For Accala Sullivan, salon manager in St. Paul, Daymaking usually revolves around her staff. While they are busy making the days of their clients, she is hard at work finding ways to spread extra joy and happiness to them.
Currently, she’s honoring the guest service team, who spend their time at the front desk and handle four times the amount of guest interactions that service providers do.
“We decided to do a ‘Guest Service Specialist Appreciation Week,’” Sullivan says. “We wanted to let them know we really value and appreciate everything they do by taking some extra steps to show it.”
Getting the project underway was rocky at first, as Sullivan had planned the meeting the day after the presidential election, which was a tense and emotionally-charged time in the salon.
“But once we started throwing out ideas, everyone’s wheels started turning,” she says. “I followed up with an email list of ideas that we mapped out into a week of appreciation.”
Stylists wrote what they loved about each person on the guest service team on little “love stars” and pinned them up on their lockers.
“We also gave them Frappucinos with a note that said, ‘We love a latte all you do,” she says.
Stylists donated services to the guest service staff as well, and delighted in pampering the people who help their business run smoothly every day.
“The artists loved seeing their happiness,” Sullivan says. “It’s all about taking that extra step to go above and beyond.”
As a company, Daymaking for each other is done regularly, starting from the top.
“David sends flowers for anniversaries,” Sullivan says. “And we do little things like picking up a favorite Starbucks drink for birthdays and half birthdays.”
And for guests who happen to have a birthday or special occasion, stylists run out and grab a cookie for them from a local bakery or do some other small gesture.
“Guests share so much information with us when they come in,” she says. “So finding a way to celebrate them is usually pretty simple.”
For 2017, Sullivan says the team will brainstorm to come up with even bigger ways to celebrate both their guests and each other.
“I like to get everyone’s insight on what they like to give and receive,” she says.
Interacting with her team as her true self is one of Sullivan’s greatest pleasures as a salon manager. “They can be their true selves, too, because of our salon culture,” she says. “It’s a cool way to build a team.”
When Sullivan was hired as holiday help at Juut nine years ago, she never imagined she would be managing a location and Daymaking daily.
“When the acts of kindness are engrained in you, it’s easy,” she says. “Even just sending someone a text letting them know you are thinking of them is huge.”