Ten Tips For Improving Your Sales As A Beauty Therapist

It's all too often I hear people talk about sales as this magical thing that not everyone can do. Its either that or people pretty much devise scripts that are meant to satisfy every client. Which are then passed to the sales team as the ‘de facto’ way to sell. But, you should know that:

• Every client is different – Age, circumstances and beliefs built up over a lifetime of experiences means that we are all very different people with very different ideas when it comes to buying something.
• People are savvy – They also have more options from where to buy, whether it be the Internet for products, or voucher sites for salons and spas.

Ultimately, it’s obvious to me that…

There is No ONE way to sell

Now, this may be a hard idea to pass onto your beauty salon manager, especially when there are still sales courses out there that say different. But, remember, no-one sales technique will work for every client. And, if you follow these tips and act upon them, I am confident you will improve your levels of re-bookings, your salon retail sales, which in turn will increase your commission and ultimately your value as a beauty therapist to your employer.

1. Treat Sales As A Game (Or Experiment)

Depending on your salon manager and the pressure you face to improve your sales quickly, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Simply set yourself the goal of improving your sales performance over time.
You won’t suddenly wake up to be the best selling therapist – it takes time, plenty of bad experiences and lots of ‘experimenting’ to develop your awareness of improving your sales. So, imagine yourself as the top performing therapist a year from now. Or perhaps set yourself a target to improve your sales by 20% over the next six months.
This will take the immediate pressure off, but will also allow yourself to accept that you will improve your sales over time. Then, remove the pressure of immediate results and simply focus on…

2. Try Different Techniques and Fail Regularly

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Be prepared to try new things and experiment. More importantly…

Be prepared to fail

These two things combined will allow you to (a) not focus on immediate results and (b) help you to play with different techniques with different people in different circumstances.

3. Do Your Homework

The more you know about the products you use or the beauty treatments you offer the more confident you will find yourself naturally talking about them. Again, set yourself small targets to learn one or two new products a week. By the end of three months you’ll have covered between 12-25 new products at least.

4. Take Away The Sales Pressure

If you think about what sales actually means in terms of the process, it is simply creating a situation where the person you are talking to becomes willing to hand over money for a treatment or product. From their point-of-view they need to know they are getting value for the money and they will use some sort of logic to justify it.
So, just talk about stuff. Take the pressure off yourself that you are selling. You are NOT selling. You are simply talking about something trying to reach the point where the clients mind clicks into YES mode. You can’t force it – the only thing you can do is give them the right information to help them make the choice. Which means you must…

5. Listen To The Client

Perhaps this should be the number one rule. The reason someone buys a product will probably not match your assumption of why they need it.
For example, a busy mum comes in for a treat – a facial. Traditional beauty salon mentality says, right, “let’s sell her toner, moisturiser and cleanser at least”. Now, if you think about it, has a busy mum got time to do a skincare regime in her busy day?
Simply by asking the right questions AND listening to the answers you may be able to offer a more practical solution.

6. Use Aids

We find prescription pads work great. It takes more pressure off you and also gives you something to talk to the client about and lots of brands offer them as part of their marketing.

Here’s your personal skincare / nail care prescription.

It also shows the client that you are willing to invest in them and gives them something specific to focus on moving forward. Don;t forget to keep a copy for yourself so you can mention it when they come in next time.

7. Build Rapport

Rapport is that thing you get with people when you just get on. You may not even be able to explain it but you know you like someone (or dislike them).
If you are flexible enough, you can build rapport most people. Mirroring body language, using words the client uses, loudness and speed of the way you talk all help to develop rapport.
For example, I have seem timid people walk into the salon before to be greeted with a very loud welcome. Even though the client carries on speaking quietly, the therapist continued to be loud. If they had quietened their own voice to match the client, they would start to develop rapport.

8. Understand Who Your Perfect Clients Are… And Get More

Following on from rapport building this is the perfect solution. Focus on attracting clients you get on well with. Sit down and go through your best clients – are there any similarities?
One of my most consistent and best performing beauty therapists once said to me:

The thing with me is, I like doing the older ladies. They’re more interesting so I find it easier to keep asking them questions so they get to talk about themselves more.

9. Build Relationships

Finally, if you are finding it harder and harder to sell products to clients in the salon, focus on up-selling your treatments and building longer lasting relationships through re-booking.
You will do this by creating a fantastic personalised experience. This is especially effective if you are working with other beauty therapists who aren’t as dedicated as you. Want your clients to want you!

10. Push Yourself

Back to the beginning again but you must want to improve as a beauty therapist. If you don’t you won’t put in the effort. If you are nervous about what others think about you when you are talking to clients, or don’t even try the chances are you will fail.
You have to be prepared to experiment. Try things that your colleagues do that work for them and see if they work for you. And be prepared for them not to.
By slowly (or quickly) becoming better bit-by-bit, putting more effort in and trying new things you will improve your sales. Notice the successes and pat yourself on the back that you are moving in the right direction. It might be that you start trying to make one product sale a week. It might be that you want to get at least five people re-booking in a week. (Three re-bookings every week is 260 people per year – around a full months worth of clients).

