What’s your staff make up/how much do you pay?

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redlottie13

JUST BE NICE
Joined
Jun 2, 2015
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Bournmouth
Help ....I'm stressed!

I know it's a good problem to have but, I have no idea what to do.
I'm getting so busy doing clients hair that my customer service is slipping -having to attend to walk Ins/calls and generally stop starting which makes me run behind. I'm also worried serious standards may slip if I don't control this situation.

Even though I really cannot afford it,
I'm toying with the idea of bringing on a full-time receptionist. He / she will manage all bookings, some social media, client records and payments.

Who are your salons made up of? Any advise welcomed. I feel like I can't be a manager as I'm too busy being a hairdresser! My partner suggests admin each morning at 9am but that means I lose 1 hour per day of clients.

My salon is made up of :

Me/owner: Works 6-7 days per week average of 60 hours

Beauty therapist 1: Works 34 hours per week over 4 days

Beauty therapist 2: Saturday only

Trainee hairdresser: 17 hours over 2 days Friday/ Saturday

The Beauty side of the business is gradually getting busier and Beauty therapist 1 is booked up most days.
I am training a level 2 stylist to assist me also.
None of these are making their wages yet as they are pretty new.



Any advice from experienced salon owners would be really welcome xxxx
 
Sounds like you're very busy. Time to put your prices up.
 
You need to put your prices up, and I'd imagine by quite a bit if you want to stay in business.

Are your prices at the moment list prices or are they heavily discounted offer prices because they are new?

A basic formula, and very basic is they need to be bringing in at least 3 times their wages for you to be going anywhere.

That's a third for them, a third for costs and a third for you. (Realistically that third for costs will be ear into your third but it's a basic example)

If you're therapist is booked on average 20 of her 34 hours a week and not covering her costs she never will. And you will never get your prices up.

It's easy to be a busy fool.

Try look at your pricing structure again. Bite the bullet and take the big jump in 1, and then use discounts to slowly work up to using these prices. Yes you'll lose customers but sometimes less is more.
 
You need to put your prices up, and I'd imagine by quite a bit if you want to stay in business.

Are your prices at the moment list prices or are they heavily discounted offer prices because they are new?

A basic formula, and very basic is they need to be bringing in at least 3 times their wages for you to be going anywhere.

That's a third for them, a third for costs and a third for you. (Realistically that third for costs will be ear into your third but it's a basic example)

If you're therapist is booked on average 20 of her 34 hours a week and not covering her costs she never will. And you will never get your prices up.

It's easy to be a busy fool.

Try look at your pricing structure again. Bite the bullet and take the big jump in 1, and then use discounts to slowly work up to using these prices. Yes you'll lose customers but sometimes less is more.
Ok fantastic thank you, no we are only running on discount and that's on lashes x
 
As the owner and manager, you need to put aside time to manage the salon and the staff. Choose your least busy time and book yourself out of the diary and catch up on admin and ensure you have regular staff meetings as a team and 1:1. They don’t have to be very long meetings and you can keep your staff motivated by involving them in planning future promotions such as ‘back to school’ offers, charity events, Halloween decorations, Christmas decorating & offers, etc.
How do you manage the phone and walk-ins at the moment?
A good experienced receptionist will be invaluable once you can comfortably cover their wages.
 
As the owner and manager, you need to put aside time to manage the salon and the staff. Choose your least busy time and book yourself out of the diary and catch up on admin and ensure you have regular staff meetings as a team and 1:1. They don’t have to be very long meetings and you can keep your staff motivated by involving them in planning future promotions such as ‘back to school’ offers, charity events, Halloween decorations, Christmas decorating & offers, etc.
How do you manage the phone and walk-ins at the moment?
A good experienced receptionist will be invaluable once you can comfortably cover their wages.
The phones and walk in clients get dealt with while I am 'doing the hair' so I feel my standards are slipping for sure. I want to give clients my undivided attention x
 
To me it seems like you have a two part problem. When you are a busy hairdresser you need to have someone help and manage the front desk and clients because like you say it will distract you from your work.

