In this episode recorded in April of 2019, we interview Nina Carilli, Jeffrey Crummie and Sherry DuCarme. Nina is the Manager, and Jeffrey and Sherry are the Team Leaders, of PA108, the store that won the coveted "Logan Trophy" at the 2019 National Huddle. In this podcast, we find out how this store found next level success and created winning opportunities for its Team Members and Clients.
| Episode Air Date |
Guest Name |
Guest Title |
Topic(s) |
| June 7, 2019 |
PA108 |
Logan Trophy Winners |
Important lessons and values of a winning culture |
Each episode of the Podcast is also available on iTunes and the Google Play store.
Transcription:
Chad Jordan: Hey everybody, this is Chad Jordan, director of marketing at Sport Clips. So this is another edition of our Hall of Fame podcast. For those watching us on YouTube, hello. You can see we've got a pretty full room here, in lovely Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of the Steelers. I have gotten some Steelers gear while I'm here that I'm supposed to burn when I get home but just kidding.
One of the main reasons I came this week, was for this opportunity and to have a meet and greet with PA108, which is a store in Washington township. Is that right?
Nina Carilli: Washington, Pennsylvania.
Chad Jordan: Washington, Pennsylvania. I don't know, just so happened to win the biggest trophy of the year from Sport Clips, and we call that our Logan trophy. So we're going to ... If you're watching on the podcast, you can see it I believe in the background. Is it over here? Yeah. Is that it? Okay. So if you're watching on YouTube. So we thought, all right, they won, they did some pretty cool things. They discovered kind of the secret sauce and why not a bottle that sauce up and share it with the rest of the country and Canada and share some of the insights of what went right in this very magical year of 2018 for which they won.
So we've got the VIPS from the store, a couple of them anyways, including their manager, the team leaders, and we want to pick their brains a little bit. So, without further ado, I'm going to have the manager introduce herself, and she's going to lean into this microphone right over here as much as she can, and let us know who she is. Why don't you tell me your name, obviously you're the manager. How long have you been with sport clips? How long have you been maybe at this store, kind of that relevant information for me.
Nina Carilli: My name is Nina and yes, I'm the manager of the Washington PA location. I've been with Sport Clips for, going on seven years. But I actually originally started as a manager at this location, but then managed a different location that my owner has and then went back up to trinity about almost four years ago now. So, it's been a ride. And it turned-
Chad Jordan: How long have you been cutting hair?
Nina Carilli: Oh my goodness. I've been cutting hair for almost 21 years.
Chad Jordan: 21. They let you cut at nine years of age, to start cutting hair. They chose to give scissors to a nine year old. But I don't know how they do it in Pennsylvania, but it seems pretty reckless to me, but all right. So you know what you're doing for sure?
Nina Carilli: I do.
Chad Jordan: All right. That might factor into some of the things that we're going to learn later. All right. So you called him boss, but I'm going to call him team leader because I think the real boss is to his right.
Nina Carilli: You're right.
Chad Jordan: So let's talk to him first. All right, sir. In as a well behaved the manner as you possibly can, please let us know who you are and what the heck you're doing here.
Jeff Crummie: All right. My name is Jeff Crummie. I am one of the team leaders here, along with my wife Sherry, who will speak in a little bit. We originally signed on with Sport Clips in April of 2008. And a little funny story, two months after we signed our deal and bought our first three licenses, the stock market tanked-
Chad Jordan: Oh, 2008. Of course, we had a recession.
Jeff Crummie: Yes. And Sherry and I looked at each other and said, what the heck did we just do? We called our area developer, Eric and Rosemary Gaucher. And we kind of almost said, can we get our money back? And they said no. But they said, no, just trust us. Just trust us with this. And the following year in 2009, we ended up opening two stores, PA105 and PA108. We now have five stores in the market. And this past year, we have the Chairman's Platinum store at PA108 and three of our other stores made President's Circle.
Chad Jordan: Amazing. Wow. That is great. Okay. We're going to get back in a little bit to your background. I want to find out, how you came to Sport Clips and all that kinds of stuff. The ill fated 2008, but how you were able to make it work. So I'll want to pick your brains a little bit on that. Okay. And your boss, let's bring her on.
Sherry DeCarme: Hi, I'm Sherry DeCarme, Jeff Crummie's wife and a partner in the Sport Clips business for sure. And the only thing I'd add to 2008, the stock market crashing and the panic we felt for a few months was, we really did find Sport Clips and we looked for many years at franchises, as what we believe to be recession proof business. Everyone needs to get their hair cut. If they're having financial issues, they might not get a cut every four weeks, maybe every five or six. But everybody needs to get their hair cut. And quite frankly, it has certainly turned out to be that. It is recession-
Chad Jordan: Yeah, it totally justified your thinking, your position and the irony being you went into it because it was recession proof, not hoping there would be a recession. But it proved to be in and then Eric and Rosemary. Every time they see you, did they just, was it a big, I told you so moment.
