A brow salon does not live on appointments alone.

If you own or work in a brow salon, you must master the art of upselling and cross-selling to experience organic growth.

It doesn’t matter if you own the store or lease a chair, the beauty business is mostly driven by the customer experience. And if you already have that in spades, there is no better way to easily scale up your business than by using some of the techniques we cover in this piece.

Read on to learn:

• The Basics of Upselling and Cross-selling
• How to Get Real with Your Clients
• How to Get the Most out of Each Encounter
• The Power of the Promo

So what are upselling and cross-selling and how do you get started? Let’s dig in, starting with the basics.

The Basics of Upselling and Cross-selling

Upselling is when you suggest something of higher value than the client is originally requesting. For a beauty salon, it could be upgrading a lash extension client to a better line of lashes that would last longer.

Cross-selling on the other hand is offering another complementary product. For a salon, this could be offering a brow-reshaping service to a lash client.

Those are the basics, but implementing them well is another story. These techniques are only valuable if both the client and the salon are benefitted from the exchange. If you try and peddle unneeded products, or if you try to sell too much, you run the risk of losing clientele.

This is why, when you decide to implement upselling or cross-selling in your salon, your first step should be educating your team.

Educate Your Team

The key to mastering these techniques is in confidence from product knowledge. Your team needs to have a comprehensive understanding of the product lines you carry, so recommending them will seem natural and not forced.

Also, keep in mind that the buyer’s cycle is the same for salon patrons as it is for the ordinary consumer of other services. This means, that if they trust you, they will likely buy from you. By educating your staff to give timely and accurate recommendations, they will be more confident in adding these techniques to their normal routine. The more confident they are, the more a client can trust them for advice.

Stock for the Upsell

Another way to aid in upselling for your salon is to stock products that you know your customer base will need. You want to stick to products that promote your brand and set you apart from your competitors. Stocking only items you know your clientele will be able to use is a great way to offer an upselling opportunity for your employees. They need only gesture to a display to promote a product.

ProTip: Consider asking for samples to trial products before you put them on your shelves, this way you and your staff will have first-hand knowledge of the product’s benefits.

Incentivize Your Team

To help with efforts even further, consider providing incentives to employees who excel in cross-promotion and upselling. Even a friendly competition within the team could get the products selling.

All of these basic methods will help begin your program, but a key component to keep the sales coming is to get real with your clients.

How to Get Real with Your Clients

There are a few methods of getting real with your clients including, getting to know them, solving their problems, and educating them.

• Get to Know Them. As you are working with a client in your salon, use the chair time as a way to get to know them better. Ask them about their beauty routine or other questions that help you get a more well-rounded picture of them. Once you know them, then you identify their pain points, or areas that cause them frustration.
• Solve Their Problems. When you identify pain points within your customer base, now you can set about fixing them. For instance, if they have trouble keeping their face blemish-free, suggest a facial scrub from your line. Simple suggestions like this are powerful techniques if executed naturally and if the suggestion meets a need. If done poorly, you risk a client losing faith in your recommendations.
• Educate Them. Another technique in upselling involves making your salon an authority in the industry through education. Pamphlets outlining higher-level services and their benefits could be included with each receipt. You could start a blog about beauty treatments on your website that would educate the benefits of specific services in your salon. Then, when asked about said service you could show them where they might find more information. In this way, you are taking the stress away from the sale and letting the client come to a conclusion on their own.

Just like you prepare your team, the more you educate your clients, the more confident they are in your services and recommendations for them.

Get the Most Out of Each Encounter

To get the most out of this strategy, you need to leverage each touchpoint with your clients. Here are a few to consider:

Appointment Booking

Train your employees to upsell on the phone while booking appointments. Use this time of undivided attention with the client to discuss upgrades to their treatment with statements like:

“I see you are scheduled for a facial, would you want to book a brow reshaping right after? We have an opening.”

ProTip: Before calling to confirm appointments, brainstorm a few upgrades and be prepared to weave them into the discussion like the example above. Preparation leads to confidence that will be felt on the other end of the line.

While They’re Waiting. 

No matter how well you schedule your bookings, there is a likely chance you will have guests in your waiting room for some time. Why not capitalize on this opportunity by creating eye-catching displays of your products or a book of before and after shots of clients. Sometimes just seeing great results, will convince a client to upgrade their service choices.

During Their Visit.

As we mentioned before, asking open-ended questions like “tell me about your daily facial routine,” can open up valuable cross-selling opportunities. Make sure you are paying close attention to the answer though, and not just waiting for them to finish talking so you can sell. Trust us, the client will notice the difference.

Make the engagement a comfortable one and listen for any events they may be attending or maybe for a reunion offer a make-over. Special occasions are a great way to upsell and cross-sell your salon’s services. And in many cases, they may not know all the services you offer.

Also, use the products you are promoting in your treatments. While you are interacting, you can weave in facts and the benefits of the product while using it. Once they feel and see the effects of the product first-hand, they are more likely to purchase some to take home.

Take Home.

When it’s time to pay and leave, consider offering a branded bag for them to take home. Fill it with a few samples of other products and brochures about your services and give them a chance to try a few things before they buy them.

This leads us perfectly to the next point. The power of the promo.

Power of the Promo

It wouldn’t be the Holiday Season without windows chock full of shiny new products just waiting to be plucked. Your salon should mirror the same.

The Holidays are the time for gifting and discounts, so let the promotions begin!

Holiday promotions, gift cards, and bundled pre-packaged products for easy gifting are all ways to help upsell and cross-sell during the holidays.

Digital promotions and web advertising are great ways to increase foot traffic and revenue from product sales. Consider posting your best packages on Social Media, or offer a raffle for a free service to new and existing clientele.

While you are looking into digital advertising, consider your website at the same time. Is it time for an upgrade? At the very minimum, make sure your latest services are easy to find and that your online booking feature is active. If you don’t have online booking, get online booking.

Also, consider sending out seasonal newsletters promoting your services and products during the more popular holidays. By aligning with celebrations, you are answering a need, not forcing a product, and that is a much more effective way of connecting with your customers. When discounting, consider the higher-end products. Customers may be more willing to try newer treatments if they are discounted. Then, if they are happy, you could have an upgraded client for life.

Concluding Thoughts

Cross-selling and upselling can be valuable tools if wielded correctly, so it’s important to get everyone on the same page if you’re looking to implement these strategies.

By knowing your client and offering products and services aligned with their needs, you will be more effective in any strategy you choose. The key is to not lose sight of the goal – happy customers.

Make your customers happy and educated and you will garner enough repeat business and organic traffic to keep your doors open for a long time.