When Brett Pierce, owner of the The Masters in Huntsville, Alabama began his journey with Strategies in August 2008, he assumed that his salon was in good financial shape when in fact it was bleeding cash, and suffered from very low client and staff retention.

Pierce attended his very first Incubator in January 2009 and one of his big takeaways was the idea of team-based pay. “I was interested in the systems and financial lessons of the seminar and everything that I heard was very informative,” he says. After the Incubator, Pierce says it was a “journey to discovery.” He continued educational seminars and incorporated Strategies’ techniques and ideals into his salon structure and culture to make it more efficient. “Through our discoveries we found ourselves in credit card, bank and vendor debt. We even had outstanding payroll taxes that were delinquent. And, we had a bookkeeper who had not shared any of our financials with us and we were satisfied with not knowing what we didn’t know.”

Fast forward to January 2011. The Masters incorporated a serious schedule of coaching every two weeks and continued with Incubator Grad 1 and Grad 2. They decided to dedicate themselves to reengineering and team-based pay. “Our coach, Daryl Jenkins (who has been with us about 13 years) came in for the reengineering and it was very successful. We did not lose any of our team, and we immediately noticed a difference in our team culture. By September 2012, we paid off all our debt as well as the IRS. And our mortgage should be paid off in five years. We enjoy a great relationship with our vendors and they even call us for advice to help other salons.”

Before reengineering, Pierce and his sister Shelby Zimmermann said they often had to hold their checks. Today all their paychecks are sent out on time. “Before Strategies, we were about six months from closing our doors. I was about to captain a ship to a watery end—a ship that my father and mother had sacrificed everything to build and create.

“Strategies gave us much more than skills to keep building our business and improve; it gave us a purpose.”

As of June, The Masters has a new client retention rate of 58 percent. Their existing client retention is 85 percent. Prebook is 71 percent, and 35 percent of their clients purchase retail. Their product sales have doubled in the last four years and that is without an increase in staff. Productivity is running at 88 percent.

Photography: Ashley Pierce, Sweet Peach Photography, Huntsville Alabama.