Beauty Buddies – Building Bonds and Boosting Your Salon’s Success

What does this look like , what does it mean for your team , what does it mean for your guests and you know , ultimately , what does it mean for your salon in the bottom line .

You know it's going above , beyond those technical services , to create the culture of partnership , empowerment and transformation , because you know , when your team is connected , like , you feel the energy . We know that everything is energy . Energy cannot be created nor destroyed .

It can just change form , and so when energy is great in your space and people are working together like clients , feel that it makes your team earn more money , the company has more profit , and so this is just a great new opportunity to look at to really help collaborate and connect your team .

So it's somebody that you know if you have multiple shifts a week , um , you know , find somebody that they at least work with together once .

You know , maybe , somebody that they don't normally spend a lot of time with um on the team , because really what they're going to be doing is exploring ways that they can support each other , how they can collaborate with each other and also just give them ideas on how to enhance their inner and outer beauty .

So truly , that's the whole purpose behind um , behind this beauty buddy system , is to just look for ways to add value to your partner's life .

You know , and I think what's super cool about this is , you know , that's really truly what we're in the business of doing is adding value to our clients lives , but I think sometimes we forget it comes down to those really basic skills and understanding .

You know a few ways to just look at somebody and enhance their beauty that can really make you feel incredible .

And so , shout out to my leadership team I think they might even came up with the name Beauty Buddies . I don't remember who did , but you know they're like why don't we pair , like Lindsay was saying , a beauty buddy together , so a less experienced and a new experienced stylist .

And like let's do like a check-in every day before shift with your beauty buddy , so let's make sure your makeup at some point , let's give you some feedback on your outfit .

And like it was so incredible for the next 30 days when we really measured the beauty buddy success , it was incredible to see how people started showing up different , how you know um , I know I think , lindsay , you might even tell me this story like one of your beauty buddies on your team , like the beauty buddy determined that their buddy was actually a spring

or I can't remember what it was . Was it spring ?

So that's the entire purpose of having a beauty buddy is to , you know , dedicate that time for each member to give each other , and it doesn't be a full makeover , but just some feedback , and feedback from a form of love to help enhance their life .

And you know just simple little things like this , like really just looking at the person that's your beauty buddy and just you know giving them some feedback , some recommendations on .

Hey , you know what , if you tried this and you know even , uh , trying a new lipstick color on , maybe something that's like out of their norm , to really elevate that look , because sometimes , you know , the reason why you've never worn a red lip is because you know , you didn't understand , like , hey , there's some orangey red lips that are great for warm

undertones and there's some bluish red lips that are great for cool undertones . And the first time you try on one that works with your natural coloring , you might be like , wow , I love a red lip . And you know so . There's just some cool things that happen when you intend to really help enhance somebody's beauty .

You know , and when you dedicate that time to work one-on-one , it really does build so much trust within the team .

Because you know , when you think about it , like when you , like Jen mentioned , when you have that life skill of learning how to contour , or learning , you know , that coral blush might enhance you a little bit more than mauve , just some different things like that .

Like you remember who taught you that and you remember the experience that you had when you went through that transformation , and so truly you know we are in the business of being beauty buddies for all of our clients every day , and so when we work on elevating with each other first , what it does is set us up for an incredible amount of success behind the

chair or the table .

You know , looking at those color analysis , that's one thing we like to teach at Salon Business School . You know , doing skin tone analysis , face shapes . You know lifestyle considerations Like it's about creating that complete look for someone .

You know help them from head to toe , because when you can really help someone gain confidence , like really , at the end of the day , that's what we sell . Like you know , they're going to transform their life . They're going to go out and do bigger and better things as well .

When I think about , you know , talking about being a beauty buddy for clients , I took my niece , who's five , to get her ears pierced . She's finally was like , oh , I'm ready to go , let's do it . And so , you know , when a five-year-old is ready to do it , you just do it .

And so we went to a place called Rowan which was like a almost like a high-end piercing studio , and you know the the . It was just really incredible because I remember when I got my ears pierced it was like click , click , you're done , congratulations , your ears are pierced . But it was like it was like an entire experience .

It was like they were a beauty buddy to her . You know they had her name on a welcome board , you know they went through the entire process , they had a consultation with a five-year-old , and so like , yes , this piercing experience did cost me $159 , but it's an experience you will never forget .

Like I don't even remember my ear piercing experience because it wasn't like that , and so I think I just share that experience with you is like are we transferring that over to our clients in the salon space ? Do we have , you know , the beauty buddies on board that are helping create their complete look ?

Just like in when she got her ears pierced , they showed her how to take care of her ears , and so it was just an experience that like , hey , if we're transferring that kind of energy , energy into the salon space , that can do nothing but increase our average ticket and increase our increase , our client retention .

