When Brett Pierce, owner of the The Masters in Huntsville, Alabama began his journey with Strategies in August 2008, he assumed that his salon was in good financial shape when actually it was bleeding cash, and suffered from very low client and staff retention.

Pierce attended his first actual Incubator in January 2009 and one among his big takeaways was the concept of team-based pay. “I was inquisitive about the systems and monetary lessons of the seminar and everything that I heard was very informative,” he says. After the Incubator, Pierce says it was a “journey to discovery.” He continued educational seminars and incorporated Strategies’ techniques and ideals into his salon structure and culture to make it more efficient. “Through our discoveries we found ourselves in mastercard, bank and vendor debt. We even had outstanding payroll taxes that were delinquent. And, we had a bookkeeper who had not shared any of our financials with us and we were satisfied with not knowing what we didn’t know.”

click image to zoom The Masters Staff

Fast forward to January 2011. The Masters incorporated a significant schedule of training every two weeks and continued with Incubator Grad 1 and Grad 2. They decided to dedicate themselves to reengineering and team-based pay. “Our coach, Daryl Jenkins (who have been with us about 13 years) came in for the reengineering and it was very successful. We didn’t lose any of our team, and we immediately noticed a difference in our team culture. By September 2012, we paid off all our debt in addition to the IRS. And our mortgage must be paid off in five years. We enjoy a terrific relationship with our vendors and so they even call us for advice to assist other salons.”

Before reengineering, Pierce and his sister Shelby Zimmermann said they regularly needed to hold their checks. Today all their paychecks are sent out on time. “Before Strategies, we were about six months from closing our doors. i used to be about to captain a boat to a watery end—a ship that my mothers and fathers had sacrificed everything to construct and create.

“Strategies gave us far more than skills to maintain building our business and improve; it gave us a purpose.”

As of June, The Masters has a brand new client retention rate of 58 percent. Their existing client retention is 85 percent. Prebook is 71 percent, and 35 percent in their clients purchase retail. Their gross sales have doubled within the last four years and that’s without a rise in staff. Productivity is running at 88 percent.

Photography: Ashley Pierce, Sweet Peach Photography, Huntsville Alabama.

click image to zoom (From left to right) Founder and Guest Artist Ann Bray; President and CEO Brett Pierce; Co-owner Shelby Zimmermann