Jeff Crummie: No, not really. They just smile, so you know that message is there.
Chad Jordan: Yeah, it's underlying. So let's get to, so you've got five locations. Were you also at one oh five or where else? Okay, so you were at 105 and 108, 108 this past year. Previously, had 108 kind of been on a really big trajectory or had you seen a big leap, and that you've been there four years straight now. Had you kind of seen it trending upwards previously?
Nina Carilli: Well, that's a good story because, when I was hired on, I was hired on as a manager, but every time I've been moved it was to take over a manager that got demoted. So he put me in there to kind of make things better. And I think I did it. I think I did it at 105 too. Same thing happened again in 108, he put me back up there and at first it's kind of a struggle to get things the way you want it, when there was a previous manager. But then we were on an upturn, after we got through the couple of bumps in the road and it was just up from there.
Chad Jordan: I want to pause here because, we'll talk more about the Logan Trophy and all that kind of stuff. But there's probably, a big part of our listening audience are either stylist or managers specifically in the Sport Clips world and they're probably now sitting on the edge of their seat wondering, wait, wait. Okay. How did you step into a store where there had been either some turnover issues or drama or whatever. How did you get things settled to the point where you could be positioned for success? And we talked about this off air, you're a mother of a college student, so you definitely know how to handle your business and set boundaries and discipline and be organized and well maintained and all that kind of stuff. Is it your role as a mother that trained you to be able to handle these stressful situations or what exactly led to your success in being able to turn these kinds of stores around?
Nina Carilli: I think that's the majority of it. I was always a single mom, I still am, I had my son young and I was always driven because I had to be. I'm always wanting to make money and wanting to be better and working, working, working. I've always been a hard worker since I started working. So that ethic really just, it snowballed into any job I had. Although, really I've only had two long longterm jobs and they were doing here. And I think that is something that I can show other people. I try to teach my son a good work ethic as well. And yes, t's more of a drive me to be.
Chad Jordan: So shout out to Nina and all the other single moms and you are a living testimony. Your son is, what year in college is he?
Nina Carilli: He's just finishing up his junior year.
Chad Jordan: Okay. His junior year. What's he studying to be?
Nina Carilli: Psychology.
Chad Jordan: Okay. All right. So he could work at a Sport Clips.
Nina Carilli: Yeah.
Chad Jordan: That's half of your job.
Nina Carilli: Yes, it is.
Chad Jordan: So for the single moms out there that are listening, it's worth it. Keep going. What else would you say to the single moms who are wondering or struggling right now or they're trying to figure out how they're going to make ends meet or make it through another day, another week. You've been there.
Nina Carilli: I can't tell you how many times I remember saying to myself, I don't know how we're going to do this. And the end it just worked out. Yeah. And that you can't give up, you just can't, you just got to keep pushing forward. Like I said, I think hard work really pays off. And so, if there is any message, that is a huge one and I believe that.
Chad Jordan: Well in the movie they're going to make on your life, I want to make sure that this podcast is part of it because this will be, as the credits get ready to roll, this will be one of the crowning moments. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe your son's graduation from college. That'll be like, everybody's crying at the end of the movie. But no, that's amazing. Can you talk to me about, and we'll get to the Logan trophy stuff here, I promise. So how long have you known Jeff and Sherry?
Nina Carilli: I came to Jeff and Sherry, my son and I actually relocated to Las Vegas and I moved back to Pennsylvania in 2013?
Jeff Crummie: Yeah.
Nina Carilli: I had previous manager experience-
Chad Jordan: At sport clips or?
Nina Carilli: No.
Chad Jordan: Okay.
Nina Carilli: At a competitor. I had been cutting hair though for over 10 years, so I had the experience and there just happened to be this. I didn't know what I was going to do. I actually went back to college to do something completely different. And then when I moved back here, I couldn't find a job and there was this ad for a manager. I'm like, well I know I can do that. I applied, I meet with Jeff and he hired me right on as a manager. So since 2013.
Chad Jordan: Had there been a worry that, wait, am I going to able to make enough money doing this? Is that why you maybe you were looking to do something else?
