Increase your retail sales from 20% to 40%

Firstly, well done. Getting your retail sales to 20% of your turnover is the difficult part done. Next, you can move into the 40% zone because your retail sales process is clearly working for you, and now it’s all about scaling up.

At a certain point, your columns will be full. You will not be able to fit any more clients in as you have reached full occupancy in terms of treatments and services. Providing you have the stock, retail sales can generate an endless source of income for your salon, as there is no limit to the number of items your clients can purchase.

Here’s my suggested timeline to double your retail sales:

• Weeks 1 & 2 – 25%
• Weeks 3 & 4 – 30%
• Weeks 5 & 6 – 35%
• Weeks 7 & 8 – 40%

When it comes to retail sales, everybody makes mistakes. But, it’s up to you, the salon manager, to run in-house training sessions to make sure your clients are buying what you are selling. I suggest a five-day salon retail sales training session, as below.

• Day 1: Product knowledge – every staff member needs to know every detail about all your retail items
• Day 2: Don’t oversell – make sure they stop their pitch in enough time to give your client time and space to make a decision
• Day 3: Listening – try to find out what the client is asking for. Beyond that, find out what they need
• Day 4: Establish rapport and trust – before jumping in to make a sale, build a relationship
• Day 5: Role play the sale

Following training, it’s crucial to manage staff performance with retailing. Set goals and establish targets, manage and intervene to give feedback and adjust performance; and finally, reward performance.

Check in with your team daily and confirm the following:

1. Are they prepared?
2. Do they know their clients’ needs?
3. Are they clear in their language?
4. Can they talk features and benefits?
5. Do they have answers to their clients’ objections?
6. Do they know enough about their products?
7. Are they able to ask for the sale?

Make retail fun in the salon; have a white board in your staff room and award a gold star for every product sold. The person with the highest number of stars gets a prize at the end of the week. Or, put team members in pairs (a weak retailer with a strong retailer) and award the prize to the best team.

Watch out for your star retailers beginning to emerge; their understanding of high volume sales will result in high commission, which is a win-win for your business.

Remember that retail selling day in, day out is an important but underestimated element in running a successful salon. It provides unlimited potential to increase turnover and improve cashflow – the lifeblood of your business.

Liz Mckeon is a beauty business expert and author. She is talking about increasing profits on the Business Skills Stage 2 on Sunday, October 22 at PB North. 

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