Which Do You Need For Your Salon: a Teacher, a Consultant, or a Coach?

Educators deliver the “What?” Trainers deliver the “How?” Coaches inspire the “Why?”

What an excellent question! The answer depends on whether you need help with management or leadership. Typically, a consultant is called in to diagnose difficulties, propose solutions, create the fix, and apply the fix. They aren’t necessarily trainers or educators, so when they leave, the expertise goes with them. The next time you have a similar issue; guess who you get to pay again?

I know this is a bit of a generalization. But I’ve noticed the terms “consultant” and “coach” are interchanged all too often today, confusing the true mission and focus of a good business coach.

A coaching practice, whether it focuses on life or business, is built around a strong competency to ask the right questions, not necessarily to diagnose problems, though that is one of the outcomes. A good coach will raise your awareness to a level of understanding so you can evolve into a higher level of understanding, and continue that evolution after your business relationship has ended. You get to keep all the tools the coach has transferred to you.

Coaching sounds a bit like teaching, or training. However, the information a teacher delivers is really one way, and they aren’t necessarily vested in your using the new information to your highest ability. Similarly, a trainer focuses more on making sure you can mimic the same process, without really taking its purpose into consideration. Coaching is about the client’s business model, not the consultant’s.

Think of it this way: Educators deliver the “What?”; Trainers deliver the “How?”; and Coaches inspire the “Why?” If you’ve had employees or children, you know that when you’ve inspired someone to ask “Why?”, they will soon discover the “What?” and “How?” on their own.

Join me again next week when I’ll examine the difference between managing and leading. Until then, you can receive a free business analysis to see if you could benefit from working with a coach at http://www.milady.cengage.com/greenbookSplash/businessanalysis.html

Unlock Your Salon's Future: Visualize It!

Here we are entering into a new calendar year! This is always a time of reflection, a time of renewal, of making commitments!

As we move into this New Year, it is incumbent upon us to shift where we need shifting and look to grow where we need growing. As a leader, it is even more vital for this because you have to be a step ahead of your team and you have to guide them in the right direction to support them to grow.

At this time of year we all look forward and set new goals or resolutions. Setting goals takes on lots of different forms, writing them down, putting them in a journal, sharing them with someone, etc.

A great way to make this happen is by taking the following steps:

Schedule a year end planning meeting! Make it a whole afternoon. Take time in the meeting to celebrate successes from the past year, review results and compare goals set versus achieved. Move into setting personal and professional goals for both the individuals and the business to support growth.

Visualize it! During your meeting I recommend that you support the goals being set by creating something visual that represents it. In the past, I have been a member of teams where we creating our own goal or dream board for the year using a poster board, magazine cut-outs, markers, glitter glue, etc. This is highly effective and allows everyone to get creative and visualize what there year will be like for them!

Live it! Once you have set these goals and created a visual reminder of them most people stop there. There is another very powerful step you can take to support these goals to become reality and that is to live them! This means go out and taste, touch, smell, feel them. For example, let’s say that one of your employees wants to move into their very first apartment this year. This is a big step in anyone’s life and you, as the salon or spa owner play a huge part in supporting this dream to be realized. A great thing to do is schedule a few hours on an off day with this employee, have them meet you at the salon or spa and then take them apartment hunting! Get them out there touching and feeling their dream. Put it right in front of them. How inspired will they be to keep working towards making this happen!

Follow through! Once the goals are in place you have to lead your team and follow through with people. Supporting them to hold themselves accountable when they are having a bad day or are struggling through challenges that could take their eyes off of their goals. Be sure to get permission from them at the very beginning of the process to do this, and when you see it happening, go there with them!

At the end of the day, any goal can be accomplished! Take the time to help people think about what they really want, write it down, visualize it and help them make it real in 2010!

Stress Relief For The Final 2009 Work Week

Are you feeling frazzled -- even frantic -- this time of year?

While I personally love the holiday season, there are so many expectations, so much to accomplish, and so many feelings all rolled together. A lot of it has to do with time -- just plain figuring out a way to fit in hours of extra stuff on top of the over-stuffed schedules that most of us keep these days. (Myself included.)

