What's the Problem--Really?

Hi,

We’re all familiar with problems. We also know if we’re the kind of person who sees problems as problems or sees them as opportunities in disguise. But how many of us take the time to really understand a problem before we race to fix it? Maybe you’ve been in a situation where you shared your problems with a friend and he immediately began to offer advice, ideas, and solutions. Feeling unappreciated he says, “You don’t seem to think my advice is very helpful,” and you replied, “That’s because all I wanted was for you to listen to me.”

What was the real problem?

In business it is extremely important to get a clear understanding of a problem before we begin to solve it. Very often problems are simple and can be taken at face value. For example, a light bulb burns out in a lamp. Usually that simply means that a light bulb burned out and it needs replacing. But with many kinds of problems there is more than meets the eye. We need to take time to understand the problem completely before diving in to fix it—otherwise we risk solving the wrong thing, wasting our time, or doing even more damage.

When we’re talking to salon owners we often hear about three problems:

Not Enough Clients. Usually the problem is summarized as, “This economy has really been tough on us,” or “The competition has really impacted our business,” or “We lost our best stylist(s) to another salon.” All of these explanations may be true to some extent—but they are seldom the root cause of the problem.

Not Enough Retail. You don’t need to read this blog post to hear what’s coming next: “I just don’t get it! I can’t for the life of me understand why our stylists don’t sell retail. It’d be money in their pockets. Stylists just don’t like pushing product.” The idea that stylists don’t like to sell has become ingrained in the salon business. Believe me, that is not the full explanation.

Not Enough Revenue. On a certain level, not enough revenue is exactly what it sounds like. But “The economy,” “No advertising budget,” and “Clients are cutting back” are not as accurate as one might think in terms of getting the problem stated correctly.

Séva Education knows the questions that will help us both understand the true nature of your business problems—and we aren’t afraid to ask them. Once we define the real problems we’ll propose clever, thoughtful, and solid solutions that treat the causes and not just the symptoms. If this sounds like something your business could use, please contact me.

Jim Lucas
Séva Education
(925) 980-7871
gojimlucas@sevastyle.com


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