Are you ready to boost salon revenue while developing a high-performing team? In a recent webinar with Corrie Rios, director of operations for Currie Hair Skin Nails, we discussed proven associate program strategies to help your salon grow revenue. Learn firsthand what’s worked for this successful salon chain and how Aura has played a role in supporting their associate program.
Transcript Below:
Lori: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us. My name is Lori, and I am our director of client partner relations for Aura Salonware. I am excited to be here with Correy this morning, who is the director of operations for one of our most amazing salons. I’m going to let her give herself an introduction and the salon so we can talk about Currie salon a little bit more.
Corrie: Hi everybody. I’m Corrie Rios. I’m the director of operations for Currie Hair Skin Nails. I have worked there coming up on 16 years. It was my first real job out of college, and it has just stuck. Currie has been in business for over 40 years, and we have five locations in two states: three in Pennsylvania and two in Delaware.
The business is owned and operated by Randy Currie, who started it originally as Razzle Dazzle and has upgraded the name to Currie Hair Skin Nails. We’re full-service salons and spas. We do hair, nails, skin, massage. If we can do it, we do it. Right now, we are hovering between 130 to 140 employees. We have one location in Glen Mills, which is our largest, and then our other four are about 20 to 25 employees each. They’re all like each other, but of course, all have their own identities and their own characteristics.
My job at the company is to oversee the managers at each of those locations. All of our locations have an onsite manager, and I oversee them. I’m kind of the branch between them and Randy, and then I oversee the back end of what we do with our software and things like that. I do everything that has to do with charitable donations, marketing, the website, all things of that sort. Our managers are the people who are handling the day to day, what’s going on with our guests and with our employees. That’s an introduction to what I do on the daily, and, you know, we’ll learn more about the company as we talk.
Our goal as a company is always to be on the verge of what’s happening first. We try to do that, and we’ve really broken a lot of barriers in that and we’re one of the biggest salons on the East Coast, so it’s exciting to be a part of that. That and razzle-dazzle.
Lori: I love that. That’s cute.
Thank you for going over some of that. Today, we’re really talking about the associate program, and you guys have built an amazing associate program within the salon over the last many years, and so and you’ve really perfected it. That’s really what we want to talk about today.
For anybody joining us, we will have some time afterward for some Q&A, or please feel free to drop it in the chat. or you have a Q&A box on your screen that we’re in. If you want to put any questions that you have in there, we’ll try to get to them as we go through this conversation today, or we will try to get to it at the end.
Our session will be recorded, so you will get a recording of this after the session is completed. It will come to you in an email.
Corrie, tell us about how Currie decided to start an associate program.
Corrie: The associate program has been in effect for longer than I have been there. I’ve been with the company, as mentioned, for about 16 years, and they have been using it before I started. The impetus of it, I’m not 100% sure, but I do know that it has been operated this way for over 20+ years. It has changed and grown since I’ve been there, and I’ve been able to see tangible differences. I definitely know that right now; it’s the best that it has ever been.
The associate program was just created out of the need to understand that education is the key to everything, and if you educate people to be their best, then they will be their best, and that has always been our company’s motto.
Randy saw that need to happen from the beginning, that when people come out of school, even then, there are still so many things you need to learn before you’re confident behind the chair. The associate program creates that education in-house so that you can use the people you have who are great at what they do to train others to do the same.
Lori: What is the ratio of associates to service providers that you have in the salon?
Corrie: It depends on the location. Our smaller locations generally have about one to two associates to about seven to 10 service providers, and then our largest location has about 50 service providers. I would say we have 10 to 15 associates at any given time, and that can also vary with maybe one or two shampoo techs who are doing some of the more minor duties. They’re not necessarily doing color and things like that, but filling in the other gaps.
Lori: Got it. That leads me to a question because when you and I first discussed having this conversation today, we mentioned that these associates you guys used to actually call them assistants, right? You guys made that change to it just in language, but what would you say is the difference between an assistant versus an associate or this associate program?
Corrie: We just wanted to change the verbiage because we don’t want people to feel like they’re a servant to anyone. I think for a long time, maybe I would say a lot of places, the idea of an assistant was like, oh, they unpack my stuff, they clean up my stuff, and that’s what they’re there for. That is not what our associate program is about.
It’s about creating somebody who has the confidence to be behind the chair. If someone at your salon with a big book leaves, their associate can move right into their spot because they’ve been trained and have the confidence to do the same. They’re doing assisting abilities, but they’re an associate. They’re a partnership. At a lot of our locations, some of the stylists don’t do color at all. It’s a partnership with that associate. Without that associate, it’s like their arm has been cut off. So they’re not an assistant; they’re a partner, and we wanted to create it to be more inclusive that it is a partnership. It’s not just somebody who’s trailing behind, it’s somebody who’s next to them, with just as much knowledge or gaining to have just as much knowledge to be just as successful.
Lori: I just wanted to put some clarification on that a little bit for everybody watching because I do think that there might be salons listening today that say, “Oh, I work with assistants,” or “I have assistants or associates,” but sometimes your assistant, and this is totally fine, but sometimes your assistants are just doing your shampoos. Sometimes, they are doing just your blowouts, or they’re in a different part of their career where maybe they’re not trying to grow. But for Currie and the program you guys are running, these associates are looking to grow and develop and become their own stylists with their own associates that they work with, right? It’s a growth program and a partnership, like you said. How does a service provider stylist get to work with an associate? When did they start working one?
Corrie: There are no particulars for that. We don’t have it where they have to earn one, or they have to reach a certain echelon. It’s a personal decision we want people to come to for somebody to realize: “Okay, I’m at a point where either I can’t grow anymore because I literally have no more time in my day,” or, “I really want to take the knowledge that I have and pass it along to someone else.”
They come to Randy and say, “I’m ready to take on an associate.” And then from there, we try and find the right person for them. We’ve learned over the years that personality plays a big role in a successful associate and stylist relationship. They have to be able to get along and communicate well and work together well. But, if somebody is motivated to be a good mentor and realizes, “I can only grow so far without someone else,” then we want to give them an associate because it helps them grow and helps us grow. If a service provider can double their revenue, that’s great for the salon, just as much as it’s great for them.