Nina Carilli: No. Actually I went back to college later in life because I wanted to just, I realize how many things I missed out on because I was always working weekends and nights doing hair. With my son, I was like, I'm going to work in this nine to five job. It's like, great. And then I did all that and I got a degree in it. That didn't pay money. And I was like, I know I'm good at doing hair. I'm great at doing hair. I'm just going to come and do that. Cutting men's hair, had always been a favorite thing of mine, my most favorite thing to do. And it's funny because I remember my mother telling me, hey, Nina, this company called Sport Clips is opening-
Chad Jordan: Whoa, whoa, did she say Sport Clips or Sports Clips ?
Nina Carilli: Honestly, we're just going to go with Sport Clips.
Chad Jordan: Yeah. We don't want to throw under the bus. All right. So they're hiring.
Nina Carilli: Yeah.
Nina Carilli: Yeah. To get me to move back and you should come and work for them. They're opening one up. And that was the pleasant hill store. My mom at that time, it was, is it 112?
Jeff Crummie: It's 114.
Nina Carilli: I'm sorry, 114. And it was down the street from my mother's house.
Chad Jordan: Oh Wow.
Nina Carilli: "Just come back, and you're so great at cutting men's hair." And then I did and I got hired on and it all worked out. I would never go back to cutting any hair but men's here. And I honestly regret doing that whole college thing. Well, but hey-
Chad Jordan: I'm sure there was a purpose behind it. But here's the real question, is your mom still with us?
Nina Carilli: Yes.
Chad Jordan: Okay. Do you want to give her a shout out and thank her or should we have Jeff and Sherry give a shout out to your mom?
Nina Carilli: Yeah, yeah, definitely a shout out. But both of my parents though really. But she led me here. Mom, Mary, thank you. You're the best.
Chad Jordan: Well you have a son, I mean hopefully he settles near you and doesn't move to the other side of the country or anything like that.
Nina Carilli: My heart.
Chad Jordan: I know. See? So that's why-
Nina Carilli: Now I know.
Chad Jordan: Yes, exactly. Yeah, so your mom had ulterior motives, obviously. Let me ask Jeff and Sherry and one of you comment on this. Who interviewed? [inaudible 00:13:39] Okay. Do you remember that day or was she one of thousands that you've interviewed since 2008? Describe to me kind of what that was like.
Jeff Crummie: So when we started in Sport Clips and opened our first two stores, Sherry was working full time. And-
Chad Jordan: What are your guys' backgrounds in terms of career?
Jeff Crummie: My background is in Information Technology and Management Consulting. And then I did some motivational-
Chad Jordan: I fell asleep just listening to you to describe that.
Jeff Crummie: Wat, there is a second one. Then I get into motivational speaking, career coaching. I'd go into these high schools and middle schools, coach kids on finding careers, things like that. And then Sport Clips came along and I shifted and basically did this whole-
Chad Jordan: And she was still working?
Jeff Crummie: She was still working full time and was-
Chad Jordan: She was the bread winner.
Jeff Crummie: She was the advisor [inaudible 00:14:30]
Chad Jordan: Okay. All right. Gotcha.
Jeff Crummie: So I had interviewed for the first two stores, managers, stylist. I did all the interviewing and then a few years later when the manager didn't work out at the trinity store, the PA108 I placed the ad, Nina applied. If I remember correctly, I might've interviewed maybe two people, but as soon as I interviewed her, I offered her the job on the spot. And I will never forget the night that I introduced her to the team. We had an existing manager in there and I walked in at eight o'clock-
Chad Jordan: I like where this is going.
Jeff Crummie: Called the existing manager into the back and I said, "It's not working out. You're no longer a manager. Okay, fine. And oh by the way, yes, we're having a team meeting tonight, that's why everyone's here because I'm going to introduce the new manager, she's here already." And in came Nina-
Chad Jordan: Nina, did you know all this was about that go down?
Nina Carilli: He never told me that he was doing this.
Chad Jordan: Oh, okay. All right. That was not part of the deal.
Nina Carilli: No, I walk in, and they didn't know that their manager's being demoted and that the ex manager was going to be there.
Jeff Crummie: Yeah we offered her a position. And so she came in, the rest of the meeting lasted about 10 minutes. Nina gave her background and everything and everyone was in a state of shock, and we walked out and everyone else left. And she went, wow. I didn't know that it was going to happen tonight. But she-
Chad Jordan: I'm sorry, can I move back to Vegas? Is it too late?
Jeff Crummie: It went off without a hitch. I mean, boom. She just did it.
Chad Jordan: Because I guess, you got the hard part out of the way. No pun intended with the haircut. But you went ahead and you did it. It's like ripping a bandaid off and then the floor was cleared, and you walked right in. So how did that transition go for you when you stepped in? Walk me through it.
