Have you recently added to your team and as a result, have a structured training program that each employee is required to undergo upon hire? Once they are initially trained, is it a necessary aspect of their job responsibilities to participate in ongoing training?
If you don’t offer any sort of recurring training for your current staff, you may want to consider implementing a program sooner than later. Sure, it takes some effort, but the time and investment will be well worth it.
There are many reasons to retrain your employees that will prove to be beneficial to you, to your staff and ultimately, to your customers. Perhaps you’re rolling out a new promotion, changing a policy, or planning a system upgrade that will include new features. Regardless of the reason, the first step and arguably the most important, is to clearly communicate the purpose and value of the training to your employees. If they understand the reasoning behind the training, there is a good chance you will keep them engaged throughout, producing the most effective results.
As we enter the heart of busy season, are you planning to launch any new product or service promotions to both retain existing customers and attract new ones? This would be an opportune time to conduct training so that your team can improve their sales skills, truly understand the product or service they are selling, and how to best entice guests to make a purchase using the promotion.
Well-trained employees will flourish with their enhanced skill set, resulting in expanded success for your business.
Changes to processes or your company policies are also tremendous reasons to retrain staff, especially when the changes might directly affect your customers. For example, maybe you’ve implemented a tan line (wait list) technology that your salon management system supports. You want to make sure that the process change is clearly defined and that your team knows how to place a customer in the tan line should their preferred equipment type be in use, so that they have the opportunity to enjoy some fresh air outdoors or grab a coffee from the shop next door, and then be alerted via text message when the unit is available for their session. In addition to the standard classroom-type training format, a great way to accomplish these goals is to create an environment in which employees can get hands-on practice at their own pace with a training database, so as to not affect your live data.
When developing staff training programs, be sure to remember that everyone learns a little differently, and that it’s important to adjust your methodology based on the individual. Following training, the best way to ensure that material is retained is to enlist employee feedback via an anonymous survey. This is especially important when training on process changes, as allowing them to candidly express their opinions may produce some great suggestions for additional improvements you may not have thought of initially. And if your staff feel that their opinions are valued, they will be more inclined to remain on your team long-term – which is so important right now.
Regular retraining will help you to set expectations for your staff and provide consistency in the services they provide to your customers. Well-trained employees will flourish with their enhanced skill set. They will sell more with heightened confidence and create stronger relationships with your salon guests, all resulting in expanded success for your business.
Well-trained employees will flourish with their enhanced skill set. They will sell more with heightened confidence and create stronger relationships with your salon guests, all resulting in expanded success for your business.