Lori: Right. Have you ever denied somebody an associate? Have you ever said or thought, “You know, you’re not quite ready?” Like somebody says, “I’m excited, I’m ready, I want an associate,” and you’re like, “Let’s review things, and maybe you’re not quite ready.” What would that look like?
Corrie: I don’t think we’ve ever denied someone an associate. I think there have been times when people have tried to work with an associate, and they’ve realized, “Hey, this is not who I am. I’m not a teacher, I don’t have the patience to work with another person” We have been down that road, but most of the time it comes from the person themselves to realize, “What this person needs and what really the program is about, I don’t have to give.” That usually is somebody who then just works with the shampoo tech; whoever’s there that day helps them out, but the one one-on-one is more of a personal decision. I don’t think we’ve ever been faced where we’ve said, “No, I don’t think you’re the right person.” But I think we always do have a conversation when a new person wants to do it, like, “Hey, this is what it’s about.” You know, it’s not just about them helping you, but you help them, so it’s a cohesive relationship that’s good for everybody.
Lori: And like a mentorship program too, right, like because they’re partnered with that person and they are looking up to what you’re doing.
Corrie: As a manager, we have definitely had issues where, you know, people come to us and say, “This isn’t working. I can’t work with this person.” It’s really important to deal with those issues right away because we’re all going to work with people we don’t get along with. We don’t want to be like, “Oh, okay, well then you can just move on to someone else,” because that’s not reality. So we do try to repair the relationships as much as possible, for the good of everybody, because a lot of times it’s just like you had a bad day, you said the wrong thing, and, you know, that doesn’t dissolve a relationship in any sort.
I think that an important thing to remember when you work in these programs is that you are gonna have to do some relationship management sometimes with the people because, just like any relationship, they’re gonna have fights and have issues and stuff.
Lori: Very, very good point. How long does the associate program last? Like if somebody is an associate, how long are they there before they are able to become their own stylist?
Corrie: I would say this is the biggest change and the best improvement in our program in the last couple of years because it used to be that it was like, “Hey, you’re coming on, and it’s one and a half years, it’s two years, that’s it.” There’s no wiggle room when it comes to that. But in the last two or three years, we’ve really realized that it’s about the individual associate and how long they need to be in the program. So we brought on a new head of education, and he has set up the program where they have specific tiers for their technical side of things that they have to get through and they test out of those. Once they’ve tested out of those areas, technically, for their skills, they’re ready to be on the floor. Of course, there are other aspects of being on the floor like confidence and things like that. But some people can be on the floor in six months, some people, it takes them three years.
We’ve made it so the program really fits the person’s needs, where they’re at, and their ability to make that decision for themselves as well. We used to be very clear-cut. It was like, “Okay, two years, we’re finding someone new, and then you’re going on the floor.” But what we do now is a slow transition. It’s like, we’re going to let you start to take clients on a day that your stylist isn’t working, and they start to build up a small book. Then we’ll bring someone in that trains to take your spot; then you’re going on the floor. So you’re not going from working with a busy stylist, being busy all day, making a lot of money on tips, to then going on your own, not having anybody in your chair, not making any tips, and your first thought is, “Oh my gosh, I should have just stayed an associate because, you know, I can’t pay my bills now.”
So, realize that it is a transition, but that it really has to be focused on the individual because we have some people who come straight out of school that are really ready technically, but most people coming out of school are not technically ready. It depends on each person’s commitment to their education classes. We have class every single Monday for them to attend and they have to fit within the program and test out of things. If they miss 10 Mondays then that makes the program longer for them. Our education person will say they haven’t come to class in five weeks. If they come to me and say, “Hey, can I get a chair next month?” I say, “No, you can’t because you haven’t been to class for 10 weeks,” and that’s part of the program. I would say people who hold a rigid timeline for your associates can hinder you because when you’re interviewing, they’re interviewing you just as much as you’re interviewing them.
And if you say, “Hey, you’re gonna 100% be an associate program for two years,” they’re not gonna want to do that anymore because there’s plenty of salons now they’ll put someone right on the floor, right out of school, regardless if they’re ready or not. So they may go there and fail in six months, but they’re sometimes they’re more likely to be willing to fail than to say, “Well, I’m going to go somewhere for two years to wait and see what happens for me next.”
Lori: Yeah, that is a very valid and good point because that is something that we’re seeing, and you and I talked about this a long time ago is people are getting education on Instagram and YouTube and like video ever since like kind of COVID in our virtual education came in, and people are getting a lot of their own education, and they want things much shorter time like people aren’t really willing to invest two years in an associate program anymore. So, being able to adapt to where people are at today, and kind of customize your program a little bit more is huge.
You talked about hiring new people coming into the team. What does that sound like when you are recruiting for the associate program, and who recruits them? Is it the stylist who’s recruiting for their own associate that they’re going to work with, or does the salon recruit?
Corrie: So right now, our director of education, he goes to three or four schools pretty close to our locations, and he will go there and he’ll do an educational class. Through that, he meets the students who are there, and if there are four or five that really stick out, he’ll get in contact with them right away and have them come and shadow him. That has been really great for us in the last couple of years because when they come in and shadow, they have a clear idea of who we are and what their job is expected to be.
That’s the main way we recruit. But since we’ve been in business for 40 years, a lot of people are recommended to come in to work for us because Randy’s name is really well known in the industry. People will call and say, “My niece is going to hair school, and she’s graduating. Will you please interview her?” We do have a lot of applications in that way. One thing that seems so obvious, but that we even had to remember sometimes is when you have someone graduate this year, they know others who are going to graduate next year. So, have them talk to their friends in school and say, “Hey, I really love the job that I have right now. In a year when you’re going to be graduating, you should come and apply to where I’m working.” You know, using the networking tools within what you have, and two of our locations are in Delaware, which is literally one of the smallest states in the United States.
Everybody knows somebody, so there are recommendations that way, but having our director of education go to the schools and show exactly what we have to offer has really helped us get the candidates who align with our goal, which is continuing education. Randy’s number one thing since day one from the company is that education is the key to our success.
