Our industry is ever-changing and with that constant change, continuing education is key. It is imperative that you are providing the tools for your staff to grow and learn; but doing that in a fun, motivating way can come with its challenges. Let’s discuss why it is so important to always be a learner, but more important to share your excitement about pursuing it.
Constantly educating, building excitement and rewarding everyone on your team will always work to your benefit.
Build Excitement!
As I write this, Devoted Creations just completed our “2024 Social Media Product Launch.” We have a strategic way to build anticipation for our new line that not only gets the end users’ attention, but also builds excitement for each new lotion so that the salon staff WANTS to learn about them, as well as try them and sell them to their salon guests.
We have found that when we launch all of our new products at one time, sometimes things get lost in translation. It’s information overload! We launch our new items one at a time. This is something you can use as well when training your staff. If you load them up with too much information, things tend to get jumbled and forgotten. If you give each key element of what you are teaching its own spotlight, your staff is more likely to get excited about what they are learning, as well as retain the information better in the forefront of their minds.
Healthy Competition with Compensation
Let’s face it – we go to work to make money. Most employees are motivated by two things; money and recognition. If you are teaching your team new skills or introducing new products and services and you want them to put that education into action, follow it up with a contest! When bringing in a new product, for example, give the team a quick training session on why the product is amazing, how to sell it and who to sell it to. Then, for the next week, offer them either an extra commission on the sale of that product or have a contest to see which employee sells the most. When your staff is able to take what they learned and immediately turn it into a personal, tangible benefit, you will see more interest and excitement in what you are teaching.
Get Your Guests Involved
Just like Devoted Creations does a social media launch with sneak- peeks and prizes, you can do the same for your salon guests! Use your social media platforms to build anticipation for new products, special promotions or services. Have your customers share your post or comment to be entered to win something such as a free session upgrade or packet of the new lotion you are promoting. Building excitement of any kind not only helps with brand awareness, but in turn, increases sales.
Education is only one part of motivation – you can educate your staff and still not incentivize them. Finding what will motivate them to share your passion when speaking to guests about products and services will help build anticipation, as well as increase sales.
Constantly educating, building excitement and rewarding everyone on your team will always work to your benefit. The more excited they are about your products and services, the better they can sell them. The more excited your guests are, the more likely they are to spend money at your salon … and share with friends their great experience at your business.