Nina Carilli: Well, the first day, I'll never forget that first day because I didn't know she was very angry about the whole thing.
Chad Jordan: The way things went down. Okay.
Nina Carilli: And she came in for her scheduled shift and then stayed for about 20 minutes and walked out. So I remember our now area manager, Christina was with me and said, "Well, I guess you know what you're working the rest of the week." So I just took her shifts over for the rest of the week. And it took time. I remember taking time, but you have to get to know everybody and their personalities and then I remember just sitting down with each of them and talking with them initially, and we just kind of rolled with-
Chad Jordan: Keep there because, you had to hit the ground running.
Nina Carilli: Right.
Chad Jordan: As a manager and some managers as you know, they were stylists first and then a key holder and then, so tell me about that.
Nina Carilli: That was the hardest part because I was still learning the Sport Clips way of doing things. I wasn't even sure of how to do the 5.1, and I'm supposed to be managing these people. I feel as though I'm a quick learner, but as soon as I got a hand on that, it's only then could I start keeping track of performance stat sheets and five point play, things like that. That wasn't even on my radar. It was more of, okay, I need to get to know what these people are about and then-
Chad Jordan: And care for them as people, right?
Nina Carilli: Yeah and figure out what were they unhappy with. What had been going on in the store that was wrong or right, and get a feel for everything before I could really start doing my managerial jobs.
Chad Jordan: Are there any personality types that you found harder, more challenging to deal with than others?
Nina Carilli: Definitely. And Actually Jeff, he gave us a book to read called Situational Leadership, which I think is really helpful. There's things to know about.
Chad Jordan: Tell me a little bit more about what is -
Nina Carilli: You have to know what personality you're dealing with as to what management style you're going to give that individual stylist. And that is a real thing. I've learned this along the way. But it's true, you have to really know your team. You have to know your team mate, your team members individually.
Chad Jordan: It's not one size fits all managerial style.
Nina Carilli: Exactly.
Chad Jordan: They're not cookies, that are just been cut out.
Nina Carilli: And that's key. That's a big part of it I think.
Chad Jordan: That sounds like a book a motivational speaker would give somebody, Situational Leadership.
Nina Carilli: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Although it was a good thing. Yeah.
Chad Jordan: So you hit the ground running, you start learning the Five Point play on the fly, managing this team, how long before you felt comfortable?
Nina Carilli: Gosh. I mean-
Chad Jordan: Yesterday, a week ago.
Nina Carilli: I mean as far as getting to know this workups ways-
Chad Jordan: Just being comfortable in your role, a manager at Sport Clips.
Nina Carilli: I would say a few months. I would say maybe three months Max.
Chad Jordan: At any point were you like, you know what, I don't think this is going to work out.
Chad Jordan: No. They're not listening, It's just you and me now.
Nina Carilli: Well, they know, we went through, you've heard people say, there's bad apples. After being there I realized that we had mostly bad apples and that-
Chad Jordan: You needed to prune the tree a little bit.
Nina Carilli: And actually they got rid of themselves kind of, because they didn't like the implementing rules-
Chad Jordan: There's a conflict of personality styles. Yeah.
Nina Carilli: And the old manager didn't have any rules. And so, some people just left and then other people, once I started to implement things they didn't like, it kind of worked out better that way because then I could hire on who I thought would be a good fit and that's another thing. I think you need to hire on for personality and that is-
Chad Jordan: More than capability?
Nina Carilli: Right.
Chad Jordan: You fee like you could train somebody to be good? train.
Nina Carilli: I personally, I know right away. During our training period and that's what a probationary period is about. I think if you have it, you have it, cutting hair. But I can teach you anything, but you can't force somebody to have this personality, which made our store, which is a big part of this guy. And that's it. That's the secret. So then it gave me the opportunity to, I talk with my, I'm Italian. It gave me the opportunity to hire who I thought was going to be a good fit for the team. And then-
Chad Jordan: Sounds like an Avengers movie. You're just assembling talent, this person has this power and this one and they all come together.
Nina Carilli: Well, yeah. Eventually it did. It really did. The team that really stuck in there and have been with us for years, they've seen it all. And they've been there, and they know the hard times are only temporary. And they know that there's more reward, is the outcome is more of a good thing in the end.
Jeff Crummie: There was a time when there were four of you.
Nina Carilli: That's what I was thinking. And-
Chad Jordan: Four? That's the whole team?
Jeff Crummie: That was the team.
Chad Jordan: That's not the core.
Jeff Crummie: There were four of them. And some of the-
Chad Jordan: There's eight stations, so I mean, what are you cutting hair with one hand ?
