Mindfulness is a term that is being used more and more often as of late. But what really is it and can it make a difference in terms of the success of your spa? Below, we will explore mindfulness in further detail, providing you with some insight and advice on how you can use mindfulness to benefit your clients and bring extra revenue to your salon.
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Before we can take a look at how you can use mindfulness to your benefit in your salon, we need to explain what it is. Mindfulness is a term that is used to describe a situation whereby we are actively aware of ourselves and our thoughts in that precise moment, without any extra judgment. You can be mindful in many different parts of your life and many different moments, whether at work or simply relaxing at home. In your salon, it is wise to take the steps to practice mindfulness techniques so that you can help your team, your business, and ultimately, the amount of money you make.
The well-being of those you employ will have a direct impact on the performance of your spa or salon, which is why it is vital to look after everyone who works for you. If you think about it, your customers come to you so that they can relax and be pampered. They want a rejuvenating, serene, and revitalising experience. However, your staff members are not going to be able to provide this if they do not experience those emotions themselves. If they are stressed or burnt out, these feelings will be picked up on by your customers, meaning they won’t have the optimal experience they are expecting.
The first step is to make sure you have steps in place within your salon to safely identify stress and manage it. If you don’t, this will create barriers when it comes to the performance of your team. Stress can manifest itself in many different ways. For some people, they can become withdrawn. For others, they may start to forget things or they may have frequent headaches. By learning about the different signs of stress, you will be able to act quickly so that you can reduce them and restore harmony in your work environment. Use methods of mindfulness whenever you notice symptoms of stress starting to creep in.
There are a number of different techniques that you can use to help your team de-stress and de-compress. One simple yet effective method is to get your team to stop what they are doing for one moment. Close their eyes. Listen to their breathing. This will help them to concentrate on that precise moment in time, and they should feel the pressures lift off their shoulders and melt away. Often, what stresses us out so much is that we try to think and plan too far into the future. We worry about the many tasks we have to do and what we’re going to be facing that day, week, or even month. This can be too overwhelming for anyone, which is why it is important to remember to be in the moment. We would advise that you schedule time in between each treatment for your employees to take one minute for themselves to repeat the steps mentioned, taking a time to breathe and stay in the moment so that they can focus without feeling like everything is getting on top of them.
You may wonder how this is going to impact your bottom line and result in increased revenue. Well, when we are less stressed and more focused, we are much more efficient. Scheduling a few minutes in between each treatment may seem like wasting time, but it actually ensures a better service is provided and higher levels of quality are achieved. This will result in more repeat business and more referrals.
Plus, let’s not ignore the toll that stress can take on the mind and the body. If you allow your staff members to become overwhelmed and burnt out, it is only a matter of time before they come down with some sort of illness and require time off work. If you make it a habit to practice mindfulness within your salon, you will be able to ensure that sicknesses and absences are kept to a minimum, which is critical when optimising your revenue.
One thing that really gets in the way of a mindful environment is clutter. After all, it can be virtually impossible to concentrate on the task at hand when you’re constantly having to look for tools, or worry about where your new products are going to be kept. Decluttering means less distraction to both clients and staff, allowing for a more relaxing environment.
All too often, salon marketing is done when salon owners get a minute to themselves. They may share an update between appointments, or perhaps quickly post a new offer while on lunch. However, tacking your marketing mindfully will allow you to properly focus on your brand message. Scheduling in some time to concentrate on your marketing means you’ll be fully focused on it. This means you might be able to hone in on some insights that might have passed you by when marketing ‘off the cuff’. Take some time to read the interactions you’ve had with clients and potential clients on social media, and keep note of common interactions. You can use this knowledge, gained mindfully, to better target your market and improve your revenue too.
In any business dynamic, the importance of good communication cannot be underestimated, whether communicating with each other or communicating with customers. It goes without saying that a clear mind can make a massive difference in terms of communicating and ensuring that everyone is on the same page, working together in an efficient manner.
There are a number of different mindfulness techniques that focus on communication and can assist with this. For instance, whenever you have a team meeting, you could ask your team members to remain silent for the first two minutes. This is beneficial because it gives everyone time to arrive from an emotional perspective, ensuring they have an opportunity to think before they speak, which leads to a much more effective and harmonious meeting.
You can also use this activity at the end of the meeting. This gives everyone a moment to breathe, digest what has happened during the meeting, and get themselves in the best possible frame of mind for the workday ahead.
These little activities can make a massive difference when it comes to the way that your salon employees communicate with customers as well, and of course, this can have a direct influence on the tips you receive and the revenue you make.
Aside from the points that we have mentioned so far, did you know that you can also use mindfulness to motivate your team? While mindfulness is critical in terms of stress reduction, do not ignore the role it can play in enthusiasm and motivation. It helps to create a clear mind so that your workers feel excited about their day in the salon.
There are a number of different mindfulness techniques that you can use in your spa or salon to assist with this. One of the activities that we encourage is getting your workers to concentrate on the feel, colour, and details of someone’s hair when they are washing it (or adapt this to suit whatever sort of service is being provided). No matter the situation, this simple task is beneficial in terms of clearing the therapist or hairdresser’s mind and motivating them to keep on going throughout the day, keeping their productivity levels as high as possible.
