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Sign of the Times by Carol Phillips

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Want to create attention in your retail zone without remodeling? The cheapest and most effective way to generate additional retail sales is to use in-salon signs. Good signs will attract attention to your products, increase sales on the spot, educate the client by making it easier to select products. Signs will give your salon the competitive edge. You can modify selection, pricing and features instantly.

5 Key Tips for Producing Signs That Sell

1. Handmade Signs vs. Machine Made Signs
Salon signs should always be machine made. Hand printed signs look elementary to the consumer. My only exception is when I design a bridal display and use calligraphy to simulate wedding invitations. You can produce machine made signs from several sources.

If you are computer friendly, you already have access to professional looking signs. Some of the new publishing programs make signing a snap. If you’re not artistically inclined even on a computer, don’t fret. Look in your local yellow pages under desk top publishing. There should be an abundance of professionals who can design your signs. Some of the quick copy places have added desk top publishing in their stores.

Check your local college’s computer graphics department for someone to help produce your signs. College kids always need extra money. I have recently used a franchise sign company that makes instant signs and charges super prices.

2. Size It Up
The ideal sign should be no smaller than 5 1/2″ by 7″. As those 76 million Baby Boomers age the eyesight has a tendency to weaken. Avoid small shelf clip signs, they can be too small for the clients to read. Blow-up your message to poster size and place it at the reception desk and service area.

3. lnfo Crazy
When you are making a sign include 4 key items: Name of brand – Especially if the product line you are featuring has been spending big bucks on national advertising. Play off the name of the company with their advertising.

Price – Put the price of the item featured on the sign. If the item will save the client money by buying from your salon, tell them. Put you competitor’s price on the sign. Store X is charging $5.95. Hot Locks has the same item for $5.25.

Savings– Highlight in the sign any savings the shopper will benefit from: 10% Off or Save $1.25. I am a big fan of discounting products over services. Take advantage of your distributor’s monthly specials to give your clients’ savings.

Feature Plus Benefit – On your sign tell the client why this particular item would be beneficial for them by highlighting the unique feature. Avoid the trap of “it’s a great shampoo,” the client needs more information to make a decision. Let your sign tell the story. Look in your product guide for a strong statement tagging the feature/benefit of the product.

4. Getting Framed
Complete the image by finishing off the sign with the appropriate frame. Display it in the salon in a Lucite holder, a laminated frame or a matte frame for extra attention.

5. Financial Times
Good signs do pay off. One market study showed that scores featuring machine made signs sold over 200% more merchandise compared to stores with no signs. Signing in the salon is a 24 hour a day duty. Signs will talk about your product and can be thought of as a way to add sales staff at a fraction of long-term cost.

For more information on Carol’s books,  seminars, please contact her: 760.429.7772

Spa RETAIL: Handy Retailing Guide for the Holidays by Liz Barrett

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In the retail world, a well-done display—whether created in a window or on a table or shelf—is often the vehicle driving consumer interest and, in turn, product sales. Don’t treat displays as afterthoughts, but rather as a vital component to your retail business and overall operation. Here are some expert-approved pointers on creating displays that are easy on the eyes and heavy on the profits:

• As with real estate, displays are all about location, location, location. Oasis’ Schoenberg says that for his business, effective merchandising is a team effort: The retail director places items the spa wants to move quickly into prime selling spaces, such as the checkout area, and ensures the “hot spot” has ample lighting, and the creative director makes signage and visuals for these displays. BeauteeSmarts’ Phillips stresses the importance of getting your clients to automatically look for new products. “Carve out a permanent place for a ‘newcomers’ display, and customers become trained to always look in the same spot,” she says.

• Avoid overwhelming clients with an overcrowded space. Soukup recommends creating a retail space that’s about a quarter of the size of your spa (think 600 square feet of retail in a 2,000-square-foot spa). For smaller spas that can’t spare that much space, Soukup recommends giving vendors specific measurements, or creating your own displays to keep clients from feeling overwhelmed and overcrowded. And avoid stocking your shelves supermarket-style. “You don’t want rows and rows of products,” says West-Harrison. “Display oranges or lavender alongside products that contain these ingredients, and group serums together, moisturizers together, cleansers, etc.”

