I am a successful nail technician because of the many people who have shared their expert advice with me. I believe, as I mentioned in other articles, that passing it on is one of the best ways to help others to become successful. I have been very fortunate to work with many great industry professionals. Through their teachings I have learned a lot and I’ve adapted most hair and industry terminology into nail tech terms that other nail technicians can relate to.

As I mentioned in my last article, my nail department is responsible for 32% of my salon’s total income. The consulting company I work for asked how and why my nail department is so productive compared to other nail departments.

We are doing a lot of things that other salons are not even aware of. First of all, consistency — we are all on the same page. We have standards for every service that we provide. It is hard to get to this point when you have several techs doing different procedures and using many different products.

One of the many thing I do when visiting your salon is to help everyone get on the same page. This means that we are all doing the same service regardless of who the service provider is. You need to have a consistent service no matter who is providing it. I work with techs to make services streamlined. This may seem like an easy task to do on your own, but I guarantee that there will be chaos, hurt feelings, resentment, and friction between the owners and nail technicians. Many salons have a hard time integrating the stylists that provide services with the nail techs. Most salons struggle with a difference in service when it is provided by a stylist who HAS to do nail services or when done by the nail tech who WANTS to do the service. Integrating stylists into the nail world can be challenging too. This is when it’s nice to bring in someone who is an expert in services standards. This process is painless and follows my step-by-step program to get results. These results get everyone comfortable with the services we are providing. I take the procedures you have and tweak them into sensational services. Many procedures will be taught through hands-on training and coaching.

Traveling all over the U.S. and Canada, I have accumulated many salon trends and principals that are effective. Before agreeing on the services standards we have to come up with an additional services menu. We spoke about add-on menus in "The Art of an Add-on" post. This is a menu that is custom designed by me with your staff. This tool is an effective way to offer additional services to our clients without feeling pushy or like we’re selling. It is a useful device in getting comfortable in offering add-on services and it will increase your additional service sales immediately.

This also seems like an easy task, however it too can be challenging and hard to come up with on your own. I have won many awards and contests for my add-on menus. I know, because I have tested these menus and I have developed a menu that works. My menu will get your clients to upgrade seven out of 10 times. It’s not just the menu, it’s the delivery of the menu and the customer service with the add-on services. I’ll coach you how to offer the menu, answer questions about the menu without rambling on, talking too much and losing the sale. These two things alone take half of the day. This a step-by-step and calculated training that will make your nail department cohesive, profitable, and money generating! Tune in next week for part two.

Coaching, mentoring and training in your salon with me, one more way to help you stand out above the rest and become the BEST!

For more information or how to set up your personalized in salon consulting day with me, e-mail me at jwilson@summitsalon.com.

— Jill