The Conscious Salon
How to motivate your team to perform better
You're invited to pull up a seat at the Conscious Salon for an episode that interweaves the joy of family, the complexity of leadership, and the eco-friendly innovation of salon life.
This episode is a deep dive into the heart of business management and leading a team to success. We explore how strong leadership is paramount in aligning a team with a company's vision, and why understanding KPIs can make or break your financial goals. Get ready to reflect on the entrepreneurial grind, as we share our journey from the allure of financial success to the stark realities of business ownership, all while delving into the necessity of pricing strategies and the importance of customer experience in the salon industry.
We round out the conversation with a focus on client experience, a four-key process essential for satisfaction and retention. As we peel back the curtain on our own salon's approach to solving client problems, we highlight the transformative power of structured team meetings and regular training. If you're looking to inspire your team without resorting to negative reinforcement, you'll find our stories on leadership and team building both instructive and uplifting. So, tune in, grab your notepad, and get prepared to be both entertained and enlightened!
To follow our journey:
Instagram @aheadhair_
@the_conscious_salon
This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative
You're invited to pull up a seat at the Conscious Salon for an episode that interweaves the joy of family, the complexity of leadership, and the eco-friendly innovation of salon life.
This episode is a deep dive into the heart of business management and leading a team to success. We explore how strong leadership is paramount in aligning a team with a company's vision, and why understanding KPIs can make or break your financial goals. Get ready to reflect on the entrepreneurial grind, as we share our journey from the allure of financial success to the stark realities of business ownership, all while delving into the necessity of pricing strategies and the importance of customer experience in the salon industry.
We round out the conversation with a focus on client experience, a four-key process essential for satisfaction and retention. As we peel back the curtain on our own salon's approach to solving client problems, we highlight the transformative power of structured team meetings and regular training. If you're looking to inspire your team without resorting to negative reinforcement, you'll find our stories on leadership and team building both instructive and uplifting. So, tune in, grab your notepad, and get prepared to be both entertained and enlightened!
To follow our journey:
Instagram @aheadhair_
@the_conscious_salon
This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative
Here at the Conscious Salon, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land in which we stand today, the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to the elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Conscious Salon.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the Cons salon podcast. What's your puffing billy?
Speaker 2:just a little hoot, a little toot toot. That's a melbourne. Um, what's the word?
Speaker 1:like a melbourne google the puff it means like statement piece.
Speaker 2:What is it? What am I trying to say?
Speaker 1:Like a landmark in Melbourne is the Puffingbilly train, but it's not a landmark, it's like a tourist attraction. Probably Tourist attraction, yes.
Speaker 2:But we did this here. Puffingbilly toot past Tess. Another day, another dollar, as they say. Yep, another day, another dollar. Yes, what's been happening the week that was?
Speaker 1:The week that was the week that was. Well, today's the first slower day, I would say, for us. In the last couple of weeks, which has been lovely, we've had a um a bit of a cruisy one.
Speaker 2:We have had a cruisy one, it's been good. We've had a big couple of weeks uh, across both businesses and we're in some need of a rest we actually haven't had a day off in, like I'd say, close to three weeks, including the weekends, yeah, and that's not a vibe, that's we're definitely not um what's the word like we're not not happy, we're not um.
Speaker 1:That's the thing like um energized. Well, no, no, no yes to all those things. You know, when you're like endorsing, we're not endorsing.
Speaker 1:Three weeks without a day off we don't promote hustle culture, but we but we really don't, but we've been living it, but with necessary like sometimes you do. Here's the thing I do think it's important to say yeah, sometimes there are moments in your like, there are periods where you need to like strap in, put the boots on and get started. And this is one of our times of strapping in and putting the boots on, but we're starting to pull the boots off.
Speaker 1:I'm of our times of strapping in and putting the boots on, but we're starting to pull the boots off.
Speaker 2:I'm kicking the boots off, we're swapping it for, like some sneakers and eventually we'll swap them for some socks just socks, actually barefoot and grounded soon. It has been a busy couple of weeks. How's your week been?
Speaker 1:it's been stunning was first week in the, in the new space, in the new salon. Um, it's been a learning experience, as our crew will will agree. We're all trying to like work out where things are.
