Talent: Find, Nurture & Retain It

WHAT you do in your tanning salon and HOW you do it will always be important, but it’s the WHO – AKA your staff – that will always be the heart and soul of your beauty business.

It’s the “who” that brings your tanning salon to life and can have the power to make or break you. It’s the “who” that delivers the experience, the service and the products that will ultimately determine whether guests will not only come back, but will tell their friends and everyone one they know to come, as well.

The decisions we make about the people in our lives will always be the most important decisions we make. Whether we are choosing a mate, a business partner or an employee, these “people choices” will directly affect how successful we are in our relationships or businesses.

How do you find, mold and retain the right people?

1. Have a super-clear vision of the ideal candidate. Write down some of the basic skills you’d like them to have that you know will be a good fit for your salon. Such as, if they are going to interact with customers, are they outgoing and easy to talk to? Evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the areas you know are important when looking for a candidate and don’t ignore the obvious.

2. Ask questions that require a response about their past performance. In other words, don’t ask “what would you do if” type questions. Ask them about real situations, like, “as a waitress, how did you handle mad customers?” etc.

3. Some of the best time you’ll ever spend as a salon owner or manager is thoroughly checking applicant references. Be a detective! What someone did in the past will most likely determine what they do in the future. Talk to whomever you can about the applicant: former bosses, co-workers, teachers, coaches and friends are a good start. Take time to ask for examples of what the applicant did or didn’t do well.

4. Give the candidate a chance to meet your current team. Whether you have three staff or 30, it’s smart to observe the chemistry. Better to find out in advance if you’re hiring a bad egg nobody likes.

5. Give them the good, bad and the ugly about the job. If you can talk them out of the job now, that’s better than wasting time and resources training them and they quit three months down the road.

More hiring quick-tips and secrets:

• Was the applicant on time for the interview?
• Was she dressed like she cared about getting the job?
• Did she speak negatively or positively about past employers?
• Was she nice to other people in your salon when she came for the interview?
• Do her interview answers match the application answers?
• What do past employers, teachers, coaches say about her reputation?
• When you pull up her name on social media, what kind of posts do you see?

Once you’ve made careful, informed choices, commit to their success whole-heartedly. Give them access to all the training they need to learn and let them follow and learn directly from other talent on your team. Give them ongoing training with sales goals and rewards to keep them motivated.

“There is a clear difference between just hiring people and finding true talent. When you hire people, they will work for a living; when you find talent, they will work for a life.” ~ Dee Ann Turner VP, Corporate Talent Chick-fil-A, Author of the best-selling book, It’s My Pleasure” The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture.

 

It’s the “who” that brings your tanning salon to life and can have the power to make or break you.