Jeff Crummie: We closed half the stores.
Chad Jordan: All right.
Jeff Crummie: But some of the bad apples to use Nina's term, realized after they left, Oh, I made a mistake. I had a good thing going here. And they called and wanted to come back and Nina would ask the other three remaining team members, hey, do you want to bring back Susie? And they went, no.
Chad Jordan: Is there really a Susie that we need to edit this thing?
Nina Carilli: No.
Chad Jordan: Okay. All right.
Jeff Crummie: But again, that personality, no, no, no. Susie doesn't get-
Chad Jordan: We'd rather work our fingers to the bones.
Jeff Crummie: They said that we'd rather work up to close than Susie come in and work with her again. We don't want her back in the store.
Chad Jordan: I'm loving all this by the way, because what you're doing is you're revealing these secrets that you promised you wouldn't tell because you want to win next year. I knew I'd get them out No. So you become comfortable in your managerial style. You get to the Situation Leadership book. Now you're hiring for personality. And when do you start to see, because this is now what, 2015 ish.
Jeff Crummie: Yeah.
Chad Jordan: Okay. When do you start this? And has the store always been off the hook, clients coming out of the woodwork? Or was it when you had to get to your house in order first and then the clients started coming back?
Nina Carilli: I remember in the beginning, our average weekly sales, it was probably only seven or 8,000.
Chad Jordan: Which for some stores listening to that are like, oh, great. And you're saying, well, no, that's not good for what we needed.
Nina Carilli: Well, yeah, I mean, right. I'm not down playing that at all.
Chad Jordan: But you knew there was a potential for much more.
Nina Carilli: Yes. I started to understand how it works around here and it grew, the clients grew, everything grew, the staff grew. And then, I mean now we're averaging about, 16, 17.
Chad Jordan: Yeah. I saw your performance board. I mean it was impressive. I think you had a two in front of one of the digits and that's so impressive
Sherry DeCarme: I think one of the challenges in the early days quite frankly, was that the Sport Clips brand was not very well known in this market.
Chad Jordan: Yeah. And now it's got what, 40 stores or whatever. It's something around 30, 40 stores in the market, but when you started-
Sherry DeCarme: So we're [inaudible 00:24:36] center and a huge amount of traffic on a daily basis. But nobody really knew Sport Clips, so they were not inclined to just open the door and come in. So it took some time to build the brand.
Chad Jordan: Yeah, definitely.
Nina Carilli: And with the social media too with clients and stylists, they go on there and see that everyone's having this great time when doing all this stuff. Then the clients, a lot of ours travel or they're from out of town and for working for work and they will just Google it and they'll see all of our reviews, and they'll be like, "Oh, this is a place I'm going." So yeah.
Chad Jordan: It's almost like someone told you to say that from the social media team. I don't know. Actually I did not. I'm just saying I did not tell her to say that, but thank you. Yes, you're right. That does help. You got to look like you're-
Jeff Crummie: That's an example. Before you came today in the store, a client walks in, makes a bee line for the bathroom, which is all the way to the back of the store, comes back out, sits down, stylists calls his name. She takes him back and about two minutes later, she's walking him back up, and he goes, "I didn't know that Morgan was here today. I would really prefer Morgan." She's like, "Okay, no problem." Well, we're sitting in the lobby, Nina's in the store getting ready for your visit. Yeah. And he's like, "She didn't do anything wrong. She did nothing wrong." And it was a big joke and everyone started joking around with him and other clients got in on it. I'm like, "Oh yeah, we don't want her." No, no, she didn't do anything wrong. That's the environment up there.
Nina Carilli: It's like that all the time. It's like the barber shop.
Jeff Crummie: Yeah.
Chad Jordan: I can feel it. That client, after we recorded our video today, our fun video, he made sure to make a point of, because I was saying, what are the secrets? Why is this store winning? And he said, "It's these girls right here." And he was talking about how amazing they are. And he's got her faithful. Is it Morgan? Is that her name? But yeah, it seems like everybody, even the clients have a great time.
Nina Carilli: Yes. There are times that all the clients were all engaged in conversation and all on the floor once while cutting. And it's fun. And I think they come for the experience, but my team, they all have great personalities and they're super nice. They've outstanding customer service. They really, really do. So, that's what they come for.
Chad Jordan: It feels like It's almost a chick filet model where, they don't teach employees team members to be friendly. They hire friendly people and then teach them how to sell chicken sandwiches. It feels like that's kind of the model that you guys are really incorporating as well. So what happened in 2018, were all the stars aligned together and I don't even know them and to be honest, I'm a knucklehead. I don't even know the metrics that go in, to the Logan Trophies. I was told there'd be no Math on this podcast, so I don't know how the numbers crunch and all that kind of ... Do one of you know kind of the algorithm or the way it works?
