellent chance that you will be able to compete on factors other than price. And, that means that your business will be more profitable!

Perfect performance?

Liz McKeon guides you through the power of constructive feedback

Knowing how to give feedback is one of the most important managerial skills.

Do you know how to give feedback so that the other person:

• Wants to hear it?
• Can understand it and act on it?
• Doesn’t get defensive, and
• Respects your opinion?

Unclear feedback fosters a sense of helplessness and hopelessness in the salon, because it offers no clues about how to improve and therapists become totally unmotivated.

Poorly thought through feedback diminishes your credibility as a supervisor and inaccurate feedback is guaranteed to lead to resentment.

Giving feedback can be given in two ways: through constructive feedback or through praise and criticism. Praise and criticism are both personal judgements about a performance effort, with praise being a favourable judgment and criticism, an unfavourable judgement. The guidelines for giving constructive feedback fall into four categories: content, manner, timing and frequency.

Content

Content is what you say in the constructive feedback:

1. In your first sentence, identify the topic or issue that the feedback will be about.
2. Provide specifics of what occurred.

Manner

Manner is how you say the constructive feedback – how you say something often carries more weight than what you have to say.

• Be direct in delivering your message.
• Be sincere and avoid giving mixed messages.
• Give clarity on what occurred.
• In positive feedback, express appreciation,in negative feedback, express concern.
• The nature of feedback is verbal and informal,and this can only be achieved by talking live to the employee, either face to face or by phone.
• State observations,not interpretations.

Timing

Feedback is meant to be given as close as possible to when the performance incident occurs so that the events are fresh in everyone’s minds.When feedback is given well after the fact, the value of the constructive feedback is lessened.

Frequency

Frequency answers the question, ”how often should your therapists receive constructive feedback on their performance?”

This last guideline is the most important because it makes all the other guidelines work. Don’t acknowledge how your staff are performing only once or twice a year.Use constructive feedback regularly to acknowledge real performance.Try to catch and respond to therapists doing the job right just as much as you catch and respond to them doing something not quite right.

The power of constructive feedback

Constructive feedback increases self-awareness, offers options and can motivate.Remember it does not mean only giving positive feedback – feedback about poor performance,given skilfully, can be equally useful and important as an aid to developing a great team. So, don’t just be a good boss,become a great boss.

Giving feedback is one of the most important and difficult moments of truth that determine your effectiveness as a manager.

Spruce up your salon

Liz McKeon’s guide to Spring cleaning your business!

Occasionally your salon needs a good Spring clean to improve your company’s performance and service to your clients. Here is my guide to sprucing up your salon…

Clean up your finances

The first place to tidy up a business is to get all your finances is order, making sure that you are managing your cash flow on a daily and weekly basis.

Clean up the web

Go on-line and objectively assess how fresh your salon’s website is. It doesn’t have to be an extreme makeover, but get rid of stale material. Determine the key goals for the site – is it to direct sales and enquiries to your salon?

Gather salon news, media articles and relevant links to upload immediately, based on your salon’s new priorities.

Clean up your database

Your salon database is one of your company’s most important assets.

Use it to your full advantage; record every single client’s details, keep it up to date and use it to stay in regular touch with your clients.

Keep your tax affairs in order

This is an unavoidable spring-cleaning chore. Lodge paperwork on time. If the business cannot meet its tax obligations, get in touch with Revenue quickly. Get much closer to your clients

Review your business through your clients’ eyes, priortise issues for improvement and gain competitive advantage by giving clients what they really want. Do this by running a ‘client survey report’ which:

• Provides feedback on how they see your salon;
• Highlights areas for improvement;
• Shows clients that you care about their opinions;
• Helps you to listen to your clients;
• Keeps you up to date with competitor’s strengths and weaknesses.

Create a clear vision for your salon

Vision is so much more than management jargon: it really does help to drive the salon forward because it provides energy and direction, a common understanding of where the business is going and enables all staff members to work out how they can personally add value to the salon.

