Did you know that clients who make retail purchases are twice as likely to return for another visit? In an industry where client retention hovers around 30%, this is worth pondering twice. Selling retail in a salon has many advantages, especially considering the razor-thin margins in the beauty space. Retail sales can be the deciding factor between merely getting by and actually paying yourself. So, how can you inspire your team, kickstart sales, and boost profits for your salon business? Dive into this guide for the top retailing techniques and strategies tailored for salons in 2024.

Here’s our advice: These strategies are straightforward and proven to drive sales. As salon owners (and strategists) we often relish the planning and ideation aspect of our business. The temptation might be strong to tweak this information, but remember, the surefire way to reach your goals is by taking decisive action. Resist the urge to overanalyze; instead, implement these strategies as-is in your space, and diligently track the results.

Creating the Retailing Environment

Let’s delve into the guest experience: it may surprise you that a guest’s initial impression of your space isn’t solely shaped by the people or the speedy ‘welcome’ but heavily influenced by visuals. In the beauty business, where visual communication is paramount, our surroundings significantly impact how we engage with our environment.

Studies suggest that our non-verbal cues—how we look and act—constitute a substantial 95% of the overall impression we convey in communication. Only 5% is attributed to the words we say. Essentially, how we present ourselves visually and through action holds more sway than verbal communication. This is a key reason why salons often grapple with retail sales—they neglect to create an environment that entices customers to explore.

Here are four tips to craft the perfect retailing environment:

  • Step 1 – Strategic Placement: Position retail displays prominently near the entrance to immediately capture guests’ attention. This visual cue signals that you indeed offer retail products. Avoid hiding products in neglected corners; instead, position displays in high-traffic areas. Make guests navigate around them, ensuring the display is in their line of vision.
  • Step 2 – Informative Signage: Use signage to spotlight new arrivals, promotions, and guide clients to the products they seek. One sign is not enough; repetition is key. Display signage on doors, at the check-in desk, in waiting areas, on the styling floor, near retail shelves, during checkout, and at the exit. Avoid placing small signs in inconspicuous places.
  • Step 3 – Price Clarity: Clearly mark each product with its price. Whether using shelf talkers or traditional price stickers, ensure that customers can easily identify the cost. Most people won’t inquire about prices; they’ll simply move on to the next item.
  • Step 4 – Communicate with Staff: Provide signage for staff as well. Keep stylists informed about current sales, promotions, and new arrivals in the break room.

By strategically placing signage and positioning retail displays in key areas, you spark curiosity in clients and communicate that your space is a shopping destination.

I’ve crafted this printable retail checklist which I’ll deliver to your inbox for FREE, use it to help keep your retail space in line with your goals.

The Best Way To Retail Is To Teach

No doubt, one of the significant challenges for salon owners is encountering resistance from staff when aiming to boost retail sales. The familiar chorus sings, ‘We’re not salespeople,’ and it’s a sentiment that’s hard to argue against. Those who push sales often falter, whereas those who adopt a teaching approach tend to thrive. To truly excel in the retail arena, the key is persuading your staff to be educators rather than salespeople.

Here are four crucial considerations when venturing into the realm of selling:

  • Steer Clear of the Hard Sell: People generally dislike being subjected to a hard sell. The pressure, the upselling – it can potentially tarnish an otherwise positive relationship with your guest if you attempt to force a sale. Avoid the pushy tactics that attempt to talk people into buying something.
  • Listen and Connect: Before making any recommendations, actively hear what your guest is trying to tell you. Listen for the problems your guests are facing, whether it’s ‘dryness,’ ‘breakage,’ ‘dull’, or other pain-points. Then establish a connection between the issue and potential solutions.
  • Seek Permission Before Teaching: Prior to imparting knowledge, seek permission. Approach it with a phrase like, ‘Is it okay if I show you how to address this concern during your visit today?’ This not only captures the guest’s interest but also encourages interaction. Refrain from a mere styling drive-by where you style with old faithful without so much as mentioning it to the guest.
  • Add Value Through Teaching: Teaching enhances the overall guest experience. By understanding and resolving their hair-related problems, offering solutions, and teaching them how to maintain results at home, you create a positive impression and build rapport. Additionally, you get to showcase your expertise and elevate yourself as a professional in their eyes.