Jeff Crummie: I don't know the algorithm. All I know is, the numbers they put up at the winning screen on all the categories and all that, but there's that number on the bottom, the points at the bottom.
Chad Jordan: It's like weighted somehow.
Jeff Crummie: Somehow, somehow. Yes.
Chad Jordan: When did you start to get an inkling that you might be, in the running and maybe if you made a key push to a certain months? I'm not trying to lead you anywhere, but well, okay.
Jeff Crummie: That's an easy one.
Chad Jordan: All right.
Jeff Crummie: So at the end of each quarter, we receive the list, the Logan ranking lists that ranks all the stores one through whatever. And I look at them at the end of every quarter. I don't know where we were at the end of the quarter one last year. I don't know where we were at the end of quarter two last year. I think we were probably in the top 10 but I don't remember. Sherry and I were away at the end of the third quarter and EJ [Gozur 00:28:43] our hair developer sends me a text, "Hey, congratulations buddy." I'm like, "What did I do? I'm out of town. What did I do?" He said, "Oh, you didn't see you're in second place for the Logan Trophy." I said, "How do you know that?2 He said, "Well, the rankings just came out. "
Well, I'm out of town. I didn't look, not immediately. I think we were at dinner or something. I'm on. I pull it up and sure enough we are in second place. So when I got back home, I did some ciphering, and I looked at each category, and I saw where the number one team was ranked in each category, I saw where we were ranked in each category. The number one team at the end of the third quarter, was the number one store in two of the categories. They were the first place. Not In one. We weren't first place in anything, I don't think. Maybe, not even back [inaudible 00:29:31] I don't think.
Chad Jordan: Okay, but you weren't low in anything either.
Jeff Crummie: No, we weren't low in anything. We were 40 points behind, the score. So their total score was 300, our total score was 340. So I met with Nina and she gets all excited. I said, "So, okay, we're now all excited. Sherry's all excited."
Chad Jordan: Have you ever been in the top 10 that you had known of?
Jeff Crummie: Not that I know. That's why I said at the end-
Chad Jordan: Not even in previous years?
Jeff Crummie: Oh, previous years, all. And I told Gordon this on the stage, when I won the trophy I said, "Gordon, I've sat at this banquet for now 11 years and every time it would come to the Logan trophy, I would just want to get up and leave because I knew there was no snowball's chance in hell, that we were ever even going to be considered for this damn thing." He said, "Well, here you are." So no, I never considered it. So we get excited. So we're like, okay, we're going to win this. How do we win this? I said, " We've got to get the team excited about it." So how do we do-
Nina Carilli: So that was the last quarter though, right?
Jeff Crummie: Well, yeah.
Chad Jordan: So this is in October?
Jeff Crummie: We're in October now. Sometime in October, we have a team meeting and I went in and motivationally said, "Hey guys, here's what you have to understand."
Chad Jordan: Better that than IT. You don't want to bore them-
Jeff Crummie: I didn't go in with my computer [crosstalk 00:30:49] in a slide, like there's a guy in training, for some guy Chad or something to click in slides and stuff. No, it wasn't like that. So I explained to them. I said, "Okay guys, we live in the city of champions where we've got trophies. You are familiar with the Lombardi trophy when you win all those super bowls and the Stanley cup". And I said, "The Logan Trophy is the equivalent. That's the Sport Clips Stanley Cup." And they're like, "Oh wow, this is cool." I said, "No, really, you need to understand. This is a really big thing. 1900 stores and we could be number one."
So I went down through each of the rankings and I said, this is where we're short. Here's where they're higher. I said, "Now here's some good news. In the two categories where they're number one, they only have one way to go and that's down. We can go up in everything." So the two that we really needed some work on were client count and sales growth. Client count and sales growth. So we sat down and we mapped out a strategy for how we could generate more clients, which would turn generate more-
Chad Jordan: Pre tell. What did you do?
Jeff Crummie: So we looked at the prior couple of months, hourly load, and look to see where our wait times were spiking. And then also where our walkouts were perhaps spiking as well. We found that there were probably three or four times during the week that there were these little blocks, from 11 to two or one to three or where it's spiked. So we said, what we're going to do is rather than schedule for that, we're going to create what we call special forces.
Chad Jordan: Special forces?
Jeff Crummie: Special forces.
Chad Jordan: Okay.