Speaker 2:I couldn't find the.
Speaker 1:We've got these little. Actually this is a little tip for any hairdressers who have clients that have got glasses, so probably most of you have got at least one client with some glasses. We've got a client who is an optometrist and she brings us all the little glasses slips I don't know if we should say this on x.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure she just flogs them from at work no, no, she says it ends up in the bin. That's why she brings them to us, really yeah, why would they end up in the bin?
Speaker 1:well, because what are they going to do with them?
Speaker 2:oh my god, yeah, that's how the glasses come. Yeah, with the protecting packaging oh my god, I didn't know that. Yeah, I just thought that they were like. I was like oh, she's definitely thieving. Thieving, what bits of plastic. Yeah but I thought oh my god, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:No, no, that's the whole point, they end up in the binge, and that's because when I was thanking her so much for it, she was like it literally it's going to go in the bin, so I'd much rather it come to you iconic.
Speaker 2:I just thought she was stealing and I was like hope it's not a small business.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna say find the optometrists in your salon I'm sure you'll have at least one and one with a connection to them or even go to your local optometrist near you and grab those plastic slips, because those plastic slips no, we didn't. We used to put glad wrap on and foils no, we didn't test.
Speaker 2:We used to buy the little boxes that spat out, the little glasses, slips, plastic things. Yes, we did, I forgot about them. Yeah, we used buy them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but now, we've got them from our resourceful actually one of our clients being a resourceful queen- I just thought she was a thief.
Speaker 2:Here you go.
Speaker 1:No, so anyway, I couldn't find them yesterday, so I was about to get the foil out and just wrap up one of my clients' glasses.
Speaker 2:We couldn't find so many things yesterday.
Speaker 1:We found. We couldn't find so many things, we found them. It was down by the um. It was in a very sensible spot, not where they were once before. But that's kind of fun and like trying to remember where straighteners are now and like bits and pieces, because we've got all these news, because we've got an entirely new space, so nothing is where it was we're just sort of learning together and there's a lot of things that are not where they used to be and it's kind of like going on a treasure hunt.
Speaker 2:It it's kind of like orienteering. Is that the right thing I'm looking for?
Speaker 1:I mean probably I didn't do a lot of orienteering in general. I know my kid's quite good at it. Talia won something about orienteering this year.
Speaker 2:It's just really like you go on a bit of a treasure hunt and you try and find stuff, so that's really what we're doing.
Speaker 1:But it's been a beautiful week in the new space. It's been so good and like just hearing people's responses.
Speaker 2:And we're, we're 90 done, we're not 100.
Speaker 1:We've got the cactus garden going in in the new monday? Yeah, I hope so monday. Well, I'm gonna put some deadlines in just to ensure we can follow up next week and see how accountable we've been. So the cactus garden pete young will be going in on monday. Uh, pete's going in to tonight tonight to do some. He's getting the con, the floors ready, so he's gonna do some concreting, perfect, probing the floors for us, yep, and then nick and i're gonna go in and paint tomorrow. So the floors check will be finished as of tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Garden cactus garden I can't say no now, can I?
Speaker 1:no, cactus garden will be done on monday, and that's you know, it's you know. Going in to paint the salon floors, uh, just hours before our dad's 70th birthday. So big shout out to the big dog pole, who actually might be listening, because the other day he's actually I wasn't aware that he started listening to the podcast, but he texted us saying, like beautiful podcast, blah, blah didn't you go to his house and it was playing across the big speaker, or was that me?
Speaker 2:no, that also that also happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've had a couple of things, but yeah, he's becoming a regular listener. We'll find out if he's listening, because he'll definitely say thanks for the shout-out for this.
Speaker 2:Hi Dad, Love your work.
Speaker 1:Happy birthday. Should we sing to him? No, happy birthday, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:Okay, good, but Dad is turning 70 for him. Can I say no, yes, yes, yeah, I think so I can, because by the time this episode airs we would have already done it yes so we have just been pretending that we kind of forgot about his birthday 70th. Like I said to him the other day, oh my god, are you 70 for this birthday? And he's like yes, and I was like, oh shit, should we do something for it?