Lori: That’s great. And then a well-run program will cycle through, so your associates are recommending new associates, recommending new associates, and it keeps going, just amazing. Who pays for the associate? Is it the service provider, the company, or do you guys split it? How does that, how does that work?
Corrie: Everybody involved contributes. So the stylist who has an associate pays towards the hourly wage and the salon pays towards their hourly wage. The salon pays the majority, so it’s very small amount that the stylist puts in, and sometimes, you know, it’s also a length of time, so normally, a stylist doesn’t pay for their associate until the associate is actually producing for them. If the person is just shampooing for them, usually they’re not contributing, but once that person is doing colors, doing highlights, things like that, they begin to contribute. Our associates all make an hourly wage, but for any of the services that they do, the revenue or commission goes to the stylist that they work for.
Lori: We’re talking about associates as a whole when we think about this. You can kind of imagine salons that are not using associates at all, and people who are using them but maybe don’t have a full structured program – maybe it’s sort of kind of as you want or as you wish. What have you guys found as far as productivity and the amount of time that a service provider has when they work with an associate versus when they’re not working with an associate?
Corrie: At some point in your career, you’re going to get to the part where you just don’t have time anymore physically, you know, your book is maxed out. Then there are certain service buyers who say, “I’m fine right here. Like if all of my clients continue with me, I’m making this amount of money, I’m good, I don’t need to make any more.” And then you have other people who say, “I want to make more,” but the only way to do that is a second set of hands, literally. Either add more days to your schedule or bring on someone to work with you.
That’s kind of where the revenue changes and it depends on a person’s booking times, but the example I had to give was people that work on the half hour. If you bring an associate on and they do all of your retouches, which we call all of our colors, for every half hour, you could potentially have them doing six people that you never even touch until they get their haircut or their blow dry. That’s six retouches that you never would have gotten. So you can potentially double, if not triple, your revenue. We have some people who have three clients here at a time, two of which the associate is working with and one which they’re working with. As I mentioned earlier, we have stylists who never do color at all. Other than meeting the client and either mixing the color or guiding the associate or mixing the color, they’re only doing haircuts and blow dries all day while simultaneously, their associate is doing colors and retouches. So they went from doing five people to 10 people in the same amount of time with less work, because before they were doing five people double their services, now they’re doing 10 people and half the services. Productivity skyrocketed.
Honestly, if you don’t work with the associate, you just have to know that at some point, you’re going to be tapped out on what you can do unless you’re gonna work 24/7.
Lori: There used to be a world where people, and maybe some still do, are working like one-hour shifts back to back, filling their books all day long. Are your service providers still doing that or are they able to break that up a little bit?
Corrie: Both; I mean, yeah, people who work with associates, but they only want to work three days a week, so they work 12-hour days, and their associates work 12-hour days, and they are bringing in tons of money. Then we have people who, you know, they want to work five days a week, six hours, and they do seven people, and they’re, they’re cool.
So, it really depends on what people want to do, but I do think the ability of an associate gives you the option to not work crazy like that. You don’t have to work 12 hours. You can work a seven-hour shift and still do the same amount of people you used to do a 12-hour shift and not leave your wheelchair’s in the parking lot taking you home because your arms and legs are so exhausted.
It does free up the ability to have a much better schedule than you may have had to do before because you had to work so crazy to get all the people in.
Lori: And somebody who’s working 12 hours straight by themselves versus 12 hours with an associate that’s helping is a lot that workload is a lot different.
Corrie: Oh, absolutely.
Lori: I’m just thinking too, that takes a lot of trust, like the service providers have to have a lot of trust in their associate also, right? Because although they might be helping them to mix color or to oversee that. That still usually is their client, and the associate is working on their client and so that’s their name attached to it, really, right? Is that something that people in your song naturally have, or is that something that they’re developing? Is that something they work on together to build that trust with that person?
Corrie: So that’s a really good question because whenever we have somebody new to the associate program, a stylist’s first thought is, “Well, my clients only want me, you know, they only want to be with me,” which most of the time is true because they’re not used to anything different.
But if the stylist shows a level of trust in their associate, it’s their job to then pass that on to their client. To say, “I really trust Mary to be my associate. You know, she’s my second set of hands. She knows how I do things, you know, and I wouldn’t want to make anything about your experience less than it was before, you know, so that’s why I trust Mary to do the same thing that, you know, I have done.”
But if a stylist is constantly lurking when an associate is doing something or questioning, “Did you do it right?” Then you’re going to immediately make your guests feel like, “This person doesn’t know what they’re doing. Why are they touching my hair? Why am I paying so much money for this person to do something, and I’m, you know, not even seeing the stylist?”
So there has to be a strong connection between the associate and the stylist and the stylist taking the lead and saying, “I believe in this person; they can do what they need to do. I’m also right over here if you need me, or if they have any questions, they know that they can stop and come ask me.”
But then we also have stylists who have worked with associates for 10 years. So, it’s nothing new for them. If a client’s booking with them, you’re going to see their associate, and that’s just the way it works. And I think a lot of clients are used to that now, you know, they, especially with us, because they know that they’re gonna come and see a new associate. I mean, they’re going to see an associate when they come in. It’s always hard when it’s a new associate. They’ve fallen in love with someone, and they spent too with this person, and then somebody new comes in. But again, it’s just reiterating like, “This is my new person; the other person did so well that now they’re moving on, and this person is gonna do the same for you.”
It’s the same way you instill your client’s trust in you about what you’re gonna do with their hair and what products they need. It’s that this person is your teammate and that together, you’re gonna give them what they need. And maybe even better, because, you know, if you’re super busy and you’re working by yourself, chances are every appointment is not your 100%, because by six o’clock at night, if you’ve been working since 8 a.m., you’re a little tired.
But if you’ve been working since eight and there are two of you, there’s a little bit more effort going into those people’s appointments because two people are dividing the load versus one person who’s running themselves ragged.
