Nergish wadia-austin teaches the art of performance in hair and beauty stylist

Renowned business guru Nergish Wadia-Austin delivered a highly inspiring seminar entitled Doubling Stylist's Chair-Side Sales at Salon Business Extra.

The basis of the session was describing the vast difference between what Nergish calls a PHAB (Performance in Hair and Beauty) stylist and an ordinay stylist. And Nergish delivered some key messages in staying ahead in business today.

"As a stylist, you have to remember that if you are making money you are of value to that business," she said. 

But how can a stylist become that valuable PHAB stylist and asset to the company? These are Nergish's tips. 

• Remember why clients visit the salon.
  
  "The only reason a client makes an appointment to visit the salon is because her hair needs attending to. Our job is simple -  it is to find out what those needs are and attend to them. There is no point in giving advice to clients if you don't know what the problem is. It is so important to ask your staff to ask the right questions." 



• In order to drive your stylist's from ordinary to PHAB, it's imperative to set clear personal goals; make sure you are exceptionally skilled and ensure that you are knowledgeable in all aspects in your trade.
  
  "I often hear stylist say that they 'don't do long hair' or t'hey're not good with short hair' - this is terrible! As a hairdresser you have to make sure that your skills are updated at all times. You would not hire a cleaner who would not clean floors or sinks." 



• Regularly go the extra mile and wow them. 
  
  "This is as simple as carrying their bags, serving their coffee how they like it. It's about old fashioned manners and its not going to cost you anything"



• Manage your own column as a business on a daily basis.
  
  "Try and manage your downtimes. Identifying downtimes helps you with when to run offers, when you need to book clients in."



• As a salon owner, provide your stylist with one or two clients a day - it is then up to them to build on this.
  
  "Part of our problem is that our language skills are so poor that we don't correct people when they speak. Your stylist should be saying 'Are you pleased?' at the end of the haircut, followed by 'would you do me a favour, the next few people who comment on how lovely your haircut looks, please give them my card I would love to do their hair'. This language works so much better than simply telling your clients to tell their friends."