Go ahead and check that off your very long pre-season to-do list, because we did it for you!
For the next four months, look in your ist Magazine for the “EPIC SALES” column, where I and my team of brilliant industry professionals will give you a sales staff meeting agenda that will both inspire your cast members and, more importantly, put your lotion sales over the top.
Sales Staff Meeting No. 1
For highest lotion sales results, you must practice this content once a week for the entire month of March.
1. Get engaged!
Not with a ring, but like this: Look up from what you’re doing, stand up, get out from behind the counter and greet your customer by her first name, or at least introduce yourself every single time. Worse than rude service is indifference or plain ‘ole not caring. Just a note: the absolute enemies to engagement and great salon guest connection are cell phones, texting, Facebook, iPods, and so on. Make it a policy in your salon: Absolutely NO cell phones, or you get canned like a tuna!
2. Create one “unexpected event.”
Train every team member to do something absolutely unexpected, something above and beyond “expected,” for every single guest at least once, and preferably more often! This rule works both ways, too. Train them to avoid like the plague even one unexpected “bad service event” or unpleasant guest experience. It takes only one of either, and that one event forever makes or breaks your salon in a guest’s eyes.
3. Salon guests love little gifts!
In every romance, there are gifts given. This one’s like the candles, poems and rose petals in a romance. In top salons, the amazing products and product knowledge that you offer your guests are the ultimate gifts because they do what great gifts always do – make someone feel great. A super-warm smile, a hug, or a sincere compliment are all gifts, just like samples of awesome products, free tan consultations, discounts and so on. Demonstrate your knowledge base on how a certain product will help her get what she’s looking for. Instant Customer Romance!
4. Drop the “scripted lines.”
Forget about stale, worn out sales pitches like: “Hey, what lotion are you using?” or “Are you all set with lotion today?” Any team member past the one-week mark should drop these like a bad rash! When the whole staff says the same things to each guest, it sounds like you’re trying to get into her wallet, and she gets it! Even more important, it doesn’t sound like you really care. Instead, every associate needs to really take an interest in each guest. You should know and address every customer by name, know what they do for a living, a little about their family and so on. These facts are the building blocks of connecting and knowing the real reason why she’s there.
5. Get into her head.
Always, always, ALWAYS make what’s important to your guest important to you. Get out of your head and into hers. If she wants younger looking skin, focus on that. If she’s a “neat freak,” make sure her tanning room is spotless, smells good, and has not one shred of paper in the wastebasket. If she’s in and out of the salon so fast that you barely had time to say “hi,” let alone connect personally, then plan ahead so next time you have goodies, product info, samples, a thank you card, etc. all prepared in advance to hand to her on the way in or way out.
Crush it!
