How To Make Money In Your Salon

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louisenewell

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HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN YOUR SALON

-USING UP-SELLING AND UPGRADE

So following on from Gigi's thread http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/146280-great-article-posted-persianista-fb-everyone-should-read.html regarding the danger of discounting in your salon ,I thought I would all share with you my knowledge in how I increase my profit within my nail business .

My knowledge not only comes from years of reading up on salon promotions and marketing,along with a online salon marketing course,but from having worked for three major prestigous cosmetic houses,as a counter manager and attending numerous training seminars with them.

Firstly you have to change your mind set where "upgrading/upselling" is concerned.Stop viewing it as making pushy sales ...but as someone that is qualified and trusted by your clients..and that you are "helping" them to make the best of their nails(hair/beauty) by advising them on treatments and retail products and sharing your knowledge.After all our knowledge is ours to share,not ours to keep.

RETAIL

Why wouldnt your client see your opinion as a professional one?? after all you are the professional and have all the certificates hanging on the wall to emphasis this point.Therefore if I say "Look you HAVE to use solar oil everyday on your acrylics" 9 times out of 10 my clients will take my word for it....because I know what I am talking about.

Feel the fear..and do it anyway...because the bottom line is....if you are anything like me..you have bills to pay ,kids to feed and some brand new shellac colours coming out soon that you are saving up for.

The worst thing that can happen when you offer a upgrade or recommend a retail product for home use is the client saying "No thanks Louise,not today"...wow..that was pretty painless.She didnt shout or swear at me....But the best feeling ever is knowing you made an extra £5,£8,£10 just for asking and prompting the client...a gentle reminder.And it took no more extra product or time in your diary at all.

UPGRADE/UPSELLING

Firstly look around you at all the non-beauty related businesses that using upgrades and upselling in their businesses everyday.Here are some examples for you....

The Indian Take Away...."Madame do you want nan bread with that?"

Currys/comet....."Have you got a scart lead for your new tv?"

Argos...."Have you got the batteries for that?"
Mcdonalds "Do you want to go large for an extra 50p?"

It seems every other industry are upgrading there clients..so why arent we???
If I look in my diary and see i have fairly steady day or even a few small gaps,I will switch on my paraffin wax heater and put a little A4 sign up on my nails desk "TODAY ONLY-Paraffin wax Hand &arm massage JUST £5 normally price £10.TODAY ONLY"....and I will offer "the benefits" it to EVERY SINGLE client....

You can easily make the equivlent of another Full set of acrylic enhancements with minor labour and a little time added onto your service after offering this extra treat to a few clients.

I also offer a uv gel gloss topcaot for a extra £5 this is just a example of add on treatments you could offer.

The best offers are "Today only's" and "With any other treatment"......I have had great success in converting a shellac pedicure into a Rockstar Toes for an extra £6-£8....and even on days when my diary is pretty empty...."File and polish for toes £5 today only with any other treatment"

You will be suprised....once you have a client sitting in a chair,already prepared to part with their money,the majority of them will say YES.And how nice is it to leave the salon with some extra special pampering that you never expected...for a couple of pounds more.

For you..adding up all that couple of pounds more at the end of the day can equal some pretty good profits.

Upselling and upgrading is so essential if you are a tanning/sunbed salon. Because of how seasonal this business is....we set up a french file and polish station near the salon entrance and would offer a file and polish half price to every sunbed client.

One of the secrets to these offers working is to offer them when your diary needs it....and NOT to offer them everyday....TODAY ONLY gives the client a sense of having to try that treatment TODAY....exclusivity.

I hope my little article has helped give some of you some food for thought.Make the most of every single client that walks through the door.Use your client consultation to think about what your client "needs" that you offer within your salon that will improve that clients skin/hair/nails.
 
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great ideas, thank you very much!
This has inspired me to add an offer of Gelish toes for £15 or Minx toes for £20 if they book Gelish fingers so all is good xxx
 
Great ideas xx one of the courses I went on had a whole section about selling retail and it was really helpful, before that I just assumed I would sound really pushy.
 
