Modern Salon - February 2008 - (Page 24)

BEAUTY MATTERS Success leaves clues speaker at The Salon Association’s Symposium in January inspired this month’s title. Thanks to a line-up teeming with success stories, creativity, personalities and inspiration, clues were easy to trace. Among those sharing their keys to success were salon owners Eric Fisher and Robert Cromeans. They, and other speakers, struck a recurring theme of the importance of attracting and retaining highquality beauty professionals: a job that’s getting harder as we fight for our share of a new generation of talent. Cultivating the success of new professionals and maximizing their contribution to the salon will require comprehensive change for some salon owners. The successful ones at Symposium have lists of applicants who want to work in their salons, while surveys continue to report that attracting and retaining quality talent remain big challenges in the industry at large. Superstar salon owners have the basics nailed—multi-year training programs, assistant programs, strong benefits, ongoing education and more training. But the clue to their success appears to be a very deliberate blend of hard business realities, metrics and individual accountability to meeting objectives with an equal emphasis on career pathing, culture, passion and fun. For instance, attitude is a line item on Eric Fisher’s P&L. He employs a “Director of Fun.” Negative people are “fired,” then “rehired” and made to smile. He’s diligent about training, but just as driven to hire the right people—he does personality profiles on applicants before they’re hired. Eric also maintains aggressive performance benchmarks and expectations for his stylists and holds them accountable. He benchmarks and measures everything and sets objectives to ensure the overall profitability of his business. But he also builds individual financial plans for stylists during their orientation to show them their personal path to success. Robert Cromeans is intent on making individual stylists successful. Stylists grow through his five-stage plan, the “Five Elements,” which includes the benchmarks, performance measurements and milestones required, based on experience, reputation, demand and volume, to achieve the next level of total earnings. It works. One 11-year hairdresser who started doing $25 hair cuts now gets $250 per service. “My job is to create as many $100,000-a-year hairdressers as possible,” said Cromeans. “If you are committed to that vision, it’s possible.” Follow the clue. Look to your employees. Building the staff means building the business, with success for the owner a by-product of an investment in time, training and accountability for the people behind the chair. A professionals will require for some owners. “ Cultivating the success of new comprehensive change ” Scot Stevens Group Publisher Got a people, passion, culture or Choose Beauty story? Post it on my blog at www.modernsalon.com, or e-mail me at sstevens@modernsalon.com. CLICK! 24 FEBRUARY 2008 www.modernsalon.com http://www.modernsalon.com http://www.modernsalon.com

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Modern Salon - February 2008 Contents Behind the Cover Notebook Beauty Matters Contributors @ModernSalon.com New-Now-Next Modern Portfolio Modern Reports As the Experts Choose Beauty Build It, Then What...? Toolbox: Shopping Sharp Star Power Runway Reality Haute Chocolate Modern Update The Goods Personal Style

Modern Salon - February 2008

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