How to Recommend Products in Your Salon?

Does it feel different when standing in a hair salon recommending products to clients than it does when recommending a new series on Netflix to a friend?

You almost feel like you’re about to hit your head against the wall in the case of your clients.

The difference is that your client needs it and can’t be indifferent, while your friend can choose not to take you seriously.

You might also be passing an opportunity to make more money if you fail to recommend those styling products.

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1. What’s The Need To Recommend Products In Your Hair Salon?
2. Moving From Recommending To Retail In Your Hair Salon
3. How To Recommend And Upsell To Clients In Your Hair Salon?
4. Conclusion

What’s The Need To Recommend Products In Your Hair Salon?

Many salon businesses are not making full use of the potential of selling hair care products to their clients.

The truth is this.

Your clients will still have to buy their hair products from somewhere else if you fail to sell to them.

However, selling salon products usually begins with a recommendation, which is where most hair care professionals are lagging.

Naturally, you are in a better position to recommend hair and beauty products to your clients.

Think about it, who knows the damaging effects caused by other non-professional products better than you.

You’ve probably witnessed a lot of these clients’ damaged hair when they buy their products from somewhere else.

Also, recommending a product to your client allows you to educate them about the merits of using your salon professional products against the demerits of using other products.

This education can come as a pre-treatment consultation where you ask them questions about their hair challenges.

The effects of this are that your clients become more knowledgeable about their hair and hair products while it also increases your credibility and the trust between you and your clients.

And you know what?

You get more customers due to recommending products because it builds loyalty and your clients become your advertising foot soldiers.

Moving From Recommending To Retail In Your Hair Salon

You are now a natural, and recommending products to clients in your salon comes easily to you. But some clients are still not buying.

The truth is that some clients take their time to make a purchase and will not buy, the recommended hair oil for their dry hair for instance, yet because they feel they have not yet thought it through.

Nonetheless, it would be best if you continued to use some best practices to increase your opportunities to sell and then move to upselling, but more on that in a bit.

Many of these best practices are simple. For example, keeping your products clean, putting their prices and labels so that clients can see are simple tasks.

However, like keeping daily inventory records, dressing your windows with nice displays might be just above routine tasks.

By and large, it is not that hard, and they can all be done.

How To Recommend And Upsell To Clients In Your Hair Salon?

Upselling is another way of increasing your overall revenue, and you can also achieve this by recommending an upsell to a client.

But what is an upsell?

An upsell is simply selling a product with more sophisticated features or a brand with additional value, usually at a higher cost.

While you’re trying to make an upsell, make your recommendations stating the additional benefits or features of professional shampoo and conditioner or a hair mask, but don’t be pushy. Also, make sure what you’re upselling is related to the initial product purchased by your client.

You also don’t want to recommend a product with a significantly higher price as you upsell.

You may discourage your client once the upsell is double the price of the initial purchase. Your hair product knowledge is key to making an upsell.

You might want to know your product from top to bottom and inside out. This will go to show the client that you’re truly an expert in your field.

When Should You Upsell?

Upsell only after purchase, then give your client an option to upgrade after making payments but before leaving the salon.

Many clients will take the upsell if you can show your knowledge of the product with benefits and added value for the increased cost.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, standing in a hair salon recommending products should not scare you anymore. Once you remember that it builds your credibility and trust with the client, that should be enough to build your confidence.

In all, your profit margin increases once you start recommending and selling your professional products.

This profit can even double once you move to upselling, and this should be the target at every point you make a sale. Don’t just take our word for it.

And if you love these ideas for recommending products in a hair salon or have some other ideas that you've used in the past to promote your retail sales, why not share it with the Zolmi community in the comment section below.

We would be also delighted to answer your questions as well.

Citations

Selling the Total Spa Product, L Buxton - International spa management, 2017
https://goodfellowpublishers.com/free_files/Chapter%209-2a9de470a9d5a89c63fecb17504ad8d6.pdf

Cross-selling: Offering the right product to the right customer at the right time, WA Kamakura - Journal of Relationship Marketing, 2008 - Taylor & Francis
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J366v06n03_03

System and method for evaluating and recommending planograms, C Riley, T Nece, R Burgess - US Patent 7,440,903, 2008 - Google Patents
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7440903B2/en