It’s not like quickly getting them shampooed and getting them back in the chair. We have time with the associate to give them a really nice shampoo; they’re enjoying that experience. Most of the time, they don’t even want the stylist anymore. They’re like, “Suzie’s not here to do my shampoo?” Are you kidding me? Like, you know, they fall in love with the associate just as much as the stylist, which even happens when the associate goes on the floor.
Sometimes, those people follow the associate because they’ve had such a great experience, and it frees that stylist up to new clients. And clients who want to pay the prices that they have because obviously shows prices are not going to be the same as a stylist. But we’re always saying, “You want to get the people who want to pay for you. So if they’re willing to go to somebody less, then that means somebody who wants to pay more is going to fill that share in, you know, very quickly.”
Lori: I just touched on that experience a little bit for the customer because, as a customer, sometimes there might be a fear around them having their time divided or feeling like they’re paying for the service provider, but the associate is doing it. But when you can still provide a really great experience for them, like you’re right, the shampoo is the most important part of the service, right?
So when that service helps to overcome whatever they may be feeling about whatever, and knowing that this is a partnership and this person is doing this and this person is doing that, but overall they feel and leave feeling amazing. I think it makes up for any fear that might be had.
Corrie: Yeah, I agree with that 100%.
Lori: We kind of talked a little bit about somebody working with an associate versus not working with them. When it comes to the revenue piece of that, with them having more time to book more services or see more clients when they are working with associates, what kind of impact are you noticing that has on the revenue that they’re bringing in?
Corrie: At the end of the year, we always (identify) our top 10 revenue producers. We try and find out who produced the most in the company, and I just did that for 2024, every single person in the top 10 is somebody who works with an associate. So in our company, is about probably like at least 75 to 80 hairdressers. We have other departments, but all of those out of 80 hairdressers, the top 10 producers across the company, are all people who work with associates. That can easily show you that your money can be vastly increased by working with an associate. Two of the people in the top 10 are associates who worked for us and have gone through the program within the last 10 years.
The number one person in our company started as an associate at the same time I started with the company, so about 15 years ago, he was an assistant. He’s now the number one revenue producer in the entire company and has been for a couple of years. He is worlds above some of the other people in the top 10; his numbers are astonishing. The way he works is that he and his associate do everything together, and they book on the half-hour, but he creates a very clear relationship with his associate and with his clients, and now he’s number one in the company.
So the success of an associate program is not only about how successful the stylist is that they work with, but how successful the associate is who goes through the program and then becomes a stylist for you.
You know, Randy always says he never sees a bad associate become a good hairstylist. So it works in tandem. If you’re successful working with your associate, your associate will then go on to be successful as well.
So, really, you can double, if not triple, your revenue working with an associate, depending upon what you allow them to do. So we do have certain people who have an associate where they associate. Really just does shampoo stuff for them, and they’re okay with that. But it still brings some revenue because it shortens their haircut times, it shortens their blow dry time, so they’re still filling in more people because they’re not worrying about the shampoo process.
Then, we have people who let their associates do colors. A color takes at least half an hour to 45 minutes a day, plus processing time. So, you’re giving your book another two to three, if not four, hours. If you have your associate doing highlights, colors, and everything, you’re literally almost opening your entire shift because they’re doing a whole set of services, and you’re doing a whole set of services.
So what you used to make, you know, you’re now making double because one person’s doing half the load. Really, the revenue other than the fact that when you and your associate are no longer fully booked, you know, that would be where you cap out, but that takes a long time for two people to cap out of their availability. So, I would say the revenue increase is kind of endless of what it could be.
Lori: Do you ever see anybody start working with multiple associates?
Corrie: In my time with the company only once have I seen that. That can get a little confusing when it comes to booking purposes, like technically it can get confusing. And also it’s a little overwhelming for guests as well to have two people coming at them, then the third person, it can be a little overwhelming. So we’ve never really had the need for that other than one time. I’m sure it’s possible, and based on the numbers I was just talking about with that one person, I think he will eventually have two associates, but now that hasn’t been something that we’ve really had to explore yet.
Lori: And he, this is your number one producer who started as an associate, so he’s seen the program all the way through, plus he’s seen the enhancements, I guess you’d say, over the years, right? Because it’s grown and changed a little bit. Do you think that he is where he’s at now today because of who he is, who like personality traits that he has, or how he’s able to connect with people? Like, do you think he has something different or do you think he’s just learned to master the program that you have? or a combination?
Corrie: I think it’s definitely a combination. I mean, I think there are two different types of people who work in salons. There are people who have a business mindset about it and the people who come to work and do their jobs. You know, like there are styles who will come up, they’ll look at their totals and say, okay, I need to add on three highlights to this week to make the money I need to make.
And then I’ll have a stylist text me and say, “Hey, what do I charge for my highlights?” And they’ve been on the floor six years. He’s the kind of person who knows everything that’s happening in his book at all times. He’s extremely involved. Any education opportunity, he’s there. He went through the education program, now he’s part of the education program. We do professional photo shoots every year, and he’s done every single one in the last 15 years. You know, like he’s reading the emails that the company sends. He’s part of the employee Facebook. He’s embracing all the training and all the things that we do, he’s put his whole self into it and has goals. So if you have both, if you have a great education and you have personal drive, then really there are no limits.
I look at the numbers, and I’m shocked. I’m like, “What I’m, what am I doing wrong? I need to get out there and start doing some hair.” So I think it’s both. I mean, if you’re a salon that’s just learning to do education, that’s the great start. As long as you have people that want it then together you’ll create a better program. You can see people who don’t value education, and they don’t come. They don’t do those kinds of things, and that kind of bleeds through every part of it. They get busy to a certain level, and then they’re just okay with that, and that’s fine. For everyone it’s not a huge passion thing, but the more passionate about it and the more you give into it, the more it gives back to you.
Lori: I bet that this person creates really good hairstylists, like the people who are his associates. I bet they grow to be really great hairstylists because he’s instilling these behaviors and ways of being invested not only in his own business but in the company and what you guys are doing. Those people pick up on that, and I bet he creates really good people.
