– Episode 309Antony Whitaker

Episode 309: Transcript

GMSB 309

[00:00:00] ​

[00:00:05] Antony Whitaker: Hey, it’s Antony Whitaker here and welcome back to this week’s episode of the Grow My Salon Business podcast. And thank you for all the compliments we’ve been getting regarding the podcast recently. I really do appreciate it. And if you’re one of those people who haven’t yet left us a review for the podcast, I would love it if you did.

[00:00:23] Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful. They do matter in the rankings of the show. It helps other people to find my podcast. And of course I also love to hear what’s been helpful to you. All you need to do to leave a review is go to the podcast app that you’re currently on, scroll to the bottom of the page and leave a review and you will make us very happy.

[00:00:46] So with that said on with today’s show. Today I wanna talk about one of the biggest frustrations that I hear from salon owners over and over again, and being totally transparent. It was a frustration that I also had when I first opened my own salons. So where do we start? Well, let’s start at the beginning.

[00:01:08] You built the salon, you’ve got the team. Let’s assume that you are say 12 months in and things are going okay. But you’re looking around and you’re thinking,

[00:01:18] Why aren’t they busier? Why aren’t they earning more? Why am I the only one who seems to care about the numbers? Does that sound familiar? I know it does. It’s probably just a matter of how much, well, here’s the truth that no one really talks about. Your team can’t earn more money until they learn to produce more money, and most of them have never been taught how.

[00:01:44] So that’s what we’re gonna dive into today because if you’ve got a team that wants to grow but aren’t performing at the level they could be, then this episode is going to give you a very clear next step. I am yet to meet a hairdresser that doesn’t want to get more money in their pay packet every week or fortnight, or month or however often they’re paid.

[00:02:07] In fact, industry-wide, no matter where in the world you live, there is a reputation that hairdressing doesn’t pay well. Well, I’m gonna call BS on that because regardless of where you live, there are plenty of hairdressers that are earning a great living. And well above whatever the average wages. And I’ll even go far as to say that some of them are in the top five to 10% of all income earners.

[00:02:34] So it’s not a case of that hairdressing doesn’t pay well, it’s that hairdressing pays some people well and pays others a minimum wage and everyone else somewhere in between those two extremes.

[00:02:48] But if you take nothing else from this episode, what you need to remember is that those that are paid really well are paid well because they earn it and they earn it because they’re highly productive. And it’s that level of productivity that determines what they will be paid.

[00:03:07] It is not about how old they are, it’s about how they transfer those years of learning into productivity. It’s not about how many courses they’ve done and how much experience they’ve got, it’s about how they transfer that knowledge and experience into productivity. It’s not about how good they are at doing here.

[00:03:26] It’s about how they transfer that creative skill into productivity. It’s

[00:03:31] not even about how much they charge for their services. It’s about how they transfer those prices into productivity. So as a stylist. Or as a salon owner, if you wanna get more money, then you need to learn to produce more money because you can’t have a higher income without increased productivity.

[00:03:50] Those two things go hand in hand. And the problem in this industry isn’t a low pay problem. It’s a low productivity problem, which then results in low pay. So we first need to fix the productivity problem, which in turn will start to fix the pay problem. Regardless of what career path you choose in life, most people don’t leave school with a deep understanding of business and how business works.

[00:04:18] Now, in the case of hairdressers, when they leave school and enter the workforce, they learn how to cut and colour hair. Maybe they get a bit of retail training if they’re lucky, but most of them aren’t being taught how to have proper consultations.

[00:04:30] No one’s. Showing them how to build trust and professional relationships with the clients in their chair, and in most cases, no one’s showing them how to pre-book clients how to increase their average bill or build a long term client base.

[00:04:45] They’re just expected to figure that stuff out. It’s just meant it be common sense or something that they’ll pick up given time. Well, I’m gonna call BS on that too, because everything I’ve just mentioned is a skill and like all skills they can be taught. But the problem is that by and large, they’re not so.

[00:05:05] What happens? Well, they wing it. They do the best that they can with what they do know. They usually focus on getting better at the technical, creative skills as they think of that as being the way to earn more money.

[00:05:18] And of course, developing your technical creative skills is a journey that never ends, but that alone is only half of what’s gonna make a productive and successful stylist, and so the result is that they get stuck at a certain level and they don’t achieve their full potential.

[00:05:36] They fill their days with clients, but not with value, and then you, the owner, are left wondering why they’re not hitting their targets and yet they want more money. So they say things like, with my experience, I should be paid more, or With all the classes I’ve attended, I should earn more. Or, at my age, I need to be paid more.

[00:05:58] Let me say it again. You can’t earn more until you produce more. And producing more isn’t necessarily about squeezing in extra clients, and it’s not about upselling for the sake of it, it’s about adding real value during the appointment. That’s the difference between a stylist and what I refer to as the super stylist.

