One of the most common questions we receive from salon owners is how they can increase their retail sales. Across the board this seems to be an issue even for multi location salons with top stylists not meeting their retail sales goals, what’s an owner to do?
Here are 5 selling tips to refer back to every time your product sales drop!
The Fear of the “S” Word
In the salon industry whenever talk of “selling” comes up, most stylists get that typical uneasy flood of thoughts, “I’m not a salesperson” and “I hate selling stuff” are among the most common. While we realize you didn’t get into hair to sell products to clients, it’s important to realize right off the bat that it is an essential part of your job that isn’t going away.
In order to make yourself more comfortable with selling, the word itself needs to be rebranded in your mind to "identifying a need and fulfilling it”. Take the time to learn about the products your salon sells and play with a few. After determining your favorite products for various hair types, work them into your usual styling sessions and have the client see the results first hand. This A) makes it much easier to sell the product because the client is experiencing it for free and B) makes recommending the product more honest. After all who would trust a recommendation from a product the salesperson hasn't even tried?
Always remember that YOU are the expert. Believe in yourself and your knowledge in order to recommend and sell products your clients would actually like and use. If you feel uncomfortable recommending a product, almost 99% of the time it will come off as a sales pitch and your clients won’t buy into it. The key to sales is believing in the product and presenting it as the best possible option compared to the alternatives on the market.
It’s important to note that after you have built a portfolio of clients you become more comfortable with them as people. Of course, we recommend building that client relationship first, but once you know how to connect with your clients, it becomes easier to talk to them like normal people, instead of rattling off a practiced speech that sounds non personal. You know your clients, what they like, and most likely what they dislike. Believe in that instinct and talk to them about the products you think they will have the most success with. You’d be surprised how much feedback you’ll get being real and honest. Most times you can even get clients to explain why aren't going to purchase a product, which will help redirect your sales efforts for the next appointment.
Connect Retail To Their Service
We can’t stress the ease and importance of this method of sales in the salon. It is by far the easiest and one of the most effective ways to get clients purchasing products without any additional work!
Right before a client comes in, block out a couple of minutes to pull and think about the products you are going to use on them during the time of your service. This will not only make the service fly by faster by having a plan in place, but it will give you a moment to really pull products that make sense for your client and will make the biggest difference to their hair. If you really believe in these products, they will sell themselves during the service.
Always talk about what products you are using during the service and why. This really helps connect the dots for the client when they see the transformation afterward and love what they see, then you can attribute the success to not only your talent but these amazing products that also happen to be for sale...
Rotating Your Display Based on Performance
Sometimes we try new things and they don’t work so we try, try again. If you haven’t tried anything new with your retail display in a couple of months, that may a reason things aren’t moving. In the retail industry, stores are required to change their displays almost every single month. This is due to the psychology that a new display will draw more eyes, even if the inventory is the same. This same rule applies to your product shelf!
Below are some examples of gorgeous retail displays from salons across the country. Refer back here for inspiration every time you want to change up your display! We’ve also started a Pinterest board on decorating your salon here and feature gorgeous salons across the nation on our Instagram page here.
Grow My Salon Business shows this gorgeous calm display that evokes a sense of relaxation to customers. The products stand out beautifully against the dark backdrop and the color scheme draws your eye across each shelf.
The Naturalmente salon in Italy lights up their display to bring the customers eye to the wall from where ever they are in the salon. Kevin Murphy is an incredible salon hair care brand that can almost exclusively sell itself due to its' massive popularity, consider this when choosing what brands you will carry in store.
This gorgeous color wall from the Jessica Todd salon is fun and eye-catching. The colors evoke a sense of fun in an otherwise minimalistic space and makes the salon seem more professional when it comes to color services.
Practice Makes Perfect
"The best hairdressers never stop learning" -Unknown. The previous statement could not be more true. If selling doesn’t come naturally to you, practice on other members of your staff or even during an Education! Run through various scenarios you could encounter in the chair that lead to a customer not purchasing and ask your fellow stylists what they do to pass those reservations? Helping each other doesn’t hurt anyone and will only boost your careers and the revenue of your salon!
If you don’t have time to practice, Envision Salon & Spa creates recommendation notes with product benefits and usage instructions from right inside the Point of Sale Screen. Instantly add recommended products to the ticket with one click, it’s just like having an assistant upselling for you. Schedule a demo today to see Envision Salon & Spa Software in action.
Do you have any tips on selling more retail in your salon? We’d love to hear them and to feature you across our social media channels! Use the hashtag #EnvisionThePossibilities to connect with us!