Corrie: Absolutely. I think that one of the key things he does is, you know, knowing his worth. His prices are significantly higher than most of the other stylists in our area. We’re in Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania, which is where he works. It’s about 25-30 minutes out of Philadelphia. But we’re not, we’re not New York, we’re not LA, but he’s charging prices that people in New York or Los Angeles would pay in a rural Pennsylvania area. When his associates go on the floor, they’re not afraid to start as a level two. They want their highlights to be $20 or $30 more because they’ve worked with somebody who’s able to do that, and they feel confident to do the same. So they move up on the ranks pretty quickly because they have that same trajectory of, “I can get where he is in 10 years, then life is going to be smooth sailing.”
Lori: Yeah, we’ve learned over the years that having that small-town mindset is a trap, and if you have that mentality, it traps you to like small business. But if you can break out of that, which sounds like he has, you’re sort of endless on what you can do and the growth that you can have and the prices that you can charge. People will pay them, and he’s showing us that they can do that. Something else that’s relevant in not just our industry but the world today is work-life balance and harmony and all of those other key trigger words that we know of and balance. So instead of work-life balance, I want to talk about work-work balance. We can talk about how people will work 12-hour days, three days a week, so that they can have those other days off for themselves, which is amazing.
How do you see people having that work-work balance by having an associate in the salon versus not having an associate in the salon?
Corrie: They give you the ability to actually eat lunch, to take a break, which sounds funny, but I’m sure any hairdressers on the call have probably worked for weeks and not eaten. (Having an associate) gives that ability. Also, most of our associates, if not all, are the person who goes up and greets a client, get their coats, take them back, and get them set up. It gives a little emotional break because we know that when you have someone behind the chair, it’s not just doing their hair. It’s hearing all the things going on in their life. It’s talking them through things. That five minutes of, “Okay, let me regroup after my last client while my associate gets that person set up. Let me get backstage, take a moment, and debrief from whatever the last appointment was.” It gives you those moments of respite, which I think are really important.
Also, even though the associate is the one learning, sometimes the associate is teaching the stylist as well. It’s, “I just watched something new on YouTube about Balayage.” They’re building each other up. It creates a sense of friendship. I mean, we have associates whose stylists buy some elaborate Christmas presents, things like that, because they’ve created this really strong relationship. So it becomes not just a, work relationship, but a partnership that then is they’re building each other throughout throughout the day.
So maybe they’re still physically busy, but it’s, “Hey, I got you.” Emotionally, they’re helping each other; they’re bringing each other down from the rafters. “This day is so stressful.” “Okay, let’s take a minute in the back in the color room and, let’s work through this.”
I think having that person who’s with you, who’s helping guide you, it also helps with that, that work-work balance of just being stressed all by yourself. It can do both; now you have time to carve out of your day for lunch, and that person’s still working, and you’re still making money.
Some people, if their associate does all their colors, might come into work and be sitting for three hours because they have no haircuts, but they’re sitting there just making money. So that’s a nice work-work balance.
Lori: Yeah, it is, and let me give you a perspective from the opposite side, which I’m sure you’ve seen how stressful it is for the service provider when they come to work and find out, oh my gosh, my associate called in sick for the day. And they’re like, “Oh my gosh!” It’s a totally different feeling of that work-work balance like that work, that balance sort of goes away. So that’s really how I inherited the associate or the impact that they have on that relationship or that person’s day and their productivity.
Because now without that person, they are scrambling and they’re behind and they’re borrowing associates and they’re like running behind, you know, they’re running late, and they’re not able to give that full time and attention to people. So having that and that balance that they have and, you know, like you said, that yin yang kind of working relationship is, is important.
You mentioned the technical side of this a little bit when we said do we work with multiple associates. Of course, you use Aura in the salon, and we appreciate that. Can we talk about sort of what that looks like for somebody who might not have that idea of how does somebody, how do you track that in Aura? What does it look like on the schedule? How do people book appointments? Does Currie offer online booking, and what does that look like?
Corrie: So we worked with another software for maybe 20-25 years, and it was not a cloud-based system. It was just on a desktop system. We were making it work, but it just wasn’t working anymore, and we needed to go to a cloud-based system. We needed a program (software) that would help us book the same way with associates that we always had done. When that software went to their own cloud-based system, they didn’t take that part of their business with them, which we needed. So we were searching for a company that could do that for us and Aura worked with us to create our program.
What makes our program different is that associate is specifically designed for one person. They’re not floating; they’re not coming in the morning, and somebody’s saying,” Oh, Mary, you’re with Bob today.” Like Mary and Bob are always together. That’s how we book them. So when you’re looking at your calendar, Mary is the stylist. Bob’s right next to her and then you can easily see that they’re working together. So the key factor that we do to make it easy for us is we incorporate services that are listed just as associate services.
With our list of services, say we have a retouch, which is an all over color. We also have literally it’s the money sign, money sign retouch, and any money sign service is an associate only service. So we know automatically when you book that, you’re booking that with an associate. And now that would be something that would only be done from my side, like not online booking, like somebody in the salon is using that. And so that would guarantee that goes with an associate. The importance of having both is that like you said, if your associate is out sick, you want to make sure you still have the regular retouch option so the stylist can still do it. And you’re going to have clients that are going to say, “Well, I only want Mary to do it.” So you still have that ability, but you have a way to divide both.
Another way that we make it very obvious for us is that we have colors on the books. So when a service is assigned to an associate, a little line goes next to it that’s a certain color. When a service is assigned to a stylist, a little line is next to it that is a certain color and then the same with both. So we can easily look at our schedule and say, “Okay, Mary and Bob are doing this together. Mary’s doing this, Bob’s doing this.” We do have services that people that work together simultaneously. and then all of our booking goes on the stylist’s book. Nothing is put in the associate’s book. We’ve always done it that way. The only thing we see on the associate’s book would be if they’re coming in late, running late, or things like that, and anything that the associate does is revenue for the stylist that they work with. So, an associate is paid hourly, and the stylist is paid a commission on the services that are done.
