Building Revenue With Retail

Bonjour Dah-ling!

Looking for a way to make extra money from your salon clients in the same amount of time? Selling merchandise in your salon should not be an afterthought. Retail is a lucrative and fundamental part of any successful salon business. Boost Your Bottom Line Number 4 Brand Director Toni Wells recently met with a salon that was struggling to afford bottled water for its clients. Toni explained that a 24 pack of 16.9 oz water bottles is around $3.99 plus tax. If the salon used 15-24 waters in a day, it would add up to around $25 worth of water in a week. She proposed that if the salon purchased one 8.5 ounce bottle of Number 4 Hydrating Shampoo for the wholesale price of $17 USD, and sold it for the retail value of $34 USD, the salon would make $17 dollars. If the salon purchased one 8.5 ounce bottle of Number 4’s Hydrating Condition at the wholesale price of $18 USD, and sold it for the retail price of $36 USD, they would make $18 dollars. Together the sale of just one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of conditioner would make the salon $35 dollars that could be applied to the water fund! Now imagine if you sold one 25 ounce bottle of shampoo and conditioner! What could your salon do with the retail revenue? Motivate Salon Staff While many salon owners realize the value of retail, many admit that it’s hard to get stylists to sell products. Encourage your staff to sell by incentivizing them. If a percent of the product’s sale in the form of commission doesn’t do the trick, try incentivizing stylists with an annual trip or other prize. Sometimes it pays to keep it short and simple. Try having a special one day contest to win station products. The stylist that sells the most products wins free station products. Be creative and resourceful when it comes to prizes. Utilize Number 4’s quarterly promotions like the ones that give you the opportunity to receive free products. Increase Client Retention Even if you aren’t the salon owner, the salon’s success means job security for you. Plus, did you know that offering retail can help build client loyalty? According to Modern Salon, “Selling retail products can increase retention. Many studies indicate that a customer is approximately 50 percent more likely to return to your business when they purchase a retail product from you.” Helping your clients goes beyond how they look when they leave the salon. Your job is to teach your clients how to maintain the salon look at home. Imagine if somebody took away all of your hair products at your station, how could you do your job? If you can’t do hair without products, how can you expect your clients to? As their chosen hair professional, you gain credibility every time you recommend products that are best suited to their specific hair type and the style they’re trying to achieve. Secrets of Selling We understand stylists are artists before they’re sales professionals, but it’s important to change your mindset to think of retail sales as part of the job. An easy way to start comfortably selling is by selecting four of your absolute favorite, can’t-live-without products and your go-to shampoo and conditioner. In order to sell, you have to be sold yourself, so it’s important to pick the products you absolutely believe in. It also helps to choose products for a variety of needs. We suggest using our Hydrating Shampoo, Condition and Reconstructing Masque at the Back Bar, to help hydrate, replenish and smooth your client's hair. Other Number 4 products that are easy to sell and we recommend you keep at your station are, Fluoro5 Elixer, Smoothing Balm, and Mighty Hair Spray. Be sure the bottles look clean and sit with the label facing out so your clients can read them. If you focus on educating your clients about how to recreate their style at home, you will subtly be selling them at the same time. Be sure that any time you pick up a product to use on your client's hair, you tell them what you are using and why. Try this… “Today I'm using Number 4’s Hydrating Shampoo and Condition. Your hair feels a bit dry and could use some added moisture plus it is sulfate-free which means it won’t strip the beautiful color I just gave you.” Or “If there's one product that you can't live without, it's Number 4 Smoothing Balm. I love it because it reduces frizz, adds moisture and makes hair shine without weighing it down. You can add it on dry hair or damp hair for a perfect blow out.” Don’t Let Clients Leave Empty-Handed If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no, so when it’s time for your client to check out, ask them, “Would you like to grab some Hydrating Shampoo or Smoothing Balm today?” There is a good chance they will say yes to at least one of them, but even if they don’t, they will probably keep it in mind for the future. This is the perfect opportunity to offer your clients sample packets to take home so they can get to know and love the product and will be more inclined to purchase at their next visit!