setting a tone that sells
““Your surroundings have a huge affect on your mental, physical and spiritual state of being and people around you - consciously or subconsciously - can feel it.” ”
The tone we set is often subconscious, and I want to challenge us in this post to move it to the conscious. It’s important to be deliberate with this. When we let circumstances dictate how we feel, everyone around us can feel it too. Have you ever worked with someone - whether it be a colleague, manager, or boss - who completely wore their emotions on their sleeve? It was hard, right?
Maybe you’re in that situation now, or maybe YOU are the one having a hard time reigning your emotions in while at work. Either way, you have a choice. You can check it all at the door, or you can carry it in and subsequently affect your coworkers and clients (or just clients if you’re solo). These impressions last and directly impact your business. No one wants to work with you, and clients will stop choosing you if you’re constantly in a bad mood.
My question to you is this - did you really have a bad day, or did you have 10-20 minutes where you let your thoughts run undisciplined… which threw off your vibe that you’ve been carrying with you ever since? We have to learn how to pay attention to this, but that can be a discipline that takes awhile to master. Until then, just smile.
"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
—Thich Nhat Hanh
When I worked for MAC Cosmetics, my manager would tell us to start smiling in our cars, on the way to work. She would tell us to smile until we felt it. I was lucky enough to have a manager that understood how this affected business, because how many of you have had an experience at MAC where you felt like a burden to their makeup artists? MAC got a bad reputation for being snobby and unprofessional. I can promise you those managers were not teaching their staff the importance of smiling when they showed up. Obviously it was more than just flashing those pearly whites. It was about changing your mood before you walked in the door and the easiest way was to put on a big fake smile till you felt it.
I’ll be honest here - I’ve struggled with this in my career. I hate feeling fake and it took me awhile to realize it was more for my clients and coworkers benefit than it was for mine. And the crazy thing is - it always worked! I could be in the worst mood, or just feeling down, but then I’d start smiling and eventually I would feel better.
It has been proven that, “smiling can trick the body into helping you elevate your mood because the physical act of smiling actually activates neural messaging in your brain. A simple smile can trigger the release of neural communication boosting neuropeptides as well as mood-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.”
Smiling can also have an effect on your job performance. This study found that “human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity. Positive emotions appear to invigorate human beings, while negative emotions have the opposite effect." I think one of the most fascinating studies I came across suggested that smiling can help us recover faster from stress and reduce our heart rate. That’s pretty phenomenal if you ask me!
If all of that isn't enough to convince you to practice smiling when you don’t feel it, another simple way that will help set the tone for your work space, is to love the physical space you work in. If you’re a solo artist in a studio, every item you put in it should be thoughtfully curated. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a ton of money, you just need to be intentional. You can add personal touches but you don’t want a wall of photos of your family. Everything you decorate with needs to be professional and clutter-free. Even if you just have a small station/chair, you can do small things to make it your style. I can’t tell you how much of a subconscious impact this makes on your mood. I’ll refrain from getting too science-y again, but I’ve also read studies about clutter and messes worsening depression.
Work should be somewhat of a sanctuary from our daily lives and how you set the tone is of utmost importance in determining how much of a sanctuary it will be - especially for our clients.
If you are able, I highly recommend privatizing each station. Separate rooms are ideal, but in the very least, using partitions or hanging curtains can make thee biggest difference. The lash bed should be inviting and comfy and at least semi-private. The last thing a client should feel when undergoing a procedure (where they’re forced to keep their eyes closed for the duration) is uncomfortable, cold and exposed. Post-covid, it has become a little harder to keep the comfy factor at top notch. But honestly, this is SO important, that I would rather take one less client a day so I’m able to accommodate setting up a comfortable lash bed, than I would packing clients in and just using some sterile-feeling hospital set-up.
Lashes are a luxury. From booking, to walking into your space, to getting their lashes done, to checking out, every.single.step should communicate luxury. This is all determined in the tone you set. Here, I’ve outlined the components of TONE that are helpful reminders for us all.
Things That Affect Tone:
How you start your day. It doesn’t matter what happened that morning. You have within you the power to shift your attitude about it. Don’t let those bad 10-20 minutes where you let your thoughts run undisciplined, RUN the rest of your day. My trick to even getting ahead of those chaotic thoughts? Take control of your morning. Read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.
Your attitude. How friendly are you? Be yourself, but only the warmest and most inviting version. Your clients should always think you’re having a great day. They aren’t your friends. Yes, there are rare exceptions but 9.999 times out of 10, are only there to get the service done. They aren't there to hear about your struggles. Struggles are not luxurious and they immediately dampen the mood.
Your website and social media. These are a direct reflection of your brand, and essentially, you. In one glance, a client should be able to discern your vibe.
How you schedule appointments, check clients in and out, and re-book. Be confident and know your systems through and through. Lead the charge here - don't leave it up to them.
The decor in your salon space. Keep it classy and clutter-free. Clutter can make certain people feel very anxious.
The music you choose. This is v personal… people have opinions about this. At the end of the day, the only thing that should be informing your decision when picking music, is that the music is NOT FOR YOU.
Your lash bed. The goal is comfort: foam mattress topper, fitted mattress protector (I snagged a waterproof one I can sanitize before I re-make the bed for each client), clean sheets, bolster for under the knees, blanket. Clients should not be laying on top of your naked lash bed, without a blanket.
Your breath. Seriously… you think you don’t have bad breath, but you do. Keep mints or throat lozenges on hand and wear a mask. If there’s one good thing Covid has done, it’s that it brought mask-wearing to the workplace. Even if you just ate a mint, it’s still bad breath that’s now slightly minty. It’s kinda like pooping over poo-pourri, which essentially smells like someone handed you flowers right after they stepped in dog sh*t.
The scent of your salon. My next blog is all about this but I’ll leave you with a little tip: it should be fresh, organic, and subtle, never overtly sweet or fake-smelling. Seriously, ditch the big store brand, “select 3-wick candles 50% off” candles. You know the ones.
Bad juju. You might want to think about clearing your space using palo santo or sage. My next post is about this, so I’ll keep this short. People get weird about this, because it feels new age-y or witchy, but burning incense, diffusing essential oils and using palo santo to clear negative energies has been practiced for eons. I used to hold my proverbial cross up to the concept of this, but after a little education, I have no qualms with doing this now, and it’s immensely valuable.
What are some things you do to set the tone for your studio? I know I’m missing tons and I always love hearing all the intentional things you all do! Tell me in a comment below or as always, DM me on insta!