You wouldn’t believe how many times I walk into a salon only to find that they don’t carry products . . . or even worse, they do, but they’re out of most of the items they carry. In my opinion, it is a no-brainer that salons carry these products, especially the ones you’re using on your clients because here’s the question that always comes up:
“What’s that product you’re using? I love it, do you have it here to purchase?”
The last thing you want to have to say is that you don’t carry it, making you and your business look unprofessional. Yes, it costs money to carry these, products, but the markup on them alone is worth it. Today, I want to give you three reasons why you should carry products in store for your clients!
It’s An Easy Up-Sell To Clients
We just touched on this a little before, but when you use products on your clients and they love them during their session, it’s very easy for you to then upsell those same products when the client is done with their session.
Physical products have a huge markup on price and can be a great way to increase the overall revenue for your salon. Some salon owners I talk to have even said that product sales make up for 10-20% of their overall sales . . . that’s crazy!
That means that if you don’t have products for your clients to buy, you’re losing out on that much money every year. The common objection I get from salon owners is this:
“I can sell them, but my employees don’t care because there’s nothing in it for them.” A simple solution: make it worth their while. Give a bonus out every month for the person that sells the most. You could even simply give a gift card for coffee or dinner. If you want to be a real hero of a boss, you could even give a paid day off of work every month.
The point is, really make it worth everyone’s while to push the product sales in your salon, and everyone will hop on board. The small cost of incentivizing your employees will be far outweighed by the amount of revenue you create from it.
Clients Have To Get Them Somewhere
This seems kind of obvious, but if they can’t get it from you, they’re going to go somewhere else. The problem is most salon owners assume they’ll just go to a store, buy it, and then return to them when they need another appointment.
However, what if they find that product at another salon? Where do you think they’re likely to return to: your salon where they then have to go to another store to buy the product they need, or a salon that carries it where they can get everything in one trip?
You didn’t even realize it, but you now lost a customer simply because you didn’t have the product(s) that they needed. It seems so trivial but I can tell you that clients who can’t find what they need will go somewhere where they can find it. Don’t lose clients simply because you don’t have product on your shelves.
Gives Your Clients A Reason To Regularly Come Back
Say you typically go to get your hair down 1-2 times a year. This means that you’ll go into your salon at most twice a year unless there are special circumstances. But what if you could increase that? Well you can, simply by adding products they need!
They may only come in 1-2 times a year for services, but products typically need to be purchased every 30-90 days, which would keep them coming back anywhere between 4-12 times. So why is it so important for them to frequent your salon even if they’re not getting services done?
There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, you’re taking advantage of something called, “The Mere Exposure Effect,” which basically says that the more times people see you and interact with you, the more they trust you. By them seeing you on a more frequent basis, you’re building that trust and authority with them.
Second, you’re turning a client into a lifetime client, because when they come in, you get to build a deeper relationship with them. You can ask how their family is doing, what’s been going on in their life, etc. When you build relationships and care about people like this, you’ll be the one and only person they come to when they need something.
When you get people to come back on a more regular basis, you’re able to close more appointments, sell more products, and build lifetime customers.
Conclusion
Having products on hand in your store isn’t just about making money, as you can see, it offers so many other benefits that help you build a sustainable, long-term business.
If you need help implementing a strategy for carrying products in your store, or need a system to help you figure out what you should be carrying, then click HERE and book a free call with me, and I’ll give you the formula I teach all my clients that’s been proven to gain a massive ROI!