I mean it was $159 and we literally were there for 30 minutes .

You know , when , when you do get more focused on um okay , how , how do I create um an even more enhanced like , pull out people's natural features , like all of the things , the DNA that makes them them and make it even better .

If you know , because I think sometimes we get so in our heads about stuff like , even when we're mixing up a toner , we think we're here to cancel out color . Well , no , you're actually there to enhance what's happening and that's what we're there to do .

You know , with our guests each day , you know I think another thing that happens is it can eliminate the fear of . You know I'm if you've ever lived through the gray hair trend , you know you've been in the beauty business sometime over the last five to seven years .

You know everybody coming in with box black color hair and being like , yeah , I want to have silver hair . So not gray , silver , but either or silver or gray . You know , and once upon

a time that would be something that would like freak people out and they would say , oh my gosh , you know you can't do this or whatever it was . But when you , when you die , when you're , when you have on the thinking cap of being a beauty buddy , you know you can ask them . You know what is it that ? You know , has you attracted to this look ?

And then you can go through that color analysis to see , because I remember I had a client one time who wanted to do that Um , and after asking her a few questions , we uncovered , like , hey , she's looking for , she wants like some sort of an extreme change . She wants something that you know just makes her feel alive and fresh and like stand out .

But when we did color analysis , we discovered that , hey , she's more of a spring and so if we put this silver or gray tone on her , it's not going to enhance her natural beauty , but what could really make her glow is to do like a rose gold , like a bright rose gold color .

And so , you know , we took her to that really light strawberry color and she looked incredible and it really enhanced her natural look .

And so you know that's the mindset of a beauty buddy is that you're looking for opportunities for people all the time instead of , like , just being an order taker and being worried about what it is that people are going to order up with their hair .

Because , like you can really change that , change that conversation and really truly transform that guest , that client , right in front of you .

And so I do think , like when you're setting up beauty buddies on your team and with you know , as you're going to be a beauty buddy to clients , is making sure that you're approaching everything with love , because we don't want to do things out of fear and we really want to , you know , have that transformation , like you were saying .

And so , you know , having those conversations and training your team , I think that's the greatest gift that you can give them . Like , if you're going to be a beauty buddy to client , help them understand the why , help them understand how to do a color analysis , how to do a face shape analysis .

All of that is going to help kind of gain their confidence and they will be more certain in doing that . And you know , I have a new stylist on my team as well . They're like I don't know about this color analysis .

It's new for them , but the most amazing part about it like , if you set up the context right , if you set up the right way in the consultation of the why behind why you're doing this for the client .

The client gets enrolled too , and they can even tell what colors are best on them , and so I think it just really creates that collaboration and really brings out the beauty in all .

You know , begin by pairing team members together and have them schedule beauty buddy sessions into their calendar . So for us , you know , it was like , hey , let's meet once a week and let's talk about some wins that we've had . Because you know it was like , hey , let's meet once a week and let's talk about some wins that we've had .

Because you know , beauty is not just outside of us , it's also within us . So , share some wins that we've had . You know , anything you want to celebrate and then look for ways that we can enhance the beauty of another .

And , you know , work with each other on the verbiage around it , you know , because it's not always going to feel natural in the beginning , um , if , if it's not something you're already implementing , but the more you practice with each other , the more it just becomes natural to have those conversations with each other .

And so you know also , just , you know , make sure that you're celebrating the success of your team . Like recognize your team members who are truly embodying that beauty buddy mindset .

You know , whether it's like shouting them out um , if you have a group page or messaging system , or doing some sort of a reward during meetings , like just recognizing , like hey , that's really cool .

And having them shout each other out too , you know , because it is really fun when they're like you know , so-and-so told me to use um coral blush instead of mob and it like totally transformed my look . And like just seeing that transformation and then helping them understand . Like , hey , that's what we get to do for our clients each day .

Like , how lucky are we ? People will love

coming into the salon . They're so excited to see us and we just get to help them be even more beautiful than they already are .

I love that we did photos in the back of the beauty buddies together , so they're , you know , all over the back room . I saw Lindsay and her yearbook that she did for your team . You even put it in your yearbook as the beauty buddies together , and so there's so many fun things that you can do with this and cause .

It just really helps bring out the beauty in everyone . And so we know that if you're ready to transform your salon into a place where clients and team members feel that value , they feel supported and inspired , you know , start setting up a beauty buddy today . That's going to be a great opportunity for you .

And if you even want more insights and strategies , uh , check out our book think and grow . Uh , get rich as a beauty pro . Chapter nine , it dives a little deeper into this . So , salon owners , this is going to be an amazing book that you're going to want your team to read , because it's going to really teach them how to become that six figure stylist .