Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hairstylist like you got into this industry to make big things happen? Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you weren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit just working in your business and start working on it, join us here where we share real success stories from real stylists. I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hairstylists, and this is The Thriving Stylist podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up? And welcome back to The Thriving Stylist podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva. And I want to talk today about rethinking stylist schools and benchmarks for raises and promotions. So several weeks back now, I did a boot camp for salon leaders. It was so incredible. It was small group, probably only like 400 salon leaders in there or something like that. And we work through seven days of exercises to improve their hiring process, their onboarding process, and overall just become more appealing to stylists.
One of the things that’s challenging for salon owners right now is attracting top tier stylists. And I think the reason why is that top tier stylists are looking for something different than they were looking for even 18 months ago or two years ago. And so the point and the purpose of this experience was to show salon owners what it looks like to attract amazing stylists.
Now, what was incredible is the promise of the boot camp was if you do the work within the next 90 days, you’ll get a dream stylist to apply work for you. Well, what didn’t before the boot camp even ended, we had somebody who was getting an application. And since I continue to get DMs from owners who were like, “Oh my gosh, it worked.” And I got one from an owner a couple of days ago, “Congratulations.” I’m just going to call her R, “Congratulations.” She said, “I have gotten more applications to work for me in the last month that I had seen in the previous year.”
And so we talked about a lot of different things and what would need to change to be attracting A player stylists and what they’re looking for. One of the things that we talked about that really struck a chord for people was this idea of KPIs, which would be key performance indicators, benchmarks for promotion, raises, evaluations, things like that.
This is something I’m a pretty big proponent of and I kept my mouth shut for a really long time about it because for many years I was left thinking it was just more personal opinion and my own personal experience in leading a team. And I’ve come to realize, “No, this is just how it is.”
So when I first stepped into the position of being a Salon Director, I stepped into an established system, but there was no formal coaching in place and I had quite a bit of ambiguity to lead the team in the way I felt like was most motivating at the start.
And what I found really quickly was that the stylists were not motivated by money, which was so interesting to me. And the older, wiser version of me today, I’m not motivated by money either. I’m motivated by time, and lifestyle, and freedom, and flexibility, and all this stuff. But when I stepped into this leadership role, I was like, “Okay, well, the goal is for the salon to be more profitable, so I need to push everybody to do more, be more, grow bigger, grow faster.”
I realized really quickly that that was going to be a very ineffective way to lead the team. And so what I did was I shifted more to understanding what everybody wanted, just as a person, why they were working here, what they wanted to come from this profession and mentor them to get to that place. That was 10 times more successful than just trying to encourage everybody to make a ton more cash, which was an epic fail.
Then we adopted a system where it was a series of benchmarks that had to be hit in order to grow and promote. And I realized very quickly that that was undoing basically the culture I had set and created. However, there was a track record that this was going to work super well, and so I don’t know everything and I’m very well aware of that, and I was like, “Okay, if there’s a way to do this better, let’s do it.”
And what I found was that this way of doing everything super systematically was taking all of the individualization out of the industry and trying to shove everybody into a box. The problem with that is our industry attracts those who want to be individuals, who want to build the business the way they want to build it, who want to grow the life that they want to have. They don’t want to follow XYZ on ABC timeline. It is simply not who’s joining the industry. And so it was an epic fail.
It was just all the way around. And I’ve kept that experience fairly private because I didn’t want it to seem like a generalization of, “If you do things this way and if you have these very rigid structures, it fails.” Because that’s a one-off experience, maybe that’s not always the case.
As time has gone on and I’ve talked to more stylists and I’ve talked to more owners, I’m starting to see more challenges in very rigid, benchmark system structures, raise promotion systems, and I want to explain exactly why. Like I said, we talked about this a lot in the leadership bootcamp and there was a lot of breakthroughs around it. So my hope in bringing this to the podcast is we can keep that conversation going.
So key performance indicators, or I call them KPIs. So if I say KPI, I’m talking about key performance indicators. It’s essentially the benchmarks that determine if somebody on the team is doing a good job or a bad job. I am going to talk about this in the simplest possible terms. Are you doing what’s expected of you or not? So key performance indicators or key performance benchmarks. “These are the things I need you to do in this business to be successful.” Here’s one of the things about KPIs that’s really difficult for all of us as leaders. KPIs, we look at at the surface as a tool for promotion.
It’s also a tool for termination, and it’s often not used that way. We’ll say things like, “Well, Angela’s not hitting her goals, but I really like her and she’s got a lot of potential and she has a lot going on at home and she just needs more time.” or “If she’d leave that boyfriend of hers.” We make these excuses for these people and then three years later when they’re still not achieving and now they’ve become miserable, we end up in a bind. That happens a lot.
