While it’s easy to get excited thinking about the holidays — special treats, music, and plenty of celebrations — the enthusiasm tends to flicker out when it comes to working during this busy time of year. This is even truer in workplaces where employers and managers are inflexible in the name of productivity. Instead of pretending like the holidays don’e exist, raise spirits and sales through proactive efforts to embrace the season for its joys and challenges alike.

Set group goals for a group reward. Maybe you have a little gathering planned to reward your staff for their hard work, but would you do more for them if you knew they were going to low your sales numbers out of the water? Set some attainable, yet difficult goals and encourage your staff to work together to achieve them. Provide coaching opportunities, recognize their hard work when they achieve benchmarks, and do whatever you can think of to support them in achieving this goal. When they win, you win!

Put a bonus on the line. If party planning isn’t your style, up the ante on your holiday offering to employees with challenging individual goals. This is a great opportunity to help your employees improve their sales skills, but it can also give employees incentive to collect email addresses or cell phone numbers for your marketing campaigns. Tailor your goals to the needs of your salon! If you need feedback from customers, run a contest to see who can get the most surveys filled our or reward the team members with the best customer reviews.

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.