Conclusion

By challenging yourself to improve your sales as a beauty therapist, you will be learning new skills every day. These should deliver more sales and more commission. You will also make yourself more valuable to your employer if you want a pay rise or make yourself more attractive if you go for another job.
Go on… give it a year of effort… and reap the rewards

SIX BASIC KEY SKILLS YOU NEED TO BE A SUCCESSFUL BEAUTY THERAPIST

In this article we are going to be discussing six basic skills you need for being a successful beauty therapist which are not specialist, technical skills, for example those required to perform a massage routine or apply a make-up; they are personal skills which although being essential for work, can be transferred to many different situations in life. These transferable skills are known as “Key skills”. Employers want staff with well-developed key skills because they need them to help make the business successful.

Key skills cover a broad range of skills needed in everyday situations. The six key skills are:
 
·         Communication

·         Application of Number

·         Information Technology

·         Working with Others

·         Improving Own Learning and Performance

·         Problem Solving

• COMMUNICATION: Good communication skills are essential for building up successful relationships. A breakdown in communication always creates problems and, in business, these can have serious consequences. Whether dealing on a one-to-one basis, for example with a client, or with a group of people, possibly your audience at a demonstration event, you must always be able to communicate effectively. To be accredited with this key skill, you need to show your evidence that you can:

·         Take part in discussions
·         Produce written materials
·         Understand written and spoken communication
·         Understand and use images.

• Application of Number: Many of the tasks you undertake at work will require you to be competent when working with numbers, for example when dealing with money, measuring quantities, estimating amounts, working out your commission! To be accredited with this key skill, you will need to show evidence that can work with numbers when:

·         Collecting and recording information
·         Tackling problems
·         Interpreting and presenting information.

• Information Technology: Computers are now used widely in business. A lot of important information can be produced, stored and retrieved on the computer. Records can be kept and databases created. Dealing with financial information can become much easier and less time consuming using a computer. Business letters and promotional materials can also be produced. To be accredited with this key skill you will need to show evidence that you can:

·         Process information
·         Present information
·         Evaluate the use of information technology.

• Working with Others: Everyone wants to work for a successful business so it is important that they work well together and know what they have to do to make their own contribution. This involves agreeing targets, creating action plans and working to agreed deadlines. These do not necessarily have to be written down. They occur as a result of good salon management, effective communications and conscientious and committed staff. To be accredited with this key skill, you will need to show evidence that you can take responsibility for work you have agreed as an individual and also as a member of a team. This will involve:

·         identifying collective goals and responsibilities
·         working on collective goals.

• Improving Own Learning and Performance: If you are clear about where you want to go and what you have to do to get there, you will find it much easier to achieve your personal goals. Improving own learning and performance is about recognizing your personal strengths and weaknesses and putting together an action plan for building on the strengths and tackling the weaknesses. By periodically reviewing your progress with you supervisor and setting new targets, you should, ultimately, achieve your career aims. Hopefully you will get good advice and lots of encouragement on the way. To be accredited with this key skill you will need to show evidence that you can:

·         Identify targets
·         Follow a schedule to meet targets.

• Problem Solving: Your day to day work will require you to make decisions and tackle a range of problems, most of which are fairly routine. Your beauty therapy training will provide you with the skills and knowledge to deal with many of the problems which are likely to occur. The salon’s policies and procedures will provide further guidelines to help you with others. To be accredited with the key skill “Problem solving”, you will need to show evidence that you can:

·         Use established procedures to clarify routine problems
·         Select standard solutions to routine problems.

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EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS (legal and professional framework) AND HELPFUL TIPS OF BECOMING A BEAUTY THERAPIST.

This article goes a long way sharing the employment standards both legal and professional framework and some helpful tips to being a successful therapist.

To be a successful therapist you need to be able to operate within the professional and legal frameworks of the industry. These set the standards required for employment. High standards are essential for earning the trust and confidence of the public. They also earn you the respect of colleagues and other professionals who contribute to the success of the business.

  It will be worth your while joining one of the professional associations which represents you and the industry. A range of services and support will be available to you:

·         Business advice
·         Technical and product up-dating
·         Special rates for insurance cover
·         News bulletin
·         Membership badge and display materials.

Also you will benefit a lot by being able to meet up and speak with professionals in the beauty industry at exhibitions, meetings and social events.

Professional associations are committed to advancing beauty therapy and maintaining high standards in the profession. They provide maximum protection and will hard on your behalf. In return, you must agree to always conduct yourself according to their code of ethics and high standard of professional practice in all aspect of your work.

Each professional organization produces its own code of practice based on expected standards of behavior. These standards are referred to as a Professional code of ethics. Whichever organization you decide to join, you will have to sign a written declaration that you will:

·         always work within the law
·         never treat or claim to be able to treat a medical condition
·         respect client confidentiality at all times
·         maintain high standards of hygiene and safety in all aspect of your work
·         show respect for other professions by referring clients appropriately
·         apply certain treatment only with the written permission of the client’s general practitioner
·         support help and show loyalty to other professional beauty therapists
·         never ‘poach’ another member’s clients or criticize their work.