The only way that key performance indicators work is if they’re used to both promote and terminate. It does have to go both ways. Key performance indicators work when they’re used as a tool for growth for those who have earned it, and a tool to be invited to find a different business to work in for those who do not.
Okay, so let’s talk about key performance indicators that I believe will always make sense in our industry, whether you’re independent or a part of a team. Even if you’re independent, you’re like, “I am listening to this podcast, but I don’t even want to have a team.” That’s fine. These are benchmarks for you to.
Total service dollars. For me, if somebody was like “Britt, pick one thing that matters the most when you’re evaluating a stylist.” It’s so obvious to me. Total service dollars. When I ask you this question, would you rather have a stylist who works for you, does $300,000 in services working five days a week, they are banging $300,000 in services working five days a week. Would you rather have that person or the person who works two days a week bringing in 140?
I will take the person bringing in 140 working two days a week, all day long. Because their production is actually much higher than the person working five, doing 300. So total service revenue brought in, and I’m talking from an employee perspective, not from a booth rental perspective. Although when you have a booth renter whose high producing, they’re much more likely to stay growing at your salon space so long as you continue to provide an amazing environment for them.
But when you look at total service dollars, there’s not a whole lot else that matters. So the other thing that goes into that is total guests seen per month. So like volume/ productive time. So I know there’s lots of different ways to look at this, but is the stylist busy 80% of their available schedule?? Are they busy 40% of their available schedule?
There is a lot of value in that, and that counts for something. That being said, to me it always comes down to like, “Okay, so Joe has gaps in his schedule, but he’s still making more money than everybody else. We can fill the gaps in his schedule, but he is a high producer.” So at the end of the day for me, the crescendo is total service dollars, period, end of story.
Then there’s the nuances. And to me, total guests seen per month/productivity is number two. Those are the critical things that I think always make sense when it comes to evaluating. Then there are the things that are important, very important, especially when it comes to business health. These things are important when it comes to determining somebody’s price point but might not be important for promotions.
Retention, and new guest demand. And this was something that was even a mindset shift for me. Like let’s say I’ve got a stylist who is making a ton of cash, like a ton of money, but their retention is terrible. Does that mean they shouldn’t be promoted? Let’s say they are making more money month, over month, over month, but clients don’t necessarily stay with them.
It gives us an opportunity to be curious, for certain, but I don’t believe it’s a reason for us to hold them back. Are they doing services where it’s like, honestly, it’s like a transformation and they’re not going to retain well, and most of their clientele is only going to come in once, or once every three years, or whatever?
But maybe they’re getting a ton of referrals, so their retention is terrible, but they’re getting a ton of referrals. To me, okay, if the money’s there and maybe the new guest demand is there, but the retention is terrible, but there is still growth month over month, that’s where we get into some gray murky waters. Gray, murky waters cannot be KPIs. I mean when I say these are tools for promotion and termination, it is black and white, you’re doing it or you’re not. If you’re doing it, I promote you. If you’re not doing it, I fire you in 90 days.
That’s truly what good KPIs look like, and most of them aren’t using it that way. Now, retention and new guest demand, those are two factors I look at when we have the seven factors of pricing, those are two of them. So they’re critical, they’re important, but are they key performance indicators? Question mark for me. Are those two things I’m going to have promotions and termination hinge on? I don’t know. So again, question marks, something to going to get curious about.
Things that are dated like KPIs that I personally would never put into place if I had a salon. Pre-booking percentage, retail sales, and retail to sales ratio. I am a huge proponent of retail sales. I cannot say it enough. I think retail still belongs in the salon. I know a lot of stylists who are selling tons of retail.
I think it’s a critical part of the guest experience, like don’t get it twisted. I love retail. But again, going back to that, if you had that stylist who was doing $300,000 a month in services and never sold a single bottle of shampoo, does your system mean that that person would not be promoted because they don’t sell hairspray? Can you see how the logic on that is really crummy?
Or if somebody has amazing retention, amazing guest demand, makes a good amount of revenue, their demand increases month over month, but they don’t pre-book at all. Are you telling me you’re not going to promote that person? That person’s eligible to be fired. I just want to make sure I totally understand. And whenever I pose that question, they’re like, “Oh, well, that’s where it gets situational.” KPIs are not situational. It’s do or die.
So there’s a real difference between metrics and things that are helpful in us looking at how a stylist runs their business. And then there are things that are critical. The critical things mean you as the owner can keep the lights on. The critical things mean if these things happen, I can start offering health insurance to my team. Those things can be critical.
Whether or not somebody pre-books doesn’t necessarily determine if their business is going to be successful or not, or if they have longevity. So holding somebody to that standard to me feels incredibly dated. And I know a lot of stylists who have left their salons because of being held to really dated standards that don’t necessarily indicate health of business. So just just something to think about.