Speaker 2:but secretly, we've got something exciting planned, so we've actually hired our private chef our private chef, naturally, actually I'm so sad that we don't have a living guy coming, but we've got the private chef coming to cook a beautiful dinner. Um, and all the family are going to be there to surprise him, which is going to be amazing he's onto it though, because he actually did guess that mom.
Speaker 1:I said to mom like you must have mentioned it somewhere along the way, because he it's a pretty random guess, because he said like I think you guys have gotten the chef. And mom was like like what, that's so weird, why would we do that? And I was like yeah, good, you've definitely put him off the scent there.
Speaker 2:Totally. But yes, we have him coming, but by the time this episode airs, we would have just it should be done, we would be licking our lips and touching our napkins to our lips.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you're going to say touching Yona, yona?
Speaker 1:I was like, oh no not without consent, but you know consent's given yona is that that's the chef's name and he's very sexy. Everyone's like yeah, the food was great, but so, yeah, it was the show absolutely anyway, enough mentioned on that test can I say though, quickly, before we do do that I do think it's funny because we actually have a couple of surprises for greg. I won't let the other ones out of the bag oh no, he knows about them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to hamilton island forgot. That's not a surprise I actually have to tell that story. So, mom and dad, were we organized um to surprise our dad by taking him to hamilton island for a family trip again.
Speaker 1:We're gonna have a few catech stories happening at once here, but we'll tie them all together. Rest assured, dad is not the ideal candidate for a surprise, because we did a surprise for him on his 60th birthday, which was massive. We ended up taking over the space next door of our salon, which was empty at the time, got we got help from friends and everything setting it up and also the people that were there. We weren't like squatting for the night and we set it up in this like incredible. It was almost like I would say like Arabian night, sort of like magical. It was so beautiful, it was so spectacular, what was created.
Speaker 1:And dad just thought we're going for dinner. And what? Dad didn't realise that we'd organised a lot of his friends to be at the night as well and one of them had taken him out for beers so that we could set everything up and get it done and then was bringing oh, I can't remember, like dad was meeting us down there or something like that. But this friend of ours told us that dad had said, oh, I've got to go out for dinner with the girls tonight and knowing them, yeah they'll take me to a really expensive restaurant.
Speaker 2:The bill will come to 600 bucks and they'll just put 50 bucks down on the table and I said what a bastard. We'd organized this full bloody night for him.
Speaker 1:Totally so that was really cool. But then when he actually got in there, we couldn't get him in the door. I don't know if you remember he kept being like because we're like oh, let's just have a look, I'll show you like there's something going in this shop next door. Come in and have a look and he was like, oh, can we just go out and all of his friends are inside, like listening to him, like they're all hearing him throw a tantrum out the front.
Speaker 2:It was ridiculous. Anyway, eventually got him in there and he was really shocked. He was really like yeah, he could barely speak I thought he was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he was gonna have a bit of an episode, but he was all right. So I don't think that will go this way this time.
Speaker 2:No but it was pretty funny because we planned on taking him to hamilton island and we're doing that in june. So this was a secret between you, me and mom, obviously, and dad. We were trying to keep it a surprise from dad, so that mom and dad would just go to hamilton island and we would just magically be there. It was really cute, like the way we planned and everything. And then one of the days I called mom and she, for whatever reason, either had me on speaker or whatever as a boomer thing.
Speaker 1:They all do it, they do, they have it on speakerphone and yeah I mean, if you're a boomer and you don't do that, are you actually a boomer? Because I feel like it's like a trait is doing the loud speakerphone call it is.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so she was. She had him on speaker and said that he was outside mowing the lawns and I said are you 100 sure you can't hear? You definitely can't hear. No, no, no, you can't hear, can't hear. And then we were talking about it and we were talking about, like the things that we were going to do on the trip and we were talking about like we're throwing some things out there about accommodation and flights and things like that. And then mom said well, I don't think your father will want to do that, because he's always had a poverty mindset.
