How important is education to you and your team?
It is now two years since we embarked upon a totally fresh approach towards lash and brow tinting and styling using RefectoCil products. From the outset our mission has been to generate greater interest and imagination with our colour blending master classes. We believe lash and brow tinting services are such important salon services and to be able to offer customised treatments is key to ensuring a high degree of customer retention. It’s also important that salon staff have the necessary training to be able to be creative when discussing options with their clients.
During the pandemic how did you alter your education for staff and clients?
We are still working in a very challenging environment. Initially it was very difficult as most salons were focussed on ways to stay in business and keep their staff. Education was definitely not a priority, however, during the second half of 2020 technology enabled companies to be able to reach out to salons through various e-platforms to facilitate up skilling which has completely transformed education. This presented RefectoCil with an exciting opportunity. We have had to rethink the content and delivery methodology of our courses including offering more flexibility with class numbers, course duration and schedules. The key factor for the success of our current education programme has been accessibility and adaptability. Not only have we been able to reach out to remote salons, we have been able to offer training to educational institutions.
Tell us how it has changed to be an educator going forward.
The current climate has made me completely rethink the way in which I offer education. It has encouraged me to be innovative and creative, both in the way I develop course content and the manner in which it’s presented. The biggest challenge has been in developing ways to keep attendees engaged during a class, particularly when faced with a large audience. Definitely I have missed to face to face communication, however, over time I have developed techniques to personalise the sessions. The exceptional client feedback has also reignited my passion for education. Personally it has been somewhat challenging as I have had to upskill and learn various e-commerce packages, e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc. I have worked very closely with the whole RefectoCil team to ensure uninterrupted course delivery as well as ensuring we had the necessary materials and equipment.
Has online/tutorial educating become more important now and how does it replace the face to face educating?
Definitely it has become more important as it’s the only option we have to effectively deliver a cohesive training Australia and New Zealand and without e-platform training we simply couldn’t have ongoing relationships with all our audiences, including distributors, educational institutes, salons and all beauty professionals. Whilst I do miss the face to face interaction, online training has allowed me to train and educate in the most effective way possible under the current circumstances.
Any educator advice for the year when it comes to innovative ways to make sure business stays ahead of the game?
I have talked about being to able to offer extensive training programmes across a broad spectrum of audiences via on-line mechanisms. This has enabled us to rethink and reallocate our education budget and consequently produce more tangible training materials. We have also been able to expand both our training calendar and course content. My advice is to stay motivated and think creatively as to how you can reallocate existing resources to adapt to and take advantage of the new education environment.
This article first appeared in the January/February issue of Professional Beauty magazine. Download the issue here.
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