The Business of Beauty

Over the past few months I have been all over New Zealand doing a series of retailing seminars. An integral aspect of my message is the importance of conducting a thorough skin analysis for clients as part of the retail sales process. The obvious connection is that by telling and showing the customer what the condition of their skin is like, then they will want to buy the products you recommend to improve it. However, I believe that by conducting a skin analysis you are actually doing and saying a whole lot more.

Let me explain…..

Become an expert.

Beauty therapists are experts in the skin. There are very few people in your community that know more about the condition and care of the skin than you do. Certainly we know that our customers don’t. They don’t know the difference between dry or dehydrated skin, what is healthy oil flow or not, they have no idea what is causing their acne and they turn to us for help. This makes you an expert. One of the easiest ways to demonstrate your expertise is to conduct a full diagnostic skin analysis. It immediately places you in a position of expertise and control.

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How often have you walked away from a sales person shaking your head in disbelief because you barely understood a word they said? In our high tech world of computers, chemical compounds and acronyms for just about everything, it is all too easy to be lost in the jargon that surrounds purchasing even everyday items.

Those who know me, will know that I am an avid Apple Macintosh Computer user. I have owned Macs for years now and find them wonderfully easy to operate and incredibly reliable. Yet, I can’t give the same high praise to the sales representative that greeted me recently when I inquired about upgrading my current model.

Yes, I was greeted warmly.
Yes, the showroom was presented beautifully and;
Yes, the salesperson was enthusiastic to serve me.
But as soon as I muttered the word “upgrade”….I was whisked away into the far off world of computer speak.

Now, I don’t consider myself a fool, but I was lost after the very first sentence of gigabytes, RAM, DVD – ROM / CD Drive, and Fire wire. If this young man was trying to impress me with his knowledge, he was doing a great job. But if he was trying to sell me a computer system, he had no chance at all. You see, I had no idea what he was talking about, nor did I care. I felt a mixture of foolishness and anger. The salesperson wasn’t interested in my needs, my lifestyle, or my understanding. He was too busy impressing me!

Consequently, I chose not to purchase from that particular outlet.

Jargon in any field of business can kill sales. Doctors who presume we have a degree in anatomy or mechanics who think we can do more than put petrol in and change a tyre. Even cook book writers who believe we all grow exotic herbs and Asian vegetables. Or worst of all, beauty therapists who talk about active ingredients that other than industrial chemists no-one else has heard about and how they work on layers of the skin with really strange names. To make it worse, many of these products have French names that many of us cannot even pronounce correctly, let alone understand.

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There are many varying opinions of what the word “professional” means in today’s modern salon environment. Certainly it is true that in the beauty industry there are ever increasing demands on therapists as the industry is in a constant state of change. But what are reasonable expectations for an employer of their professional staff in terms of adequately preparing for their day to day role.

In it’s purest sense the word professional simply means to be paid for services and knowledge. What I’d like to discuss is the contentious issue of what should salon owners and managers expect in return for this payment.

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Today’s modern beauty salon has changed dramatically, even over the past few years. Technology has given us wonderful new equipment like IPL and micro-dermabrasion, products are loaded with powerful anti-oxidants and our knowledge of how these fabulous products interact with the skin has improved substantially. Add to this the increased awareness of our clients through a myriad of lifestyle magazines and television shows and it is no surprise that professional aestheticians are under enormous pressure to continuously improve their skills.

I believe that one of the most important sets of skills are those concerned with skin analysis. It is obvious to everyone that we must all be adept at reading the skin and recognising conditions before determining the best method of addressing these concerns. That goes without saying. But the role of the skin analysis as an integral sign of our professionalism has become more important than ever.

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I recently caught up with a colleague whilst touring New Zealand, who suggested that there was actually an optimal time to deliberately make clients wait before taking them through to their consultation or treatment room. Her thinking is that customers will browse, read signage and information sheets, stop at displays and look at product on shelving.

She suggested that three minutes is long enough for the visitor to take in the information available in a reception / waiting area but not so long that they get upset with the fact they have to wait. Her advice was that salon owners should deliberately make every client wait this amount of time to optimise the potential of the reception area to suggestively sell extra products and services.

Now whilst I am not a fanatic of waiting for anything, I can certainly see the merits in this way of thinking. So in this article I decided to offer some ideas to maximise the selling potential of waiting time that are simple, cost effective and that you can action tomorrow for increased sales.

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