Speaker 2:Like as in it would cost too much. And then we just I just hear in the background of the phone call, like you know what, I've heard every word that you've said so far, and it's dad in the background. So mum's completely ruined the surprise. And then mum's like, oh, Nicola, I've got to go. And I said mum did dad just hear every word to what we just said. And mum's like, yes, he did, and I have to go.
Speaker 1:She was concerned about the poverty mindset and blowing the surprise, so really feel good moment for Elle.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So yeah, it was good. So now he knows about Hamilton Island, but he doesn't know about the private chef.
Speaker 1:And then I ruined the Chicago surprise because I thought that was common knowledge.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, mum was surprising him with Chicago, and Tess was like guys, we just saw Chicago, mum and dad, you're in for a real treat. And I was like, oh, for fuck's sake, we've literally got nothing left, so it's good.
Speaker 1:So the one remaining surprise that he has no one's ruined yet. But he's sort of guessed it, yeah so it's going really well.
Speaker 2:Happy 70th dad. Uh, tess, we run a little segment around here, what's? It called hot girl hotline. So if anyone new around here, we run a segment every week. We put up a questions box on instagram and ask you for your troubles, your woes, your business blues, whatever is going on in your life that you need some advice around, and then we offer it in the privacy of this public forum so that everyone can hear and learn as well. Tess, what is today's listener question?
Speaker 1:today's listener question is how do I have a poverty mindset? Well, this kind of it's not really on a poverty mindset, but it is on mindset. Okay, how do I help my team improve their numbers? We are not even close to hitting break-even and I'm super stressed. Nothing is working.
Speaker 2:All right, what do we think about this? So many different like follow-up questions that I would be asking this person if we could go if it was a two-way segment in terms of, like, what you're currently doing at the moment with your leadership and things like that. But I think this is good and we can really base the episode on this as well, because I think a lot of people would struggle with this. So the first question is I would be asking first and foremost, above anything else, is what are you actually doing to be motivating your team? Because, at the end of the day, a great team needs an exceptional leader in place. So, really understanding that all good change in your business comes from good leadership, and I would be starting first and foremost with working on yourself.
Speaker 2:The other really important part, part of this I think to be aware of is this is a marathon, not a sprint, and making effective change, especially from like. If your team are going from, you know, like, recommending no retail to wanting them to recommend thousands of dollars of retail a week, that doesn't happen overnight. It takes time. If you're wanting to boost their service numbers, boost their rebooking rates, things like that, it always comes back to their belief system around what they think their clients see as valuable and their belief within themselves. But I honestly think that it only comes back to you as a leader and what you're actually doing in there to make a difference with your team, and in the past I previously blamed team members, I blamed clientele, I blamed like anyone else, but the only person that I look at now in these situations is whoever is leading the team. So if our team aren't performing or our team's numbers drop, it literally comes back to me and Tess, what do you think?
Speaker 1:yeah, um, yeah, I definitely agree with that. I do think, though, you need to make sure that your team are aligned with your vision, like I think that I think it definitely comes down to leadership, but I do think you need to make sure that you've got the right team in place to be doing the things that you want to be doing. Um, because quite often, we can have some situations where there might be some square pegs, round holes sort of situation, and, especially if you are wanting to create change or a different way of doing things in your business than what has been happening, that, if it's not happening, naturally, I think there needs to be really clear communications around, like what you're wanting to achieve with it, because often what we can hear is that people will start being like I want my team to sell more, so like, go and sell more, and that doesn't translate very well for a team member, whereas if we talk about things about you know, my vision for the salon is x, y and z I'm really wanting to create. Whatever the experience is, I think transparency and communication literally can solve any problem within the team or any and this is a life thing as well wherever there's confusion or things. Often we kind of gatekeep and feel like we need to keep everything really close and really like to our chest, whereas I think you know, yes, that is the case in some situations, but there are other times where we can have some transparency and really get some understanding and see that, if that alignment is there.
Speaker 1:So I think, potentially for this person, I would be, um, asking them you know, have you shared with your team your vision, what you're wanting to create, what you're wanting to do, why you're wanting to change these things, um, what your intention is, what you're wanting to create with these? If your intention is for the clients to have better results with their hair and really love their hair, that they're having great, that's a really great intention. If it is, you know, not hitting break evens, are they aware of the break even? Are they aware of what they're working towards? Are they aware of some of the responsibilities that come within not only having a salon but also being part of a team, like KPIs, things like that, things that we have in place?