Clean up your image

“You never get a second opportunity to make a first impression!” Take an objective look at your business: what image do you portray to both regular and potential new clients and is that image in keeping with your vision for your salon? If it is, great, and if not, then it’s time to raise the bar and improve your standards in every aspect of the business from the exterior, to the look of your treatment rooms, to the image of your therapists, to the layout of your reception and to the quality of each and every service you provide. Remember your long-term goals for your salon. All business is cyclical, use Springtime to spruce up all your business strategies and your salon, and get ready to capitalise on a fantastic Summer season.

The Art of Making Time for Yourself

Liz McKeon says, take a break!

Starting and running your own salon is all-consuming. Everything falls back on you, and, you are doing it for yourself – so there is no temptation to do too much.

An average working week for a salon owner is between 70 – 80 hours. As well as handling all aspects of the business, you must also know how to handle your time and how to maintain your entrepreneurial drive.

You, the entrepreneur, are the most important success factor in the business. It is vital that this success factor is maintained. An entrepreneur needs to know when to peak, when to rest and when to take it easy. It is impossible to go at full throttle all the time.

The truth is, making time for yourself is an art, and like every art, it requires practice. You may be worried that making time for yourself will affect your performance within the business. However, the reverse is true: when we take care of ourselves, we actually become much happier and more productive, so planning frequent breaks and regular downtime will actually bring more business to your door!

As the business owner you can choose your hours. Choose them to make the most of yourself.

Liz’s tips for time management

• Make a daily ‘to do’ list.
• Learn to say ‘NO’.
• Protect yourself by taking time off regularly.
• A healthy mind is a healthy body.
• Never handle documents more than once (no paper shuffling, deal with it and get it off the desk).
• Keep things simple.
• Do the things you hate first.
• Manage your stress levels.
• Delegate.
• To handle paperwork – TRAF: Toss, Refer, Act or File – only do one and only once!

Time for yourself

In order to make time for yourself consider the following. Write the answers down in your diary or workbook, so you can refer back to them:

• How would it be a gift to others to make time for yourself?
• What would it take to make time for yourself a priority?
• What activities make you feel happy and nurtured?
• What is keeping you from doing the things that energise and inspire you?
• How can you bring more of these simple treats into your day?
• Now take action. Commit to doing one activity from the list you created each day for the next month.

Smell the flowers

However pressurised your business, you need to take some out to unwind – to ‘smell the flowers’. Without it you will burn out: Put in plain terms, if you don’t take time to rest and rejuvenate, eventually you won’t have a salon to worry about! Add time to your diary – every day, every week, and every month – for yourself. Cut yourself free from the salon and the other demands on your life. Allow your batteries to recharge – and you will come back to your business better able to make it succeed.

Snowed Under

Liz McKeon on the art of delegating tasks

Delegation will help you manage your time and therefore reduce your stress. But it is often when we are most stressed that we delegate least. It is too easy to panic and cut yourself off from your colleagues,therapists and other staff members when you need their support most.

But delegation isn’t just about making your workload lighter by giving tasks to others,it is also about getting staff to take full responsibility for certain key functions. In order for a salon to grow and for therapists to find new areas of development, new staff must be employed to take over established functions,allowing others to develop different aspects of the business.

Step One:

Know when to delegate

• Delegation is fundamental to management, so look for opportunities to do it,for example:
• When you have too much work to do
• When you don’t have enough time to devote to all important salon tasks.
• When it is clear that certain staff members need to develop and when therapists have the skills needed to perform certain tasks.

Step Two:

Know what to delegate

• Delegate routine administrative tasks that take up too much of your time
• Delegate projects which it makes sense for one person to handle
• Delegate tasks for which an employee has a special aptitude or enthusiasm.

Step Three:

Know whom to delegate to

• Test your staff out with small tasks to help show you what they can do. For example, do they show good time management, keep a diary, make notes?
• Therapists who do effective work should not be overburdened
• Try to delegate tasks out among as many employees as possible.