While making sales is undoubtedly a crucial aspect of any business, it should not be an end in itself. When you master the art of teaching your guests by solving their problems, and making them feel heard, they are more likely to make purchases because they see you as knowledgeable and helpful, not just as a traditional salesperson.

For more on this watch this video How Stylists Sell Retail By Teaching

Best Retail Scripts: Salon Autopilot

Let’s recap what we’ve covered so far: After creating the shopper-friendly ambiance (visual) and embracing the commitment to teach (intention) we’ve addressed the extra-verbal and non-verbal groundwork of communication. Now let’s turn our attention to the last piece, the words we say. Sadly, most of this critical elements potential is drowned out in small-talk or gossip. 

The reality is, our guests have their own circle of friends. Although the temptation to transform our guests into friends is strong, the crucial point remains—there is only one person they trust to care for their hair: you. A pitfall arises when excessive small talk blurs the professional boundary. Guests begin to perceive us more as friends than professionals, and we risk our opportunity to make more money.

Introducing scripts at every staff level will effortlessly automates retail sales, provided you have the groundwork in place. Additionally, it creates an elevated guest experience, ensuring the spotlight remains on the primary reason the guest is in your chair today: their hair.

Here are the four things to consider when introducing scripts for your business:

  • Craft Targeted Scripts: Write your scripts to communicate what’s new, what’s on sale, and what’s been recommended to a guest by the service provider. Each script should be specific for the context in which its used (the front desk, behind-the-chair, over-the-phone) to insure relevance.
  • Allow For Personalization: Encourage staff to create personalized scripts not only fosters team buy-in but empowers individuals. For those daunted by the task, offering a basic templates ensures a minimum expectation can be met while they take time to make it their own.
  • Consistency Breeds Loyalty: The deployment of scripts ensures a consistent experience for every guest, fostering loyalty and encouraging referrals. It’s a hall-mark of a salon that values each client’s journey.
  • Conversation Starters: Coaching staff to maintain an 80/20 ratio of listening to talking is an effective approach to staying effective. However, sometimes the gossip is too good! Scripts can help redirect conversations from friendly banter to professional discussions about hair and help us to stay on task.

Scripts act as the backbone of streamlined communication, ensuring each interaction aligns with the salon’s professional identity and your goals. As you aim to enhance your salon’s communication prowess, dive into The 2024 Script Guide—an invaluable resource designed for salons wanting to implement scripts to boost sales, empower their team, and elevate the guest experience. 

Incentivize, Don’t Discount

I hope that as you’ve followed along, you feel inspired and ready to confront the challenges in your salon head-on. However, a word of caution: you are just one person, and the weight of your entire organization cannot rest solely on your shoulders. Imagine your salon as a boulder rolling down a hill. One person alone cannot push that boulder back up; it requires the collaborative efforts of a team working in unity.

The key to inspiring your team lies in cultivating a supportive culture and implementing incentives. So, how do you go about creating a team culture that centers around retail with a primary emphasis on teaching? Let’s delve into four steps to initiate the process and create incentives that foster teamwork:

