Are you making the most of your opportunities?
Most successful salons will tell you that their biggest income is upselling retail items and low cost add on treatments, so if you aren’t retailing you are missing out big time! It’s such a simple and great way to increase your turnover, and with most items at 50% of the RRP (Recommended Retail Price) it is a great profit margin for you.
As a starting point, choose your top 3 products for each treatment which you absolutely love! You have to believe in these products to sell them successfully, if you are just selling them to make money without actually having any faith in the product then your clients will be able to tell that a mile away and they won’t be interested, so get excited by the products!
Be enthusiastic!
Have the items IN STOCK, on show, labels facing, in your salon.
Display them on your counter (see more about this below)
If you have the stock there ready then clients are more likely to buy spontaneously or impulsively. If you need to order them in it allows a cooling down period for them to change their mind and also a chance for clients to source the item or similar for themselves.
Which leads me to trade prices. Everyone knows that when we retail an item in a salon we are generally able to buy it at "trade discount". No one is naive enough to think you are selling items on at the price you paid. Do you go into Tesco and question their prices?
So why do you get to make a profit on these items?
As a trade customer you have a shop or you might show the items off in your home salon, either way you are offering the facility for clients to buy. You are ordering and laying the money out (investing in stock), you are paying delivery (if applicable), you pay the VAT and you have done the research to find the products you believe will be suitable for your clients.
Another the main reason is that the items you sell are professional items, that means you can only buy them if you are a trade customer within this industry. This means you have paid a lot of money and invested time to become qualified.
Also, as a therapist, you are there to educate your clients on the CORRECT way to use these items. With any item you retail in your salon you will be able to assist your clients in which item is best suited for them and how they should use it to get the full benefit from it. Retailing aftercare products is part of the service, you want your clients to get the absolute BEST results from the treatment they have just had to make it last better, look better and give your clients better value. Value doesn’t just mean monetary, it means benefits to that client, such as longevity of the treatment, information and education, long term improvement to themselves, anything that will make the treatment worth more to that client. You are actually doing them an injustice if you AREN’T offering products to help them get the most of their treatment!
I mentioned you should stock your top 3 items. This doesn’t mean one of each, you will need a display of items so usually about 5 or 6 of each, otherwise it won’t look aesthetically pleasing on the shelf and will also make it hard for you to be taken seriously. Usually if you buy retail items in bigger quantities you can get them cheaper too, so it makes more sense to do this.
Once you start selling these items, don’t just put that money in your till, you need to reinvest it. So if for example you buy 6 precision brow gels, once you sell them you can buy 6 more and then put the profit towards another item, like brow pencils, to up your retail range. Ideally long term your aim is to be able to offer a full range of retail items.
How do you actually sell to clients though? At first the selling process may feel unnatural or difficult to you, but the more you practice and the more you do it, the easier it will come to you, to a point where you don’t think anything of it. Start off small, that’s why I suggest just your 3 favourite items, as you love them already, so you are only sharing that with others. The whole process should not feel “salesy”, it should feel like you are being helpful.
You are just having a conversation about something that you know will benefit that client. It should feel like you are educating that client, or like you are just sharing your excitement over a product with them. The simplest way to do this is to focus on just one item that you think your client would benefit most from. So for example with the brow range, you could fill in one brow for your client, show them the difference, and then show them in the mirror how you did it so they can see for themselves how easy it is to use. Or at the end of a lash treatment, cleanse your clients lashes for her explaining how you do it as you go, then show her what you used so she won’t be scared to do it herself later.
Have samples for clients to try too. For example, I like to show clients our gorgeous eyeliners on their hand so they can see how lovely the colours are and how well it lasts (spoiler...wait for it to dry then try and get it off, it does not shift at all! It’s amazing!) There are endless retail opportunities that you and your clients could be missing out from so take a look at some of our retail items and if there’s any that you aren’t sure how to use just message us or post a question in our beauty chat Facebook group and we will try our best to help you.
Another aspect is the money, we all have to earn a living and with your diary fully booked with treatments you cannot book more clients to increase your income. After all, the day only has so many hours.....BUT you can retail items and boost your income without having to spend time on a treatment AND at the same time supporting your client and offering perfect preparation or aftercare for the treatments you offer!