Step Four:

Delegate interactively

• Think positive,it will not happen perfectly first time, your ability to delegate will improve with experience.
• Plan ahead. If there is no overall plan of what is going on,it will be hard to identify, schedule and evaluate the work you’ve asked others to do.
• Discuss the tasks and problems in depth with the person you are delegating to,and explain clearly what is expected of them.
• Set deadlines and schedule them into diaries. What has been agreed should be summarised and notes taken about what each employee is required to do.
• Support your therapists and employees. The degree of support you give will depend on the development of the person and your relationship with them.
• Monitor progress – deadlines and objectives may have to be altered as the situation changes.
• Review performance and reward achievement.
• Mastering the skill of delegation will mean that everyone benefits – it will help you manage your time and it will aid staff development,improving overall productivity.
• When you are under pressure,passing tasks on – to the right person – will save you time.
• Delegate interactively – get to know your team,listen to their worries and discover their strengths. Successfully passing responsibility down the line is key to salon growth.
• Delegate assertively. Your confidence will be transferred onto the person you’re delegating to.
• When you delegate,you remain ultimately responsible for the results of the work you have delegated.

Delegation is not an easy option,but it does make business more efficient and effective – it is essentially a more interactive way of working with a team of people,involving instruction,training and development. You’ll need to invest some time and effort to do it effectively, but the long-term benefits both to you and your salon will make it worth your while.

Feeling the effects

Liz McKeon tackles poor morale amongst a salon team

Poor morale undermines the commitment of employees,hurts the product and service they offer and can alienate the clients. It can arise for many reasons such as a difficult economic climate, a personality clash or poor management – all of which may result in a high stress environment and this is the last thing you want your clients to experience.

Poor morale can be so encompassing that,after a while, it is difficult to know how to find its source, and thus how to reverse it. What may start just as individual apathy can deteriorate into a generalised infectious problem that spreads throughout the entire salon or Spa.

In spite of the insidiousness of poor morale,the good news is, it is reversible! If your salon is suffering from poor morale and you are unsure why, start by asking your therapists. Assess the feelings and opinions of your team. Try to understand the resources people need to make their work and work environment more satisfying.

It is important to identify people’s expectations,their wages and benefits, how the internal communication system is working and whether your management style is effective.

Are you the centre of a morale problem?

Personal problems,work stresses,for example,will affect a team at all levels, including the manager. So, do you know how to get yourself back on track when your morale is the worst in your team? Don’t let paths of communication break down when you are feeling low.

Consider your options, such as:

1. If possible, explain your circumstances to another senior manager in order to build new understanding and make a fresh start.

2. Explain your morale problem to your team, but take a positive approach and tell them your plan for getting back on track, asking for their help.

3. Poor motivation often occurs as a result of a lack of salon structure or discipline. People need a framework so that they know where they are in the wider scheme of things. It provides them with a route for getting decisions made or making special requests.

4. Map out and publicise a clear salon structure. You need to structure a good balance between structure, flexibility and open communication in all aspects of running your business.

A salon’s most valuable resource

Managers can do so much to improve morale by getting to know the team, making yourself available when therapists need to talk or share a problem,valuing staff for their particular skills, passions and knowledge, and most importantly, helping your team members to develop their potential and supporting them in their ambitions.

Your staff are the salon’s most valuable resource. By creating an environment of open, constructive feedback, staff will feel inclined to co-operate with you as your drive your salon forward.

Tackling poor morale is not a once-in-a-lifetime activity; it needs to be sustained over a long period of time. Communicating in these ways will show that you are in charge of your salon,you care and value your team,and you are committed to providing a satisfying place to work.

Get your message across

Business expert Liz McKeon looks at communicating assertively in your business

Do you find that staff, clients and suppliers get the better of you at work,that you’re always the one who draws the short straw and ends up doing things that you would rather not do? Does this end up making you resentful or unhappy because you feel unable to confront the situation?

Excellent communication skills are the lifeblood of a successful salon or Spa. A good style of management, combined with a positive approach to communication,ensures that therapists and managers understand each other,are more effective, leading to greater productivity, a good working environment and most of all,happy clients.

