How to Become a Salon Coach or Consultant: A Step by Step Guide
Do you have the desire to help the salon, spa and barber industry? Whether your audience is owners or the professionals that work as beauty service providers, knowing how to become a salon coach or consultant can be challenging.
Fuel and drive is the first step to successful salon industry coaching- the next step is deciding where to specialize and how to implement your services. In this blog, you will learn everything you need to know to get started in this rewarding career path and get tips on how to navigate both getting clients and managing your business.
The Accidental Salon Coach
Hi there, my name is Susan Wos, I too am a salon coach of sorts- this all came about through my work as the owner of Salonspa Connection. I started out in salon recruitment, we added in consulting for selling salons, and before I knew it, I was coaching salon owners on hiring and providing marketing services!
This wild adventure has taught me how to tap into my skill sets and provide value far beyond just virtually connecting the salon industry through my website. Since I took the path of independent salon consulting, this is where I am most knowledgeable.
This is not to say I am unfamiliar with working with a group such as Summit or Inspiring Champions. BOTH independent salon consulting and working on a team are excellent options, it’s up to you where you feel your skills will be best utilized!
Let’s dig in to find out what you should do to become a salon consultant!
What is a salon coach or consultant?
A salon coach or consultant is someone who provides helpful business and career related services for owners or professionals in the salon, spa and barber industry. Those who work for distributors selling products and giving business related advice have often been referred to as “consultants”.
In this article, we will be addressing those who do not sell physical hair, skin, or nail products, coupled with free advice. If you are looking for those types of opportunities, contact local salon distributors for a position as a sales representative.
Step 1: Experience is Key, Qualifications Sell
Your experience in the salon, spa or barber industry is key to carving your way to becoming a great coach. The best thing about our industry is there are literally an endless amount of jobs, business opportunities, experiences and niches to draw from.
The best salon coaches take their personal experiences and issues in business, solve them and teach others how to grow. Some consultants like Rob Hinds enter the industry, without having experience doing hair, drawing from a deep set of knowledge and understanding of business essentials like finance or communication.
Others, (like me), create platforms to address the needs of salon owners and then create consulting services based on personal requests for help. The key here is, unless you have real world salon industry related knowledge and skills to share, it’s likely you will struggle to get new clients.
The amount of unqualified and inexperienced coaches in ANY industry is astounding, the salon industry is no exception. Quite literally anyone can identify themselves as a salon coach, only a few have the experience and skills to back it up.
Take a look at the options for help in the salon industry to see how the diverse offerings and experiences are in today’s world.
Table of Contents
Getting the Right Experience to Become a Salon Consultant
If you don’t have enough experience yet, go out there and start getting more! For instance, if you desire to help independent salon suite renters but you don’t have enough diverse experience, start talking to suite dwellers in Facebook groups or hold local meetups.
Getting a better understanding of your target audience’s problems is key to identifying where your help is most needed. Talking to and working with the people in your areas of interest will only help to solidify your expertise and future position in the market.
Step 2: Getting a Salon Consulting Degree, Certification or Taking a Course
The only degrees, certifications or courses you can take are generally offered by large salon industry consulting companies. At least, this is the case in the United States.
Certifications and qualifications are very subjective. Carefully review your options and decide for yourself- is this an investment that will help me grow or will it tie me to a company I’m not sure I can buy into, long term.
Most of the time you just need the experience, the drive, people skills, a good business plan and a great billing, invoicing and service management software to be a successful consultant.
Step 3: Identify Strengths & Skills to Find Your Salon Specialty or Niche
Identifying which areas to serve the needs of the salon industry is an important piece of the consulting puzzle. There are many areas you can focus on, here are the most common consulting offerings in the industry:
- General business
- Culture coaching
- Money management/ finance
- Technical skills
- Leadership training
- Starting a business
- Getting more clients
- Business model specific- commission, hourly, booth rental or hybrid
- Marketing
- Employment/ recruiting / hiring
- Becoming eco-friendly
- Communication
- Education
- Mental health/ finding balance
The options for specialization are endless. Focus on areas where you are strongest and learn about areas where you are not as skilled.
Choosing Your Salon Business Consulting Service Offerings
Much like with any business decision, loving what you are doing is important to avoid burnout- I say this from personal experience. I had a group of salon owners that participated in my weekly masterminds for better hiring and recruiting practices.
I had lots of paid sign ups, good initial engagement and it was fun to watch the owners implement what I was teaching. After a few months went by, only a handful of owners were actively practicing what I taught. This became very frustrating and the group became more of a bitch session about employees rather than owners who were driven to succeed.
I ended the Mastermind after 1 year and invited owners who were invested in positive change to work with me, one on one. This was not only more enjoyable and lucrative for me, the individual sessions were far more productive and fruitful for the salon owners that attended.
I made a promise to myself- only take on consulting clients who were willing to pay top dollar and actually put the time into creating real change in their businesses.
