Salon Success Story: Improving Systems, Morale and Hiring with Coaching

Holly Fox opened her full-service salon, Metropolitan Salon and Spa in La Crosse, WI, in 1999 with a business partner. Fox bought out her partner in 2016 and has been the sole owner for the past two years. While in the midst of the buy out, Fox had seven employees walk out. She had a clear vision for her salon but needed help executing so she tapped into a coaching system that has transformed her business.

SALON STATS: Her 5,000 square foot salon has 28 employees and the space is divided into 12 hair stations, three Lash Lounge chairs, five single treatment rooms, and one double treatment room, six pedicure stations and four nails stations. Metropolitan offers all hair services, facials, waxing, lash extensions, makeup, massage, water treatments, manicures, and pedicures.  

SALON TODAY:  What were some of the challenges you were having?

HOLLY FOX:  My former business partner and I had different visions for our personal futures as well as the future of the company. Many of the staff were unsure of the direction that I was going to take the company. I had walkouts, low employee morale, poor business systems, hard time finding employees. I knew where I wanted to go and what the company could achieve, but had no idea how to get there.  I had invested in other business systems, however, nothing quite felt like "Metropolitan" and I was trying to make systems work for my business instead of having the tools to create the systems that would work inside my business.

 ST: What made you decide to tap-into High Performance Salon Academy?

HF: I had had a seven employee walk out, I was in the final stages of buying my business partner out and I  was looking for a program that was going to help me take my business the next level by teaching me how to create the systems that my business was missing. I'd done a personal development program, Little Voice Mastery, with Jason Everett (of High Performace) as well as the salon program, Million Dollar Salon. When I heard that he was creating an Academy for salon owners, I was absolutely on board. Having Doug Campbell as a coach, as well, has made me aware of the numbers of the business. Inside our coaching sessions, we come up with ideas that will help grow the team and the bottom line. Having an accountability coach has made such a difference in my follow through.

ST: What were some of the changes that they suggested?

HF: Wow, what didn’t they cover?! The first thing we did was a Code of Honor; these are the rules created by the team, for the team and everyone on the team lives by.

In our Daily Huddles, we talk about the goals for the day, what the promotions are going on, who has gaps in their day that need help getting filled, who Is working on their level jump and what support they need. We always share our wins! 

Created a leadership team because we can achieve so much more when we share our vision with our leadership team and they, in turn, help support us and the rest of the team.

They offer a full video library (think Netflix for the business owner) that my team and I can watch and re-watch  to help attract, keep, grow and deliver to our team and our guests.

ST: Did it impact the way you hire your stylists?  

HF: Absolutely! We are way more selective who we invite on our team. We always talk about our Code of Honor in our interview. We can tell right away that if someone is not on board with the Code that they wouldn't be a good fit for the team. 

We also ask questions about what they are looking for in a salon and 'fill in' the gaps. For example, if a stylist talks about wanting continuing education, we talk about our in-salon classes, education fund, Redken Exchange and Redken Symposium. We talk about the possible career path of an in-salon educator or brand educator.

ST: How do you get a whole team on board with doing things in a new way?

HF: WIIFM or What's in it for them. Everything that we do has WIIFM as a cornerstone. The team knows that we have their best interest at heart and that our goal is to help make them wildly successful. 

We have become very transparent about the business and what we as a team want to achieve. We approach the changes with WIIFM and are honest about why we need to do something that we didn't do before. I think it shows a level of vulnerability that the team appreciates.

We celebrate EVERYTHING! Jason is always saying 'Highest Energy Wins.' As leaders, we have to have the highest energy in the room. Starting every day with celebrating our wins starts the day on a positive note.

We changed our team meetings! We have become facilitators and bring out the brilliance of the team. We do lots of group activities and team bonding during the meetings. We did a Compliment Waterfall, an activity that we learned at a destination training, at one of our recent meetings. The impact of this activity has had a profound effect on the entire team. When you hear someone that you work with, say in front of the entire group that they think you are a badass colorist, amazing mom or that you make them smile when they see you every day creates mad love for the team.

ST: Please share a few of the things you have implemented since your training.

HF: Associate Program. The webinar Associate Awesomeness helped me create a customized Associate Program in less than 3 weeks.  The trainers love the new program and the associates know exactly what to expect the entire time they are in the program. 

Destination Training. I am able to accomplish more in one Destination Training than I did in an entire year! Seriously. Code of Honor, Commission Levels, Employee Handbooks, Creating better leaders are some of the amazing things that have come out of our Destination Training.

Owner Network. High Performance Salon Academy was founded by Jason and Doug but the heart of the group is the salon owners. There's a saying that you are the sum of the five  people you hang out with the most. Everyone in the Academy wants an incredible team, six-figure stylists and to change the way that the world sees our industry. 

http://www.highperformancesalonacademy.com/