Assertiveness is an approach to communication that honours your choices as well as those of the person you are communicating with. It is not about being aggressive and steamrollering your team into submission. Rather,it is about seeking and exchanging opinions, developing a full understanding of the issues,and negotiating a win-win situation.

Ask yourself these questions to determine your level of assertiveness:

• Do you feel‘put upon’or ignored in your exchanges with your staff?
• Are you unable to speak your mind and ask for what you want?
• Do you find it difficult to stand up for yourself during staff meetings?
• Are you grateful when a staff member seeks your opinion and takes it into account?

If you answer‘yes’to most of these questions,you may need to consider becoming more assertive.

Step One:

Recognise different communication styles

• Aggressive – where you win and everyone else loses.
• Passive – where you lose and everyone else wins.
• Passive / Aggressive – where you lose and do everything you can to make others lose too.
• Assertive – where everyone wins.

Step Two:

Condition others to take you seriously

• Always take responsibility for your communication. Use the‘I’word. ‘I would like…’,‘I don’t agree…’,‘I am uncomfortable with this…’
• Become aware of non-verbal communication signals,which can help you build rapport.
• If someone is talking over you,you can hold up your hand signalling ‘stop’ as you begin to speak. ‘I hear what you are saying,but I would like to put forward an alternative viewpoint…’

Step Three:

Use positive body language

• Stand tall,breathe deeply and look people in the eye when speaking.
• Instead of anticipating the negative outcome,expect something positive.
• Listen actively to the other party and try putting yourself in their shoes so that you have a better chance of seeking the solution that works for you both.
• Use open questions,allowing others to give you a full response rather than just‘yes’or‘no’.
• Don’t let people talk down to you when you’re sitting down. If they’re standing, stand up too.

Until you get used to being assertive, give yourself time and space to rehearse your responses. For example, you may find it hard to say ‘no’ to staff, so instead say ‘I’d like to think about this first. I’ll get back to you shortly’. An added bonus from learning assertive communication is your confidence levels will be dramatically boosted. Speaking positively and using positive body language will encourage others to take you seriously,allowing you to attend to the business of running a profitable salon.

Liz McKeon is a Business Consultant, Coach and Trainer, specialising in the beauty industry. For further information on upcoming seminars and programmes call 086 386 1243.

From stress to success

Business expert Liz McKeon looks at channelling your energies effectively.

Most people don’t mind stress, as long as it’s someone else’s and they don’t have to deal with it!

Of course you know that stress impacts on your work life, but what if you could turn that stress into success? What kind of life could you then lead and what sort of salon or Spa could you build? Let’s look at the common mistakes many people make when trying to deal with stress…

You think you can do it all alone

Salon owners and managers sometimes take on too much, thinking they can cope without additional support. Perhaps you think you are saving your salon money by covering
a number of responsibilities, but in reality you could be wasting money in missed opportunities and inefficiency. Often, under stress, the one thing we become incapable of doing well is delegating work appropriately.

Better communication and prioritising objectives are therefore essential. Identifying better resource management, prioritising the workload, anticipating pressure points, delegating and monitoring progress are all important in dealing with stress.

You don’t say ‘No’

Perhaps you are one of those managers who is capable of sustaining high levels of activity over a long period of time, and it has become expected that you always perform at that pitch. Your team are unlikely to be aware of the sacrifices being made. Worse again, there may be no reward for your sacrifice – in fact, you may even have additional work dumped on you! The solution is being assertive and saying ‘no’ when the pressure is too great.

You succumb to a ‘long hours culture’ at work

In some salons, stress creates status, where stress is interpreted as accomplishment. Many salon managers put in long hours in the hope that their hard work will be noticed and rewarded, but are secretly resentful that they have to do this. Better to be productive and happy than exhausted, stressed and sick of the salon and all that goes with it.

Watch your time management – make every moment effective by being truly focused and not dividing your energies by worrying. For fast acting relief, try slowing down.

