STRAIGHT TALKING Sep 2008 – Irish Beauty
The Critical Role of Training:
The extra mile is the only mile that matters!!
Every beauty salon and spa needs good management. To make all aspects of the business work, it needs to be both profitable and administratively solid. Every person working in the salon should have an understanding of specific aspects of day to day management and administrative functions along with their beauty career skills.
Good training produces guaranteed quantifiable benefits. To the client it indicates that you care about obtaining and retaining their business. To the employee, training indicates that you are willing to make an investment in them and the future of the salon. Yes, you are asking them to accomplish more, but you are willing to give them something in return – the training to enhance their skills to that they can serve the client better. Without regular training, clients are poorly served and employees remain demoralized and unmotivated.
There is always an excuse for not providing employees with training opportunities. When the economy is good and employees scarce the excuse is ‘staff turnover is so high, why should we train staff to go elsewhere?’ And, when the economy is poor the excuse is ‘ we may be laying off staff – we can’t justify the expense of training’.
At a time when every client is precious, you are expecting more of your employees following a downturn, how can you not justify training? Your commitment to training goes beyond just the promotion of your products and services and extends into helping you grow your business.
Salon owners and managers cannot expect that their staff can retail or that they can manage the reception area nor have excellent customer service skills. These vital aspects of effective salon management are unfortunately not a priority at college, which means that they need in-house salon training.
There are enormous amounts of revenue lost in salons from staff not being able to convert enquiries at the front of house or failing to recommend home care products to clients that will buy from somewhere else.
Another way for staff to keep their training up to date is to have regular staff information sharing meetings and in-salon training sessions. Salon training needs to be well planned. This can be the most effective training your staff will experience when it is well planned and conducted with a specific purpose in mind. It is necessary to provide both regular team training and individualised training plans for all staff members, where staff attain skills ranging from treatment procedures right through to management duties.
If you want your staff members to improve their performance, you simply must provide regular salon specific training for every staff member. Research indicates that staff who receive fantastic training and personal development opportunities tend to be far more loyal because they see the commitment their employers have made to furthering their professional education. They also see the results in their performance figures, and in most salons that means extra euros in commission and bonuses.
Most salon owners see training as an expense. Yes, it costs time and money. But, if you change your thinking to from expense to investment, you will see the benefits of better prepared staff, higher services and retail figures, greater rebooking rates, a more professional environment and most importantly, more profit.
Well trained staff are becoming a point of difference for top salons – without a doubt the best salons have the best trained staff!
Liz McKeon is a Business Coach and Trainer, specialising within the Beauty Salon and Spa Market. For further information on training courses and consultancy services, check out www.lizmckeon.com or call us now on 00353 86 386 1243
