Many years ago … a few months after I introduced a computer system into my salon and started measuring my business properly I realised I had a team member who was growing her client numbers and takings quite rapidly.
Naturally I wanted to reward and encourage this behaviour so I sat her down, said ‘well done’ and gave her a pay rise. We both left the meeting feeling good and that was that … or so I thought!!
About 3 hours later another team member came up to me and asked me if it was true that her colleague was getting a pay rise and I confirmed it was. Her reply was to say the immortal words … “Am I getting one too?”
I said … “No, you’re not” and she said, “that’s not fair, I do the same job so why not?”
The conversation went on …
Me … “You’re not as busy.”
Her … “Yes I am.”
Me … “No you’re not.”
Her … “Yes I am!”
Me … “Sit there I’ll be back in two minutes.”
I went straight to the computer and printed off a report that showed quite clearly her takings and client numbers were nearly 20% lower than her colleagues.
I showed her the report and said … “when you’re taking the same, you’ll earn the same … AND NOT UNTIL!”
She left the meeting and I thought that was that. When I got home that evening my phone rang and it was her father demanding I give his daughter a pay rise, a request I politely declined much to his annoyance. To nobodies surprise she resigned a few days later and has been glaring at me every time we pass in the street ever since!
I learned 3 very important lessons from this young lady.
- A computer system is ESSENTIAL because it measures everything about your business automatically. This means when you need information fast, like I did back then … IT’S THERE!
- I needed to create a pay ladder staff could climb themselves just by improving their performance. I did it and since that day (over 14 years later) I’ve never been asked for a pay rise, but lots of my staff have earned them!
- I needed to improve the way I recruited my staff so I could spot pampered ‘it’s not fair … it’s not my fault … the world owes me a living’ little sirs and madams a lot more quickly and minimise the problems they can cause as well!
I cover many of the practical tools I created for applying these lessons in my two books, but I’m telling you this story now because I believe as salon owners we often don’t realise the power the information that’s locked away in our computer systems has to help us motivate and manage our staff and also to create simple systems that can make our salons much easier to run.
Because of this I’m going to be posting a series of articles about how we can use some of the management reports locked away in our Phorest systems to make our salons more profitable and easier to run. If you think they could help you, then keep your eyes peeled!
Simon is now the UK’s foremost business coach for salon owners. His latest book The Salon Owner Guide To Beating
Why not request a demo of our salon software today? We can help you get more clients, back more often spending more!