You take it out on others

Stress is no respecter of boundaries. Stress from your role within the salon will eventually affect all other elements of your life too. Try not to transfer the work pressure to those who are not part of the problem, either in or out of the salon. Work on the causes of your work-related stress, and not the symptoms.

Steps to success

1. Recognising the symptoms and understanding the causes of workplace stress are vital in preventing it becoming an issue.

2. The changing nature of work makes stress more complex, varied and quite possibly more common. It is important to acknowledge that you are stressed and act upon that knowledge quickly – draw up a plan of action and follow it.

3. Remember that you have to work at reducing stress – it won’t happen by itself! The time you devote to managing stress will be repaid by increased efficiency and enjoyment of your time, both in the salon and at home.

4. Reward yourself for your accomplishments – go out of your way to acknowledge your everyday achievements. Give yourself some little reward for doing so well at work and for doing your best on all occasions: success in your salon demands self acknowledgement. Doing all of this will transform ‘stress to success’!

Liz McKeon is a Business Consultant, Coach and Trainer, specialising in the beauty industry. For further information on upcoming seminars and programmes call 086 386 1243.

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One of the major sources of stress for managers today is the fact that jobs are no longer for life – job security is a thing of the past. Salons and spas expect employees to be more flexible, more accountable, to be more hardworking and committed. At the same time, employers offer increasingly limited (or no) assurances or expectations of employment security and career development opportunities.

Stress levels have increased due to various reasons, such as lost jobs, pay cuts, being at risk of losing jobs and
businesses diving into deeper debt. All these issues have one thing in common….increased stress!

It’s important to be able to distinguish between pressure and stress. Pressure is motivating, stimulating and energising. But when pressure exceeds our ability to cope, stress is produced. Continued high levels of stress can, at worst, result in illness, depression or even nervous breakdown. However, there are a number of signals that help you detect when your levels of stress are bordering on dangerous.

Take a good luck at your well-being. If you experience any number of stress symptoms such as, on-going irritability, suppressed anger, feeling unable to cope, insomnia, nausea on a frequent or constant basis, it is time to start looking for causes and to reassess your priorities. These symptoms are your body’s way of telling you that you have crossed the dividing line between healthy pressure and harmful stress.

Once you’ve admitted that you’re not coping with the current everyday pressures of work, the next step in the
process is to identify the sources of stress in your workplace / business. Once this is done, you can draw up a plan of action to minimise or eliminate the excess pressure.

Plan to deal with your own stress:
1. Understand what causes you stress, when you are likely to become stressed and how you can avoid these situations.
2. Take responsibility, it is you that is being affected and you that needs to resolve it, don’t be afraid, ashamed or uncertain to admit that stress is a problem, because the longer you deny it, the worse the effects of the downward cycle.
3. Identify the source of the stress, the solution is then to rationally consider how to take down the stress wall that
is encircling you, brick by brick.
4. Anticipate and plan for stressful periods.
5. Develop strategies for handling stress, consider reducing the cause of stress, or learning to accept it, if it can’t be removed.
6. Understand and use management techniques to prevent and reduce stress.
7. Relax! Easier said, than done….
8. Acknowledge stress in others.
9. Build a positive team environment.
It is possible to reduce stress for others by developing good communication systems, a supportive team approach, a blame-free environment and a clear sense of involvement and responsibility.

“In order that people may be happy
in their work, these three things are
needed:
They must be fit for it, they must not
do too much for it and they must
have a sense of success in it”
- John Ruskin, 1851

Liz McKeon is a Consultant, Business Coach and Trainer, specialising in the beauty industry. For further information telephone 086 386 1243 or visit www.lizmckeon.com

Click on the image for the PDF version of this article.

With the current turbulence within the economy, salons and Spas need to look at how work is organised in a positive way to help pull through. Different times call for bold and brave thinking. Do you have the right team, working together to achieve your business goals?

The TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) concept is a very powerful one because when team members work together for the good of all, the good of the salon and its clients, everyone achieves more. Simply put, working together works!

