Retail Helps People! Period!

Selling retail in the beauty business has often presented hurdles and challenges. Throughout these 24 years I have coached and supported salon and spa professionals I have often come across this pervasive mindset that retail is all about “selling”. I am going to take this head on!

It is SELLING! Yet, so are the services you love to provide your clients! In ANY business you sell a commodity. In our industry those commodities are services, products and great customer service.

OWN it!

Be proud of what you sell and stand behind the solutions you give each and every person that trusts you and counts on you when they sit in your chair! Products add to the experience!

There is a human side to retail. It is not the bottle of product being moved off the shelf, it is the solution you give your client. Sometimes, they don’t even know they need it. It is our job to educate them and their job to choose. However, if we do not make the recommendation to begin with they won’t even know!

I was on a coaching call with a client of mine yesterday, Loren Flores, owner of The Barber Lounge in Loveland, CO. On our previous call we worked on the simple yet timeless What, Why, How retail system. Every time Loren touched a product she was using during the service with her clients she simply educated them on WHAT she was using, WHY she was using it for them and HOW they can use it at home. Ove the last 3 weeks her retail to service percentage soared from 18% (already real good) to over 33% (really flippin great)!

As we discussed this, she shared how easy it was and how it didn’t take any more time. She then went on to share how one of her male clients needed products she was using and how he purchased 5 products without batting an eye. She said that he said that how she described things made perfect sense that he would use them.

That’s the ticket! She believes in the product and she made a commitment to be present to her clients’ needs and educate them. That’s it! Keep it simple everyone. Just serve them, educate them and they will do the rest. It is only as complex as you choose it to be!