Closing The Gaps By Kym Krey

CLOSING THE GAPS

By Kym Krey

So here we are in March. We’ve survived the Christmas rush, got all of our staff off on holidays through January and hopefully managed a break ourselves, and we’re now looking at the year ahead and getting our plans together. Well, I’ve got one more for you.

February, March, and April is an ideal time to turn your focus to your staff, clean up some issues, close some gaps and really get your team and your business on track for your best possible results.

Many if you will have staff who have what I call a ‘skills deficit’: an area where they are not fully where you need them to be. It might be: • Someone who is very slow at foiling • Another who does not do balayage • One who just isn’t confident with long hair (and hates you booking it in their column!) • And that Stylist who keeps sneakily moving graduated bobs or choppy short hair cuts to someone else’s column!

Now in the busy-ness of normal salon life, it’s easy to turn a blind eye and allow this to become the norm, often thinking that there’s nothing you can do- that’s just the way it is, right? But the question I want to ask you is …..what is this costing your business?

If that Colourist takes 90 minutes to do every set of foils when your service is priced on 60 minutes, and she does, say, eight of those sets of foils each week, that extra (uncharged) time could be costing you over $22,000 per year! PER-STAFF-MEMBER!

If you have 5 staff, all doing the same thing, we’re talking over a hundred grand! That’s serious buckaroos!

If you also have staff who continually stretch general styling appointments to allow extra time because they’re slower than you need them to be, but they do not also adjust the price to match, there’s another frightening chunk of cash slipping out of your bank account.

Wondering why your wages costs are so high and you’re working 50 hours a week to cover your bills? Hmmmmm…….

We often just allow these things to roll on and become entrenched because we think that’s ‘just the way it is’- we don’t feel like we have any other choice, but this is the perfect time to put your ‘Action Taker’ hat on and get cracking! Let’s get each person on your team from wherever they are, in terms of timing and skills, to where you need them to be and finally resolve these problems. This is my favourite time of year to accelerate skills progression, break bad habits and clean up staff-related issues.

SKILLS ASSESSMENT

Make a simple list (or create a table if you’re computer savvy) of each of the skills you expect your senior staff to be competent in, in return for their wages. You can create a different list appropriate for apprentices, reception staff and other emerging staff-in-training too.

Now, rate each of your staff from 1 to 10 on each of these skills. Go with your first gut response- don’t overthink it or you’ll talk yourself out of that 4 rating that really needs to be acknowledged! Once you’ve rated all staff on each of the skills in your list, go back and use a red pen or fluoro highlighter, and circle any score that was a 7 or less. (Let’s be honest…. you didn’t employ them to be a 7 out of 10!)

Any skill that is currently a 7 out of 10 or less is costing your business and the amount continues to increase month after month. How much longer are you willing to allow that to happen?

So, you’ve now identified the areas where each staff member is not yet meeting your performance expectations. These are the areas you need to address and now’s the perfect time to do it.

Put this list in order of priority for each staff member and transfer it to your Training Plan. (If you’d like a copy of my Skills Assessment template or Training Plan, shoot me an email to kym@kymkrey.com.au).

Now, grab your diary/appointment schedule and allocate a regular block of time, maybe weekly or fortnightly, to work with that staff member to address that skills gap. Stand with them while they foil (on a model), observe their technique, notice the inefficiencies, doublehandling or where they’re wasting time and step in to guide them with a more effective way. Keep working on that issue until the problem is resolve and they can confidently complete the task to a high standard within your expected time frames.

Work on only 1-2 skills at any one time, otherwise you can easily overwhelm or confuse your stylist and leave them feeling frustrated and disheartened. Choose one, nail it and move on to the next. Keep going until you’ve completed all of the tasks on their Skill Assessment/Training Plan and then…… update your Skill Assessment and repeat! When you employ a staff member, you make a significant investment in their total employment costs. It’s not just gross wages, it’s also holiday and sick leave + loading, superannuation, training costs… you know the drill!

