Learn the real deal about what stylists want from their salon
I spent many years working in salons all around the US and Canada where my job was to help salons grow their teams and their leadership bench strength.
It was in those years that I found myself curious about the divide I saw, felt, and heard about.
I found myself constantly wondering what was causing the “them” vs. “us” mentality?
It didn’t matter if I was in California or Florida, the conversations and pains were the same.
Many times, the leadership focus was on “these kids”, or “those millennials”. And the team members would quickly point fingers at their bosses and say the problems were their fault.
Salons function like families and sometimes that means there is dysfunction. All around me technology was changing the way our workforce thinks, processes, and interacts. This is still true in this very moment. In the last decade it has become easier than ever to work for yourself as a stylist by renting a suite. Salon models have shifted, and we’ve seen many single service models pop up. We see mobile salons starting and sadly we even see many salons closing their doors.
Like many businesses the team is our ticket to success. In the beauty industry I believe this is even more true because of the relationship our team members have to their clients. The clients drive the desire to be connected to their hairdresser. This boils down to bad news for us if a stylist decides to leave. The consumer norm is that they would follow.
I could go on, but you know what I’m talking about. I just wanted answers. I wanted in their head to know what they needed, wanted, and desired from us. What did they expect from us on all fronts? Leadership, compensations, marketing, education, recruitment…
