Salon Success Secrets

Interview Like Miss America

• Lindsay Lowe & Jen Booth

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Most salon owners conduct superficial interviews that fail to reveal who candidates truly are, while intentional interviews uncover thinking patterns and cultural fit that predict long-term success.

• Traditional interview questions only reveal who candidates want you to believe they are
• You can teach technical skills but cannot teach someone how to think
• Pre-interview tasks reveal character and work ethic before the formal interview
• Scenario-based questions uncover problem-solving abilities and values alignment
• For beauty pros, ask how they'd handle creative freedom or unhappy clients
• Guest care questions should focus on prioritization and guest experience enhancement
• Leadership questions should reveal philosophy about developing people versus hitting goals
• Every wrong hire costs in culture, energy and guest experience, not just payroll
• The way you build your team directly impacts how you build your future

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Podcast | Salon Success Secrets

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of the Salon Success Secrets Podcast. Today we're diving into something that every salon owner thinks they know how to do, but most are getting it wrong. And we're talking about interviews and not just sit across from me tell me about yourself. Interviews, I mean intentional interviews, the kind that reveal who a person really is, how they think and whether or not they belong in your salon culture.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so good? Because, let's be honest, you can teach someone how to balayage, or you can teach them how to run a front desk system, but you cannot teach someone how to think. Isn't that so freeing when you think about that, and if you miss this or that part in the hiring process like you'll spend the next year or even longer. I've been there trying to fix someone who never should have been on your payroll in the first place. So stay with us because by the end of this episode, we're going to show you exactly how to create an intentional interview process that saves you stress, it reveals character and attracts the right people for your salon team, and we're also going to tell you how you can join us inside the salons. It's a success secrets three-day challenge, the same challenge that Alicia joined after 14 years in business. Yes, you heard that right 14 years in business and within one month, she doubled her income.

Speaker 1:

Wow, so good. I still am cheering Alicia on. That's so cool. But first let's talk about why most salon owners are doing this all wrong.

Speaker 1:

You know, do you guys remember Caitlin Upton? She was Miss Teen USA 2007. You know, she walked on stage. She had a sparkly sash, there was bright lights. You know, millions of people were watching and she got the question. It was recent polls show.

Speaker 1:

One fifth of Americans can't locate the U? S on a map. Why do you think that is? And her answer? Her answer was infamous. It was, I personally believe, help the US, help South Africa, iraq. You guys, it was definitely infamous, you know, because she froze and she rambled and the world saw who she really was under pressure. You know, here's the thing, you guys. I don't want you to miss this, because Caitlin is actually a very bright woman. You know, later she clarified in interviews, but in that moment we saw how she thought, or didn't think, under pressure, you know, and isn't that what an interview is? It's not just about memorized answers, you know, and isn't that what an interview is? It's not just about memorized answers, you guys. It's about revealing someone's clarity, their problem solving, their confidence, their heart, you know. So my question to you is this are your interviews designed to reveal who someone really is, or are they just going through the motions?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because here's the truth about interviews. Most salon owners ask questions like tell me about yourself, lindsay? Or why do you want to work here? Or like what's your biggest strength and weakness?

Speaker 2:

Now, those questions not that they're terrible questions, but they're just surface level questions. They don't really tell you who someone is. They tell you who they want you to believe they are, and so when you think about it, do you really need to know how do they think? What we really need to know? Let me back up. I get so excited I changed, flipped my words there. Like we really need to know. Like, how do they think? How do they problem solve, how do they react under pressure and how do they treat people when no one's watching? Isn't that so different between like why do you want to work here? Versus if you can really relate to that person and understand how do they think? Man, because if you get the answer and you're like man, that's not a great answer. That really doesn't align with us. That doesn't really align with our salon culture. No amount of training is going to fix that.

Speaker 1:

Man, I love that. I really do. Just think it is so powerful when you think you know. You interviews are meant to reveal how someone thinks, because you can't teach someone how to think. You know, and so we.

Speaker 1:

One thing that we've also revealed is the power of tasks before interviews. You know, this is one of the most powerful things you can do is to give someone a task before the final interview. You might be thinking why do I want to do that? You know, because how they approach the task reveals more than their answers ever could. For example, you might give them like a small project, you know, like reading through your hospitality scripts, you know, and and and then showing up to, to, you know, show off the greeting for a new guest, um, you know. Or you ask them to research your salon and bring three ideas they use to make, you know, the experience unforgettable. You know, and the truth is, if they're too good to do the task without getting paid, that's a red flag. You know. If they procrastinate or bring it in, sloppy red flag. You know. If they approach it with excitement, with creativity, with respect, that's gold, you guys.

