Finally – A Retail Sales System That Works!!

I hear it all the time from frustrated salon owners “If only my staff could sell more retail products” or “Our retail numbers are low – if I could only get my staff to even talk to the clients about retail products, my numbers would be higher”.  Well, guess what?  This battle has been going on for the last 40 years! Ever since “retail” was made part of the salon environment back in the late 60’s.

Now, I know that most of you were probably not around in the late 60’s.  Or if you were, you probably were not salon owners yet.  But, the “reason” that your staff cannot (and will not) consistently sell retail products to any great degree has been around for at least a thousand years.  And unless you can solve this (or at least address it) – you have no shot in making a dent in higher retail sales for your salon.

Look, we all know that today – most retail sales are generated by clients actually looking for the products themselves (right off the street) or by national brand recognition.  The reason behind this is simple – if stylists don’t sell anyway, why not just carry the products that are well advertised that literally sell themselves.  Seems pretty logical right?

Well, that strategy can only get you so far.

Most salons need to build up their average client ticket these days.  One way to do this is by increasing your prices.  Another way to do this is by selling a client additional services.  And the third way is to sell the client – retail products.  But how do we do that?   Understand this:

Stylists don’t sell retail products consistently because they don’t want to be salespeople!

But what if you could create an environment – whereby the client sold themselves – and the stylist was simply the mouthpiece that answered the questions?  I mean, we all know that stylists like to talk about things that they’re excited about.  If the clients “ask them” then they’re not selling the client (salesperson) – they are simply answering the client’s questions (consultant).

All stylists want to be considered “experts” and consultants are thought of as experts – not as salespeople.

So, this is what you do at your next staff meeting.  Have each person get up off their chair and go to the retail shelf and pick out their “favorite” product.  Then have each of them tell the group “why” that particular product is their favorite.  Then you set up their stylist station so that their favorite product is displayed with a sign that reads:

Ask my WHY this is my favorite beauty product?

A client will see the sign (while they’re getting their service performed) and be curious as to why that particular product is their “favorite”.  The rest will be easy.  The stylist will start raving about the product because they “believe” in it.  The client will sense that believability and buy the product.  Simple as 1-2-3.

You can also create a contest each month for the stylist who sells the most of these “favorite” retail products.  You now have solved the biggest reason why most retail systems fail.  You have taken out the “rejection-factor” that cripples a stylist’s psyche once they hear that first bad response from a client.

Try it – it really works.  Just have them change their “favorite” product every 4-6 weeks to keep the idea fresh to the clients.

Best regards, Steve Sampson

HairMax Salon Software is a product designed to be the best investment your salon has ever made.  It is not only the easiest and most powerful salon management software on the market.  It is from a company dedicated to becoming the ultimate VALUE source to the industry.