In return for that investment, you have expectations in how you need them to perform for you. Some of those expectations will be behavioural- how you want them to conduct themselves within your business with you, your staff and your clients. Some of those expectations will be performance-based to ensure they make a profitable contribution to the business. These include being able to complete important core services competently within your expected timeframes.

If you are carrying staff who are not yet meeting those expectations, then as the leader of your business, it is your responsibility to address and resolve these issues. You must tighten up that loss of income so the business can achieve the results it requires for the wages investment.

Now is the ideal time to get busy and address the issues you’ve been turning a blind eye to or quietly seething about! Don’t allow those skills gaps and stretched appointments to cost you another year’s potential profit. Make this a priority and set yourself a goal that within the next 90 days (let’s say June 30), you’ll have cleaned up the most urgent skills issues to enable your business to finally operate at full capacity.

You’ll be right on track to make the second half of 2021 your most profitable yet.

Make the decision and the commitment to clean these things up. Schedule the time and don’t keep taking it out to squeeze in lastminute appointments! Keep at it until you’ve finally resolved the issue.

And if you just said, “But I can’t AFFORD to turn away clients to work on training!” you need to talk to me about getting your pricing sorted!

When it comes to getting your business into shape or helping you build a team that really performs, there is no one better. Kym Krey, The Salon Mentor, is a highly experienced coach with the proven runs on the board to get real results. If you’re determined that this is the year you finally take action, get in touch. www.kymkrey.com.au, kym@kymkrey.com. au or find her on socials. You’ll laugh, you’ll learn…. and you’ll definitely make a lot more money!

CULTURE

Team culture, or team satisfaction as I like to call it. We all know it, we know about it well when we have someone who does not fit the mold, and we know about it when we have to force someone into it.

Too often or not I hear the comments about younger ones these days, they don’t work as hard or they don’t have the respect and ethics, they lack motivation.... My opinion on that couldn’t be further from that. You see to me it all comes down to the word Culture.

As business owners the focus is put strongly on the outside of the salon and client service, and training in hair. But how many train culture? You see culture to me is something that has to be worked on every single day/ week. When you work at it that hard, if someone isn’t right it’s very easy to see and you can coach them up or out fast!

Why am I enforcing culture so much...? Because I truly believe if you start with this and have a solid culture that the team respect, enjoy being a part of and feel appreciated, then the rest comes easy! Richard Branson said look after your staff not your clients, if your staff are happy your clients will be... So True!

Younger generations, Gen Y and below, have strong values they are just different to what yours may have been when you started. They are environmentally aware and conscious, they are so technology savvy, they’re snapchat kings and queens, tik tok pros and spend more time texting than talking face to face. So how do you work with them?

How do you incentivise and keep them motivated? Well, if what you’re doing now isn’t working, I believe you should change it, this is the future of our industry! Just because we were on our hands and knees with Domestos scrubbing floors, doesn’t mean they should.

What excites them? Do you know what they value?

Understanding what’s important to them will help you create a beautiful relationship and culture. Is it time off they value? Is it money? Is it balance? Where does their confidence sit? How can you help them? not just at work, but in their own life.

Does your commission structure excite them and reward them for hard work. Show them how to budget, how to make money, how to understand break evens. This is a skill that teaches them how they can earn a maximum wage by simply being more productive and getting rewarded for hard work. How often do we hear hairdressers aren’t paid well?! Look at how you can reward them, this keeps them interested and engaged. I love teaching young stylists how to achieve bonuses and have a very generous pay packet at the end of the week. Is it work life balance they desire?