Speaker 1:A KPI obviously is a different one in terms of like, what their numbers are reflecting, but in terms of like, what we're all working towards, like, everyone has targets of their own. Us as business owners, we have our targets as well, and part of our target is our break-even. We have to be able to hit that to be able to keep our doors open. That's just what, naturally, we need to be doing to make sure that we can keep our doors open. If your team is not aware of the fact that, if you're not comfortable sharing the actual money factor of a break-even, but if they're not aware that you guys are having you're not hitting it or not even close to it, they're not going to be having showing up the same or having the same sort of intention or this having the same, like taking it as seriously as what you might be needing them to be taking it but I also think if you're not comfortable sharing your break-even with your team, I would be looking more internally.
Speaker 2:Why am I uncomfortable talking to my team about money? Why am I uncomfortable disclosing this to the team? Because if you want them to really take it in their stride of treating this business, taking it really seriously and treating it, you know, as if it's their own, you need to be comfortable to share these sort of things like talking about money, talking about break even. I think it's a really important part, like if you work at cotton on the store has a daily target that has to be hit. Everyone in the team knows what the daily target is for that store.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just a normal part of it. If you work at mackers, you've got like a target for the drive-through of, like what time you need to get a car in and out by yes, so I don't know why in small business, people feel shame around talking to their team about what the break-even is and what the money situation is, as if it's like something to be embarrassed about or something to be ashamed about if you're not currently hitting it, whereas the way that I see it is if you can really share the severity of where you're at. If either if it's the severity of where you're at or if it's what you're working towards with your team, it's their responsibility as well, just as much as it is yours, yeah, to make sure that those numbers are being hit. So I think that's really important. Part that you bring up is like having that conversation about break even yeah, and I think exactly what you said.
Speaker 1:It is something that we haven't like, it's not normalized and like. I even think back to when, you know, when we started our business. I remember when you came with that idea of like us starting a business and I was like, yeah, um, you know what was it? 11 years ago I was making, like you know, I don't really even know what it would have been, maybe like four or five grand a week, and I was like I'll make this money for myself. Oh, you're making that for the salon.
Speaker 1:You mean turning it over, sorry, yes excuse me, I was one of the um, the highest performers in the salon. Actually, I was the highest performer in the salon and I was like, well, I can just turn this money over for myself. I saw my bosses and I was like I can make this money for me. And my bosses really inspired me. I was like I want a BMW or the beautiful luxury cars that they were driving. I was like, yeah, I wanted that. I mean, I'm still busting around and I busted up i30, but that's all right, didn't quite get the BMW or the, the high roller that I wanted. But I remember my mindset thinking I can make this money for me and instead of it going there, it can come to me and what I actually think that yeah, 100%. I was like I can make this for yeah, and I'd also gone as far as I could in the, in the company and, like you know, I was just ready to like do my own thing and, yeah, that definitely wasn't your motivation to start a business.
Speaker 2:No, it's.
Speaker 1:Money's never been my motivator, but it was something where I was like, yeah, that would be cool. Like I'm not going to pretend that that wasn't a thing of like being like yeah, I'm not ashamed in saying that I want to make money.
Speaker 2:I, I want to be able to create impact.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, but I got the shock of my life when I started. I opened a business and I saw how much everything cost, like when a bass was Jesus Christ. Wasn't that fun learn how much your superannuation, all of these things that I had to like. Actually, I didn't really know what that shit was. I was just like someone else is taking care of it. When I was responsible for it or, in this, you were responsible for it and it was on our shoulders to be able to keep everything afloat. Yeah, I wasn't sitting in this big pile of money that I thought I would. I was living on a pittance but I was, you know, happy and comfortable with that.
