Whether you’re just starting to think about creating a new talent program in your salon spa or you’ve already got an established curriculum, there’s always room for improvement.

To get the skinny on the most effective way to work with new talent, we talked to salon spa owners, managers and stylists, all of them also serving as Qnity for AVEDA educators.

Qnity is an education company that helps service providers, managers and owners achieve a higher level of prosperity. The Qnity for AVEDA program has earned a reputation as being “fresh” and “revolutionary,” and providing participants with business education and tools that are simple, visual and in a language that creatives easily understand and respond to.

Qnity owner and founder Tom Kuhn is a leading expert on prosperity for salon and spa professionals. Over the last 30+ years, he has helped thousands of salon and other creative professionals “earn more money, do what they love and have a life.”

Tom says, “The most profitable salons are ones that invest in their talent. Especially salons that from the very beginning set up their new team members for success and set high standards of quality with new talent advanced training. Education, done at the right time and in the right way, provides the highest return on investment.”

We asked Qnity for AVEDA educators to share their personal insights on some of the important questions about new talent programs.

Jodi Ohama, owner of Red Bloom Salon in Alberta, Calgary: I think the first place to look is your budget, both in resources (time, people) and costs (compensation, lost revenue if taking a stylist off the floor to educate). Training programs are a significant investment in both time and money. An effective education program has a structured curriculum delivered by designated trainers, it has a schedule of required classes, it allows space for hands-on practical time for students, and provides students with useful tools. Programs are delivered in a classroom setting, or they can be small and focused—one on one mentoring and practice time with procedures for checks and balances.

Here are a few questions to ask before designing your program:

• How much do I want to spend in time and resources?
• What minimum requirements do I want those students to have? (For example: minimum one-year formal training? No training?)
• What will be my assessment tool(s) be to determine if the students are learning the information, and if the educators are teaching the information?
• Do I have a specific list of skills/techniques/practices that I want them to know? How will I clearly define them?
• What programs are available to me?
• Am I fully committed to running this program for “x” amount of time?
• Will one person be responsible for educating? Do I have a back-up if they are sick or on vacation, etc.?
• How will educators be compensated? How much will it cost them to do the program (i.e. lost client time, prep work, follow-up time)?
• Will the program have a cost to the new talent? How long will it take to recoup the investment? Will there be a formal contract to protect the business from that person taking the training, then leaving?

Heather Wightman, head recruiter and manager at Dream State Salon in Tallahassee, Florida: Attitude is the number-one quality to look for in hiring for your new talent program. Confidence is the other characteristic that’s very important. All of our new hires go through a program called “Toastmasters” that can be found nationally in all cities — it’s a public speaking class designed to train people on being more comfortable talking in front of others. They learn to gain better poise in front of people and how to speak more clearly.

Tonya Jones, owner of Tonya Jones SalonSpa in Birmingham, Alabama: Passion and attitude. I can train anyone who has the heart and willingness to learn; however, I can’t change passion or attitude!

Carrie Perkins, owner of Denver, Colorado-area Veda Salon and Spa: We look for passion in their personal and professional career (which started in school). We ask leading questions to understand their depth of commitment: Do they know their five-year plan? Have they researched our company? Did they finish school on time (if not, why)? How did they make their school better? Are they hungry and want to be a part of something? Can they explain what it means to serve from the heart?

Marie Stiegman, salon manager of Paris Parker Salons and Spas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: It is important to determine if they are coachable. During technical interviews we give certain instructions and suggestions to see if candidates are listening and interested. You can always work on technique and professional skills, but if someone is not coachable it’s difficult to grow them.

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Jodi Ohama: The biggest thing to remember is that just because someone is a super successful stylist doesn’t mean he or she will make a great educator. It’s important to look at education as a separate set of skills — our best teachers share similar qualities of successful students. They have a team attitude and genuinely want others to succeed. For them, sharing knowledge is a way they help others. They understand it’s not about the teacher; it’s about the student. They are curious and want to learn and become better as well — they ask questions, take classes and try new things.

Great teachers also exhibit and model salon culture and expectations. They’re champions of the brand and have a positive attitude.

We utilize external resources for training our educators, such as: Aveda classes, 4Mat for Business, appropriate continuing education classes at local colleges/universities, and also internal coaching from me.

Heather Wightman: The stylist in your salon who loves what she does, shows up and gives 110 percent every day and gives it all to making her guest happy — she makes the best educator.

Our owner is primarily focused on educating and training all new hires. In doing so, we are able to work directly with our new hires and watch every move and be able to correct behaviors before they become habits. As far as training the trainer, as a start find the right person to be your trainer. Letting them teach all that they know and having them pull information from all of your other senior stylists can do wonders. At our salon, we are currently documenting everything our owner is teaching to create a training manual of how we do things. Training is a constant work in progress. You must have your process down and then adjust the information for each new hire. We train up to four at a time so we can really watch the trainees and nothing slips through the cracks.

Kaylee Diaz, stylist at Pyure Salon, Boynton Beach, Florida: Owners and their prodigy make the best teachers. Owners who do hair have a way of doing things, and if they pass it on to someone, it’s something that should be shared and turned into a program for new talent. Everyone deserves those little secrets that years of experience in the industry brings to the table. I personally learned so much from my owners — I was lucky they were still teaching when I joined the team. I wish that others joining now could have that same experience in their new talent program.

Jodi Ohama: It’s all in Consultation! It’s about the guest and not the stylist. Under-promise and over-deliver. Be honest if you can’t do something. Pre-book!

Heather Wightman: Asking for referrals is the number-one piece of advice I give to new hires working to build their books. We require all trainees to give each guest in their chair two business cards with that guest’s name on it so the guest can get credit for referring a friend and we can thank them with a referral reward. Sending thank-you cards to each and every guest is the second piece of advice. Every guest needs to know how much they are appreciated!

Kaylee Diaz: Don’t sell yourself short! Always promote yourself wherever you go—tell the world how you love their hair and would love to have your hands on it! Embrace your passion and people will feel how much you love what you do, be attracted to that, and continue to send people to you! Word of mouth is always your best advertisement, so cultivate that with your guests and give them an experience they want others to have.

Tonya Jones: You must love what you do and serve from the heart. I feel that 80 percent of what we do as creatives is the willingness to build a relationship and 20 percent is the craft. We all started with one client — it’s a business of referrals. Own it, do it, love it and live it, and you will prosper!

Jodi Ohama: They don’t spend enough time planning it and forget about the “what ifs?” Invariably they are going to happen. Another big mistake is choosing an educator who doesn’t connect with the students.

Heather Wightman: Focusing everything on technical skill and not enough on developing confidence and poise. If a stylist can do an amazing haircut, but when they greet their guest they look like they want to run away and don’t make eye contact, what does that say to the guest?

Marie Stiegman: Making the program too complicated and too long. New talent is eager to make their dream paycheck. Show them their path in the beginning so they know what to expect.