As a starting point, choose your top 3 products for each treatment which you absolutely love! You have to believe in these products to sell them successfully, if you are just selling them to make money without actually having any faith in the product then your clients will be able to tell that a mile away and they won’t be interested, so get excited by the products!
Be enthusiastic!
Have the items IN STOCK, on show, labels facing, in your salon.
Display them on your counter (see more about this below)
If you have the stock there ready then clients are more likely to buy spontaneously or impulsively. If you need to order them in it allows a cooling down period for them to change their mind and also a chance for clients to source the item or similar for themselves.
Which leads me to trade prices. Everyone knows that when we retail an item in a salon we are generally able to buy it at "trade discount". No one is naive enough to think you are selling items on at the price you paid. Do you go into Tesco and question their prices?
So why do you get to make a profit on these items?
As a trade customer you have a shop or you might show the items off in your home salon, either way you are offering the facility for clients to buy. You are ordering and laying the money out (investing in stock), you are paying delivery (if applicable), you pay the VAT and you have done the research to find the products you believe will be suitable for your clients.
Another the main reason is that the items you sell are professional items, that means you can only buy them if you are a trade customer within this industry. This means you have paid a lot of money and invested time to become qualified.
Also, as a therapist, you are there to educate your clients on the CORRECT way to use these items. With any item you retail in your salon you will be able to assist your clients in which item is best suited for them and how they should use it to get the full benefit from it. Retailing aftercare products is part of the service, you want your clients to get the absolute BEST results from the treatment they have just had to make it last better, look better and give your clients better value. Value doesn’t just mean monetary, it means benefits to that client, such as longevity of the treatment, information and education, long term improvement to themselves, anything that will make the treatment worth more to that client. You are actually doing them an injustice if you AREN’T offering products to help them get the most of their treatment!
I mentioned you should stock your top 3 items. This doesn’t mean one of each, you will need a display of items so usually about 5 or 6 of each, otherwise it won’t look aesthetically pleasing on the shelf and will also make it hard for you to be taken seriously. Usually if you buy retail items in bigger quantities you can get them cheaper too, so it makes more sense to do this.
Once you start selling these items, don’t just put that money in your till, you need to reinvest it. So if for example you buy 6 precision brow gels, once you sell them you can buy 6 more and then put the profit towards another item, like brow pencils, to up your retail range. Ideally long term your aim is to be able to offer a full range of retail items.
How do you actually sell to clients though? At first the selling process may feel unnatural or difficult to you, but the more you practice and the more you do it, the easier it will come to you, to a point where you don’t think anything of it. Start off small, that’s why I suggest just your 3 favourite items, as you love them already, so you are only sharing that with others. The whole process should not feel “salesy”, it should feel like you are being helpful.
You are just having a conversation about something that you know will benefit that client. It should feel like you are educating that client, or like you are just sharing your excitement over a product with them. The simplest way to do this is to focus on just one item that you think your client would benefit most from. So for example with the brow range, you could fill in one brow for your client, show them the difference, and then show them in the mirror how you did it so they can see for themselves how easy it is to use. Or at the end of a lash treatment, cleanse your clients lashes for her explaining how you do it as you go, then show her what you used so she won’t be scared to do it herself later.
Have samples for clients to try too. For example, I like to show clients our gorgeous eyeliners on their hand so they can see how lovely the colours are and how well it lasts (spoiler...wait for it to dry then try and get it off, it does not shift at all! It’s amazing!) There are endless retail opportunities that you and your clients could be missing out from so take a look at some of our retail items and if there’s any that you aren’t sure how to use just message us or post a question in our beauty chat Facebook group and we will try our best to help you.
Another aspect is the money, we all have to earn a living and with your diary fully booked with treatments you cannot book more clients to increase your income. After all, the day only has so many hours.....BUT you can retail items and boost your income without having to spend time on a treatment AND at the same time supporting your client and offering perfect preparation or aftercare for the treatments you offer!
Go on, try it and you will see what positive feedback you will get from clients and how they appreciate your recommendation and advice!