Can you change their training from after work hours to inside their rostered hours? Do they value sustainability, and do you share that same value? if not how can you adapt your ways to connect with them and work together on something as simple as caring for the environment in the salon? Do you do formal one on ones or just little pep talks here and there? I personally find sometimes formal one on ones create anxiety within the young ones, after all they are so comfortable on their phones… so sitting down with the BOSS may be very daunting. Can you change this up to little pep talks here and there so they are relaxed and more open? motivated and engaged and it becomes a part of your culture. Strategies for working with the younger team, if you are lost on where to start; • Hold a team meeting and map out your core values. BE clear on this and create a statement that you put on the back wall or in your policies and procedures manual. • What is the vision they share for your salon? • What are their goals both personally and professionally? • How can they contribute more to the workplace? • What can you do to make them feel more supported?

At the end of the meeting, as a Salon owner have a look at all the feedback you have been given, do an assessment as to what has worked well and what hasn’t throughout the year and what do you wish to change. It’s a brilliant place to start.

Lastly TRAINING! Train them and train them well, they represent your brand and deserve all of your attention. Set them goals with training to engage and excited them. Rewards along the way!

You see, the Younger generations want it now! So, give it to them now! As with everything in our industry it’s always evolving and the way we do things is changing, and so are the younger ones.

They are the future of your business and our industry, so we should be doing everything we can to adapt and move with them. I can hands down say I have an incredible young team, we play to win every day and I can count on them and they know they can count on me. CULTURE IS A BEAUTIFUL THING when its established.

THE STAFFThe Circles Way

By Sharlene Lee

HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR FRIENDS!

Let’s talk staff and those universal issues- how to get them and how to keep them. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given is to employ people that are better than you and I embrace this philosophy wholeheartedly. From the person I hire to manage SEO to the party planner to organise a lavish bash (pre-COVID of course), to all those people in my life in between, this is especially true when it comes to the Circles team. They are all exceptional in their own way, and it’s my job to ensure they are realising their potential. I believe the strategy to entice and keep the right staff is pretty similar- creating a workplace which is aspirational, nurturing and exciting is going to do both. You can’t create incredible incentives for people to come, without focusing on creating the same incentives to stay.

My ideology is ‘empower from within’. One of the biggest challenges we face when hiring and advancing staff is TRUST. You invest in them, give them your time and yet they can let you down. I get it, it’s scary and many of us have experienced that person who left for the competitor or to start their own salon with all that incredible knowledge you gave them. It hurts. You think maybe you just hold back with the next person. Take it from me, you can’t. Yes, that talented colourist and much-loved team member may leave, but the alternative is the one who isn’t trained and doesn’t get along with people might also stay- forever! All you can do is commit yourself to find and nurture the best hairdressers professionally and personally as best you can.

With a universal lack of industry up and comers, our focus recently has been around our apprentice acquisition strategy. Our initiation is incredibly structured and involves training from scratch which they love as it takes out the guesswork of wondering whether they will fit in. We make it clear that we will give them the best opportunities to grow and that we understand and support them as individuals. The Circles culture is one of strong determination to succeed and they can see this happening with the older apprentices and senior stylists and they want to be a part of it. Giving them praise and encouragement and showing them the figures they are doing weekly helps them to motivate themselves to strive for more. We have 8 to 9 apprentices in the Subi salon which are a very tight family and then in the Fitz salon we have 4 and are happy to add another 2, but only when I find the right fit.

With a team of over 30, we certainly have our challenges, but with that size also comes some of the biggest rewards. My relationship with my business partner Jess, Co-Owner of Circles on Fitzgerald, is the perfect example. I own Circles of Subiaco 100% and I actually never had the vision for another salon. Subi had become such a leading brand and our financial success was incredible so I didn’t see any reason to change that. However, I had wanted to buy

another commercial property and using that as a second salon location meant that I could give one of my long-term staff members an opportunity to build our brand. I knew her youthful vitality and dedication could take the business to new heights and that mentoring the younger generation could help drive me to more success. I have allowed the mentee to become the mentor, supporting her growth rather than feeling threatened by it, and I will stand by that decision till my last day! The added benefit? I’ve set a goal for the team now to think about how they can expand the Circles brand- a powerful motivator to commitment.