Secondly you need to like AcidPerm says devote time to be an owner and manager since you have that role. I know you want to work with as many clients as you can and bring in money, but you also need to run your business.

I would suggest you bring in a receptionist/manager to deal with the front desk and clients plus deal with things in the salon on a daily bases that takes the burden off you. But remember you are still the owner and need to be there to have the overview.

If your so busy, have you thought of bringing in a trained stylist who can share the clients with you? Not just a trainee or an up an coming stylist. They could bring in a good flow of clients if they have a base from earlier and also help take the burden of you as the senior stylist.

You need to take time to also relax and be an owner and not work yourself sick.

I hope you will get a great person in to help you and it’s a luxury problem to be busy so you need to treat yourself to some help [emoji4]
 
Get a booking app? Make the salon appointments only?
 
When we got busy I advertised through my local university for a part-time executive pa/receptionist. I got lots of applications from undergraduates keen to pad out their CV. In the end I took on 3 for about 24 hours cover over 6 days. I only had to pay minimum living wage at first - which because they were aged 18-20 seemed a good deal for them. They all had a bit of previous experience in front of house roles as waitresses etc, and 2 had art/graphics skills.

They were friendly, personable, enthusiastic and eager for experience. I got them to help with receipts reconciliation, finance spreadsheets, posting content to social media and cleaning as well as meet and greet. Clients liked them and bookings went up. As a team of three they covered for each other for holidays and exam periods and within 3 months they'd totally justified their role. One graduated after 5 months after totally saving my a*** when I was off sick and another day when we had an event booked which went horrendously wrong with timings. The other two picked up the spare hours through summer but then a second asked to cut her hours the following academic year and I knew I'd need to recruit a permanent professional to back up the students during term time as a minimum.

This time I posted on a local "Mums net" type site asking for advice about how to advertise to recruit someone for a school hours/term time only role abd described the role in general terms. I asked where they would look for such a post, recruitment agency? Card in coffee shop? Internet? Newspaper ad? As I hoped I got one pm from an interested person who was totally right for the role.

I paid her £8.50 when minimum living wage was £7.20 which she accepted. This summer hols I have a lovely temporary receptionist who is expecting a baby in January and she will give us additional hours as 20 hours reception cover, term time only, isn't enough any more. My students have all now moved on and I also have a manager who works in the business covering her wages and helping with admin routine, selling, mentoring and training. I work in the business, I don't track my booked hours but I think I do about 40. With the exception of my manager, receptionist and apprentice everyone takes 3 x their wage - give or take a little bit over the year.
 
If you can afford to get a receptionist then it’s probably best not to right now. If you feel you are not making enough then I definitely recommend putting your prices up- it’s always horrible having to do this but you will be surprised how accepting people are of this. I own a busy salon and don’t have a receptionist so I understand how hard it is doing all the treatments as well as dealing with walk ins and messages. However most my clients now understand how the salon is run- they will phone and leave a message and I get back to them as soon as possible usually in between clients or worst case at the end of the day, they understand that it is best to make appointments although we don’t say it’s appointments only as if a client walks in when we are free then we will do their treatment but if we are not free then most people learn that it’s best to book appointments. You don’t want to add to your overheads especially if you can’t really afford to.
With the social media stuff- any discounts and offers just take some time when you at home and be organised for the year- get any offers you want ready and you can use the same ones every year but just make a few changes (get you valentines, Mother’s Day, summer, Christmas etc ready so all you have to do it put them up the salon or email or put it up on Facebook- even if you just save notes on your phone and copy and paste) then it doesn’t take long to put a message on if you want to put anything else on social media inbeteeen these times- but don’t do it too often as people get annoyed.
In regards to your service people understand if you have to stop for a few minutes to deal with walk ins if you always apologies and give good service in other ways - by being friendly offer tea/coffee etc the having to deal with a walk in isn’t usually a problem.
Although I’m not sure if you do already but if you have any calls when with a client I would always ignore and call back or return message when free)
I personally think it’s best to deal with payments yourself anyway rather than the receptionist as it feels more personal for the client that your there dealing with them and giving them you service for their whole experience.
 