When you're doing a manicure and a client has flip flops on with no polish so you say: would you like me to file and polish your toes so they match for just £5 (your treatment price is £7 normally). You've actually made extra money on this service for less time because you don't have to do any sort of consultation as you've already done it and the client is sat there and ready to go. If you've got 20 mins before your next client, you've filled the gap and made extra for minimal product costs.

You could even do this without changing prices. If you have your wax pot on and you've just done their eyebrows: would you like your lip done too while we're here? An extra few bob for a couple more mins. It makes sense.

Hth a little x
 
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Just marking so i can come back to it later :biggrin:
 
How about this for a radical idea;

If you toe shape and paint is a tenner, say to the client "It's only another tenner to get your toes done to match, and I have time, would you like me to do that?"

No discounts, no "special prices", just confidence.
 
louise i think its a really good article andit was nice of you to write it hun , also i totally get what you mean :hug: xxx
 
A very informative thread thank you xxx
 
Great article, thank you for posting. :)
 
Just wanted to say thank you for posting this thread didn't take much notice of the title just enjoyed the post and I thought it very useful it has enspired me to think better about how we retail and upsell. Thanks again
 
i totally get what you mean louise and it was really helpful.
Its too easy to look at your book and think "i need to generate a bit more income" so then you go and advertise that full sets of nails become £25 instead of £45 Then thats what you have to charge everyone who books in regardless of whether they saw the ad or not, (in my experience clients usually know other clients and word will get back that they were charged less than the other person etc.)
Personally i do not want that aggro so would end up losing out rather than profiting, so the idea of discounting a SECOND treatment to boost income is a waaaaaay more sensible option and if its only for that day it stops the politics mentioned above for me!!!

Ps. i apologise to all those reading this who may be offended by any grammatical or spelling mistakes but i`m a nail technician not a post graduate english student!! :)
 
Thanks Louise for some great ideas ;)
 
Great article, thoughtfully written. Thanks for taking the time to write it!
 
Ps. i apologise to all those reading this who may be offended by any grammatical or spelling mistakes but i`m a nail technician not a post graduate english student!! :)


Fantastic.Thank you for your support.

Nails i am great at...anything else...like putting my thoughts to paper,maths etc...struggle with.ESPECIALLY GRAMMER.....but regardless grammer doesnt earn me a living..being fully booked up to mid october...doing nails does.
 
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And thats what this site should be about!! I am not long a member but i have seen some rather catty remarks on threads... I guess this is what you have to deal with in this industry!!! :irked:
 
And thats what this site should be about!! I am not long a member but i have seen some rather catty remarks on threads... I guess this is what you have to deal with in this industry!!! :irked:

Very well said... This thread prompted me to end a 25% discount to OAP's and students I'd been running for 2 years!!!

It gave me the courage to be stronger with my pricing and act like a business not a charity.

Thank you for that x
 
Thanks louisenewell for the post. I've never been confident in upselling but the examples that you, and some others, have given have been great! It's about the way you say it I guess and I've never really been good at that! X
 
I AM FULLY BOOKED RIGHT UP UNTIL 1ST NOVEMBER.....not one single appointment..not even half an hour!
 
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I have been working the last two weeks with my employees trying to teach them how to upsell, retail and cross sell.

There isn't a single client that walks through my salon doors that isn't told about our latest upsell promotion. Also every client is given aftercare and homecare advice. And asked to rebook.
We have had some amazing results the last two weeks which has really boosted my therapists' confidence.

One of my therapist complained to me about a month ago that she is getting bored of doing facials. (we are fully booked at least a month in advance with mainly facials and massage) To which I replied that she has approximately 7 clients a day lying on her couch and if she wants to do another type of treatment then she should cross sell / up sell.

I completely agree with this post. If you have the client there in your salon there is nothing wrong with advising them about other treatments on your menu, offering other treatments to go with their original booking and offering great homecare and retail advice.
 
Thanks for the post i read it and took some ideas from it x


Sent from my X10i
 
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