In fact, since COVID I am working closely with 3 of my top stylists as they increasingly show interest in becoming business owners. It’s my choice to develop them into amazing leaders/ mentors/educators/communicators and to think like business owners. As we know, most seniors run their individual columns and to be honest I am not sure where this is going to go but they can see how Jess has grown and succeeded and they would like to have a part of it. This doesn’t mean I will open another three salons but if it could lead into a joint venture or even for them going out on their own, as least I can play a part in their future success. Getting to know everyone’s goals is crucial and I am at a stage now that this is what I will concentrate on more than ever in 2021.

When you’re deep in day to day operations it’s easy to forget every hairdresser is different. Too often education is presented as a ‘one size fits all team’, rather than as a powerful way to increase job satisfaction. At Circles we delve into each person’s goals to create a tailored plan, which is incredibly intensive and labour heavy, but is proven to work so we make the commitment. The key is inclusivity with everyone given the chance to facilitate education and an emphasis on peer support, further complemented by our partner system which links our Seniors with Apprentices for skill specific training. Regular L’Oréal training nights and days are also a requirement and external educators are brought in for bespoke workshops. Consultations and communication are the key to any successful business, so we have introduced an In-House Industry Educator who runs through the full consultation/retail/ treatments/ above and beyond process to reach maximum results and confidence. The commitment to bringing someone in-house at this top tier level means that we have a unique opportunity to support struggling staff to reach previously unattainable targets with one-on-one support. Our apprentices and new staff work very closely with Kirsty to pick up good habits and understand the salon culture as they work alongside our senior colourists and stylists.

Outside of education, let’s face it, people love perks. I do, so why shouldn’t my team! So how do I motivate? Annual conferences overseas (will these ever be back!?), coveted experiences like personally bringing out Charles Marcus to Australia, tickets to gala award shows and in-house comps, work on the SHU Crew artistic team, Perth Fashion Festival, Jen Atkin workshop Hair Expo and time in Bali for Miss Universe. Also in this category is competition activity- don’t forget how much of a win win this is guys! For a monetary outlay that you can budget for and manage by working with like minded creatives, you provide your team a huge incentive to get creative and expand their skills which keeps clients happy, and, you might also win! Stick that Salon Business of the Year win on your next job ad and chances are you are going to have your choice of the candidates because it represents opportunity.

Outside of the fun stuff, it’s a serious thing that we do. Managing staff, particularly over the past year with the pressures of COVID and the increasing impact on mental health, staff wellbeing has never been more crucial. We have an HR Manager who works to pre-empt issues and deal with conflict or concerns, whilst providing a safe and welcoming environment. Everyone is provided access to have issues or concerns recorded to ensure they are dealt with professionally and discreetly, as well as keeping an eye on goals and team harmony. One of my biggest tips for keeping staff happy though? Cross Fit. Yep, cross fit. It challenges me every day and keeps me focused, disciplined and energized. Plus, it’s so great for the team to see that I am so consistent in my training, just like I am at work. Not to mention I can pretty much kill them in pull-ups! We are all guilty of underestimating the importance of movement on our minds, so incorporate something into your salon life, even if just small. You’ll be shocked at the impact it has.

The best way to retain staff is to make them proud. Proud to work for and alongside you, proud to tell people which salon they work at. I’m committed to providing opportunities and pathways for Circles staff so that they go out into the industry, under my brand or not, as the kind of stylists any Director would be proud of. If I could leave this industry having achieved just one thing, it would be keeping the legacy of my brand alive which is why I’ll never sell to a stranger. The brand will always keep going within my Circles family and when it is time for me to hang up my scissors, I’ll be passing the opportunity over to a young stylist or stylists who have the same values I always had. What is a better legacy for a Director to leave for their staff than that?

