Coach Helps Salon Owner Turn Her Ship Around Program puts salon back on course.

W hen Kim Livermore purchased the Red Carpet salon in Salem, Oregon, in July 2001, she had been working in the salon as a stylist for 14 years. She desperately wanted her business to be a success, but when she attempted to make any change in salon, she found that her staff viewed her as a co-worker rather than a boss.
Stylists were coming and going as they pleased, retail sales were low, and staff members weren't getting along as well as they should. "I had worked for the original owner, then another stylist from the Salon bought it, and I watch it get completely out of control," Livermore recalls. "The second owner was great but just wasn't a boss type. I wanted to bring the salon back to where it was under the original owner."

Uncertain of how to achieve this goal, Livermore shared her dilemma with her Maly's sales representative, and he told her about the company's new Business Coaching Program. She enrolled in the program October 2001 and completed the 12-week course in January 2002.

Throughout the program she was given weekly telephone coaching, complete with detailed homework assignments, by Gaye LeFebvre, a senior business coach and founder of the program.

During the course Livermore was taught how to create a set of rules and regulations within the salon, how to build up her staff as a team, how to establish an assistant's training program, hoe to implement monthly staff meetings, and how to increase her retail sales.

"The program helped me as an individual," she says. "It helped teach me how to communicate with the staff with out sounding greedy. There was a misconception that I was getting half the money that was brought in because the girls work on commission and get 50 percent. What they didn't realize was the cost of running a business".

"Kim needed to understand her people better, so I had her analyze he staff". Says LeFebvre, who owned two highly successful salons in Utah for seven years prior to becoming a business coach three years ago. "She needed to understand what motivated the staff. Some were career-oriented, some were money oriented, some were part-timers who didn't want to book extra services. A couple of 'some-timers' who weren't motivated by anything.

LeFebvre asked Livermore to write down her goals, and create a mission and vision statement. "Kim is a busy stylist working behind the chair. She has lots of knowledge to share, but she didn't have and assistant's training program in writing, so she was constant having to reinvent the wheel." Explains LeFebvre.

Claudia Heimbuch, red Carpet's receptionist of nine years, says she has noticed dramatic changes within the salon. "I watched Kim grow as a person. She is stronger, more balanced businesswoman, and we are all very fortunate to have her leading us", Heimbuch says. "There is a more structured environment in the salon, and she has opened up many opportunities for these girls. It's exciting to see the vision she has planned."

Under LeFebvre's tutelage, Livermore and her staff made up the salon's rules and regulations together, helped make the staff more accountable. If they break the rules now, it's their own rules they're breaking, says Livermore. "Salon Owners and stylist need to understand that help is available to he, and that they aren't alone in this. They don't have to learn through the school of hard knocks like I did"

Once the rules were in place, Livermore was coached on how to let a few staff members go. "We had some theft problems, and there issues of people cutting hair for free. Gaye showed me how to avoid that in the future." Says Livermore.

As the momentum began to build, Livermore and her team were taught how to create marketing strategies, financial statements, and contests designed to build business and how to go into beauty schools to recruit new staff.

"Each week we had homework, like comparing numbers by tracking a stylist ratio of old service requests to new request," she explains. "Then Gaye would recommend a specific talk I needed to have with specific stylist, like about low retail sales, for example."

LeFebvre also taught Livermore howe to rethink her money- making strategies. "Hard money is what you make working behind the chair, and soft money is the residual that comes in from commissions, retail and other sources." LeFebvre explains. "Coaching is often about teaching people how to let go of the hard-money mentality, because as we get older we can only work so hard behind the chair. Plus, you have to let the other stylist grow."

Since implementing the strategies she learned from LeFebvre, Livermore says her staff is getting along better, the rules are being followed, retails sales are up, and the salon is getting new clients. "And of course, money-wise, it's improved too," she says.

Red Carpet has enjoyed financial growth. Since completing the program, Livermore has seen at least 16-percent growth in total revenue each month compared with the year before. The lowest growth occurred when she was down three stylists and had not increased her prices. Her largest increase was 26-percent- this during a challenging year for all businesses.

"All I was hoping for after September 11th, was to break even from the prior year," she says. "I would definitely recommend this program to other people, even for those just considering buying a salon. It really helps shoe you what to expect. The cost was minor- it has paid for itself." LeFebvre adds: "Salon owners and stylist need to understand that help is available to them and they are not alone in this. They don't have to learn through the school of hard knocks like I did." A lot of the time it's just a matter of dealing with fears- fears of confrontation, of handling money or anything else. And because the coaching is done over the phone, people can feel free to be completely honest; they don't have to worry about being judged."