If your day spa is struggling to get and keep more clients, as well as get and keep more staff, with a different mindset about management (you manage systems not people), you’ll be able turn things around in your business.

You’re an enlightened manager who knows the best way for your business to prosper is by focusing on its strengths and minimizing its weaknesses. Believe me, if you get your business to master the basics, you’ll leave your competition in the dust. I recommend you go back and readdress the basics. The fundamentals of the business and get them down to a science. To do that you’ll need to make some changes in the way you do things. This is where having a system; a way to guide change comes in.

Exactly how do you master the basics? To paraphrase Chet Holmes, a world-class business turn-around expert, “You don’t get to be a master by doing 4,000 things. You get to be a master by doing 12 things, 4000 times.”

The following is a way to guide change and to ensure its permanence in your company.

Identify what needs to be changed or transformed. If your list is long, cut it down to the essential two or three things that would clearly have an impact on your business.

Pinpoint what’s in it for your team members (for example, more money, more security, etc.).

Think about what current systems you will need to modify or new systems you’ll need to create to accomplish that change.

Decide who will be accountable for creating the systems. Make sure they know how to create a system. If not, show them. If you don’t know, get some help.

Create the systems. Test them yourself to see how they work.

Set up a meeting to introduce the new systems. Remember to let your team know what’s in it for them. Also let them know you’ll hold regular training and follow up meetings.

Train and follow up. Train and follow up. Train and follow up. Continue until the system is in place and you’re getting the results you want from that system.

Go to the next system, and the next.
Repeat steps 1 through 7 for each.

The key is to proceed with pig-headed determination. Follow the steps faithfully and you will see your salon/day spa transformed before your very eyes. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and try it anyway.

By Andrew Finkelstein, The Beauty Resource www.thebeautyresource.com