Here are a few ideas for taking control this last week of 2009:

Don't do it all: In fact, drop the obligation that you have to squeeze another client in. Just don't do it! If you really feel you must then have another stylist support you. That means “asking” for help. Maybe they could shampoo the client or finish the style for you. Just be creative and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Limit the work: This year, I refuse to add more than an hour of extra work to my day -- with it's all being done in one hour doses and it's making me feel really, really sane because it allows me to take care of the rest of my life -- that would be work, friends, and keeping the house tidy. Those needs don't stop during the holiday rush.

Refuel: And no, not with booze. Try to do one thing a day that makes you feel grounded, relaxed, and healthy.

The Art Of Communication: Listen Up!

As a business coach in the salon and spa industry I am faced with the task of supporting my clients to work on implementing new systems, building better relationships and producing results with more ease!

While we spend a lot of time working on developing systems, the implementation and then follow through, I see time and again that the biggest opportunity for personal and professional growth lies in the Salon owner's ability to work on communication - rather and more importantly, listening!

Typically as a Salon owner you get so excited to get something in place, and want to take action quick, that you forget to remember a few very important points:

1. You are excited because you made a choice to change and improve your business. It is your choice. At the very beginning you are the only one on board, no one else is! In my years of coaching I often see people get so excited to get something off the ground only to be let down because their empoyees done't have the same level of excitement, passion or clarity to make it happen! Remember that they never will feel it the same way you do and that change takes time! They will come around eventually.

2. You do not listen to them! When I say listen I really mean observing them, taking in their reactions and their energetic response to what you introduce! In an earlier blog I wrote about the importance of asking questions. It is at a crucial time like this that you want to be prepared with some questions to ask to see if they see the same issue you see or that they see the importance of putting a new system in place to help the area you want to improve.

In a nutshell, start with listening to where your employees are, and once you are through checking the pulse you will know how to introduce what you need to in a way that they will receive - which will make your life much more easier!

Salon and Spa Owners - What would you rather do...Work More or Make More?

Are you are a busy Salon or Spa Owner in desperate need of making more money but you don’t have the time or the energy to do it yourself?
Do you feel that you are really close to grabbing the ‘brass’ ring only to find yourself unable to reach it yet again?
Are you frustrated by the lack of initiative, willingness and drive among your team members?
If you answered yes to one or all three of the above questions then take a moment, kick your feet up and read about how you can change your course to working less and making MORE. What I’m sharing isn’t rocket science, however, even the best of us could use a good swift ‘kick-in-the-pants’ every once in awhile to get ourselves back on track.
The three ways to making more are:
1. Understand the 80/20 Rule
In 1897 Pareto, an Italian Economist came up with the 80/20 rule. This rule in of itself revolutionized the way we think not only about wealth but about every area of our life. Applied to your business it can be said that 20% of your employees will produce 80% of your revenue. Many business leaders spend little if any of their time focusing on those areas of their business that can generate the most revenue. You’ve got to shift your focus and begin spending your valuable time on those areas that can generate the most revenue and thereby save you time.
So in any given situation the question to ask yourself what is the 80 percent and what is the 20 percent. In other words if you want to be wealthy ask yourself what is it that the 20 percent do differently that allows them to control 80 percent of the wealth. If you want your business to be more profitable ask yourself what is the 20 percent that is accounting for 80 percent of your profits and focus in on that.
2. Build it and they will come!
I love the move Field of Dreams! The movies theme serves as an excellent analogy for salon and spa owners struggling to make more. When I say, ‘build it and they will come’, I don’t mean go and build a brand new salon and spa I simply mean build a business.
Allow me to clarify. Most successful small business owners do one thing really well. They think like large businesses. Meaning they visualize themselves making it big, align themselves with individuals that can help them get big and systematically implement the necessary structures to be big.
You bought and opened a business, now act like a business! Success comes to those who plan for success. Planning begins with preparation. Establishing a clear vision and mission for your business, developing a realistic cash flow plan for profit and establishing the specific systems, policies and procedures in which you will operate your business. Even if you have only one employee you must prepare your business to receive. Preparing eliminates fear, procrastination and reduces turnover. It also provides power and positions you in the rightful seat of leader. If you feel behind the eight ball and that you are loosing traction in your own success. STOP! Take a vacation from working IN your business, hire a coach and go work ON your business. When you return you will be armed with the tools necessary to work less and make more. Not only will you save time but you will save money and quit possibly your sanity.
3. Serve your number one customer FIRST!
As a salon and/or spa business owner your number one customer is your team! Without a team you don’t own a business you own a job. Taking care of your team and serving them well is your key to success. Marcus Buckingham wrote a fantastic book called, The One Thing You Need to Know. In his book he writes that great leaders and managers have the ability to turn talent into performance. Read that again…turn talent into performance. To make more money in less time your job is to simply turn your talent (your team) into performance (producing revenue). He goes on to say that doing so is as simple as; finding their talents and strengths, trigger great performance and tailor their learning style.
Essential your job as their manager/leader is to get your team working on those activities in which they perform their best. Secondly, you must work to trigger great performance. You’ve got to consciously recognize and reinforce desirable behaviors. Get creative! This may be in the form of a personal thank you note, a public acknowledgement in front of the team or simply having an employee of the month board. Lastly, tailor the learning. Your job is to discover the best way in which each individual on your team learns and work to provide an environment that supports their learning preferences.
Although these three steps are simple they do require time and effort to implement. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day! Working less and making more can be done but you must be willing to make the necessary changes.

