As a tanning salon owner, do you ever feel like your staff just clocks in and clocks out – essentially, just trading time for money? Meanwhile you live, breathe and sleep your business. It’s pretty much your life, right? So much so that your day-to-day life blends in with your daily routine of running the salon … they seem to be intertwined and part of each other!
A dedicated owner will go above and beyond for their salon guests. Why? Because to them, it’s much more than a job – it’s their life. So, if we want to motivate our fledgling sales force to do the same, we need to know what’s important to them.
Truth: Employees will never think like owners and owners will never think like employees.
So, for the last three months as I bounced from salon to salon training sales teams, I asked them, “When it comes to this job, what’s important to you?” Here’s a recap of what your young sales stars had to say:
• Walk the walk. They want a boss/owner/manager who can have fun, has positive energy and teaches by doing, not by saying.
• Money isn’t everything. For the most part, they are not $$ driven! Oh, they love $$, too – but they would rather get recognized for stellar efforts at work. Do it via social media and it motivates them even more!
• There’s more to life than work. They want their boss/manager to show genuine interest in their lives outside work. Paying attention to your staff’s personal lives will go a long way toward making them feel connected to you, their job and the salon.
• Trust them. They want projects to complete and problems to solve. It makes them feel like they are part of the business and not stuck in some meaningless job.
• Share the vision. They want to know the inside scoop on how the business is doing and what the goals are. Remember: they come from an era in which information is easy to get, so they expect transparency.
• Share the wealth. Set up daily, weekly and monthly customer service/sales goals and reward your team for meeting them – not just with cash, but with recognition and opportunities to enjoy activities that enrich their lives; like concerts, sports events, spa days, etc.
Accept it: owners and employees are different creatures! Your team members actually have lives outside of the salon. Wow! Imagine that for a moment. Okay, now wake up! You have work to do! Your staff actually ponders things you may rarely think about, like gas prices, homework that’s due or what’s going on this weekend. YOU think to yourself, If I could just have one more day in the week to get caught up … and THEY think, Yes! It’s Friday and I’m done working! THEY cross their fingers and hope that no tanners walk in right before closing time, so they can meet their friends for some fun; YOU hope the salon gets slammed with tanners, even if it means staying late to take care of them.
Truth: Owner/staff agendas are polar opposites and that’s why employees will never think like owners and owners will never think like employees. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t pick up on each other’s strengths to the benefit of your business. Your young staff will show they care by serving customers perfectly, solving problems quickly and performing alongside co-workers with ease.
As the owner of a small business that serves the public, follow this one simple rule to create happier customers who will spend more: The perfect balance happens when your little stars are treated with trust, dignity and respect and they respond by treating your salon guests the same way.