The most important thing for us was the ease of online booking. We do a huge amount of online booking, 30% of our appointments are done online. How ever we book in the salon, it’s important a guest could book the same. So, a guest doesn’t have to go online to our website and say, “I know Bob is Mary’s assistant, so I need to book a money retouch with Bob.” We have it set that all of Mary’s retouches online book with Bob automatically, and this person doesn’t have to know that, and they won’t know that. If it’s a new client, you know, they’re just automatically booking, and it’s going correctly, and we needed that. When we were searching for new software, some people said, “We can’t do it that way. People can book online, and then you can fix it the way it needs to be,” which there’s no way when we have 30% of your bookings booking online, you can’t go in and then change everything.
So, I would say when you’re building an associate program, you have to make sure that your online booking mirrors the booking within your salon, and you want to make it as easy as possible for guests.
Guests shouldn’t have to know who does what, they just want to book with Mary, see Mary, and that it’s booked correctly. So that is how we keep it as organized as possible.
The nice thing about what we set up with Aura is that, say, an associate is out sick, we have the easy ability to assign a new associate to that person right away, so they’re not losing out on the associate-only services. That’s really important because if that person doesn’t have any stylist colors available and their assistants are out sick, then they’re not able to technically book, so you have to have that is really important.
It sounds complicated, and it is a little complicated. We went with a lot of different people (software companies) who said it was too complicated to do it for us. We were so happy to meet Aura and create it. It’s really important to know exactly what your day looks like, and if you have floating associates or it’s not booked correctly, then you really can’t know what you’re going to make or what you potentially could make this way it’s very clear what’s available, what’s not, and how to make maximize the day.
Lori: With the color coding thing, everything is very visually clear so that you can read it and see it, but at a glance, you can look at it and see it there. It’s hard enough to teach your clients how to book online; could you imagine if you had to teach them, like money sign this, that or like they would never do it, it would be a nightmare. So it works in this way where they can book the same service as is and it automatically assigns to the correct people, which is really great.
Corrie: And I would say another hint for online booking. It’s more of a headache for me, but sometimes the things that are better for the company are a headache for behind the scenes. But for online booking it is to combine your services. We have a color and a blow dry, and people can’t just book a color. They can’t just book a highlight. They have to book highlights with a haircut or a color with the blow dry because 90% of people are going to want their hair blown dry. They’re going to want their haircut.
But also, 70% of people are not going to think, “Oh, I need to add the blow dryer, I need to add a haircut.” They come in expecting something that they’re not going to get because they didn’t book it. Making it as easy as possible for people who are doing your online booking has really, really helped us because making your descriptions gives you the ability to describe things. Make it as clear as possible; retouches color all over your entire head. I mean, that sounds silly, but it really helps people understand what they’re booking for and booking mistakes or money mistakes, and If you’re anybody in the business knows at this point in the business, any money mistake is hurtful, so you want to eliminate money mistakes as much as possible.
Lori: Definitely. Speaking of that money and tracking, we also have the reporting in Aura. What reports are crucial for you guys to track productivity and revenue for so for people with associates and without? Also, for your associates. What are some of the key reports and things that you guys use to track and monitor the business?
Corrie: I use mostly the retail-to-service report. That one’s really great because it shows you everything, you know, and broken down. So you know how much you’re doing in services, how much you’re doing in retail, what the combined look at it is, is because all of those things are really important. Like, somebody can be great at retail, but they’re struggling at services, and that’s where you need to focus. If somebody is really great at services, but the retail is not good, then you need to focus there. So, having that breakdown is really important. And, and we’re, we always are focusing on increasing people’s retail sales. So having that very obvious is very important. And, it’s great with the sales report that breaks down people’s actual services and what they’re doing.
So then when you have a meeting, you can say, “Hey, you’re doing like tons of highlights, but you’re not really doing a lot of colors,” or in the opposite. You know, a lot of people are comfortable doing color, but they’re nervous about upgrading their client to a highlight. If you add six highlights to your day and you let your associate do more of your colors, then you could double your money.
Maybe you’re still doing the highlights, but your associate’s doing four more colors, you know, you could see a bump of a couple hundred a month. A couple $100 a month is a couple $1000 a year. So, it’s just small tweaks. So, any report that shows the specificity of what you’re doing versus what you could be doing helps us launch.
One of the best things about Aura is the dashboard that the employees themselves can see. They’re really aware now of how much they’re making, how much they need to make. They know their retail per ticket average, they know their pre-booking average, which before, unless they came to us and asked about it, they were totally unaware of that. So it puts more power back in their hands of what they’re able to do and what they need to know because it’s right there. And they can say, “Oh, wow, I need to really step up in this area.” or, “Wow, I’m really crushing my goals this month!”. It’s right there, and it’s exciting for them because they can see day by day: “Oh man, look how, look how close I am to this goal.”
Working with an associate, they can immediately see the difference just in their revenue and their changes because it’s opening up even just a couple of gaps throughout the week. A couple extra retouches maybe $35 a client or something like that, after commission. But 10 of those a week is $350. I mean, there’s a car payment.
Lori: Very true, absolutely. Do the do the service providers and the associates because you talked about coaching or meeting with them, so I assume you’re doing like monthly coaching meetings with everybody. Are you or the managers or how like what does that look like? Do you or the service providers meet or coach with the associates? Is there any coaching between them?
Corrie: On a day to day basis, we’re expecting that they’re doing that. The associates have class every Monday and so they have a very close relationship with the director of education, who’s really keeping an eye on their technical skills, their confidence, their levels behind that. And then they’re working one on one on tandem with their stylist every day, so their stylist who do really great -they have like a check-in” Okay, let’s check in about this week. These are things that were good; these are things we need to work on, you know, maybe, you know, you weren’t as welcoming to my clients as they need you to be, or hey, when you were shampooing, there was a lot of color left,” those are kind of the things that we kind of hear with them.
There’s not a lot of managers sitting down with those two people together unless more so there’s an issue, or there is a, “Hey, I really think this person is ready to go on the floor. Can you start to look for somebody new for me?” Then it’s a meeting between the three of us: “Okay, do you feel ready?” “Yeah, I’m ready.” “Okay, you’re ready, so let’s plan. In six weeks, you know that you’re doing this.”
