Ensure staff training includes business practice

Salon Evolution director, Steven Gunnip, discusses the importance of making sure your staff training includes business practice, alongside technical and creative skills "Hairdressing is one of the most creative trades around," says Steven. "Many of the stylists and salons that I have come across work tirelessly to ensure that their skills are technically perfect. They're constantly striving to bring new creative elements to the job to ensure that they are delivering a first-class experience, and ultimately finishing with a happy client who is thrilled with the end result. "However, even the best stylists should also work to gain an understanding of business practice to guarantee that their skills and expertise are being translated to the client in the best possible way." Here, Steven explains why it's so important to learn more about business, no matter what level you're at. Consultation in key At Salon Evolution, when we begin working with a partner salon on a new client marketing campaign, we give the salon staff training on really important aspects of the complete hairdressing service, such as consultations and effective retailing techniques. A good consultation is one of the best marketing tools that your business has in order to ‘wow’ a new client, so it’s imperative that salon staff understand its importance and spend time nurturing and developing their skills in this area. While many stylists believe they have delivered a thorough consultation to each client, the reality for the customer can be quite different. It’s no good having the best hairdressing skills in the business if the client does not feel that they have been listened to and will get the style they truly want. Take time to get to know each customer – from their haircare habits and lifestyle to their expectations and hair type – to gain a fully rounded picture to work with. Recommend a tailored course of action in order to accomplish the client’s wants and needs. This will position you as the expert and showcase your knowledge, instilling trust and confidence in the client. One of the main things to remember throughout the whole experience is that clients should go away with more knowledge about their hair when they leave than before they walked through the salon door. We call this ‘low profile selling’, and it is based around educating the client. Sales may not always come naturally to some people, but when this is presented as sharing knowledge with clients, it becomes much more relaxed and informal, and, ultimately, less pressurised. Keep it consistent Our partner salons also receive a client journey course, which focuses on standardising the client experience. Consistency between clients, and on each individual visit, is vital, so we aim to teach the staff ways in which this can be achieved without feeling robotic or impersonal. Each and every client should receive the same high standard of service, no matter which stylist they have and what time of day or day of the week they visit; whether it is during a busy time or a quiet period. If a client receives different levels of customer service on different visits, or recommends your salon to a friend and they don’t receive the same high level of service, this can be disconcerting. It’s the little touches that can make a big difference to a client’s overall experience. Your salon is a brand and everything that is done should be in line with the brand values and vision. It’s so important for each individual staff member’s personality to shine through at work, but spending time training staff to understand why being consistent is so important to the client experience, and ensuring everyone is on the same page when it comes to the little processes that make up the bigger picture, make it more likely that you will build a loyal and satisfied client base. The partner salons we work with are already at the top of their game when it comes to their technical hairdressing skills and expertise. What we aim to do at Salon Evolution, through the training courses in which we specialise, is create a balance between the creative side of the business and the commercial skills needed to fully optimise this. We’re very much business coaches in the same way that a sports manager coaches their team. The manager doesn’t teach the players how to play the game, but extracts the best out of them so that collectively they are an outstanding team, where everybody comes together to perform with the utmost skill. When used with a salon team, this coaching makes sure that the client experience is second-to-none.