Teams are complex machines and it’s not surprising that they malfunction occasionally or need re-alignment or teambuilding. For your salon team to work effectively, you need agreement on exactly what sort of team you are: what are you salon goals, what is each therapist’s role, who needs to work closely with whom?

Sometimes it’s as simple as learning more about the people you work with, and sometimes it’s more complicated. But the bottom line is, it’s almost impossible to have a financially successful salon without a happy team working together – in other words, it’s less ‘me’ and more ‘we’!

Here are some positive aspects of teamwork:

Goal orientated
The highest priority for team members is achieving the team’s goals. Does every member of your team know and
understand your salon’s financial and business goals? To function effectively, members of a team must be flexible, trust one another, and support every member of the group in its progress towards achieving a successful salon.

Collaboration
Collaboration is a big benefit when team members pull well together. They want the team to shine and be successful: they willingly invest themselves in the team effort.

Communication
When therapists, receptionists and managers have all learned to support and trust one another, they share what
they know freely and communication becomes another benefit. The way people communicate with one another – both in words and nonverbal clues – reflects how they feel about working with one another, but it also builds the team’s effectiveness. Excellent communication is conducive to staff working productively without misunderstandings.

Better decisions
Decisions and solutions are made with everyone generating more options. Group decisions are usually better than
what even the brightest person could come up with alone. The entire team learns to pitch in for the highest good
of the salon.

Quality
There is more concern for achieving quality and accuracy, because therapists feel they are an important and vital part of a team effort. They want the team and your salon to look as good as possible. In addition, because team members work collaboratively, they ensure that each member gets what she wants from the team to turn out the best possible treatments and service.

Do you want your clients leaving feeling happy and satisfied, looking forward to returning and happy to recommend your salon to their friends? Then make sure your team are working effectively. Today, more than ever, it is vital for the success and survival of your salon that all employees work well in a team
environment.

“Coming together is a beginning,
Keeping together is progress,
Working together is success”
- Henry Ford

Liz McKeon is a Business Coach and trainer, specialising in the Beauty Industry. For more information telephone 086 386 1243 or visit www.lizmckeon.com.

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Do you want a client who has a genuine complaint to become a long-term lifetime client, or the ruination of your business and your career? Even in the best run salons and spas accidents happen, treatments go wrong. Do you have your team trained and the systems in place to effectively deal with that dreaded genuine complaint? Every salon has to deal with situations in which things go wrong from a client’s point of view. How you respond, when this happens, is the difference between having a nasty court case looming over you for the next couple of years and your reputation damaged or retaining that client for life, adding to the bottom line of your business.

Complaints must be handled courteously, sympathetically and swiftly. Make sure that your salon has an established procedure for dealing with client complaints and that it is known to all your staff: receptionists, therapists, juniors, part-timers… everybody who is in contact with your precious clients.

Notify your insurance provider, by phone immediately. Document the incident in writing for your provider,  which will be sent to the insurance company, who will then send you claims forms for completion.

In the meantime the following tactics may help you to deal with complaining customers:

1. Empathy
Understand that before you contact  the complaining client, you can’t ‘win’. Complaints are really just degrees of losing. Put yourself in the client’s shoes, so that you can get a better understanding of their perspective. Reassure them that you care, understand and are listening to them, by allowing them to explain their situation.

2. Respect
Staying calm sends a message that you have respect for them, and it can be difficult to do this when an angry client is yelling at you. Remember their anger is not about you, they are upset about their situation and are taking it out on you.

3. Apologise
Offering an apology, regardless of how you feel or what you can do about the situation, will alleviate some of the stress the client is feeling.

4. Take responsibility
If the mistake has been made by a member of your staff, take full responsibility and assist the client so that their problem is solved.

5. Settlement
The hard part is the settlement of the complaint and you will have to do some work here. Since you are going to lose something, the degree of loss is up to you. Most likely you will end up giving away product, treatments, full refunds or whatever it takes. You and your client have lost regardless, but you owe it to yourself and your salon to salvage some type of relationship. Try to agree on an equitable solution, where hopefully you will still retain that client for life, thus adding to the bottom line in your business and most importantly, saving your salon’s reputation.

