Are you leaving money on the table?
One thing I focus on first when Consulting and coaching with hair stylist and salon owners is to figure out what’s already in their hands.
Retail is often 1 of them!
It may be something you may have overlooked or even attempted to do before and stopped. Maybe you didn’t see the results, or you kind of forgot about it, or you just didn’t have a strategy to make it PROFITABLE
It became one of those things that you don’t think about or it crosses your mind, but you don’t put it in practice!
You may even have products on your shelf now that are collecting dust…
If you are a salon owner who’s looking to become more of a Visionary of your place, developing a strategy for retail can actually help you eliminate some of the time you spend “Behind the Chair“.
As a stylist, you can pay your Salon Suite rent, or Boothrent without spinning the chair …and you can do it with the retail that you normally let sit on your shelves.
One of the most overlooked second streams of income is retailing.
Normally in the industry when salon professionals want to make more money they feel they have to result to spinning the chair more, and more, and more.
Even with that being the given thought process, many hair stylists are looking for ways to level up their income, but they don’t necessarily want to have to stay in the salon 12 to 14 hours a day. And for some 7 days weekly even on days they originally wanted off!
One of the greatest ways to begin earning some of the desired income is retailing.
As a licensed cosmetologist of 24+ years and former salon owner of 10 years( although I now consult with the industry full time), I know how the busyness of doing hair can overcrowd everything. You sometimes forget that you have products on the shelf. You get in the busy flow of taking another client or getting another customer in and out of the salon and overlook one of the easiest revenue streams available to us.
When I ask a new coaching client if they retail the answer is similar across the board. No stylist wants to ever feel like they are constantly trying to sell something to their clients. I get it!
You are probably saying, as it relates to your client, “She is already giving me $100 for her service today. She probably can’t even afford it. So I’m not even going to mention retail to her, even though I know it’s going to help her maintain the Integrity of her hair or the service that I provide it.”
Sound familiar. (that little voice in your head)
Business 101.. never try to count the customer’s money and never use your own situation to judge that of the consumer!
You have to be so careful when you’re thinking about building your business and pricing your services. If you find yourself in a space where you may be facing lack, that same mindset can roll over to every other area of your business. If you are experiencing some lack in your own life, in your mind when you say, “They probably can’t afford it”, What you’re really doing is basing your business on what you can afford at the time. So be careful with your own personal thoughts, presumptions, and fears.
This is one of the reasons I say, “We build our business based on how we feel.”
If you are facing lack, it’s important for you to get into a space of abundance mentally, so that even if your current reality may be different from where you desire to go, you’re still able to strategically build your way out of that situation without letting your situation affect your daily processes.
Many salon professionals count their client’s pocketbook.
Consider this, even if they aren’t purchasing products from you they are getting them from somewhere!
Studies show that the average consumer has 1-4 retail products underneath their bathroom cabinet at any given time. In today’s times, especially with the natural hair community, it can be a whole cabinet solely dedicated to products that they’ve bought and purchased from different places as they’re trying to figure out what works for their hair. (BUT NOT FROM YOU)
So, if you aren’t retailing, they’re getting products from somewhere.
They are seeing infomercials
They’re watching them on television
They’re constantly being bombarded by ads on Facebook.
I promise you, they are purchasing retail products somewhere. Why Shouldn’t It Be You?
The Stylist
The licensed professional
The one who can actually tell them which products would be best for their hair. You can help them either maintain what you created or with their maintenance efforts in between visits with you.
If you don’t become the authority figure in their life about their hair, about what products are good for them, you are actually doing your client a disservice. Retail has so many benefits. Not just to earn more income in your business.
Do you have products now that are sitting on your shelf? What would it mean to you if you were able to pay your salon rent, salon suite rent, your booth rent, or even your mortgage at your salon with retail?
Earning more and working smarter in your business is not about doing 50 different things, but actually maximizing from what you already have available and accessible to you now. That’s where you start!
Salon professionals are attempting to spread themselves so thin and do so many things without looking at the possibility of maximizing the things that are right in our hands!
With retailing, it’s not about selling. You’re already using the products constantly, getting great results, and you know the benefits well. It’s simply not about selling. You can start by purchasing a few retail products you currently use and love (3 pieces each to start even) a few at a time.
I have a client who took my “Retail and Profit” course who in 30 days went from a place where she had not been retailing and made 657 extra dollar$ in a 30-day time frame. She hadn’t even fully applied all the strategies I taught in the course. If you’re thinking you can’t, retailing is very doable and profitable!
Maybe you say $657 is not a lot of money. Well, let’s think about it! It may be your booth rent. For some. it’s your car payment and insurance, it may be your utility bill and telephone bill at the salon. Start thinking from a space of bringing in $700 with very little effort. That’s just the beginning… with consistency. I also have a client who took the retail and profit course who made $700 in retail in 1 week.
After a while, it should simply become a part of your daily practice and business model. There are just so many benefits to retailing properly to your guests and having a strategy for it in your salon business
Here are a few benefits to retailing:
- Retailing is another stream of Revenue.
For some, when they hear “another stream of revenue” they think, I wash cars, I bake cakes, I do hair, etc. They think it’s five different separate jobs. But multiple streams of revenue is revenue that was created from one foundational source. Your salon industry career is a huge foundation to branch out and do many different things from that all collectively extend from that one source.
EX. One body of water, the ocean, reaches out to form a lake, or stream, or a river.
You get it?
They flow somewhat effortlessly!
All those bodies of water extend from the one larger body of water.
- Retail helps you maintain customers.
Now I know plenty of stylists who have no problem getting customers. They are constantly getting new customers, but maintaining those customers, that’s a different story! The struggle is the constant need to chase more customers. Retail helps with retention. Retention is your ability to maintain or retain the customers. If you’re in a space of only chasing clients, 9 times out of 10 your retention rate is really low. That means that the number of times that a client consistently comes to visit you after their first visit is low. A factor that helps you do that( maintain the customers) is retail. You’re the place they can come and get everything. It creates a space of loyalty. They refer other people. It’s a client attraction system.
If you aren’t retailing, you’re missing a huge aspect that will help you build your business in more than one way.
- Retail puts you in the position of the expert.
Only a person of authority can suggest products that actually work for consumers. You have unlicensed stylist everywhere who suggest products to clients that are not maintaining the Integrity of their hair. The wrong products are simply like a Band-Aid, not the solution. The real solution would be you as the licensed professional referring products you know work. This leaves an even happier customer who views you as the expert. Establish yourself as the professional. You’re the person that your clients can go to for all of their hair care needs.
I challenge you now to rethink that retail that’s sitting on your shelf! Are you leaving money on the table? Consider developing a retail strategy that becomes another source of revenue you can rely on!
P.S. If you’d like to know the one thing that actually helps to translate your retail strategy much easier, I teach it inside my Retail and Profit Course where you can get more insight on creating a retail strategy that’s profitable and how to retail to your customers without feeling sale(zy).
You can also take advantage of several other business and marketing training courses inside “The Mind Your Business Beauty Camp” membership site. The “Retail and Profit Course” is just one of many of the business building and marketing training for hairstylist and salon owners inside of the membership site.
For less than the cost of a great dinner eating out you can access the Retail and Profit Course today!
Click here to join: The Mind Your Business Beauty Camp Memberships SIte!
Retail becomes another stream of income and a strategy that allows you to replace some of the time behind the chair, provide educational opportunities for your staff, or pay your booth rent or salon suite rent… without spinning the chair!
You can get creative with your retail strategy!
Don’t overlook what you can provide for your guest and your salon business by retailing!
It’s powerful and easy to start!
Success on Purpose
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