The moment we’ve all eagerly awaited since last year has finally arrived! Oh, yeah – tanning season is starting to heat up!
It’s time to get your game face on and set the stage for ridiculous lotion sales. Do you want to crush last year’s figures by 10, 20, 30%? Maybe you’re really ambitious and committed and dream of DOUBLING last year’s lotion sales?
Read on.
YOUR ULTIMATE PRE-SEASON SALES GUIDE
As your foot traffic increases, pay close attention to the following habits of top salons worldwide.
1. Put together a “dream team.” When interviewing potential sales stars, scrap the standard vanilla-type questions like What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? Do you have retail experience? Why do you want to work here? These questions will only get you scripted, practiced responses that tell you nothing about the candidate except that they are good at telling you what you want to hear. Try this instead: Give the candidate a lotion and a list of three features and benefits. Allow them two minutes to practice and have them pitch that product to the next salon guest who walks through the door. The candidate may or may not sell it, but the exercise will tell you far more about her than the answer to any question you may ask.
2. Weekly staff meetings can be an effective motivator, but too many of them tend to focus on too much day-to-day stuff. Follow the 90/10 rule – 90% of the meeting should be spent practicing guest interaction skills and the other 10% is the day-to-day stuff.
3. Know about “NO” and help your team members grasp the concept that “no” is only the beginning of the sales process, not the end! Every salesperson will hear “no” thousands of times – it’s usually the first thing out of a buyer’s mouth. The secret to increasing sales is the ability to decipher what a customer really means when they say “no” and how to respond to it.
Center your entire business plan around providing an experience that enriches your guests’ lives and makes them feel great.
4. Focus on listening. Savvy sellers just listen better. They hear everything a salon guest talks about, then entice her with beauty and tanning products that fit her unique interests and tanning goals. The actual “selling” part becomes effortless for good listeners because they make the guest feel like that product was created just for her!
5. Stage more engaging encounters for every salon guest. Salon staff members must recognize that they are on stage every time they are working. Managers and owners should direct their cast members and give them roles to play, help them define their roles and encourage them to invest time into practicing the roles before placing them on the tanning salon stage. Great actresses and actors practice! Better performances that focus on guest interaction turn traditional scripted customer contact into customized, engaging encounters.
6. Avoid the costliest mistake you can make: Don’t assume that if you provide a great tanning service with new equipment, a clean environment and warm bodies who smile and say, “Hi. What bed today?” and “Are you all set with lotion?” that your community will rally around your tanning business and profits will soar. Cleanliness, pleasantness, smiles and “thank yous” are just expected, and will never be enough on their own to create record-breaking product sales.
Center your entire business plan around providing an experience that enriches your guests’ lives and makes them feel great. And always remember: you’re not just competing with other tanning salons for expendable $$$ but with every business in your community!
Now … go crush it! ■
