Teach Your Front Desk to Open the Sale

Kristi Valenzuela, founder of Crystal Focus Salon Coaching

An easy way to give your retail revenue a boost is to train your front desk team how to apply the principle of “opening the sale.” Many companies use this sales-customer service tactic to introduce customers to sales, specials, or featured areas. Think about the last time you visited your local shopping mall. Each time you walk into stores like Bath and Body Works, The Limited, and Banana Republic, you'll see a designated staff member greeting all customers and verbally sharing the specials.

The act of opening the sale is defined as any time you are able to verbally talk about what’s on sale before the client reaches their services provider for their planned appointment. This allows the customer to think about the sale, determine if they are interested, and primes them to ask for more information when they are having their service completed.

Here are a few key areas of opening the sale:

PHONE: Any time the phone rings is an opportunity to plant the seed for a sale that is currently going on in the salon. Simply before you hang up the phone say, “Just so you know, we have buy any 2 products get the third half off! Check out our sale when you come in! We’ll see you on Tuesday at 2:00!”

CONFIRMATION CALLS: Confirmation calls can be an opportunity to increase sales! After confirming appointment simply say, “By the way, we have all our travel-size products on sale 25% off for vacation season! Stock up and save when you come in! See you tomorrow at 3:00!”

GREETING THE CLIENT: Just like in your favorite store at the Mall, greet the client and let them know what the special sales are. “Before you sit down, take a look at our special savings on our Shampoo and Conditioner liters, and our latest color collection of our nail polishes! I will go let your stylist know you are here!”

Training your team is key to consistency and success:

SCRIPTS: Plan and practice your scripts at new hire training, and every team meeting. Create a script book for quick reference.

PURPOSE BEFORE ACTION: Always remember to train your team by including the ‘big picture’ of why the performance action is needed. People want to be taught why it’s important, not just told what to do.

Kristi Valenzuela is the founder of Crystal Focus Salon Coaching, which helps salon owners find hidden profit potential through their front desks. They provide customized salon workshops and training videos for the front desk team and stylists. For more information on how to train your team and maximize your salon’s success visit www.crystalfocus.com or call Valenzuela at 1.877.378.8212.

Crystal Focus Salon Coaching helps salon owners discover hidden profit potential through their front desk. We provide customized salon workshops, and have developed business training videos for both your front desk team and your stylists! - See more at: http://www.salontoday.com/features/coaches-consultants-guide/Crystal-Focus-Salon-Coaching-177666591.html#sthash.e1x3DA5V.dpuf

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.