A professional code of ethics is not a legal requirement but the code may be used in criminal proceedings as evidence of improper practice or negligence. Professional associations will not pay out insurance on behalf of their member who breach the code of practice.

   All businesses are required to work within a legal framework which protects the interests of everyone associated with the business. You will need to know about the laws relating to beauty therapy and how they affect your work, in particular those relating to health and safety, consumer protection and employment.

     The law demands that every place of work is a healthy and safe place to be, not only for the people who work there but also for clients and other visitors. This even includes trespassers!

The main responsibility for health and safety lie with the employer who must ensure that: 

·         appropriate health and safety policies are in place
·         the premises are clean and safe
·         all staff are trained in health and safety procedures.

Beauty salons, by the nature of their business, offer a wide range of services. Most of these require the therapists to work in very close personal contact with their clients. Many of them involve the use of potentially dangerous equipment and chemicals. There are considerable risks of spreading infection or causing personal injury if correct procedures are not followed.

Health and safety legislation is part of criminal law. Failure to comply with the law has serious consequences and can be very expensive for the business:

·         Claims made by injured staff
·         Claim made by injured clients
·         Prosecution and fines
·         Closure of the business
·         Loss of trade through bad publicity
·         Loss of staff through damaged reputation.

The question is would you want to work for a salon which neglected the health and safety of its clients and staff?

   You must always ensure that your clients have realistic expectations from their treatments and that they understand how to get the best results from products they purchase for home care. This helps to avoid disappointment later and helps to develop the clients’ confidence in your advice. As consumers of your products and services, clients have legal rights. There are a number of organization’s and regulations dealing with customer protection.

·         The Consumers Association

·         The Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

·         Environmental Health and Trading Standards (EHTS)

·         The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

·         The British Institute (BSI)

   A business which denies its clients and customers their rights will, inevitably, face legal action. UK government and the European Union have passed a range of consumer protection legislation.   
   Once you have become employed you will have certain statutory rights. They are legally binding and include the following:

·         A detailed pay statement showing what you have earned and what deductions have been made from your earnings
·         No discrimination on the basis of gender, race, disability or marital status
·         Equal pay for equal work
·         A healthy and safe working environment
·         At least one week’s notice of dismissal if you have been employed for at least two months
·         Statutory sick pay and maternity pay
·         The right to retain employment under the same conditions if the business is taken over by another company
·         The right to redundancy payment if you have been employed by the company for a least two years
·         The right to complain to an industrial tribunal if you feel you have been unfairly dismissed.

Your new employer may require you to work an initial probationary period during which time you may have performance targets to meet. You will agree with these targets as part of your contract. The employer will not be obliged to keep you on after the probationary period if you fail to achieve your targets.

       Sometimes you will be required to take further training so that the salon can offer new treatments or services. Be grateful for the chance to learn new techniques – the more you can do, the more valuable you become as an employee!

Health and safety legislation requires employers to ensure that all their staff are competent to do the jobs they are employed to do.

       A successful business employs committed, hardworking staff who pull together as a team and are motivated towards the same goals. A good employer spends a lot of time and thought recruiting new people to the business, making sure that all new employees fit in with the rest of the team.

      Most people behave quite unnatural at interviews and it’s not until they have worked at the salon for a time that their true character and personality are revealed! Most good working relationships develop easily. Some have to be worked at. Whatever the personal feelings of individuals towards one another, clients must never sense a bad atmosphere in the salon because of friction between staff.

You will spend a lot of time in the company of the people you work with. You won’t always like everyone but that does not really matter. You must accept that people are different and that, at work, mutual respect is more important than being the best of friends.

If you can be described as the following, you will not have too much trouble earning the respect of your colleagues:

·         Warm and Friendly: making everyone feel that you really enjoy your work and that you have a genuine interest in others
·         Conscientious: working to the best of your ability and being thorough in everything you do
·         Dedicated: showing commitment to the job and being prepared to put in extra time when required
·         Flexible: taking things in your stride, adapting to different situations and circumstances without complaining or showing resistance
·         Self-Motivated: keeping yourself busy and not always needing to be told what to do
·         Co-Operative: being helpful and supportive, making a positive contribution to the team effort
·         Determined: wanting to succeed and taking every opportunity to improve your professional skills and knowledge of the job
·         Reliable: arriving in good time for work and not taking time off unnecessarily 
·         Responsible: not needing to be constantly supervised, having the confidence of your colleagues to get on with the work
·         Sensitive: accepting that there is room for different views and opinions, never making tactless remarks
·         Well Presented: appearing smart and professional, always projecting a good image of the salon.

Everyone who works in the salon contributes to its success. Cleaners, receptionists, therapists, technicians and management all have roles which are different, Yet essential to the operation. Take pride in your own work and value that of others. Once you have proved yourself as a member of the team you will have earned the respect of colleagues and loyalty of your clients.

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