  1. Set Gradual Expectations: Avoid overwhelming your staff with a laundry list of changes. Instead, introduce changes gradually over a 90-day period. For instance, start by instructing, “From now on, let’s ensure each guest learns how to use a styling product during every visit.” Once this step becomes a norm, progress to the next.
  2. Reward Observable Changes: Institute staff contests with prizes, focusing on behaviors rather than results. Track who introduces the most clients to a product, delivers a script, or guides clients to the retail shelf. Incentives need not be extravagant; timely positive feedback, like a simple “Awesome job with doing X!” goes a long way in encouraging desired behavior.
  3. Align Incentives with Personal Goals: Consider offering a 10% commission (industry standard) on retail sales. This powerful incentive aligns with staff’s financial goals, rewarding them for serving guests and delivering exceptional experiences. It’s a win-win-win scenario for all parties involved.
  4. Address Resistance with Patience: Acknowledge and understand staff resistance to cultural changes. Redirect your energy toward the receptive team members and the culture you envision, rather than trying to change the existing one. Over time, resistant staff will witness positive shifts, and the evolving culture will become a more potent influencer than any one-on-one meeting could ever be.

In essence, reward the behaviors you wish to see repeated. Avoid the temptation to discount products for the sake of a quick sale, as this diminishes it’s perceived value and undermines the team’s incentive structure.

Recognizing the time constraints faced by salon owners, I’ve meticulously curated the ebook — “50 Promotional Strategies.” This comprehensive resource is more than just a collection of ideas; it’s a strategic guide designed to jumpstart team incentives and promotions. Each strategy is tailored to help you not only incentivize your team but also track the Return on Investment (ROI) effectively. This ensures that every promotion you run maximizes your salon’s profitability.

Best Tools For Selling Retail

What are tools? Imagine you are want to visit the town over, but instead of using your car, you opt to run. Imagine the time, effort and energy it would take to run there. Considering our limited daily time and energy, a tool is anything that can conserve energy and multiply its effect. For instance, using a car demands significantly less energy than running the same distance. In essence, we use tools to multiply our efforts, helping achieve our goals faster and with less fatigue.

Here are our best tools you can use to kickstart the retail shift in your salon:

  • 12 Month Promotional Planner ($19.99):
    Often, salons find themselves scrambling to create last-minute retail and staff promotions out of necessity. That’s why we’ve created the 12 Month Promotional Planner. What if in a 1 hour sitting you could plan an entire year of promotions? That’s the kind of energy and time savings we are talking about! 
  • Aftercare Recommendation Cards ($24.99):
    Elevate your professionalism, enhance guest value, and boost retail sales effortlessly with Aftercare Recommendation Cards. These easy-to-use and customizable cards allow you to personalize suggestions based on services received. Simply upload your logo, input the recommended products, and present each guest with a personalized card tailored to their specific needs. These cards are proven to help increase guest retention and boos retail sales.
  • Hair Strategist Planner ($39.99):
    Tailored for growth-minded stylists aiming to maximize their daily potential, the Hair Strategist Planner is a game-changer. Stylists utilizing this planner report making up to 20% more money daily by setting personal goals and staying intentional in their actions. This planner stands out for its unique focus on cultivating the behaviors of financial growth rather than fixating solely on results. For a deeper understanding of behaviors versus results, delve into “The Stylist Feedback Loop.”

Moreover, any purchase of Hair Strategist Product grants you a 90 day Pro membership to the Hair Strategist Community where you can share your story with like-minded salons and stylists who are using their skill and knowledge to make progress towards their goals.

Conclusion

In the realm of retail success, selling is more than a sales pitch. Authenticity is key; so instead of pushing products, learn to adopt a teachers approach. Demonstrate how to use a product to build that genuine connection.

A salon leader is just one person, you must engage your whole team. Magnify your efforts through incentives, scripts, and purposeful tools. Incentives drive team excellence, scripts guide professional conversations, and tools create an environment where collective effort leads to shared success. Tools like the 12 Month Promotional Planner ($19.99), Aftercare Recommendation Cards ($24.99), and Hair Strategist Planner ($39.99) are key allies in shaping a profitable and rewarding environment for you and your team.

In summary, in order to sell retail – stop selling and start teaching. Leverage incentives, scripts, and tools to multiply efforts. 2024 is the year where you begin implementing strategies to not only generate retail sales, but create profitability and a culture that lasts.

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