So I would say that’s more so when those kind of situations happen, but the more interaction you can have with those people, the better it can be. You know, we have a really big company, so it’s not easy to have meetings like that as often as a smaller company could. But I think we’ve developed such a strong educational base that those aren’t as necessary as they would have been 10 years ago with the program.
Lori: What I’ve been hearing you say this whole time, Corrie, is that the whole thing is around education. You said that Randy’s core beliefs are around ongoing education also. So, for anybody that’s watching and thinking maybe, “I want a double and triple revenue in my business too!” But that education and coaching and mentoring the team has to be like at its core, right? Because, if you don’t care about some of those things, it probably won’t go as well, where that was really the reason or the why behind starting all of this, and of course, the extra revenue has probably had great benefits, right?
But it’s really about developing and growing more people, and that’s how you’ve been able to grow and develop the team through all of your locations is that constant cycle of going through. So, really considering for people if if they’re looking to enhance their associate programs, or go back to those roots of why and what they’re doing. and if you’re looking to put it one in place, starting with education and what you’re offering and and why you have this program. What would be some advice that you have, like if you guys were gonna be starting fresh with your associate program or if you’re starting one from scratch, what would be your keywords of advice for people, or what would be something that you would do differently?
Corrie: So I would say if you’re looking to start a successful associate program, you have to think about it in two ways. One, how successful it’s going to be for your team that exists currently and what it can do for them, and also what success it’s going to do for the people that you’re looking to hire. Because you don’t just want to hire people just to fix the problems that exist. You want to create greater people who fill in the gaps or are ready to step right in. So, it’s enhancing your current revenue stream and creating a new revenue stream, and I don’t want that to sound like that. I know we’re talking about people, but if you’re in this business, then people are the thing that you’re selling. So you have to make sure that when you’re creating this program, it’s based around making all the people involved the best that they can be.
So education is at the core of that, and I wanted to point out that education for us is for all departments, you know, like our skincare is receiving education, nails receiving education, the front desk is receiving education. So, you know, it’s important to have that culture throughout your entire location.
I would say when you’re developing an associate program, be willing to be flexible with the people that you hire on timelines. Make sure that if you have somebody who’s amazing and they’ve only been assisting six months, but they have people who want to see them, they have people that want to book with them, don’t hold them back because they’re going to leave. If you hold them back because someone else is going to let them shine.
You have to be careful because you can’t take an associate from a stylist who is making a lot of money and then leave them empty-handed. You have to make sure that that transition is done smoothly, but making sure you’re focusing on the success of both people and realizing that they both have value to the company is really important. And I would say just not to get overwhelmed by the process, because sometimes an associate and a stylist, it just doesn’t work out. It’s just not the right fit and there is just no resolving it, but that’s just part of life, and you just have to look at the situation and say, “Okay, how can we make it better next time? Do we need to make sure that the stylist is involved with hiring, so it’s somebody that goes with them?” That’s not something we do, but it could be something that is successful for other people. Randy has always had a gut (feeling). He knows who he wants to hire and which stylist they go with, and it almost always works, but you have to figure out what works for your climate and your culture.
I would say the transition period is really important. Don’t take someone from being an associate, put them right on the floor because they’re not going to be busy right away. They’re gonna get discouraged because they’re used to having a lot of gratuities from working with someone who’s really busy, and they’re gonna immediately feel like, “Oh, I made a mistake; I should just go backward.” So, you know, let them ease onto the floor. It’s good for them, it’s good for you, and it’s good for the company because if they have five or six clients when they go on the floor, that gives them a lot more confidence in going on the floor, and nobody’s calling them, and they have two weeks of doing nothing, that’s going to be really discouraging. And it’s not going to be cost-effective for you. Like, you don’t want to suddenly be taking on the full role of their. The way we work is hourly, commission people earn commission once they’ve doubled their hourly. So, if they go out on the floor, we’re fully paying for them. And if they do nothing for three weeks, that’s not beneficial for anybody. Making sure that they’re easily transitioning into the process for everyone’s success is important.
Lori: And at that point, you’ve assigned them a chair to be in, and that chair is not producing any revenue also if that’s the case. So yeah, very good point. Okay, I have some questions. We have from Lee Ann: “How did the associates share in the general salon maintenance duties like sweeping laundry, etc. or are they dedicated to just one stylist or the whole salon?”
Corrie: Those are assistant duties, you know, that was what the assistant part of things, so laundry, cleaning, things like that. Sometimes there is an imbalance. I’m gonna be honest. If you work with the busiest stylist and salon in your book every half hour, you’re doing less than somebody whose associate is only shampooing for them. So, you know, sometimes. That creates tension between associates: “So and so always gets to do color all day, and I’m over here sweeping.” So that is something you have to, as a manager, really help everybody understand that we all have our times where we’re gonna be doing certain things. But at the end of the day, literally, at the end of the day, everyone has something they need to do before they leave.
So we have a closing duty sheet, you know, everyone’s like a restaurant like you have your closing duty, but it’s assigned according to how busy they are. We’re not going to give Suzie, who’s been doing colors every half hour. She’s not in charge of sleeping the whole salon, maybe she’s just wiping bowls before she leaves. But, you know, Meredith, who’s only done one thing, and her stylist wasn’t that busy, then she’s in charge of making the dispensary clean. But, you know, when they’re when they’re not busy helping their style, so they’re assigned to, they should be helping everybody. So they should be looking around, you know, who else needs to be helped. If somebody comes in and says, can you do a shampoo? They’re taught that if it’s not yes, it’s never no. It’s let me find someone who can do it for you. So, everybody works for everybody.
An important thing when you’re establishing an associate program is helping them realize although they work for the stylist, they work for the salon. So, if they’re sick, they’re calling the salon. If they’re running late, they’re calling the salon. The stylist isn’t saying, “Hey, you don’t have to come today,” or “Hey, you can leave or don’t have to do that.” That’s not the stylist role, so they work for the salon first, and that has to be really clear because if you don’t have those boundaries, then suddenly they’re just not showing up, and they’re like, “Oh, well, Suzie’s not here, so I’m not here.” And then it breaks down the whole system because, at the end of the day, they’re not always going to work with that stylist. They’re going to work for the salon, so they need to have that mentality from the gate.