• This industry is filled with creative people—use this to your advantage. “We find that big and unusual works best,”says EsSpa’s Scott Kerschbaumer. “We recently started selling some German bath fizzies that look exactly like little cupcakes. For the display, we used porcelain, holiday cake platters and some little cupcake boxes set up at the front door with all the cupcakes showcased on a waist-high table. It literally looked like a dessert table for a wedding. We sold out of our entire stock in 36 hours!” Stacy Cox of Pampered People utilizes clear acrylic risers for skincare products as they lend a modular, streamlined look. When stumped for “pretty display ideas” she turns to friends and clients for creative advice. “I have a client who is an interior designer who just helped me design my retail area.”

• Utilize shelf talkers to help clients understand your products, or to give recommendations. “Use props to illustrate ingredients,” says Soukup. “Keep products at eye level, rotate items so customers think they’re new, and price all of your products.”

• Create a theme for each season. Phillips reminds owners that clients need to see something five times from the time they enter until the time they check out in order to “activate” its impression in their minds. “Create the same seasonal message in various places—front desk, changing room, mani/pedi station, etc.,” says Phillips. “Don’t lose sight of the promotion you want the customer to focus on.”

• Don’t keep your products under lock and key. While this may help prevent theft, it could also alienate your customers and sap sales. “Set products free!” says Soukup. “The retail area needs to be open, not locked up—customers need opportunities to touch, smell and feel. Engage the guest; let them open a jar.” For smaller spaces, like Pampered People’s 500-square-foot studio, Cox finds that placing samples of fragrances in the changing room is a great way to promote products. “Take advantage of all the square footage you have,” she says.

• Add your own personal touch. “The key to boosting spot sales beyond placement and pricing is to create signs and personal notes,” says Scott Kerschbaumer. “All of our therapists pick their ‘weekly favorite’ retail product and we place a little note—on either a bottle tag or a place-setting card-holder—next to it that says, for instance, ‘Eva’s Favorite.’ The idea is to catch a customer’s eye and provide her with the reassurance that someone else is using this product and thinks it’s good.”—Liz Barrett

Carol Phillips on Winn Claybaugh Masters CD Series

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Nationally known speaker, trainer, consultant, and successful former spa owner Carol Phillips is inspiring in this interview with Winn Claybaugh on refocusing to work smarter by using the resources at hand to build traffic, sales, and loyalty.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Dec 11, 2011 – Carol’s unique selling approach enabled her spa to average 55% of total revenues from retail sales alone, causing her to be named American Salon magazine’s first Retailer of the Year for her outstanding work in salon display, merchandising, retailing, and staff training. Over the years, Carol’s articles and information have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Life, American Spa, Day Spa, Spa Canada, American Salon, Modern Salon, Skin Inc., DermaScope, Salon Today, Nails, Nailpro, Medesthetics, and Les Nouvelles Esthetique, to name just a few.Carol has produced over 25 DVD and audio spa sales-training programs and two cutting-edge, in-spa music programs. Her first book, In the Bag: Selling in the Salon, has become the gold standard of spa and salon sales training. Carol was on the International Spa Association team that wrote the definitive book, Retail Spa Management. Now beauty school students around the world are being trained with BeauteeSmarts for Beauty Schools, the first sales and marketing beauty school curriculum, designed and produced by Carol Phillips.Carol is the founder of BeauteeSmarts, which offers full-service consulting, marketing, branding, training, product development, and sales programs. Carol and her group have done work for industry icons such as John Paul Mitchell Systems, Nexxus, Redken, MD Formulations, Eminence, JCPenney, Supercuts, Mama Mio, and Jane Iredale.Carol has had the pleasure of consulting and training great beauty businesses like Canyon Ranch Resorts, Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons, Gaylord Resorts, Glen Ivy Hot Springs, Grove Park Inn, MGM Hotel, and Exhale Spas. Carol designed the original prototype spas for Estee Lauder’s flagship Origins Spa and General Nutrition Centers.Thousands of beauty professionals have seen Carol’s dynamic classes at ISPA’s annual conventions and knowledge networks; International Beauty Shows (IBS); Midwest Beauty Shows; Les Nouvelles Esthetique; and International Esthetics, Cosmetics, and Spa Conferences (IECSC). She has been a keynote speaker for all of the Esthetique SPA International shows throughout Canada, with standing room only. Attendees have reported doubling their business after putting her tips and techniques to work for them.Interviewed by Winn Claybaugh, Carol shares a humorous approach to salon success that will make you wish you’d said it first!# # #

The monthly MASTERS audio program features interviews, success secrets, and business-building presentations by the absolute best leaders in and out of the beauty industry. With subscribers in countries around the world, MASTERS boasts the most complete library and history of what makes the beauty industry great. Founded in 1995, MASTERS lets you hear the actual voices of your favorite artists, educators, and mentors as they tell their own stories and share their amazing wisdom for success.