Jeff Crummie: So Nina would create her schedule, just like she would, as the hourly load and everything would say this is what you need, but we knew that we were going to have these spikes. So we would ask team members if they wanted to be on special forces for that week, for these periods of time. And they would raise their hand, say yes, I would be part of the special forces. So what we do is, if we saw that from about 11 to two time on a Tuesday, oh, oh here comes the client flow-
Chad Jordan: And you can tell because of a wallboard?
Jeff Crummie: Yeah, the wallboard. The wait time start going up, the online checking start hitting, so you have some advanced notice, you pick up the phone and you call Alyssa and say Alyssa special forces, we need you. Alyssa would come in. Now here was the catch. If they came in and worked one hour, I paid them for three. They came in for two hours, they got an extra two hours. So that's why they wanted to be on special forces.
Chad Jordan: So now they're fighting to be on special forces?
Jeff Crummie: Right.
Sherry DeCarme: Also, can I just say, not one of my team, well actually only one of my team members lives near the store. We all live maybe 30 to-
Jeff Crummie: An hour.
Sherry DeCarme: I personally live 30 miles.
Chad Jordan: Think how many podcasts you can listen to, from Sport Clips, on just your commute.
Sherry DeCarme: Yes. You're right.
Chad Jordan: [crosstalk 00:34:08] They had to be really all in, to come all that way to work an hour. But you're going to give them those extra-
Sherry DeCarme: That was the incentive, yes.
Jeff Crummie: So we were always giving the two extra hours. And I said, so let's say that you ended up maybe working a whole shift. So maybe they came in at 11 but ended up staying until six or seven. They still got the rector two hours.
Nina Carilli: Yeah. They might've just added those special forces on to the beginning of their shift.
Chad Jordan: Oh, I got it.
Nina Carilli: Correct. And then stayed for their shift.
Chad Jordan: And now they're all waiting by the phone, hoping to get called into work. [crosstalk 00:34:44] too far.
Nina Carilli: No, no, no, that ended at the end of December.
Chad Jordan: Oh, okay.
Nina Carilli: Yeah, it was a lot. They worked really hard.
Jeff Crummie: I don't have the numbers because I don't have the numbers, but I'm suspecting that in those two areas where we could gain ground, we obviously gained enough ground in those and then I obviously I think we moved up a lot in the back [crosstalk 00:35:08]
Chad Jordan: Now what I think is going to happen, is team leaders across the country, they're going to ignore the first two quarters of the Logan trophy rankings. Wait for that third quarter. See if they're in the near the top and then they're going to just go like you guys did.
Jeff Crummie: Well, there's something to be said for that. If you look at horseracing, [crosstalk 00:35:25]
Chad Jordan: Finish strong, you're pacing yourself-
Jeff Crummie: Wait until that last bend and boom, off you go.
Chad Jordan: I love it. Here's what I want to do, because you guys have been amazing with your time and this is after hours for everybody. I've got, unless you have any words, pearls of wisdom that you want to drop. I think I've gotten enough out of you guys to hit stop on this podcast and have it be worth it. But I got 10 questions for you.
Nina Carilli: Oh boy.
Chad Jordan: There the bonus questions at the end. I won't be asking followups to each of these, whatever answer you give, I'll just live with. Okay?
Jeff Crummie: And you said you didn't have a list of questions.
Chad Jordan: Well-
Nina Carilli: He did say that.
Chad Jordan: If you've listened to the podcast, you'll know what the 10 questions are on your long commute. Okay. All right. Number one. Well, the first question, which super power would you most like to have?
Nina Carilli: Mind reading.
Chad Jordan: This psychology lady over here.
Nina Carilli: Well, that's not why I said it but I think it would help out at your work.
Chad Jordan: With your team members or with your clients.
Nina Carilli: Yes.
Chad Jordan: Okay. Your team members. Yeah.
Jeff Crummie: She's their team leader.
Chad Jordan: Yeah, yeah. Well that's because you're here. Number two, what is your personal motto?
Nina Carilli: My personal motto. Honestly, that hard work pays off.
Chad Jordan: You're living proof of that. Other than where you live now and Las Vegas, where else in the world would you most like to live?
Nina Carilli: In the world?
Chad Jordan: Yeah. You got the whole world.
Nina Carilli: Oh, Italy or Greece probably.
Chad Jordan: Okay. You ever been?
Nina Carilli: Not yet. I'm working on it. It's on the backgrounds.
Chad Jordan: Make it happen. Make it happen to visit. Just keep living here.
Nina Carilli: Right, right, right.
Chad Jordan: Who is a celebrity you'd most like to meet one day?
