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SALON TODAY RECOMMENDS: Strategies for In-Salon Education & Minimizing Stylist Turnover

What kind of continuing education do you have at your salon? Are you inspiring your employees to reach their full potential? This month Aveda Means Business covers topics from in-salon education to minimizing stylist turnover. Learn some ways on how to attract stylists who are passionate about the business and who will fit in with your salon’s culture.

by Staff
May 4, 2018
SALON TODAY RECOMMENDS: Strategies for In-Salon Education & Minimizing Stylist Turnover


@vanessapalstylist cutting a precision bob hairstyle. 


Gila Rut San Diego Salon

3 min to read


What kind of continuing education do you have at your salon? Are you inspiring your employees to reach their full potential? This monthAveda Means Business covers topics from in-salon education to minimizing stylist turnover. Learn some ways on how to attract stylists who are passionate about the business and who will fit in with your salon’s culture.

Lessons Learned: Owners Share Strategies for In-Salon Education

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At Serious Business in January, a panel of owners gathered to discuss how education looks in each of their salons and how the created these successful programs. The panelists included Tim Belcher, owner of Whole Aveda Salon Spa Group in Tampa, Florida; Karie Bennett, owner of Atelier Salons in Salon Jose, California; Tatum Neill, creative director of Paris Parker Salons and co-founder of Elevate Hair; and Brandon Hensley, owner of Tangerine Salons in Dallas.

Owners understand that happy, educated stylists produce satisfied customers. Educating stylists to their full potential is very important to owner and is an expense they would not want to avoid. Read the panelists’ honest conversation about the inspiration behind and challenges with creating an education program that benefits the whole business.


The Power of Creative Connections

Ric Bowden, co-owner of two Avalon Salon locations in Dallas, Texas and Billy Keohane have a symbiotic relationship when it comes to business. Bowden needed a great creative director with leadership skills and Keohane was looking for a job in the Dallas area. After interviewing at a half dozen salons, Keohane knew Avalon was the place for him.

“I needed platform work and high economics to grow as a stylist,” he says. “And after going to an Aveda Academy, I had worked in a non-Aveda salon for 15 years. This gave me an opportunity to be back in the heart of the Aveda culture.” In addition, for Bowden, he finally found the person who fit his salon’s culture and was able to re-ignite a creative flame in his staff.  

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Minimize Stylist Turnover to Maximize Salon Profit

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Did you know that of all applicants to small businesses, 45 percent only plan to stay with their employer for two to three years? “There’s a high cost associated with hiring people,” he says. “And some of it is intangible, like your lost training investment, loss of productivity, or increased re-dos when a junior employee takes over for a seasoned stylist,” says Heath Smith, co-owner of Ruiz Salons in Austin, Texas. Smith has also done other research into the exact cost of losing employees. Find out what the number is and more.


10 Tips to Recruit from Beauty Schools

“Everyone has the same problem when it comes to recruiting,” says Susan Haise, owner of the Institute of Beauty and Wellness and six Neroli salons in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. “No matter what part of the country you’re in or what type of salon you run, it all starts with the population coming out of high school.”

In the past 10 years, Haise says the U.S. has been in a population dip, which means less graduates coming out of high school. Bu tin 2020, that is all going to change. Here are some tips on how to attract stylists who are passionate about the business and will fit in with your salon’s culture.

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Educator Turnover: Breaking the Cycle

In-house salon education programs hone stylists’ technical and soft skills to get them ready to hit your salon’s floor. But for owners, running in-salon classes, training trainers and keeping content consistent is another full-time job.

Soon after opening Gila Rut 25 years ago, owner Keri Davis-Duffy realized she couldn’t do it all, and her in-salon training program needed to be delegated to someone else. “I promoted stylists to trainers and sent them off to programs so they could learn how to do it,” she says. “I spent a lot of money educating educators over the years.” Davis-Duffy decided to create a plan not just for her new stylists but also her educators.

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