Winn Claybaugh, founder and host of MASTERS Audio Club, has interviewed over 325 industry icons for MASTERS to date. The MASTERS roster includes luminaries like Vidal Sassoon, Yosh Toya, Sam Brocato, Ruth Roche, Vivienne Mackinder, and Robert Cromeans, to name just a few.

For more information, visit www.mastersaudioclub.com and follow us on Facebook at Winn Claybaugh’s MASTERS Audio Club. Now available in CDs and downloadable MP3s.

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4 Fatal Mistakes Most Spas Make by Carol Phillips

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Most spa owners think that if they build a beautiful facility, clients will flock to their spa. Build it and they will come? Not anymore! Great services are a given, but spa owners today cannot keep the doors open just by offering good services. You have to create an environment where customers want to shop and spend their money. Here’s a countdown to four common mistakes to avoid to help boost your bottom line.

#4 Facial Factory

Many businesses have converted into facial factories. They have gone to 50 minute services. This is called “hot bedding” (i.e. next client in the bed while it is still warm from prior client). With such a tight time frame, your staff says they don’t have time to sell as well as provide services. But, they can!

Here are some “facial factory” problems that can be corrected:

Problem: 50 minute services
Solution: Make treatments longer (read on)

Problem: Missing new customer opportunities
Solution: The first appointment should be longer and more expensive for analysis and follow up. Recommend seeing the “shopper” again in 7 days. Schedule follow-up appointments using the phrase “would that be OK with you?” Get your “shoppers” on a 3-week cycle offering lower prices for regular, repeat appointments. If you don’t see the “shopper” for 6 months, start the cycle over with the longer, more expensive treatment. Work to convert gift certificates to regular customers.

Problem: No time to build rapport. It is essential to let the “shopper” know they can trust you with facials, hair, etc.
Solution: In the first minute and on the way to the treatment room, shake hands while looking into the “shopper’s”  eyes and say something like, “I’m so looking forward to giving you a massage/facial etc today!”

Problem: Lack of analysis skills and lack of results – Treatments have become pamper-driven not results-driven
Solution: Proper analysis leads to correct treatments and real results. It also gives some real topics to talk to the “shopper” about. “Shoppers” will spend money if they have results.

Problem: Selling is left for the end of the treatment
Solution: During the service, explain what you are doing, what products you are using and what would be appropriate for a home care regime.

Problem: Miscommunication
Solution: Ask the “shopper” what results they are looking for.

#3 Sleepy Sales

Spa music is a big culprit! The “shopper” can’t make buying decisions or a next booking at end of a treatment if they are too relaxed. If possible, pick up tempo of the music at the end of the treatment. OR have a transition area for the “shopper” to recompress in at the end of a service.  It’s also good for them to be alert before getting into a car!

Problem: Sleeping vs Relaxing – “Shoppers” relax to the point of sleep
Solution: Sleeping is not necessary or desirable. You need to protect your time with your “shopper”

Problem: Spas have become pamper palaces in lieu of wellness, results
Solution: When money gets tight, pampering gets cut, but “shoppers” will spend on results

Problem: Spa shoppers have nothing to look at inside the spa. Retail is only at front desk or in separate retail areas, yet magazines in waiting areas have tons of advertisements – none for what you sell!
Solution: Provide information on how to prolong the “shopper’s” experience. Provide retail literature and samples throughout the entire spa. Guard your retail space! If you are afraid of theft, use earthquake tape or empty bottles.

#2 Lack of Branding

Problem: You have an identity crisis!!!
Solution: Look at your front desk. How many times to you see your logo?
Solution: Your corporate propaganda – business cards, brochures, prices cards – all need your logo! Every piece of paper must have your branding message on it. Think Starbucks!
Solution: Be the leader of the pack! What makes your spa different than others in your market – treatments, style, etc. You must know this in order to effectively market your spa.

Problem: Lack of internal and external marketing plan
Solution: Inside – posters, displays. Outside – direct mail, email. Don’t hide your light under a basket.

Problem: Lack of follow-up
Solution: Always send a thank-you note. And a thank-you bump-up – something every 30 days, to remind “shoppers” to come back. Offer bounce-backs – a free service, upgrade or add-on with purchase of another.

#1 Lack of Staff Training on Sales

Your staff needs product knowledge, people skills and selling skills!

Your staff needs ongoing retail training! This needs to be part of your spa’s overall training curriculum.

Bump up marketing and staff training when the market is tight!

Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results. Change what you do and how you do it and get the results you want!