I speak to a LOT of salon owners and manager in the course of my work, and time and again I hear how much EASIER salon life would be if only those pesky employees would do their jobs! The owner or manager thinks they are dealing with an attitude problem, but more often I think they are dealing with a motivation problem. Keep listening - maybe I can help a little with that.

Social Media Marketing is a good source of high-quality clients, especially in our industry. Yet, Social Media can be a little overwhelming. We bought into the belief that we had to do everything! Started with a website, then along came social media. First was Facebook, then Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat. We thought we needed to create bespoke content across platforms. Turns out that this is like a part-time job aside from running your Salon!

Don’t make any changes in your business just for the sake of it. I see this time and time again with the businesses that I’ve visited as a Salon Coach. By all means, look for ideas to improve your experience running your salon. Only make those changes that will make you further towards your medium to long-term goals.

Target setting is done infrequently, and certainly not well enough in most instances. When I start coaching a new salon, one of the first things that we go through is their performance management process. I believe that sitting down with Team Members at least every month (and ideally every week) to report back to them on their performance, to set them a meaningful target and coaching them to achieve that target is the only way to longer-term success. People get overwhelmed unnecessarily by the entire performance management process.

It's a sad reality that if you have a Salon Team, at some stage you'll probably need to dismiss somebody or terminate their employment. I would love to say that after over 17 or 18 years of Salon ownership, it gets easier and it doesn't hurt anymore. But it would be a lie because it does!! I make sure that I'm involved if I'm terminating someone's employment. We're talking about decisions that affect one's career and it's absolutely right to take those decisions seriously and to lose a little bit of sleep over it.

I'm a firm believer that in salon marketing - in fact in almost every aspect of your salon business - the answers are already in your business somewhere.   So why do we keep reinventing the wheel?  Look back on your past promotions.  Debrief properly and keep notes on what has worked.  There's no shame in filling your calendar with tried and tested salon marketing that delivers great results!

Today, I want to help you decide: When is the right time to grow your salon team? When is the right time to recruit? This all boils down to your goal-setting. If you don't have clear goals on what you want your salon to achieve this year or in the next 5 years, that is the first place to start. Your goals ultimately dictate the size of the team that you need. Maybe you have a certain level of turnover that you want to achieve. Or maybe you want to step back from the salon floor. This will tell you how many team members you're going to need this year or next. Start with the turnover target. Once you know the average bill and your frequency of visit you can start to break that turnover target down. It’ll show you the number of people you physically need on the premises earning money for you. That gives us the overall target of what we want your team to look like. Those goals are going be influenced by what it is you really want. Your bigger goals have to come first on this. Your 5 year plan and your life ambitions. More from Phil at buildyoursalon.com/blog

Aside from being a Salon Mentor and Coach, I also own a hair salon in the South of England. And if I'm being honest, I have been neglectful on my Salon business. I moved away from the Salon business into the coaching space and I didn't replace myself as a Manager. I thought that being a magnificent coach and mentor meant I was some kind of superhero that I could run both businesses effectively. And I was wrong!

A Salon Training Agreement is a contract between you and a Team Member where they agree to pay back some or all the value of a training course should they leave in a period following the training.

Setting targets in your salon isn't easy - and there are a couple of pitfalls I see owners and managers fall into again and again. But for the long-term success of your business, they are vital. Taking the time to communicate to your team exactly what is expected of them is never time wasted.