Lash Team Coach & Mentor – Part 4 – How to Set Realistic Staff Productivity Goals with Smart Scheduling and SPLH

Posted by Maryann Matykowski on May 21, 2019

Welcome to part four of the Lash Team Coach & Mentor series! We are excited to get into more details about developing your salon business for success. We will be taking a look at how to set goals and expectations for new staff when bringing them onto your business. If you have an existing employee or are developing new talent, getting the numbers right is imperative for your success. Without concrete numbers, your team can become like a rudderless boat, floating around in a huge ocean with no way to get to shore. A great coach has the tools to bring to the table to set the ship straight and lead the team to success. So, let’s get into the numbers. What does this mean? How do I get the numbers? What's SPLH? Where do the numbers come from? I'll give you a plan to utilize for current and future staff. We are going to start with new staff first. We don’t want to set unrealistic goals for newbies -- we want them to feel inspired, not overwhelmed.

Setting Goals for Newbie Salon Employees

I start with a goal of $300-$400 in service sales and 10% of that total in retail sales. This is based on an 18-20 hour schedule. Like I said in the previous post, if you schedule an employee for 40 hours and they are only busy for 12, they will get frustrated and can get discouraged. Unless you are paying an hourly wage, this can change. They will be paid but will be bored and distracted. So, start your new staff at fewer hours in the most prime time of your salon activity. You will keep them busy, they will be more motivated, and there will be much less sitting around. Let them know that as they consistently meet their $300-$400 goals, you will continue to add hours.

Newbie Salon Schedule Example

For example, your new hire will be scheduled for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. These tend to be the busier days. If Wednesday mornings are busy, then schedule them for the hours when your existing staff is already booked. This gives them the opportunity for walk-ins or new clients. It's not a great idea to schedule them when existing staff have a lot of openings. The existing staff can get a little funny about not getting new business and having to share with the newbies. If your existing staff is busy with their clients, they don’t have as much interest in walk-ins. This solves two problems. First, you have coverage while your existing staff is busy and second, you keep your new staff engaged and happy. Scheduling is a very important thing in growing your business. If you have a scheduling program that allows analytics, great. If you don’t, that’s ok. I'll walk you through how to decide when to schedule your new staff.

How to Schedule Your Staff: Look at the Data

Take a look at your appointments for the past 30 days. What days are you scheduled heavy? Which hours were busier? If your salon is in the normal range, you will find that your salon is busy Tuesday mornings, Wednesday afternoons, and Thursday late afternoons and evenings. Friday can be fickle, sometimes Friday can be a little slow. Saturdays are busy in the spring, winter, and fall, but summer can be slow. This is due largely in part to vacations, kids being out of school, and a general lack of interest in the salon. No need for lashes or hair services when you are at the beach in the sand and surf.

Schedule Staff During Busiest Times

Dig deep into the bookings. Are you turning away business because your staff is booked at these prime-time slots? I literally scroll through and write down on paper the hours that each employee is booked and I make a graph of the days and hours we are busy. If you are turning away business, schedule new staff in these hours. As your new staff get busy, you can add hours at the end of their shift. I hesitate to add hours at the beginning of the shift because if they have a no show, they can be idle for a few hours. It's frustrating. If you have a no show at the end of the shift, they are free to clock out for the day.

Set Realistic SPLH Goals

Now, with that scheduling nugget out of the way, lets set some solid goals related to our Service Per Labor Hours (SPLH). So, when your newbie hits their first goal of $300-$400, you will want them to meet this goal for a minimum of 30 days before you add more than 10 hours. For every 5 hours they add to their schedule, they must add $150-$200 in service sales. As they grow into these hours, you want their minimum SPLH to be between $22-$25 per hour.

Salon Efficiency Equation for Employee Work

If your new salon professional is scheduled at 18 hours and brings in $400 in revenue, they are at $22.22 SPLH. This is just a bit over the minimum of $22 per hour. Let's take a look at how this looks in an equation: $400/18 hours= $22.22 SPLH ^This is your formula for newbies. Your more seasoned staff should be at a higher SPLH. For example, they should be at: $1500/35 hours= $42.85 SPLH. ^This is where you want your staff to be. This is optimal productivity. Most salons that use this formula like their staff to work no more than 35-40 hours per week. If you schedule properly, set goals, and keep an eye on non-productive hours, your staff will be rocking their numbers and you will keep them motivated to reach their goals.

Track Employee Progress to Make Best Decisions

The most important thing that you can do is teach your staff how to track their own numbers. They need to be proactive in reaching their goals with and without your help. You, as the coach, will set the first goals, track and follow their progress, and be mindful of their readiness to add hours. On the flip side of this is when to let a salon professional walk. If your salon professional is not meeting the minimum goals after 30 days, you may need to reevaluate if they are the right fit for your salon. If this is the case, you will need to have a coaching session, go over their progress, and ask some very pointed questions about their investment in their career and future with your salon. We never want to discourage anyone. As business owners, we need to know when we should cut a non-productive employee. Sometimes, they just aren’t that motivated or just need to pay bills and do not have the passion we expect. You get to decide who is the right fit for your business.