In regards to your service people understand if you have to stop for a few minutes to deal with walk ins if you always apologies and give good service in other ways - by being friendly offer tea/coffee etc the having to deal with a walk in isn’t usually a problem.

Horses for courses.
Some clients will be totally fine with this and I guess they’re the ones you’re attracting to your salon. However, if I telephone somewhere and have to leave a message, I’m often reluctant to do so and will go somewhere else.
The hairdresser I visit for my haircuts will occasionally leave me to deal with a problem but she nearly always shampoos me herself and will always complete the blow dry/finish herself, so I’m ok with this and we’re friends too. Her junior staff deal with most appointment booking issues and obviously, she charges less for their hairdressing services. This seems to work well.

However, without exception, all my clients have complained about the fact that they didn’t receive 100% attention from their hairdresser.
They don’t like them leaving them mid-service to deal with a walk-in, answer the phone or wander off to talk to another member of staff/client. They may be demanding clients in that respect but they are very willing to pay for your attention so aren’t looking for discount services. (My clients are all word of mouth and I’ve never actually run an offer, come to think of it...)

I think in a salon environment where you’re juggling several staff and multiple clients, you have to reach a compromise in terms of service provision.

At this stage OP, it might be good to have a review of your current set-up including gathering feedback from clients.
 
Wow! Thank you all so much. I've had a sit down and done the sums and I can afford it.

As a few may know from previous posts (@AcidPerm) I was stung by the 'perfect' member of staff this year so I think I've been avoiding it for as long as I could! And of course being a major control freak and trying to do everything myself x
 
Unless it's an emergency, I don't believe a hair stylist should be leaving their client to go answer the phone, take payment, etc. etc. Some of what brings a client back again to a hair stylist is the conversation/personality/attention paid to them by that stylist during their cut/colour. If you're not giving this one on one attention to them, they can go elsewhere. How annoyed are we when we're out for dinner with a friend and said friend keeps taking phone calls, replying to texts, and posting on social media? And we're not paying this friend for a service.
 
How often are you having to leave a client to answer the phone?

If it's only now and then, there is no way I would commit myself to the wage of a receptionist.

Alway's make sure you re-book after every client whilst taking their bill - then there's no need for them to phone to make that appointment.

You have to be mindful of profit margins here....
We all want to offer the best service, but if were just about breaking even, or making a small profit, then the luxury of a receptionist is just that - a luxury we might just have to do without.
 
Any salon I've worked at has also had the receptionist doing laundry, folding towels, confirmation calls, keeping on top of the washroom (toilet roll, hand towel, wiping down sink and mirrors) bringing clients tea/water/coffee/magazines, etc. etc. These things don't happen on their own and with a cordless handset the receptionist doesn't have to run to the desk to answer the phone :)
 
Unless it's an emergency, I don't believe a hair stylist should be leaving their client to go answer the phone, take payment, etc. etc. Some of what brings a client back again to a hair stylist is the conversation/personality/attention paid to them by that stylist during their cut/colour. If you're not giving this one on one attention to them, they can go elsewhere. How annoyed are we when we're out for dinner with a friend and said friend keeps taking phone calls, replying to texts, and posting on social media? And we're not paying this friend for a service.
Yeah, this is why I want to make changes.... I dont feel my clients are getting the 'expeience'
 
How often are you having to leave a client to answer the phone?

If it's only now and then, there is no way I would commit myself to the wage of a receptionist.

Alway's make sure you re-book after every client whilst taking their bill - then there's no need for them to phone to make that appointment.

You have to be mindful of profit margins here....
We all want to offer the best service, but if were just about breaking even, or making a small profit, then the luxury of a receptionist is just that - a luxury we might just have to do without.
On a Tuesday im crazy busy. So about 2-3 times per appointment [emoji51]
 
How about an apprentice.....?
Just trying to keep your wage bill under control. :D
 
How about an apprentice.....?
Just trying to keep your wage bill under control. :D
Had a meeting with college actually they said its common to have an apprentice to do all of the reception duties as well as the assistant role x x
 
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