Nina Carilli: Oh, Ellen.
Chad Jordan: Oh yes.
Nina Carilli: I love her.
Chad Jordan: Yes. Every time I get that as an answer, I tag Ellen in the podcast.
Nina Carilli: I think that she moves people, all kinds of different kinds of people in all the different ways.
Chad Jordan: She's amazing.
Nina Carilli: Yeah.
Chad Jordan: I'd steal all her games for huddles and all that kind of stuff and I love what she does. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? It can be an Italian word too, unless it's a curse word or something.
Nina Carilli: Do I overuse? I don't know. I don't know. I don't have answer, I don't think. If other people that, I feel, I say that a lot. I feel like, I feel like, I feel like.
Chad Jordan: I feel like, I feel like. All right. See, we knew we'd come across it, if we flustered you enough.
Nina Carilli: People that talk to me would know, I maybe don't even know that I do that.
Chad Jordan: Maybe they'll come up to you after and say, you should have said-
Nina Carilli: My friend tells me off.
Chad Jordan: You should have said this. What sound or noise do you love?
Nina Carilli: I love rain sounds.
Chad Jordan: Okay.
Nina Carilli: I sleep with them.
Chad Jordan: Oh, okay. You don't actually love rain, but you like the white noise of rain. Okay. Okay. What sound or noise do you hate?
Nina Carilli: Construction.
Chad Jordan: Oh, okay. Is there a lot of that here in Pittsburgh?
Nina Carilli: Mostly, yes. For example, there was somebody Jack Hammering in my neighborhood this morning. I think that woke me up.
Chad Jordan: The rain wasn't enough to drown it out.
Nina Carilli: I actually went out there to see what was going on.
Chad Jordan: Okay. Give him a little Italian fire.
Nina Carilli: Yeah.
Chad Jordan: What profession other than your own, would you have been good at or at least ever wanted to try?
Nina Carilli: Well, what I went back to college for, was to be a paralegal. If I would have chose that earlier in life, I was always really interested in the law. I don't know if I would've went to law school, but I still do like law.
Chad Jordan: It's something the way a lot of stylists are wired because that, and I get a lawyer. Is that the answer to that quite a bit.
Nina Carilli: Political science was not my favorite class in the whole world. I don't know.
Chad Jordan: Okay. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Nina Carilli: My son. I can't be prouder of anything else in the whole world.
Chad Jordan: We got a Logan Trophy right here.
Nina Carilli: I know.
Chad Jordan: That's the second time when you would talk about your son, that you've teared up.
Nina Carilli: It's unexplainable.
Chad Jordan: What's his name?
Nina Carilli: Anthony.
Chad Jordan: Anthony. Okay. All right. Well, Anthony Mom's proud of you.
Nina Carilli: Of course, I'm proud of this.
Chad Jordan: No. Yeah. That's just a thing, that can't hear you. Anthony's going to be able to hear this. He'll listen to this podcast. Number 10. If heaven indeed exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
Nina Carilli: You did your best out here. You're a good person.
Chad Jordan: All right. That works for me. Hopefully it works for you.
Nina Carilli: Yeah.
Chad Jordan: I think we found out a lot today about what it takes to win a Logan Trophy. I think probably the number one thing is it takes an amazing manager.
Jeff Crummie: Yes.
Chad Jordan: I think it starts and ends there and everything in between matters as well. But, I think Jeffrey and Sherry would both agree.
Jeff Crummie: I always tell her, you got to think of that store like you're baking a cake. Your team members are the ingredients going in and when you bring a new ingredient and all of a sudden the batter goes sour, you need to get that ingredient out.
Chad Jordan: It changes the flavor profile.
Jeff Crummie: Changes the flavor, you go to get them out.
Nina Carilli: He uses the best analogies all the time.
Chad Jordan: He's a motivational speaker. He doesn't live in a van down by the river either.
Jeff Crummie: Only in the summer.
Chad Jordan: This has been a treat. Thank you. I actually do think team leaders, managers, a lot of stores are going to benefit from kind of hearing this, your journey. And who knows? We might be bringing this back to, it might not even leave Pittsburgh. Who knows? I mean, you've got four other stores. You have this store as well. There's a repeat champion on there already. So we're thinking maybe three times in a row. That'd be the record that you want to aim for.
Nina Carilli: That's what we do here.
Chad Jordan: City of champions. All right, everybody, hey, thanks to this great team for joining me. It's been another edition and we hope you can tune in next week. Thanks.
Nina Carilli: Thanks.
Chad Jordan: Thanks Chad.
Sherry DeCarme: Thank you.