Speaker 1:And what I think happens a lot of the time for people is that, as us and for, I would say, 99.9% of people that start their own businesses, you think that you're going to have extreme success and it's going to be really easy and you're going to be able to work whenever you want, do whatever you want and pretty much fall ass backwards into money. And that is not what happens. What happens is you have to work really fucking hard. You have to work really fucking hard. You have to really like, put your like foot to the pedal and really like go for it, and you have to sacrifice a lot. You have to sacrifice a lot in these situations. However, yes, you are the the creator of your own life. I think I know you're looking at me with my wide eyes, thinking that I'm like giving the wrong advice here.
Speaker 2:I promise you I'm not I'm not looking at you with wide eyes at all. I'm listening. Oh, you were like.
Speaker 1:I'm like turning people off from like their honesty or the transparency with this, but what?
Speaker 1:I think that that's your truth for sure yes, but what I do know now is because then we put things in place with learning what a break-even was, pricing ourselves for profit and being able to have a team that are fully aligned, who are able to support us with the vision so that we are able to hit those targets and now start having a bit more freedom and flexibility. And I think this is something that is really important because for us, we have our team is aware of our break-even, we have team that are fully aligned and on board with it, and when we have team as Nikki said before that are having blocks or issues, or if they're not pulling the numbers that they usually do, or we can see that there's something that is off with them, we put that back on ourselves with going in and rather than saying like you're not doing, you're not performing, we go in and go. Hey, I just want to check in with you. Is everything okay?
Speaker 2:what's happening?
Speaker 1:what can I do to support you? Is there something coming up for you? Where can I help? And we constantly offer as much support as we can and as much education as we can to keep bettering the situation, but, truth be told, with this sort of stuff, with numbers and, you know, creating change in your team, my advice is to get in there and see how you can inspire, educate and support your team to do the things that you're wanting to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And if there are people that aren't quite fitting that mold, see if they are open to learning a different way or being a different way, and if they're not, potentially, you know, separating, which we've had to do. We, you know, had that happen three times last year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think as as well. Something really important to consider is the intention behind it. So, for us, if our team aren't performing, we don't look at it as like okay, our business isn't making as much profit. We look at it as, like you know, we don't go, our business isn't making enough sales. We look at it more so from a point of view of, okay, if someone's not following our normal process, clients are missing out. Because, first and foremost, we have a process in our salon. It's also what we teach at the Conscious Salon called the four keys, and we basically teach and explore four different areas to having a perfect client experience. And our theory is, if you absolutely nail these four keys to your consultation, to your client experience, it will reduce client complaints, it'll boost sales, it'll make a plan for rebooking so that people are staying in your salon, you have client retention and it will also have your clients in your community not just recommending you as a salon but insisting that their family and friends do business with you. So we've had that and I love that process and I think it's really a beautiful, ethical way to look at increasing your salon numbers. So for us, if our sales go down, it's not like. We don't look at it as okay. Our numbers are going down and therefore there's not enough money in the business as what there usually is. There's less money in the business. We look at it as okay. How many clients have missed out on our process? How many clients have we not given 100% to across our four keys? And that's more of a red flag for us as opposed to looking at the sales. So I think for this person as well, one thing that would be really handy is are you looking at it from a place of like we need more sales because I need more money in my business or are you looking at it from okay, if we had clients who were rebooking at every appointment, would that be better off for our business also, that client and also the team member to know that we have fully booked columns in six to eight weeks to 12 weeks to come.
Speaker 2:The client is more organized and they understand what to expect in between their appointments and they also never have a point where they where the hair's looking crap, because for them, if they usually you know an eight weekly um toner appointment and say they get to the eight-week mark, they look in the mirror and they're like, oh, I really need my hair done and they haven't got an appointment booked from their previous appointment. They look in the mirror and they think, okay, my hair looks like shit, I'm going to have to call the salon book an appointment. They ring up and book oh, that person's on annual leave. They won't be back for another two weeks. Two weeks oh, that time doesn't suit me, so we'll book in three weeks time.
Speaker 2:So all of a sudden it's gone from being eight weeks to now 11 weeks and they're looking in the mirror and thinking, god, my hair looks terrible now, because the difference between eight weeks and 11 weeks in between a toner is pretty significant.