Speaker 1:

I think it's also important to set it up, you know. Hey, this isn't school, this isn't pass fail, you know, because it doesn't mean everybody has to nail it every time. You know, sometimes people get almost like test anxiety, um, but seeing who they are in that moment, like do they give up? Or do they say, hey, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to power through this and acknowledge hey, I might've missed a few words and you know, if you give me a little bit more time to practice, um, I promise you all nail this. It's important to me. I see why it's important to this company. Like, there's so many things that you can be looking for, but you want to see how are they approaching it. Is it somebody that you could potentially work with?

Speaker 2:

It's so good, lindsay. This brings me back to an interview actually we just had. It was for a hospitality host position, and we do give them a small script that we do invite them to review. They don't have to memorize it. Like you said, it doesn't have to be perfect. This is not pass or fail, but we just want to see that they can follow. How do they think about the script? Can they follow it a little bit? Can they duplicate a little bit and bless her a little bit and bless her Like she, she, she didn't even say the none of the words, like she, just. I even said you can read off the script.

Speaker 2:

After the first one I knew it wasn't going well. I said you can, you can read off the sheet. She's still on. The second question made up her own and that was so good because it doesn't make you know her a bad person. She's just I. We know because we follow systems, we follow processes and we got to have people that can really think to a high degree. It just gave me the insight that I needed to know hey, she'll do great things, but it's just not going to be here at our company, because if she's already struggling to duplicate off a sheet that we just said. Just read it. Just read it. She can't even do that. That's going to show up, in all, probably a lot of the aspects that she does inside of her salon company.

Speaker 1:

Man that's powerful, jen, you know, I think there are some great questions that we could be asking. You know, that can also reveal so much about a person. So let's get specific. Here are some intentional interview questions you can use that will actually reveal how someone thinks. You know some great ones for beauty pros would be like a client sits in your chair and says do whatever you want. How do you decide what to do? You know, I think this is so revealing because that is, you know, the one thing that gives. That gives beauty pros so much anxiety when people say do whatever you want.

Speaker 1:

But if you can start to see, you know, again, doesn't have to be a perfect answer, you know, if you can start to see, well, I would maybe look at their skin tone, or I would maybe ask them some questions about their lifestyle. Or, you know, when they start to ask some questions that you know could reveal how they would approach it, um, I think that's amazing because, like if they right away say you know, shut down. They're like I don't even know, I wouldn't even know what to do. You know, um, of course, you're going to teach them so many incredible things while they're inside of your in-house master's program, um, you know, and if, if you don't already have an amazing system around that, definitely check out million dollar beauty pro, because we are seeing incredible results already. It's just in the test phase, but, man, um, you know, that's going to be a revolutionizing game changer for our industry, you know. So you'll teach them how to do it. But if you start to see like, hey, they want to problem solve, they want to look for a solution, they want to help their clients, that's, that's gold, you know, like that's a, that's a either a yellow light or a green light you know to to move forward with that person, you know.

Speaker 1:

And I think another great question for a beauty pro would be like if a client was unhappy with their service, how would you handle it in that moment? You know, because that man, I think that that's one of the most powerful things like that we can teach. A new beauty pro on our team is like hey, at some point you're going to have an unhappy guest and that's okay, you know, but it's how we handle it that matters the most. And if we're making sure that we're harvesting those lessons that we need to move forward so we don't stay stuck in that classroom. Like you know, if you keep getting somebody who's unhappy, you know like they thought their hair was going to be lighter and it. You know we don't want anything to ever become a pattern. We want to learn from things and move on. So just seeing how do they think about that is huge. You know I it's so revealing some of these questions with their thought pattern.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. So we can now move on to like guest care and front desk as well. And if you see me over here swatting something, don't worry, it's just a fly trying to get a good interview, because he is flying along, he's excited for his interview, so just ignore me if you're watching this live. So we move into guest care.

Speaker 2:

You know you want to ask questions such as like hey, if two guests walk in at the same time and both need you, how do you decide who to help first? And then that will give you, um, the gradients that you need just to see how they think. It doesn't make it right or wrong, but at least if they can think for themselves, um, and we know that our greatest asset is guests. We know that guests are going to be served first. Another question you could ask is what would you say to a guest leaving without pre-booking their next appointment? Isn't that good. It gets them really into their conscious mind and helps them think, which is so powerful. You could also ask, like, what makes a salon experience unforgettable?

Speaker 2:

And again, there's no right or wrong answer. We just want to see how they can think for themselves and what they can come up with so that, when they're put in situations like an unhappy guest, that they can still fully carry out your mission. Another question could be hey, if a guest is visibly upset, how do you turn that situation around before they leave? And you know whatever they say in those moments? It's just going to give you the freedom to know hey, does this align in the direction that we're headed or the direction that we are with our salon company?