THE KEY TO A LONGBy David WattsLASTING BUSINESS

Perhaps choosing this topic for my first contribution to Hair Biz is insane as it seems to invoke fear in every salon owner I talk to, but a challenge is always good. So here it is, let’s rip the band aid off and talk about profit, the key to a long-lasting business.

First, I want you think back to the day you opened your business and how you felt...

Were you full of energy?

Ready to tackle anything?

Highly excited and ready to count the money that was going to flood in?

Today you probably realise that the paint was not the only fresh thing in your salon. After many long days and even more long nights, today you realise those mysterious profits are hard to achieve. Or are they?

Before we delve too far into this, I need to make this clear, profit IS NOT what you pay yourself, that is compensation for the work you have done. Profit is the amount remaining after all your expenses have been paid (including yourself.) When your salon is profitable your cash flow improves, your stress levels decrease, and the health of your business is secure.

There are some key steps to ensuring your salon is profitable, you do not have to lose money or simply get by, owning your own business should be rewarding financially as well as creatively.

KNOW YOUR BREAK EVEN

Putting it simply you have to know this before you open the doors each week, it is essential to know what it will costs to run your salon. If you are new to this concept, keep it simple and create a list. The three biggest expenses are generally wages, rent and stock, but it does not stop there, think about your point of sale, insurance, utilities, training, marketing or even a loan.

Tip - You need to total all the expenses and understand that there is no profit in your business until your sales surpass this number.

PRICE YOUR SERVICES CORRECTLY

Stop guessing and definitely stop worrying what the salon in the next street charges. You need to understand what it costs YOU to provide a service. To get this right you need to go down to the gram. How much colour? How much developer? How long does it take to apply? What is the staff cost? Now you have your cost, add your profit margin, this should be consistent with every service.

TAKE AN AXE TO YOUR EXPENSES

When was the last time you looked at where the money is going? Not understanding your expenses is a definite way to reducing your profit. Are you overstaffed? Do you have a clear process for ordering? How much waste is there in salon? I look at subscriptions as the enemy of profit; they are stealing your money one direct debit at a time. Your expenses need to be tightly controlled to have a successful salon.

Tip - It is time to get the bank statement out and go through it line by line. Be honest with yourself and make the necessary changes to reduce your costs.

PLAN FOR PROFIT

Your new best friend should be your accountant, working with a great accountant is a secret weapon to business success, together you can create some magic by understanding the numbers. Stop thinking that they are only there to do your tax, a good accountant is skilled in helping small businesses succeed. You can work with them on forecasting, benchmarking or simply helping you learn the basics of business finance.

You work hard to get clients in the door, DO NOT let this opportunity go to waste. Building a culture of upgrading and strong retail sales will allow you to maximise potential profit at every appointment. Oh, and do not forget the fundamental of salon business, securing the rebook, in 2021 we need to accept that clients are not why rebooking rates are low, it’s us. Recurring business is essential for strong profit in salons and you are responsible making this a reality.

Tip – A well-executed membership program will change your cash flow and profit margin for the better.

SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP

The worst thing you can do is grow your business if you are not making a healthy profit, this will set the scene for a BIG crash and burn. You need to have your prices correct, your expenses controlled, and your team trained. Do this and you will reach your goals faster than if you continue to fly blind.

Tip - Take the time to work ON YOUR BUSINESS and build yourself a foundation for future success.

Remember you can have a profitable salon. The reality is you need to accept this in your mind, and: • Ignore the inner voice telling you no. • Acknowledge only you are responsible. • Commit to making the necessary changes. • Take immediate action. • Keep yourself accountable for your success.

Make profit important and know that if you increase your income and reduce your expenses there will be plenty more of it in the future.

David XoX

A salon owner and business coach with a diverse background in sales, marketing and operations David is passionate about improving the professionalism of the industry. Contact David via email david@ antonhair.com.au or DM on Instagram @davidwattscoach