Things you should consider. Uncommon KPIs that are like salon owner grapes that are not being considered KPIs and should be. Marketing efforts. Do you have a key performance standard around marketing? A lot of salon owners are like, “I wish they would ask for reviews more. I wish they’d post more photos.” Do you have a requirement around that? If there’s no requirement for it, it’s just a suggestion or an idea.
It’s not something that has to happen for them to keep their job. I don’t know about you. I don’t want to do the things that are nice idea suggestions that aren’t a requirement of my job. I have plenty of things to do that are a requirement of my job. I don’t need to have more random stuff that are nice suggestions.
So if you want your team to market, that should be a KPI and it’s do or die. They’re either getting the reviews or they’re not, and if they’re not, they may be a repercussion for that.
Core values. So it’s funny, whenever I ask a salon leader, “Do you have core values?” They’re like, “Yes.” And they’ll rattle them off for me and I’m like, “Oh, my gosh. Okay, perfect. I love these five core values. So you’re telling me that if somebody doesn’t demonstrate timeliness, they’re fired, right?” And then there’s a chuckle and it’s like, “Oh, well. We’ve got Eric and he’s so funny, but he has an issue with time.” “Okay, so then timeliness is not a core value then.”
Again, it’s like a do or die thing. So your core values are things that hinge on somebody’s success in the company if they’re done properly. And often we establish core values and we feel good about them and we launch them in a staff meeting and then they just live on a bulletin board somewhere and they’re not actually used as a tool in the business.
I want you to use them as a tool in the business. So those might be key performance indicators for you. And then there’s coachability. Has anybody ever worked with, it’s almost always, but not always, but often, a more senior stylist who often they are high performers and they’ve been around for a long time and sometimes they contribute a lot to the salon and they are not coachable at all.
They think that they’re untouchable, they do whatever they want, they come and go as they please. They don’t feel like they have to show up for the stuff they don’t want to show up for. There’s an air of entitlement. I don’t want somebody like that on the team. I don’t want somebody who feels entitled like they can do whatever they want and they run the show.
And often that happens when a stylist gets in the position where they feel like, “If I leave, this ship’s going to sink so I can do whatever I want because I’ve got this salon by the choke hold.” You never want to have that going on in your building. And the way to avoid that is to be consistently hiring amazing performers. You should be hiring in your salon literally 365 days a year. It’s not just when a chair opens up.
Do you know why? It puts the pressure on everybody. We want the team to know that they’re value and they’re valuable, but if somebody wakes up one day and decides they don’t like how you do things anymore, that is not a problem. They’re invited to give two weeks notice, whatever it is they want to do, but you’re still going to run the business the way you need to run it.
So those are the things I look at when I’m looking at KPIs. When I’m looking at price increases its seven different factors. We look at cost of where you live, we look at the schedule the stylist works, cost of goods, their timing. But as far as the things we’ve talked about today, it’s total service hours, demand and productive time. And I have a whole podcast on that. You can just Google search Thriving Stylist podcast, Seven Factors, and the pricing calculation should come up.
What I would look at when deciding who can and should stay on the team, meaning who really has earned their spot in this room. Probably going to be more things like marketing, core values, coachability, and then those total service dollars. If those things are there, that’s somebody that I can really build and grow with.
And so I invite you to take a step back. I don’t know what it is you are evaluating your team on right now, but really take a step back and say “Of the things my team is being evaluated on, which of these things are really critical in the business? And do I have all of the actions, behaviors, habits that I want all of these stylists to be showcasing, are these a part of our evaluation process? Do stylists know that these are things they’re being evaluated on? And if they don’t do it, that there is either a positive repercussion or a negative repercussion.”
I guess the positive repercussion would be like, “If you do it, good things will come. If you don’t do it, bad things will happen.” You know what’s funny? And we forget about this, all of us as adults are just like big, huge, giant six year olds. We really are. We do really well with structure, free for all we don’t do so good at. We get our feelings hurt when somebody says something mean. We really are just big, huge six year olds.
And six year olds really need praise and repercussion. It is as simple as that. When you do something good, you get something good, “You get a sticker on your chore chart, we celebrate you at family dinner, you get to spend 30 extra minutes on your tablet this week.” It’s the same when you do something bad. “You don’t get a play date with your friend. You cannot play in the baseball game this week.”
It’s the same for those who are in your building. That’s an oversimplified way to look at it, but I really want you to think to yourself how you’re evaluating your team. If you’re evaluating them on the metrics that actually determine the health of business, and if your promotion structure and your evaluation structure is motivating and make somebody really want to stay with you and buy into what you’re up to. Or if it makes somebody say, “Forget it. If I have to pre-book in order to stay in this business, I will rent a studio suite somewhere else.”
Your actions determine the outcome. Make sure that yours are aligned. So much love, happy business building. And I’ll see you on the next one.
