The dilemma at salons and spas is how all the “teamwork” talk grinds to a halt when it comes to shared ownership to achieve the company’s monthly and annual revenue goals.

The fundamental essence of teamwork is a united effort to win.

Teamwork is about igniting the energy and passion of all team members into a formidable force that’s capable of achieving far more than working independently.

The challenge: The vast majority of salons and spas set individual weekly/monthly service and retail goals for service providers. The “company goal” is rarely or never shared, if known at all.

The outcome: When the workday begins, each service provider is focused on his or her individual goal because no company goal exists. Total salon/spa revenue is simply the sum total of individual performance.

FACT: It’s hard to achieve a company goal when team members are competing against each other. It sounds like...

“That’s my client.”

Or...

"Come back to me.”

A company goal is a “WE” goal.

True teamwork and the ability to focus on salon/spa monthly goals cannot occur as long as the owner's and leader's focus is on setting and tracking individual goals.

Here are six No-Compromise Leadership strategies to truly make your salon/spa goal everyone’s goal:

• Winning isn’t the sum of individual goals: If all you do is set and hold employees accountable for their individual goals, then it doesn’t matter what the team/company goal is. It’s a classic case of “what gets rewarded gets repeated.” Yes, you can win the salon/spa game if the sum of the individual goals is high enough, but relying on that approach is risky and can easily backfire. MUST DO: Projecting monthly and annual revenues has to begin with what the collective salon/spa resources are capable of generating. Hours for sale, productivity rate, revenue per hour, new and existing client counts must all be factored. Company goals begin with what the company can do if all systems are working. The days of counting on what each column on the appointment can do are long gone. (Need help with this? We gotchu! A great place is to start is to have us help you build your cash-flow plan. Want more in-depth help? Check out our Coaching Memberships.)
  


• Hitting goal is about overall productivity rate: I’ve been pounding away at this mode of thinking for decades. Productivity rate is the ratio of how many service hours you have for sale versus hours sold. Think of it as your efficiency score. The higher the productivity rate, the more efficiently you’re utilizing your single largest expense, service payroll, as well as overall operating costs. If your services are priced on “cost per hour + desired profit margin,” higher productivity rates translate into lower cost per hour and, therefore, higher profit. Again, the days of having service providers double booked with waiting lists while capable talent waits for something to do are over. MUST DO: The only viable way to grow and maintain productivity rates of 80%+ is for every team member to be responsible for every hour the salon/spa has available for sale. That requires leadership, systems and coaching that ultimately create a team-based culture.


• Do YOU know this month’s company goal: It still amazes me how many owners don’t project monthly goals. Goals are targets. They’re a way to measure not only how well your business is functioning, but to create the sense of urgency to achieve a goal that requires your team’s best performance. MUST DO: If you can’t blurt out your salon/spa’s goal for this month, you’re company is flying blind. You’re not playing the business game. You’re missing opportunities. It’s simple math. There is no excuse that can explain why any business owner doesn’t know the current month’s goal. Got it?


• Non-negotiable Huddles and Scoreboards: If you’re an owner that has a problem sharing what your company’s total revenue goal for the month is — get over it. Telling your employees to “do more” or “you’re not hitting your numbers” does nothing to grow revenues. In fact, not disclosing and sharing your revenue goals and actual revenues is a form of distrust. You can’t grow a dynamic team on a foundation of distrust. MUST DO: Daily huddles and scoreboards aren’t part of some silly game. They are powerful communication tools that create the sense of urgency needed to achieve goal. The scoreboard must be updated during huddle at the start of every business day. Updating a posted scoreboard without a huddle is pointless. Few if any will look at it. The key to making the company goal everyone’s goal is open and relentless communication.


• Team Goal/Team Bonus: For teams, getting the win is most important. The team win is all about the woohoo’s and celebrations. But team wins are also about the reward. It’s about Team Bonus. MUST DO: Your cash-flow plan (budget) is where you budget and fund the bonus pool. If you’re new to bonus pools, just start with a fixed dollar amount that you know you can cover when the team achieves the month team goal. Keep the distribution super simple. Full timers get a full share. Part timers get a share based on hours worked. Do not split the bonus based on a percentage of what each individual contributed to revenues. That’s not team. If your salon/spa is not profitable and cash starved, you need coaching help before you need a team bonus plan.


• It’s about culture building: If all this is new to you, there’s a learning curve to go through. Projecting deadly accurate service and retail sales is not hard to learn. The more you do it, the better you get. It’s going to take time to shift your culture from individual goals to team goals. It’s going to take time to implement and make daily huddles and scoreboards work and stick. If you tried these strategies before and they didn’t work, you need to look in the mirror at the real problem. You didn’t stick with it long enough. You didn’t make huddles mandatory. You didn’t keep your scoreboard updated and current. MUST DO: This is about growing your company into everything you envisioned and more. Lead at a higher level. Be consistent at the same level you expect your employees to be consistent at. Be open with your revenue goals. Coach your team to understand hitting goal means a healthier company that can take care of its employees. Build a culture that takes ownership in the goals of the company they work for.