The choice is yours – equip your staff with the right procedures necessary to handle upset clients, arriving at positive solutions with satisfied clients who are happy to return because of the way their problem was handled, or wait for the dreaded claim against your salon to arrive in the post.

Liz McKeon is a Business Coach and trainer, specialising in the Beauty Industry. For more information telephone 086 386 1243 or visit www.lizmckeon.com.

Click on the image for the PDF version of this article.

As the salon owner or manager, staff meetings are a crucial part of your management role.

To find out if you are managing meetings effectively, and providing strong, structured leadership, answer the following questions:

1. When do you call a meeting?

a) First thing in the morning, with everyone expected to attend.

b) When key issues will be best sorted out face to face with all the relevant people in attendance.

c) It’s usually an ad-hoc, last minute affair.

2. How do you handle difficult situations that arise in meetings?

a) I shout loudest.

b) I try to maintain balance and control.

c) I’m more your ‘passive aggressive’ type.

3. How would you approach a meeting with people from a different culture?

a) It’s my way or the highway.

b) I’d do some research beforehand to find out some basic guidelines.

c) I tend to muddle through and keep smiling.

4. How assertive are you?

a) Very, but I think I verge on aggressive at times.

b) Relatively so, I think it’s the best way to help others.

c) Not very – anything for a quiet life.

5. Are you a decisive person?

a) Yes, but I can be a bit hasty.

b) Yes, but I take my time.  I try to think through all the options first.

c) I’m not sure.

6.  How well do your brainstorming sessions work?

a) They generate lots of ideas, but nothing that sticks.

b) Well, the key is to harness the creativity of your team.

c) They’re just not my thing.  I prefer more structure.

a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, Now add up your scores.

6 -8: You don’t lack strength or authority – or the ability to get results – but your manner and strong-arm tactics could be preventing you from getting the right result.  Through tact, negotiation, and diplomacy you could bring out the best in your team members.  Remember the point of a meeting is to interact with others, not just to present your opinion.

9 – 15: You seem to have got it just right, providing leadership from the centre, listening and responding well to the demands of managing a meeting.  Don’t be afraid to put down the management manual once in a while and exercise you own creativity as well as facilitating others.

15 – 18: Therapists are a problem aren’t they?  Let your good nature be an asset rather than a burden, by building up your backbone and flexing those key skills that got you the job in the first place.

Handled well, regular team meetings can help get to the bottom of tricky situations, agree actions and build team morale. It is vital that all team members are clear about the purpose of the meeting.  An agenda should set out what needs to be accomplished between the start and the end of the meeting.

Be clear about what you want to achieve, begin on time and keep a tight rein on proceedings:

• Make sure staff keep to the agenda, one point at a time.
• Once a subject has been exhausted, move on.
• Don’t let one person dominate the conversation.
• Watch out for positive body language that shows people are attentive, engaged and want to have their say.
• Don’t get sidetracked – make sure there is only one discussion at a time.
• Summarise and restate agreed action points clearly.  Wrap up by thanking everyone for their contribution.

Take charge of your salon’s staff meetings, manage positively and come up with the results that continue to improve both your leadership skills and your business.

Liz McKeon, is a Business Coach and Trainer, specialising in all aspects of Business Development within the Industry.

For further details, check out www.lizmckeon.com

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This is a time to be prudent with your marketing and advertising spend.  If you are investing in expensive advertising, then make sure that every enquiry generated is converted to a booking.

Know your brochure

Everyone who works on reception must have a very good understanding of all salon services, what is involved in each treatment and what products are used.  Being able to answer any enquiry immediately and accurately instils confidence and creates the image of well-trained, experienced professionals.  You never get a second chance to make a first impression – knowing treatment procedures, prices, special offers and promotions off by heart can prove to be a great advantage when speaking to a new enquirer.

Walk-ins

All the same rules apply just as well for walk-in enquiries. In many ways this scenario is easier, as you can take advantage of all printed material such as posters, flyers and price lists. Demonstrate the products used in the salon and offer a tour of the facility.