[00:06:22] Now, I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and I’ve visited many, many salons over the years. So let me paint a picture of a typical salon scenario.

[00:06:33] The stylist shows up, says hello to the client, does the hair, little bit of chitchat, and maybe if they’re lucky, they ask the client if they want a product on the way out the door. And that’s it. Then they go and sit in the break room and they scroll through their phone complaining how quiet things are today, this week, this month, or this year.

[00:06:53] Now, compare that to what I call the super stylist. First of all, the S stylist understands the importance of building relationships and giving every client a great experience every time. They introduce themselves and they use the client’s name. They begin every appointment with a structured consultation.

[00:07:12] They ask smart questions. They listen. They think they listen some more. They educate the client without overwhelming them. They recommend the right take home products with confide. They pre-book the client’s next appointment before they leave the salon, so the client doesn’t fall through the cracks. They follow up, they build trust, they build loyalty, and they build referrals, and they make more money per appointment, and they create happier clients while they do all this.

[00:07:42] So what’s the difference? Well, the only difference is they’ve been trained to do it. They’ve been shown how to do it, and they practiced it over and over again. And as a result, they produce more income and earn more money and lead a better life. That’s what the Super Stylist Course gives you and your team.

[00:08:00] When I had my salons, I once employed a new stylist. His name was Sam, and within a year he was the busiest stylist in the salon. I often wondered what had attributed to his meteoric rise in amongst a, a team of very good hairdressers. He wasn’t any better at doing hair than the rest of them. It wasn’t any more experienced or any better looking, or had the gift of the gab or whatever you wanna call it, he simply left no box unticked when it came to the communication skills or the people skills of being a successful stylist.

[00:08:34] So whether it was consultations or re-booking or getting referrals or educating clients about retail or having a high average bill, he had the skills that most stylists lack.

[00:08:46] It is not just fluff, it’s not mindset. It’s not rah rah. You can do it. Motivation. It’s a system, a toolbox, and once your team starts using it, the results are undeniable. One salon owner emailed me recently and said, within two weeks, one of my quieter team members doubled her re bookings from 40% to 80% just from following the advice and using the scripts in the course.

[00:09:11] Another said, we use the scripts from the training, and now retail feels natural, not forced. The team is finally feeling more confident at recommending products and the increase in our retail sales paid for the course in less than a week. This is what happens when you train your team and not just manage them.

[00:09:31] I created the stylus course for everyone in the salon, but let’s be honest, owners are the ones who usually invest in it. Why? Because you are the ones who see the bigger picture. You know that when the team does well, the business does well and you do well as a result. And you also know that if you want your team to take more responsibility, then you’ve got to give them the tools.

[00:09:55] Stylists don’t just magically wake up one day and start doing perfect consultations. They don’t suddenly rebook or retail out of nowhere. They don’t suddenly get a load of request clients just by chance. It is not that they don’t care, it’s that they don’t know how or they’re too afraid to get it wrong.

[00:10:16] So as a salon owner, if you’ve ever said, my team just isn’t consistent, or they’re scared to recommend products, or they never rebook, even though we talk about it all the time. Then this course is exactly what they need.

[00:10:30] You’ll stop having the same conversations on repeat. You’ll stop feeling like you are dragging people uphill. You’ll start seeing results and so will they. And look, I get it. Maybe you are thinking, but shouldn’t they know this stuff already? perhaps they should, but even if they know it, do they do it?

[00:10:49] Because that’s the difference. Or maybe you’re thinking, I’m tired of investing in training. That doesn’t stick well, so was I, that’s why I built this course with real scripts, real structure and short actionable lessons that they can implement immediately. Or maybe you’re thinking it’s not on the budget.

[00:11:06] Well, if you wanna grow revenue, you need to invest in the people who create the revenue. This isn’t a cost, it’s a growth strategy. This is a win-win. Your team gets more confident, they earn more money, they feel more successful. You get better performance, more client retention, and a healthier bottom line.

[00:11:27] That’s smart business. So if you are serious about building a high performing team, if you’re ready to stop nagging people and start leading and coaching, If you want your stylist to feel more empowered and for the business to be more profitable, then I’d love you to check out the Super Stylist course.

[00:11:46] If you wanna find out more about it, then head to grow my salon business.com/super stylist. Everything your team needs to consult to rebook, to sell retail, to ask for referrals and build professional relationships that actually grow the business. It’s all in there. It’s practical, it’s proven, and it works.

[00:12:07] So go and take a look and if you’ve got questions, then reach out. I’d love to be able to help. So thanks for tuning in today. If this episode made you think of someone in your team or another salon owner that you know, then send it their way. Let’s keep raising the standard in this industry one super stylist at a time.

[00:12:26] I’m Antony Whitaker and I’ll catch you next week.