Lori: That’s a good call out for sure. Carley asked about classes. She said they’re not doing classes currently. She’s interested in doing some, not really sure how to start. Is it instructed by you guys, or are you bringing in educators?
Corrie: So it’s both. So we have our head of education, which he teaches classes every week, and there are classes that he writes, and we have a program called GroupMe. It’s an app that they get notifications of when class is going to be, you know, because, you know, we do take weeks off or things like that.
Sometimes, it’s a virtual class, and they have to submit a poll every week that they’re coming or not coming. They get assignments through that. We’re also a Redken elite salon, so we’re really blessed to have a lot of Redken and L’Oreal education as well.
Redken comes to us once a year and does the certification programs for us in-house. Most people have to go to New York, but they come like last year we had 13 people certified in color. So for the last five years they’ve come to us, I believe, and we’ve had maybe over 30 people certified between Balayage cer finishing style, things like that. We have workshops throughout the year, like tomorrow, Chris Baran is coming to us, and we’re having a full company meeting where everybody is a part of it. It’s motivational so that it’s not focused just on stylists; it’s focused on everybody, and we do that about three or four times a year. Lindsay Olson is coming in March from Redken as well. So it’s a combination of both. But I think the most successful education is education that you can provide to your team from what you have to give. I mean, if you’re successful, then you have something to give.
Look around your salon and see who’s the best at updos. “Josie, can you teach a class this Monday about updos?” Bob is the best at precision cuts, so Bob is going to teach a class about precision cuts.
I think so often, people feel like you need these big-name people, which is great to have, but there are people all around your salon who are great at the things that they do. Most people want to teach to share their knowledge, and it takes a comfort level to get to that place, but standing up there with the people that you’re comfortable with, education doesn’t have to be as daunting as it seems like it needs to be. It’s just being clear about your goals and having expectations that what you provide is valuable and that they have to value it as well.
Lori: Great, thank you.
Leanna asked how long are they in the associate program, and I know we talked about this a little bit earlier on, so if you want to give a quick answer to that one.
Corrie: I would say most people go through the program in about one and a half years, but we have people who are anywhere from six months to three years, to some people who decide they want to stay an associate forever. Once they have tested out of associate classes, they don’t have to do that anymore, but there are some people who just stay as an associate doing color.
We don’t operate as a salon where we have colorists and stylists; everybody does both, but there are some people who want to stay in that role, so they would essentially be a colorist, but a majority of people are going through about a year to a year and a half.
Lori: I’d say you guys have had this program in place for so long that you’ve been able to really perfect it and know it to what’s right for your business, where then you can become a little bit more flexible with it, where it used to be two structured straight years and now it’s like one and a half, maybe six months, and it’s a little bit different. So, perfecting whatever program you have in place first would probably help.
Steve asked, “What about tips? Do they split tips? Do they share tips? What’s the story on tips?”
Corrie: All of our locations have a tip box wall. Basically, mailboxes, much like you would see in an apartment, and everyone has their names on them, and they have a key to them, and tipping is direct to them. There’s no sharing, and the salon is not involved in it at all. The stylist is responsible for tipping out their associate, and again, we don’t have any involvement in that.
We don’t say they have to do a certain amount or do a certain that’s between them, and then guests know to; we don’t tell them, but guests know that they should tip the associate as well. So they just go to the wall, have an envelope, put it in there, and that all the gratuities that they get are their own.
Lori: Last question from Lee Ann, “Do you have a mapped-out education plan? Is it shareable?”
Corrie: Oh yeah, it would definitely be shareable. Our Instagram is Currie Dayspa, and our director of education is producing some really amazing videos called for CurrieU, we call it, and he posted one today that’s in our stories. So elevated learning. You can see what we’re doing, and 100%, if you were interested in learning more, we could definitely do calls with our education.
I think something we’re looking forward to, myself, my owner, is at some point getting to the place where we are providing that kind of knowledge to other places, being coached on how to develop these kinds of programs for other salons and also for things like a website, like we have a really successful website which has 30,000 visitors a month. So how to create a website that does that as well.
Providing that kind of knowledge and coaching is something we would share because, you know, it’s successful for everybody, and education should be shared.
Lori: Okay, last question from Laurie, “How do you optimize bookings so that the columns are not cluttered and easy for your associate to follow?”
Corrie: This is something we’re still working on. So when we developed the program, we made sure that our stylists were getting notifications when people check in, so that’s important. We’re working with Aura to make sure that the associates get notifications as well because that would be a big hel,p and that’s something we’re working towards. One thing that we have done currently with the way our the allowances we have is that a stylist can only see their book, not everyone’s book, but we give the associates the ability to see the entire schedule for the day, everybody, so they’re aware of what’s happening throughout the whole salon, so that helps as well. Sometimes, if somebody books a lot of people with their associate, it can get a little crazy on the book to look at, but I think you just kind of get used to it, and you just have to be aware of what’s happening throughout your day.
A great thing that Aura did for us was create the check-in list, which really gives you another kind of tangible way of seeing who’s coming in when.
Lori: Last chance, so for people that do want to find you and see your website and social media, what is your website? What is the social media? What are your Facebook or Instagram handles that people can see the salon at?
Corrie: Our website is curriedayspa.com and Currie is spelled C U R R I E, Currie Dayspa, and I’m Corey from Currie, which just happened to be something. And then our Instagram is Currie Dayspa. I would say the most cohesive places to find us would be on our website and on our Instagram. That’s where we’re really active and having those has really elevated our business as well.
Lori: Perfect, thank you so much. Well, Corrie, this wraps up our day today, so I appreciate you bringing all of this information to all of these ones who are watching today. I know that you guys have a really successful associate program in the way that you specifically helped lead and manage this, so thank you for sharing all of this information with us and everybody else; thank you for joining and watching. and I hope that this was very insightful for everybody and that you guys are able to take back some information and build out a really great associate program.
Corrie: Thank you for having me.
Lori: Thanks, Corrie. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day. Bye.