Points of difference

What makes you different to your competitors?

What is your salon or spa’s unique selling point?

Is it convenient free parking?

Maybe it is the exclusive skincare brand used, or it could be that you start every facial with a complimentary skin analysis.

Are your services available seven days a week?

Do you have monthly special offers?

Whatever it is, make sure that it is mentioned so that the person enquiring will choose your salon rather than just selecting the cheapest alternative.

Be enthusiastic

Being enthusiastic is a vital ingredient to capturing a person’s attention. Be eager to help and keen to explain more than simply answering basic questions immediately gives the person enquiring a positive first impression of customer service, professionalism and friendliness.  It also allows the receptionist the opportunity to add more information into the conversation because the caller is more inclined to be interested – for example, a good receptionist will be able to explain all about your pricing structures, special offers, how experienced your staff are, the awards you salon and staff have won and what the most popular treatments are.

Probe for their specific needs

Clients come to the salon for lots of different reasons.  Some just want time out, others want to treat a specific skin concern, yet others just want to look and feel great.  By asking why they are requesting a specific service and listening carefully to their answer an experienced receptionist or therapist can respond to the client’s specific needs.

Reception training for therapists

Don’t assume or take it for granted that everyone who answers your phone will know how to convert enquiries into sales – they won’t know unless they are trained.  Salon owners spend hard earned euros on various forms of advertising.  However, this advertising is only as effective as the ability of the therapists working in the reception role to convert enquiries into bookings.

As a simple test, try counting the number of incoming calls to your salon.  Then compare this figure with the number of bookings you took in the same week.  It might just be the difference that will make you decide to undertake some reception training!

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Times are changing and there is much talk about the credit crunch and the economic downturn – however, everything goes in cycles and so will the economy.  Economic downturns are short lived. There has always been money to be made in downturns, so instead of looking out for answers, look inwards:  look at your business and how you manage and drive it.

Nothing is missing, it’s all just changing.  Changing times have prompted salon/spa owners and managers to explore the structures within their business, and more importantly how they will secure new business in the future.

Many businesses go into siege mentally when the economy tightens.  They cut back on marketing and advertising, and generally batten down.  Yet, history shows, companies that maintain (or increase) their marketing during such times are more likely to win a healthier share of the market and come out with even healthier profits.

This is not a time to be unwise with your marketing spend, instead it is a time for aggressively using ‘creative’ marketing to accelerate your acquisition of clients.

Do you want to introduce new clients to your business?

Do you want to enhance the relationship you have with your existing clients?

Do you want to increase your ‘word-of-mouth’ business?

If the answer is ‘yes’ to these three questions, then start a referral marketing campaign today:  all the clients you require for your salon are probably already known to your existing clients!

Chances are you already get new clients by word-of-mouth, but it is probably coming to you randomly and sporadically.  Excellent salons and spas with a REFERRAL SYSTEM will multiply the outcome, and the business will reap the benefits of growth, at little or no extra cost.

• A Referral System has to be exactly that……a SYSTEM.  Systemise the process, and measure, and have consequence….keep it going.
• Make it EASY for your therapists and receptionists to ASK for referrals, as initially asking for referrals is difficult for most people: they feel awkward, uncomfortable, even fear rejection.  So, have a ‘prop’, such as a script, to take the pressure off.
• Make it EASY for the clients to give referrals and the leads will flow.  For example, give every client a few business cards for her purse, then she always has your contact details to hand to pass to friends or work colleagues.
• Make sure all your staff know what to do with incoming referrals, treat them like pure gold, never lose a potential new client, or the goodwill of an existing one.
• Acknowledge and thank the clients that send you new business.

Learn to ‘market on a shoestring’, but keep marketing.  Take action now, be rigorous and smart – optimise your marketing to take advantage of the opportunities that the current climate presents.

Liz McKeon is a Business Coach & Trainer, specialising in the Beauty Industry.

For further information check out www.lizmckeon.com or call 00353 86 386 1243