Staff & Sales Focus

Having owned and managed my own business within the skincare industry for over 20 years, I have gained a lot of insight into the best ways to create an effective, powerful and nurturing team.  In this blog, I want to share with you my top tips for managing your staff and creating a great sales team.

1. Managing Staff and Best Practices

Attract the Right People

Finding team members who align with your salon’s values and mission is crucial. Use job postings that clearly state your business’s goals and the qualities you seek. Consider leveraging industry-specific job boards and social media platforms to reach a targeted audience.

My past experience with finding someone local has its benefits.

To illustrate what I mean, I’ve created an example of a job advertisement that you can download by clicking on this link.

Make it your own; this is just a template. Clearly define the responsibilities, skills, and attributes required for a future employee in your salon or clinic.

When hiring for your salon or clinic, it’s essential to clearly define the responsibilities, skills, and attributes you’re looking for in a future team member.

During the interview process, focus on personality just as much as skills. While skills can be taught, I place more value on a candidate’s energy and attitude. Positivity, engagement, and initiative often stem from one’s personality, which is harder to train than technical abilities.

Whenever possible, avoid hiring someone who lives more than 30 minutes away, as the daily commute can impact punctuality and long-term commitment. Most importantly, don’t settle for less than what your business deserves!

Give Them Structure

Providing a clear structure and defined job description within your salon ensures that each team member knows their responsibilities. This helps in reducing conflicts and improving efficiency. Implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) to maintain consistency in service quality.

To illustrate what I mean, I’ve created an example of a Beauty Therapist Job Description that you can download by clicking on this link.

Give Them Incentives

Motivation can be significantly boosted through both monetary and non-monetary incentives. These could include performance bonuses, extra days off, or opportunities for professional development. Tailor incentives to meet your business’s goals and your staff’s aspirations.

Nothing talks louder than money. A nice bonus in $ from time to time will be highly appreciated.

That said, I’ve also gifted vouchers to top restaurants, concert tickets, new mobile phones or tablets, fully paid days off, and flowers. These gestures show genuine care and appreciation for your team.

I’ve found that if you have a team of therapists, it’s best to make it into a team goal rather than an individual reward system. An individual reward system can create a competitive atmosphere that can obstruct overall success. 

Create a Team Culture

A positive workplace culture encourages team members to contribute their best. Foster an environment that promotes mutual respect, open communication, and collaboration. Regular team-building activities and meetings will strengthen bonds and improve morale.

Organise Regular Team Meetings

Regular meetings are essential for addressing day-to-day operations and discussing future plans. They ensure everyone is on the same page and provide a forum for addressing any issues or concerns.

If possible, I recommend that you select a day when everyone comes to the salon. Structure your meeting by asking about some of the challenges and wins that each member of your team has experienced. Review the promotions or other things you’ve noticed that must be addressed.
Keep your meetings short and to the point. 

I like to create a 90-day plan and share it with the team, ensuring they are fully involved. We review and discuss it throughout the weeks.

For instance, since I use a seasonal approach, when Spring arrives, we focus on ways to enhance client satisfaction as their skin needs change with the season. We review products, plan videos, promotions, and sales strategies—anything that can elevate our services and empower the team.

Celebrate Wins

Acknowledging both small accomplishments and major milestones builds a sense of achievement and will lead to greater job satisfaction among staff. This can be as simple as a shout-out during a team meeting or as elaborate as a year-end celebration.

2. Creating a Great Sales Team

This is perhaps the most important aspect of having a successful salon. When hiring new staff, seek someone with a great personality and excellent communication skills. You can and should train a therapist to perform the treatments the way you want them done, but it’s very difficult to train someone to have an engaging and positive personality.

Regular Meetings

Discuss the importance of regular sales meetings to review performance, strategise on upcoming promotions, and share successful sales tactics. These meetings can also be a platform for addressing team concerns or barriers.

Keep reminding your team that sales is a service, not a duping or conning activity. It is the responsibility of the therapist to share her knowledge and recommendations of what the client should use and the routines they must follow to optimise the best results. 

Following up is part of that service. You only sell when you don’t know how to service with excellence. Your focus must be on servicing and recommending the best solutions for your clients. 

The Importance of a Consultation

The consultation is the cornerstone of a personalised beauty service. It provides an opportunity to understand the client’s needs and recommend specific products or treatments, enhancing client satisfaction and setting up the perfect sales (service) pitch for a treatment series and homecare products.

We’ve recorded many salon consultations and sales videos. You can find them all on our YouTube channel. Here is one to get you started. 

Optimal Selling Time

Identify the best times to introduce products or services during the client’s treatment journey, such as after demonstrating the benefits during treatment or when discussing future care plans.

What I can tell you is that the sale must be made before the end of a treatment. Once the treatment has ended and the client is getting ready to go forth on her day’s activities, she is already checking her phone and thinking about what she is going to do once she leaves the salon. 

The high point of a sale should generally come around the time when you have just started with the treatment. We have recorded a great video on this subject.

It’s a great video, I highly recommend it. 

Programs and Rebooking

Encourage the introduction of loyalty programs and always rebook the client at the end of each appointment to ensure ongoing engagement and steady business flow.

If the client prefers not to rebook, ask them to drop in for 5 minutes so that you can check how the skin is responding (if they came in for a facial) – Obviously not if they came in for a waxing. 

Waxing versus facials is a separate discussion, but it’s important to note that waxing alone isn’t a significant revenue driver. If you must offer waxing treatments, then the real value lies in using waxing as a gateway to introduce clients to facials and other more comprehensive treatments. But filling up your appointment book with such treatments will not help your cause. 

Logging Client Purchases

Keeping a detailed log of client purchases helps in personalising future recommendations and tracking client preferences, which can improve service quality and boost repeat business.
It also allows you to keep track of the regular usage of the products you recommend and when the product should run out. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Let’s Talk Beauty Business segment, where I’ll share my tips on cash flow, social media, and client follow-ups.

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