Passion: Strong and barely controllable emotions

Sally comes into the Salon. She has really dry skin on her feet.
You place her in the foot bath, perform the service and share with her the products you have to help her with her dry skin.

In essence, you’ve sold her a product

When you have true Passion, it becomes more than that.

Sally comes into the Salon. She has really dry skin on her feet.
Before you place her in the foot bath, you perform a client consultation. You visually look at the skin on her feet. You ask her about medications, lifestyle and all the things that you know Professionally could be causing the dry skin on her feet.

In essence, you are Educating her. From that you sell the product.

The difference is incredibly stunning. There is an absolute difference between someone who is doing their job, compared to someone who has real Passion for what they do.

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

The example of my husband and his job is another perfect example. My husband takes the time to help is clients, help his fellow co-workers. Whereas there are many drivers who just do what they have to do. Deliver boxes, reap the benefits and get a paycheck.

As Passion is defined,
Think about how you are coming across to your clients. Today we left for a weekend trip. We sat at the airport bar to order breakfast. The tender was super busy. She was also super unhappy. Or, so it appeared.

In my opinion, she served the clients, but she wasn’t Passionate about it. In fact, i felt regardless of the fact we told her upfront we were on limited time, she didn’t go out of her way to accommodate. We actually got to the point where we told her we either had to cancel our order or take it with us. This was after we saw may people being served who came in after us. I was not a happy camper.

My point is, if it gets to the point where your clients want to do your job….then you shouldn’t be doing your job. It’s time to move on. I sat there thinking how much fun it would be to “have a happy face” behind the bar. Meeting the different people, being super busy (thinking money) and being proficient and attentive enough to the clients needs. I wanted to do her job.  

I may be repeating myself in all the above examples, but I recommend we all take that moment of “pause” and re-evaluate our attitude. Do you need an attitude adjustment? Some motivation? Something to get excited about?

Forget the excuse you don’t have time, you can’t afford it etc. etc. If you keep doing your job without Passion, you won’t have a job. Slowly but surely your clients will drift away.

What can we do?
1. Take a class
2. Read a book
3. Listen to a motivational radio station
4. Listen to a motivational tape
5. Visit another Salon
6. Follow a mentor

Find out what is happening in your Salon….

1. Hire a secret shopper to evaluate how your team is with customer service
2. Hire someone to secret shop over the phone so you can evaluate how your team sounds making that 1st impression
3. Ask…….your Customer is always the one to ask first.  don’t be afraid to as your clients what they would change “if”

There are many ways to get excited and passionate about what you do. It doesn’t have to always cost a lot of money. But if you continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results…you will go no where.

I’d love to hear from you about what you do to keep yourself motivated and passionate. Please share by emailing me at cj@centreforbeauty.com or commenting below.

The conversation turned to talking about driving 53′ rigs, backing up and turning corners.

When I tell you, it truly is about the Passion, i’m not kidding!

My husband, without even realizing it…..gave me my next article.

My husband drives tractor trailer for UPS.  33 years, safe driver!  He works 10-12 hours a day, never EVER complains.  He services about 5-7 clients a day (always the same).  His primary responsibility is making sure his larger accounts have empty trailers to fill on a daily continuous basis.  He drives an empty to his account, picks up a full trailer and returns to the UPS hub.  Back and forth all day long.

This may not sound like much, but I know (as he does) the importance of keeping those clients happy.  Just one of his accounts, ships about 5000 boxes per day.  YES!!!!  That is not a typo.  5000 packages per day.

I admire how my husband goes out of his way to make sure his clients are cared for properly.  He’ll contact other drivers if needed, he’ll search for packages they need “after” they’ve been brought to the UPS hub.  He’ll go in earlier, stay later….whatever is needed to make sure his clients stay satisfied with UPS.

I  also admire (back to our conversation) his backing up skills.  And….so does he LOL

There’s a new girl in the tractor trailer world.  She’s been driving package car for UPS for somewhere around 15 years.  She recently took her DOT testing and is now driving tractor trailer for UPS.

Now….back to our conversation

Sitting at the table awaiting our dinner, the club crackers sitting on ur table became tractor trailers.  My husband was sharing some of the hair raising places he’s had to back into.  He also shared with me what he’s thinking when he’s watching a “newbie” back up.

As you can imagine, it would be much like us seasoned Nail Technicians

watching a Nail newbie.

So, I asked him if he helps “the new girl”.  “oh ya” he says….he’ll help her be even better then him, as he proceeds to give me every scenario possible (using the crackers).  He’s very proud of what he does, and he should be.  The Passion he exuded in telling me his little tricks and what to do so you don’t get stuck in a compromised situation and how rewarding it is to “only have to back up once”, is what brought me to this article.  The Passion which was so visible when he talked about helping the new girl is what brought me to this article.  The Passion he

I even said to him “This is the perfect example of it really doesn’t matter what we do for a living, if we do it with Passion it’s a beautiful thing”.

I was so intrigued by what he was showing me (even though i’ve been through this over and over again) over a period of 14 years, I wanted more.  The excitement, the feeling proud, the look on his face and the passion in his voice had me totally focused on every word he was saying.

Many of us have been in this industry for a very long time.  Do we get burned out and lose our passion?  If we do, we are giving our clients a reason to go elsewhere?

Passion is what tells our clients “I love what I do and I can’t wait to share it with you”.Passion is what makes our clients trust us.  Passion encourages us to continuously grow.  Passion is beautiful.

When was the last time you did a check on your Passion?

• Are you at work 15-30 minutes before your start time?  Or, are you walking in at the same time your client is?
• Are you more fixated on your life and dis-interested in your clients?
• Are you complaining more?  Getting frustrated more?  Irritated more?
• Have you lost your zest for Education?
• Are you in a rut?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these….you’ve lost your passion.  If that’s the case, you can rest assured your clients will know.  They will feel it and they will begin to look for somewhere else to go.

The good news is….you can get your Passion back!

• Arrive in ample time before your client.  Organize your Station, have a quiet cup of tea.
• Focus on THEM…not on you.  Ask about their life…their day….a random question about their childhood.
• Ask them if they still like the service they are receiving.
• Apply some new nail art.
• Massage a minute longer then usual in a Foot Care service.
• Talk about why you got into this industry.
• TEACH someone….help them become the best they can be.

Re-invent your Passion and put it to work for you.  Without Passion, I wouldn’t have Centre for Beauty…..I wouldn’t have you!