Speaker 1:

Those are so good, jen, you know, when we pivot into thinking about, like those management and leadership roles. I think it's great to ask someone what does leadership mean to you? Because everybody's got a different answer when it comes to that, you know, and I would say like a red flag would be like everyone's following me, you know, because that's about the person, not about you know what's happening. But a green flag, you know, for that answer could be like you know, hey, I just want to look for ways that I can positively impact the people's lives that I get the opportunity to work with, you know, and because it's a thankless position and leadership and management, and if it's somebody who needs to have, you know, praise and constant thanks and all of that leadership might not be the role for them, because if it's about you, that's not a leader. A leader is there for everybody else on the team to really help create that transformation in somebody's life. I think another great question is how do you coach a team member who is talented but inconsistent, just to see you know what does? What do they reveal in that answer? You know, and one of my very favorite answer, or one of my very favorite questions to ask is tell me about a time you had to make a decision that was unpopular but necessary. Man, if you have been in leadership, for you know any amount of time that has happened to you, at least once. You know, I'll never forget um, during the pandemic, making an unpopular choice, um and uh with my team and having a conversation with a stylist on the team that you know revealed so much. She was like well, this, you know this, this decision hurt me and I said, yeah, but it helped nine other people on our team and so when we at the time, you know, had like 30, some employees, we have to think about how do we help the most people win in this situation? And you know, when we revealed that, it was like, okay, it helped reveal like, is this person a team player or are they not? You know, in either way, it's not mine to judge what's right or wrong, but it is mine to use discernment to say, on this team, we play as team players, you know. And actually last night we play as team players, you know.

Speaker 1:

And actually last night I just went back to back to school night for my high schooler and she's a sophomore in choir, and one thing that stood out, that one of her teachers said. That I thought was incredible. She's a sophomore, she's taken all kinds of classes, but it was her choir teacher. Just to clarify that he said you know, the one thing that I don't do is I don't let people choose in or out if they're going to participate in songs or activities. If we're, if one person's doing it, we're all doing it. He said, because that's the one thing I've noticed is a culture killer. And he said what I'm doing here is creating a culture in this choir, and so we are all going to do it and we're all going to be brave sometimes. And I just thought man, that is leadership right there.

Speaker 1:

You know, seeing that, hearing those words, I'm like what do you think about being a salon? We're in the salon industry, so. But I think that's incredible. And you know some additional questions that you could ask is what kind of culture do you believe creates the most profitable salon? Because profit is oxygen for the salon. We have to have it, you know. And so when you ask that question and it reveals how that person thinks, man, that's incredible. And another thing you could ask is what's more important hitting goals or developing people? And why. You know, gosh, I think you know those kind of go hand in hand. But you know, just getting someone to reveal their thinking about that, seeing how you know they can engage with that, reveals so much.

Speaker 2:

Wow, those are so good. I hope you guys got the opportunity to write those down. If not, you'll have to catch the replay because, wow, what are those? Are some great questions, you know, and as you're hearing those questions, you have to think about what's happening inside of you and you're probably thinking, oh, wow, these would reveal everything that I've been missing. And you guys, that's the point. And so this is so good interview like Miss America. And you know, when you think about it, here's the thing that every wrong hire cost you, not just in payroll, but in culture and energy and guest experience. And most salon owners have no idea how much money they're losing because their interview process is broken. So if you've ever thought, hey, I just can't find good people, or there's no one good to hire I keep hearing that from salon owners sometimes but maybe the truth is you're not running intentional interviews that reveal the truth. And the good news, the great news actually, is that you can change that and you don't have to figure it out alone.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, I love that. That's. That's exactly what we help you with inside of salon business school. And if you're ready to start, small but powerful, the next best step is to join our salon success secrets three-day challenge, and that's where you'll learn how to not just interview better but build systems that make your salon walkout proof, profitable and actually fun to lead.

Speaker 1:

You guys, because remember Alicia? She'd been in business for 14 years, she had a sweet team but no leadership, you know, and she joined the three-day challenge and in 90 days she stopped discounting, she hired a guest care leader and she doubled her income, you know, and it wasn't because she worked harder, it was because she learned how to think differently. And it all started with the three-day challenge. So if you're tired of guessing, tired of turnover, tired of interviews you know that don't lead to the truth go to salon success secrets challengecom right now and grab your spot in our next challenge, because the way you interview is the way you build your team, and the way you build your team is the way you build your future.

Speaker 2:

So good. The way you build your team is the way you build your future. Wow, that gave me so much, so much. Actually chills and the fly is just flying. He's so excited about that. So thank you for joining us today on the salon success secrets podcast. We cannot wait to hear about the stories of your next intentional interviews. You know the one that reveals exactly who someone is and sets your salon up for unstoppable success. So until next time, salon up for unstoppable success. So until next time, go to salonsuccesssecretschallengecom and let's transform the way you lead, hire and grow.