Getting burned out is easy to do when you’re not doing something you love
Think about the services you can provide that bring you the most joy. Please know that EVERY coach stumbles through the first few years, it takes awhile to get it all nailed down and clicking along the way you want it to.
Experiment with Masterminds, services and packages. Over time, you will start to get it figured out, and likely have a great time doing it!
Step 4: Work for a Salon or Spa Consultancy Company or Become an Independent Salon Coach?
Choosing between working with an established salon consultancy vs going it on your own can be tough. Identifying whether you thrive more with a team or if you are driven enough to succeed on your own should be your deciding factors.
The way I see it is, working for someone else is easier and likely somewhat less rewarding. Working for yourself is very rewarding but difficult to get going.
The benefits to working for a salon coaching company are: more support, marketing and established processes they know yield results.
Drawbacks of working for a salon consultant company are: lack of control on the subjects you coach, only serving a specific audience or business model, limited salary and flexibility, and no control over public opinion of the company should things go awry.
Should you choose to work for a company, make sure to examine the salon consultant job description carefully. Understand what you are getting into, first and chat with other coaches to find out what working for them is like.
Benefits of being an independent salon consultant are: offering a variety of services, total freedom and flexibility and the joy of knowing you helped someone on your own.
Drawbacks of independent salon coaching are: no support for procedures or marketing and not knowing how to navigate customer issues. It can be lonely to be on your own, make sure and surround yourself with supportive people and prepare to work your butt off getting salon owners to say yes.
Step 5: Salon Consulting Salary- Pricing Coaching Services
How much will you make being a salon coach? Well, at first, probably not enough! Just like any startup or first job in a new industry, the first few months or years can be financially challenging. This is why many coaches don’t quit doing hair or sell their salons before they are established.
Over time, it is possible to make six figures plus. How much you make is determined by pricing, organization, marketing and identifying your target market. When I first started consulting, I was stumped on how to organize, promote and bill for my services.
I searched and searched for a great all in one management system and found a free trial and 25% off one year of Honeybook. THIS was such a great solution to custom services, invoicing, monthly consulting fees and general business management for coaching.
If you are targeting employee based salons, do your research to find the heaviest concentration of commission, hourly and team based salons. If booth rental is more your style, determine how many customers are in your target market and strategize about how you will reach them.
Salon Coaching Pricing Strategy
It is common to undervalue yourself at first. Knowing how to price consulting services is difficult until you have actually helped a few salon owners. Research other consultants, their pricing and offerings on this page to get the ideas flowing.
Then, try this strategy:
- Get a lot of content on your website and social media and get freebies going FIRST. Collect emails, gain followers and get traction online or in person before creating any products or services.If no one opts into your free content, it’s time to rethink your approach and offerings.
- Come up with a few low priced offers. This can be anything, a download, cheap class or strategy session or even an event. Low priced offers are ideal for your already “warm audience”- the freebie opt-ins and social followers are primed to test your new offer out.
- Once you have a few bucks coming in, think about 3 service offerings ONLY. It’s easy to offer a whole bunch of services, keep it simple at first and focus on the benefits your warm audience will get from your offerings. Price these according to what you would be willing to pay as your ideal customer.
- Create a package that encompasses all of your offerings plus additional services you are thinking about offering.
Market the hell out of your offerings and see what comes of your efforts. If no one bites, the price may be too high. If you get a lot of purchases but crappy buyers, raise prices.
Be patient, allow yourself to learn and to fail in order to reach the success you are dreaming about!
Step 6: Marketing Salon Coaching Services and Programs
I pay a lot of attention to what salon coaches and consultants are doing to get more business. From what I’ve seen, the most successful coaches utilize at least one of these marketing tactics to get more business:
- Social media
- Website with great SEO
- Partnerships with product companies
- A great referral network
- Advertising on Salonspa Connection
- Lots of engagement in Facebook groups or on Instagram
- Social media and Google ads
- Affiliate programs
How much effort you are willing to put in, is another story. I personally love not having to wear the shackles of constantly being on social media, but I can see where it really pays off with the salon industry.
Please know that marketing and trying to get more business will be a perpetual need to become successful. Choose the platforms and strategies you are already familiar with and focus your efforts there, first.
Should you need some advice or help with marketing, I am happy to give you some direction and tips. Just contact me here and we can set up a meeting to chat!
Conclusion
Becoming a salon coach, consultant or monetizing beauty industry mentorship is a very rewarding career path! Do your research before pulling the trigger and hone in on what services will make you the happiest.
Stand out with great marketing, create relationships and be ready to put yourself out there.
Know that working with the salon industry can be frustrating, take time to really identify your ideal customers and give yourself the space to grow. Rome wasn’t built in a day and most small businesses struggle in the first few years.
I hope you have found my experiences and knowledge on salon consulting helpful and inspiring. Best of luck in everything you do!
Yours in service,
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