Staff make maxwells work

It's obvious Maxwells Professional Hairdressing and Beauty, in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire is getting something right - last year the business took the title Salon of the Year 1 and the Marketing Award at HJ's British Hairdressing Business Awards. 

One of the reasons the company has proved so successful at awards like this is because directors Ian and Delores Hendy involve staff in putting together all the entries.

This involvement of staff is at the core of the company's philosophy, which begins with a commitment to training.

Train and gain

"Training is integral to the success of the business," says Ian. "Every staff member has a training allowance - for both internal and external courses. We really try and find out what each individual wants to do and allow them to specialise. We have colour specialists, hair-up and gents specialists, and even staff members who have chosen to focus more on the marketing side of the business.

Motivate

Says Ian: "We get to know all our staff, including what they get up to outside of work - what motivates them. It could be they are motivated by money, time off, or just winning; we have staff that love to win, even if the prize is something small."

Decision makers

Ian has involved his staff in some of the business's most major developments, including last year's opening of a dedicated men's unit, Maxwells For Men, directly opposite the main salon, which he allowed two of his stylists - Helen Scott and Hayley Lawrence - to project manage.

"I gave them a long list of everything that needed doing and left them to it," says Ian. "Between haircuts, they were running across the road to check work was running on schedule. This is how staff develop - give them the responsibility as well as the task, that's when they grow."

Ideas factory

Staff are often directly involved in devising a campaign. Team members were asked to design a recent billboard advertisement, for example, creating their concepts on sheets of A5 paper.

Brain storming

Other ideas have been born out of brain-storms with staff, including a 'half-term, half-price' campaign, which involved staff handing out flyers to parents outside of schools - the offer was aimed at the children, and proved a huge success.

"The offer obviously meant we also had all the mothers in the salon - potential clients who might not otherwise have come in," says Ian. "We normally get around 30 new clients per week, that week we had about four times that number."

Lessons learnt

Says Ian: "The most important lesson I've learnt is how vital it is to get people working with you not for you. This way people work with you not for themselves. If people are passionate about their work, it stops being their job and become what they do."