The Art Of Communication: Ask! Don't Tell!

I once heard from a coach I worked with that, "the answers are in the questions."  At first I didn't know what this meant! She said, most managers spend too much time "telling" their employees where they need to improve or what they need to do, opposed to taking a minute to get them involved.

This wisdom has stuck with me over the years and I will tell you this, I can do a pretty good job of putting the cart before the horse or putting my big foot in my mouth for sure! However, by practicing this I have grown immeasurable and been able to help lots of salon and spa owners over the years grow as well.

It is really simple, when you want to make a point, coach someone on your team, or get people involved in a project - Instead of telling them what to do, think of questions you could ask them to find out what they know or don't know, what their point of view is, how they see it, and are they excited, etc.

In our industry, we are so used to doing things all day long! DO!DO!DO!DO!  We are so in the doing we forget to BE with our team! Practice this technique, come up with at least three questions you can ask them the next time you need to share something or coach them. They will feel respected and valued and you will save a ton of time by starting with what they know first ,so you know how to steer the conversation forward!

Try this and you will reap amazing benefits!

Feelings or Facts - Your Numbers Don't Lie!

Today I was on a coaching call with a client and something really great happened! My client showed up to the call feeling a bit down and stressed about a myriad of things. As we dug into our work together we began to look at the last two months of sales and compared them to the same two months from last year.

As we began to dig into the numbers, many things came to the surface. The business saw a drop in client visits of 81 from last year and ONLY saw a drop in total revenue of $285!!! This was due to the business having a combined average ticket of $11.84 per client more than last year!!!  Wow!!!

We also looked at her staff. When we reviewed one of her stylists average retail ticket we saw awesome growth. In the months of August & September combined the stylist had only 1 of 9 weeks where her average retail ticket was above $10.00 compared to 7 of 9 weeks above $10.00 for the combined months of October & November! Wow again!!!

As we looked at this the shift my client had was amazed! She went from being down to being completely fired up and she couldn't wait to share this with her team and acknowldege them! Can you imagine the boost her team is going to feel when she shares not only the results but her excitement and pride in them! This is what leadership is all about! Praise! Praise! Praise! This will only reinfoce practice, practice, practice!

It just goes to show you something we coaches at Milady are always harping on: Manage your buisness based on the facts, not your feelings!!! You may FEEL a certain way because you are having a bad day, someone is not following through, busines is slow on that given day, etc. However when you look at what the numbers are saying you can always find something truthful and positive to go with!

Make it a practice the next time something is getting to you to stop, pull up your sales numbers; look at past versus current sales, look at individual people on the team and what they are doing! There is nothing more empowering than having the truth, even when it shows sales being down or percentages being over budget. When you have the truth, you can lessen the gray areas and the feelings, get clear and continue to focus and drive towards your goals! It is just smart business!