Knowing how and where to start with introducing your staff to targets can be really overwhelming. Staff may feel pressured by the thought of them, which can lead to disgruntled, stressed or unsatisfied team members.
We understand how daunting introducing targets can be for you as a business owner, or manager, so we’ve compiled our top tips on ensuring staff targets are introduced effectively for optimal results in your salon, spa, or clinic.
This short guide covers everything you’ll need to know about initiating targets to your team in a way that inspires and encourages them to perform to the best of their ability. We’ll also cover the best ways to track and monitor the progress of your team, and how to reward them for their success.
Introducing targets to your team
It’s important to be thoughtful about the way you introduce targets to your team, as this can ultimately determine how your team approaches their targets, and therefore the success of targets in your business.
The targets you set should inspire your team and also be attainable – targets that are set too high can make staff feel stressed and out of their depth.
Here are our five top tips for introducing retail targets to your team:
1. Communicate your ‘why’
As a leader, it’s your role to explain to your team why you’re introducing targets, how they’ll work, and what the next steps in the process will be.
Don’t be afraid to share more detail with your team about the way targets are set. This makes it personal for them, and may inspire the team to approach targets in a positive manner.
2. Choose your time carefully
Introduce targets when your team is in a good place, and when your staff members are likely to be confident in hitting their targets. It’s a good idea to inform the team as whole when first bringing targets into your business to minimise any confusion, and so staff don’t feel singled out.
3. Upskill your staff
It’s important to nurture, train and encourage your team not only so they can grow in skill and confidence, but so they feel confident in reaching their targets.
This can also be a good segue into increasing targets in the future if you’re offering your team the skillset to upsell with their clients.
4. Be realistic
Keep targets achievable and realistic, and break them down into manageable, bite sized pieces to avoid your staff feeling overwhelmed. The more your staff achieve their targets, the more motivated they will be to continue striving for future targets!
5. Consider waterfall targets
The idea of waterfall targets is to slowly increase the individual targets of your staff over a period of time, to eventually reach the target you actually want them to achieve. This approach is better for staff morale as it reduces the fear of missing targets while they’re gaining the skill of achieving them.
Let your staff know this is what they’re required to achieve, but motivate them with the idea that they also have the opportunity to exceed it – and possibly be further rewarded for it.
Keep in touch with your team’s progress
Targets will be most effective if they’re continuously being monitored and tracked, so it’s important that you understand how you’ll achieve this before introducing targets to your team.
Having the ability to successfully monitor targets on a real time basis will give you and your team a clear understanding of exactly what goals are expected, and monitoring the progress of staff targets will also give you the insight required to be able to support your team to reach their goals.
Choose the right tools to keep track of targets
Dedicated salon, spa and clinic software like Kitomba can take the admin out of sales targets for staff, and save time for yourself or your manager. In just a few minutes, you can set targets for a range of key performance indicators (KPI’s) for each of your staff members (or the business as a whole!), and their progress will be automatically updated based on appointments and sales made through the programme.
This also allows you to amend and update targets as often as necessary, helpful for providing that extra motivation, and perfect if you’re using the aforementioned ‘waterfall targets’.
With Kitomba Targets you can not only set and monitor targets for both your staff individually and your business, you can also limit the access each staff member has so they can see only their own personal targets.
Once your targets are set up in Kitomba, you have the ability to see how you’re likely to perform for the target period based on future bookings. You can view Kitomba’s predictions (using performance history) of your sales to determine if you’ll reach your target, and if Kitomba sees this isn’t likely, you’ll receive advice on how much extra per appointment you need in order to reach your goal. Passing this knowledge on to your team provides extra motivation for your staff, and can help them determine what, if anything, extra they might need to do in order to achieve them.
See more about setting targets using Kitomba.
Schedule regular meetings with your staff
When analysing the progress of your staff and whether they’re on track to achieving their targets, it’s important to hold regular meetings to chat about targets with your team, either one-on-one or as a team. This will help to inspire your team and keep them on track for success.
Determine if team or individual meetings are more suitable – this may be dependent on whether your staff have a combined team goal, or individual targets.
If targets have been reached, take the time to congratulate your staff and consider increasing their targets for the next period. If a target isn’t achieved, take the time to discuss why it hasn’t happened, and talk through potential strategies to ensure the target is achieved next time.
Reward achievement for hitting targets
Determine if team or individual meetings are more suitable.
Offering a reward to your staff for achieving their targets increases motivation, drives performance and celebrates their success. This can be a great incentive to get your team on-board with targets to drive revenue and inspire your team.
When choosing the right reward for your team hitting their targets, there are a few things to consider. Think about what works best for your business, what drives and motivates your staff, and how you might reward individual targets vs team targets.
There are a number of ways to reward your team, including:
- Commission: Consider setting up a commission basis for your staff on top of their regular pay – this involves paying out a percentage of their service or retail revenue.
- Bonus: A payment, or prize for reaching their target. You could also agree to an additional payment for overachieving targets. This doesn’t necessarily need to be a cash bonus, or cost a huge amount. A voucher, some product, or an experience might be more appropriate for your team.
See more about how to incentivise your team targets.
Setting targets for your salon, spa or clinic
Now that you know how to introduce targets to your team, and how best to monitor them it’s time to set your goals!
How you set targets for both your business and team will depend on a lot of factors. Think about areas of your business you’d like to improve, what motivates your staff, and what you could increase. There may be some easily reached targets you could start with before you factor in more complex goals. Read our blog for more info about how to set targets in your salon, spa, or clinic.
For step-by-step information on how to set up Kitomba Targets, check out our Targets support guide, or contact our support team. If you’re not yet a Kitomba customer, contact us now for a free demo of our software, or find out more about our Targets feature and it can help you grow your business here.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on 12 Oct 2020 and was updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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Do 1st hear hairdressing apprentices have KPI ?
Hi Kiki,
Thanks for your comment.
There is no reason why they couldn’t! As part of our Targets feature you have the ability to set KPI’s for any staff member available on the calendar. We’d just recommend ensuring their personal targets fit with their capabilities, so they’re more attainable.
Hope this helps!