Speaker 2:So even for clients to be looking in the mirror and not enjoying their hair for three whole weeks and from their point of view they don't go oh well, my hair's looking rubbish because I haven't booked another appointment they go my hair's looking rubbish, maybe it was something that the hairdresser did last appointment. So even little things like this, where people can look at rebooking rates and go, oh well, you didn't rebook enough people, and blah, blah, blah, whereas we like to look at it from a client's point of view, what does that actually mean for the client, how is their experience? How are we letting them down with that, with their experience, if we don't set them up on a really clear plan for their future appointments? So I think that would be really helpful for this person as well, absolutely so. We love to give three praccy t's.
Speaker 1:Obviously praccy t number one I think um, first and foremost, if you haven't done this already, I would sit down with your team and have a really open and honest conversation around communicating the changes that you're wanting and your intention behind it.
Speaker 1:I think, that's really important. So, whatever that is, I know that this person has said that you know they're really struggling to improve the sales, not hitting break-even. So, if that is sharing your break-even with your team and the goals that you are wanting to set out and make sure that we're hitting with the team or working towards them, having conversation around that, if it is around, you know, wanting to change the client experience you really want to have, like, rather than just kind of blow in and blow out clients that you, you know, don't have any retention or any sort of a plan or a journey with. If that's your goal goal of wanting to create having better rebooking and retention rate and having clients that are committed and on the path with you guys and clear on where they're going, making that as their focus whatever the focus is and communicating that with your team so that if they're aware of what you're working towards, they can jump on board and work with you, when we expect so many times for our team to just be able to read our minds and understand why we want to do things, but quite often they don't know what they're working towards or understand what they're doing or the why as to what they're doing. All they're trying to do is go in there and do great hair, but they can forget about all the other parts.
Speaker 1:So if you communicate that well, from an honest point of view with them and make sure that they're you know, is everyone on board with this? How does that sound? Are you guys liking this sort of idea? Then that's going to give you the like cool, great, we've got this commitment. So now we can start really making sure that we are all working towards this thing. If we have an end goal and we know what we're doing people like you things will change. But if you just have the goal and no one knows what it is, nothing will change. It will continue to be the same and you will keep being the person that is flogging a dead horse, trying to motivate and thinking and being like, oh, nothing's working. I would sit and start having a really open and honest conversation with your crew and don't be afraid to be vulnerable with your team absolutely.
Speaker 2:My practical tip would be to create a really clear process. So not a script or something like that, but just a clear process that's really built on the foundations of identifying problems and offering solutions to your clients, because I think, first and foremost, that's what we do as hairdressers and skin and beauty experts. We have people come to us because they have problems. So, whether their problem is that their hair is growing or they've got regrowth, or they've got grays, or that they their hair's feeling dull or they've got breakouts or, you know, they've got finer brows, whatever their problem is, they are there to see us because we can offer them a solution, and it's really important that we extend that solution to what they do at home in between appointments and what their future treatment plan looks like. So I would create a really clear process and train your team and when I say train your team, I don't mean do one session on and expect miracles to happen. I mean regular, in-depth training. I would also record it so your team can re-watch it back.
Speaker 2:But train and train and train and train and train the exact process that you want. Done your signature process and stick to it. Follow up and hold your team accountable so that you actually make impactful change that will turn your business around, and for nothing else but the fact that the client's experience and results will be better. So if you go into it with that, if you go into it thinking I've got to boost sales so that I can have more profit sitting my business, you'll keep spinning around on that hamster wheel because it's just not going to come from a genuine place. But if you got to boost sales so that I can have more profit sitting my business, you'll keep spinning around on that hamster wheel because it's just not going to come from a genuine place. But if you truly believe within your core that you're going into this to make people's lives better and give them incredible results, I don't think that you can lose beautiful.
Speaker 1:I agree. I think the last one, if I may. I think if we give three Prakites, we've got those first two. I think the last one, the one that I really think can truly change the game, for this is not even just in the hair and beauty industry, this is in a life industry.
