Salons can sell more hair product by making expert recommendations, establishing credibility for the brand, and letting customers give it the good ol’ sniff test

Picture this scenario: A regular client comes into your salon, gets a trim and a color treatment, and as the stylist is finishing up, they ask the client if she’d like to purchase any product before she leaves. She politely declines, pays for her service, and walks out the door. 

Sound familiar? Your goal as the salon owner is to move more product, but what can you do? The stylist tried to upsell the client, but she simply wasn’t interested. Your stylist did all they could, right? 

Not necessarily. While your stylists should definitely be trained to ask clients if they’d like to purchase any products, our data shows that there’s a better way to make that sale. 

We recently surveyed more than 800 consumers throughout the US to ask a number of questions about their preferences, attitudes and behaviors when it comes to visiting their local salon or barbershop, and one of the areas that they provided some illuminating insights on was what factors make them want to purchase a product at a salon or barbershop.

A stylist’s two cents is worth big bucks

Half of our survey’s respondents said that a stylist’s suggestion or recommendation would impact their decision to purchase a product at the salon. That means that they often defer to the stylist’s expert advice to help them pick out the right product to suit their hair. Don’t just point to your shelves and ask if they’d like to purchase any product. Pick a specific product off the shelf and explain why you think that particular product is a good fit for your client based on their hair’s unique style, texture, color, or other attributes. Personalize your recommendation, and you’ll greatly increase your chances of making a sale.

Top shelf product, great value

The other two primary factors that consumers say they consider when deciding whether or not to purchase a product at the salon or barbershop are the quality of the brand and the price point of the item. They want to get a product from a good, high quality brand, but they also want to make sure they’re getting a good value for their dollar. 

With that in mind, we recommend explaining not only why the product you’re recommending is personalized to your customer’s hair, but what makes it high quality. For instance, has it won any awards? Is it highly reviewed online? Is it used by any celebrities? Give your customer evidence to believe that the product you’re recommending is reputable, credible, and trustworthy. 

We also recommend you follow that up by explaining how your cost compares with the cost of the same product in other places. More than 50% of consumers say they want a good value, so either consider giving them a discount or letting them know that you’re offering it at a similar or possibly even a lower price than they can get it at a drugstore or online. Many customers hold the belief that salon’s product prices are more expensive than other channels, so they’re hesitant to purchase in your salon, which means you’ll need to overcome this bit of friction in order to make the sale.

Let them sniff! 

Another factor that plays into your customer’s purchase decision is how the product smells. More than 4 out of 10 people say that a good scent will make them more likely to make a purchase, so keep samples on hand or open up that product and let them take a big ol’ whiff of its scent!

Putting it all together

Now that we’ve covered some of the top factors that influence purchase decisions in the salon, let’s take another look at our scenario from the top of this article and see how it could’ve been handled more effectively by the stylist. Instead of simply asking if the customer needs to purchase any product, the stylist could have browsed through your retail shelves before picking out just the right product and walking it back over to the customer. 

“I thought you might like this product,” they could say. “It’s perfect for your hair texture to give you that look you’re going for. It’s made by a really upscale brand and it was just named Best Natural Hair Product by InStyle Magazine. We’re offering it for the same price you can find it online, but I can let you use my discount code to save 10% off the retail price. Here, would you like to smell it?” 

Who can resist that sales pitch?

Press button, get tips

If you found this article helpful, download the full report The Perfect Salon: A Data-Driven Guide to Creating the Ideal Client Experience. It’s chock full of data and insights to help you improve your operations, drive incremental revenue, and give your clients a salon experience they won’t soon forget. 

Download the full report here.