You need to be Replaceable!

By Faye Murray

So often as a business coach, I am introduced to a salon owner who is seeking help and guidance to get their life back.

• I’m exhausted

• I am not getting any time off

• The rest of the team needs to be busier

• I don’t have any time to manage my business

• I am so busy, but I have no control

• I am not making enough money for the hours and effort I put in

Do you recognise some or all of these points? Many salon owners will.

You have created a very successful salon that is YOU-focused.

You have become irreplaceable.

How can you make some changes so that you can embrace the words?

“My business is successful and can operate efficiently without me” level of commitment to your decision.

STEP ONE - You need to change your attitude

You need to accept that it is time to make changes. Some of the changes may not be easy to implement.

It is much easier to manage change with other people. You are now talking about change within yourself.

Some focus areas:

- You need to reduce the number of hours you spend actively working with clients

- You need to maximize the number of hours your team members spend working on clients

- You need to have quality time to manage your business that is set each week

- You need to not “feel guilty” about the changes you need to make

A good management strategy when looking to implement change within a salon business is recognise that you need to “mini manage.” Identify the bite size pieces that make up the big plan and start to work on each area. It won’t happen quickly. If you look at the big picture it will seem to be too difficult to achieve and you won’t know where to begin.

STEP TWO - Reduce the number of your client hours

This is where you need to be strong. Imagine your doctor advises you to reduce the time you spend working on clients. They tell you that the consequences of not doing this will affect your long-term health. You would most definitely take the steps that were appropriate. You need to apply the same

My suggestion is that you “allocate” “not try”, one full day a week to work on your salon business. If you are a small business half a day might be all you need. It is called Business Development Time.

Do not apologise, for taking this time off to your team or clients. This time is just as essential as you doing a full column of clients for a day. Block out this time in your appointment schedule each week as a constant.

Update your client history

Go through your personal client history and add all the details that you carry in your head. All the special things you do for your clients. That way the team member you pass over to will be totally aware of what the client’s needs and expectations are, and you will avoid the comment “She is not as good as you”

Create Systems

Every professional salon should have a system for everything that is done in the salon. From the way each hair service is done to the way each client is offered personalised service touch points. Consistency will always be the key to developing a great salon reputation. Remember your aim is to develop a “salon” quality reputation not just yours as the owner.

The development of a salon policy and procedure manual is a great first step. If it is not written down it can become grey. This is a big investment of time but well worth it long term.

Plan for the Future

You now have time to plan and think about positive changes you need to make in your salon. You have now become the ideas person and if you manage it well you will delegate the action needed to implement new fresh ideas. Your clients will benefit, and your team will love the new fresh changes.

Inspect What You Expect

When you step away from doing all the hands-on tasks and start to delegate, you need to learn to check to make sure that things are being completed as you need.

Don’t be impatient if, when you do check you find it is not quite to your satisfaction. Again, explain what you require and remember to come back and check again. Eventually it will be done well. Lose the “it is easier to do it myself” attitude.

The difference between a leader and a manager

Do you want to be a leader or a manager?

Management is a position you are given. Leadership you earn. If you want to know which style you are, here is a simple test. If you look behind and your team is following you are a leader, if no one is following and you are doing it all alone you are a manager, and your team will resist rather than get excited about their day-to-day work.

Ask these two questions -

Are you a leader in your salon?

Are you replaceable in your business?

The answers need to be both “Yes” for you to have great success in the coming years and enjoy what you do.

This article was written by Faye Murray from Your Coach. For more information about business coaching and the Zoom training sessions Faye offers contact: 0409 342 653 faye@yourcoach.net.au & www.yourcoach.net.au