Speaker 1:If you are wanting to create change and you're wanting people to perform better, I want you to look at, as a leader leader how you can inspire and motivate your team to do better, rather than holding them to the fire and kind of shaming them about what they've done. And that's the thing is a really important difference, because quite often what we see is, when people aren't performing, we have such like well, you're not doing enough and you need to do more, and you're only doing these numbers and this isn't good enough and whatever that is. If you can go into this, even when you don't want to, and really look at how can I inspire this person to improve, how can I support this person to improve, and how can I motivate this person to improve, you will be able to get through to them and to see significant change so much quicker than if you kind of motivating them by saying like you're not doing enough, you're not pulling enough and your results are shit. And I think that, truly, when I learned how to do that of how to support, motivate and inspire my crew rather than sitting there and being like this isn't good enough the game really changed for me and it really started. Then I was actually able to help them with the problems that they were having, because they trusted me to bring the problems to them.
Speaker 1:So if they were struggling with selling, you know, home care, if they were struggling with, you know, actually educating their clients on what to use and how to use it, they then felt safe to share with me because I wasn't going to berate them or tell them off or make them feel bad about it. It was all about how I can empower them to be better. And I think if you can empower your team to be better and support them with that and normalize if they've got blocks or things that they're struggling with, honestly, the world's your oyster with where you go with it. You can truly move any way you want to from there yeah, it's a great point.
Speaker 2:Can I give us a shameless little plug about our meetings course?
Speaker 2:Because I feel like for this person, if you're having these questions and these sort of um blocks that are popping up in your business, I think using a resource like our meetings course and I would be recommending this if this was someone else's meetings course as well, because I think our meetings course is amazing, it's amazing and it's got so many amazing resources in there to help you motivate your team and help you communicate better with your team and also help your team understand their goals and their journey that they're on, because otherwise it just becomes like repeated you know trainings and things like that that just people don't really understand the why behind what they're working towards. So our meeting course is available online. Now you can. You can purchase the course, all the replays. It has every resource to one-on-one meetings, team meetings, morning pump-ups, and for me they're a real key to actually propelling and moving the business numbers forward, because the morning pump-ups is where we set out our intentions for the day and you know our goals for our clients.
Speaker 2:The one-on-ups is where we set out our intentions for the day and our goals for our clients. The one-on-ones is where we really set goals for our personal data in terms of rebooking services, client spend, things like that. And then the team meetings are where we talk about any issues and challenges that are coming up. Same with the leadership and the reception meetings as well, but our meetings, course, I would jump into that. It's super affordable. It's like 500 bucks. Um, it's got every resource in there. It's got videos of all of our team meetings so you can actually see us doing this live. It's got all of the pdfs and the downloadable written resources and then framework around every meeting that you need to have in your, in your salon or clinic. So that's what I would be doing as well. Agreed, tessa? We end every episode in gratitude. What are you grateful for today?
Speaker 1:I am. I'm actually really grateful for the fact that I I used to get so uncomfortable with talking about like numbers and figures and money and, yeah, I was the real. I was a real gatekeeper and like keeping everything close and pretending everything's fine all the time, even when it wasn't, and I'm so grateful that I learned how to be vulnerable and to share and to open up and to also give our team the opportunity to be part of our business rather than just being in the business, and I think I'm so grateful for that. I'm so grateful for how much I've learned, how much I appreciate all of the lessons that I've learnt with that and also with how I think vulnerability has really changed and open communication and conversations have really changed the game for us in terms of being able to take our business to where we're wanting it to be. I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree. What about about you? What are you grateful for? I'm really grateful for our team and what we have created with them. It's been like. I really acknowledge that it's been very consciously curated, it hasn't just happened by coincidence, and we've got really clear processes that we follow in our team so that there's real consistency. I'm really grateful for our team because I know that we have a really high standard and they hit that standard and they exceed that standard and they do an amazing job and they create a really beautiful client experience that we've really carefully curated and I just love that. I love that it's beautiful yeah beautiful.
Speaker 2:Thank you, guys so much for listening another beautiful episode of the conscious salon podcast. We'll see you next week. Thanks guys, stay conch. Thanks so much for listening to this episode and hanging out with us today to hear more about journey. Follow us on Instagram at the underscore conscious underscore salon If you're a shit speller, check the spelling of conscious or at a head hair underscore. Thank you so much for joining us today and we'll see you in the next episode.