Pretend I am your boss and your name is Sarah … or if you’re a dude, Chuck. I am Papa Big Bucks, and in an attempt to motivate you to sell more products, I offer you these two scenarios:
Scenario 1:
Sarah and Chuck, our lotion sales … well how can I say this … they suck. But the good news is, the salon is about to get super busy, which means Papa’s about to get paid! So, Sarah and Chuck, I really need you to focus on lotion sales and if we can bring our numbers up this season, I will reward your efforts handsomely – I’m talking huge! Of course, that will happen after busy season is over and I’ve recouped all my $$$ from slow season. Okay, get out there and sell some lotion!
Scenario 2:
As tanner traffic picks up for season, it’s going to give you great opportunities to have some fun, earn more $$$ and exciting prizes, too. We will have daily, weekly and monthly sales games and contests to keep energy levels up while you earn extra $$$ and cool prizes every day! Okay, Sarah and Chuck, here is today’s sales game …
Although Chuck and Sarah are fresh out of high school and only a semester into their associate’s degrees, they are not fools and will see right through Papa Big Bucks’ empty promises of gold-at-the-end-of-the-tanning-season-rainbow in Scenario 1.
Our little salon armies of social media-savvy gurus are much cleverer than that, and have grown up with a constant flow of info and activities at their fingertips to keep them busy and engaged 24/7! Scenario 2 offers that same type of engagement, fun and excitement at their job. Add in some juicy prizes with some social media recognition to keep it cool – now, Sarah and Chuck are highly motivated.
Game Guidelines:
- Create daily, weekly and monthly sales contests to keep them motivated all the time.
- If they are not having fun with the game, change it.
- Ask them what they like and you’ll discover what prizes motivate them.
- Use your imagination and if all else fails, ask them what kind of games they want to play.
- Don’t just have them compete against each other; make them compete against themselves.
I was at a salon promotional event and witnessed this very inspiring game:
The Game – Each team member earned “salon cash” for almost everything the salon owner asked them to do: moisturizer sales, raising their LPPA, exceeding a $100 single customer sale, selling upgrades, etc. You name it, and she gave her team salon cash for doing it.
The Prizes – Starbucks gift cards, concert tickets, spa/salon visits. She gave them several ways to spend the salon cash they earned: purchase entries into daily prize drawings or on some days, they could use the cash to buy products.
On the weekend that I visited, she hosted a staff meeting and dinner. Throughout the entire meeting, she would ask rapid-fire true/false salon-related questions. They answered quickly by holding up a pre-made sign that had “true” printed on one side, “false” on the other. Correct answers earned them more salon cash!
Auction Time – At the end of the meeting, she revealed a box filled with very desirable merchandise. As she pulled items out of the box one by one, the staff would bid on them with their salon cash … let’s just say that I’ve never seen employees have so much fun!
The Goal: These are not games about winning and losing; they’re about establishing a culture of fun and fulfillment for your staff that will ultimately trickle down to your guests, so they get a more satisfying salon experience.
