Most salon owners leave thousands of pounds on the table every year because they hate selling retail.

You feel pushy. You don't want to be that aggressive salesperson. You're afraid of rejection.

So products gather dust and you miss massive profit opportunities.

Here's the truth: NOT recommending products is doing your clients a disservice.

THE MINDSET SHIFT

Stop thinking of retail as "selling products." Start thinking of it as completing your professional service.

You're a professional. Your client isn't. You know which products protect their work, maintain treatments, and extend results.

If you don't tell them, you're being SELFISH about your fear of rejection instead of thinking about what's best for the client.

PRESCRIBE home care. Don't "sell" products.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK

❌ Product displays (people don't browse)

❌ Vague mentions ("We have some great products...")

❌ Waiting until checkout (they're mentally done)

❌ Selling features instead of results

WHAT WORKS

✓ Get agreement in CONSULTATION (before starting service)

"To create this style, you'll need these products at home. Is that okay before we start?"

✓ Show product DURING service (let them experience it)

✓ Prescribe BEFORE checkout (not at till)

✓ Make it easy to say YES

Physically pick up products. Walk to checkout with them.

✓ Handle objections professionally

"Expensive?" → "£1.50/week to protect a £120 colour service"

"I'll think about it" → "Wrong products = results fail sooner = back spending £120 sooner"

"Next time" → "Damage happens in first few days - next time is too late"

ADVANCED TACTICS

PRICE IT IN: For extensions or colour correction, include products in service price. Guarantees results, breaks bad habits.

TEAM FLEXIBILITY: "Budget tight? If you take all three products, I can do the third half-price."

BUILD STORIES: "Sarah struggled with frizz until she started using this. Now smooth all week."

THE REJECTION MINDSET

When McDonald's asks "Would you like fries?" and you say no, do they take it personally?

No. Next customer.

Same attitude here.

WHY THIS ISN'T OPTIONAL

This used to be optional. Not anymore.

Massive profit opportunity you can't afford to decline.

If YOU won't retail, your team definitely won't either.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📊 RESOURCES:

Salon Spark: https://salon-spark.com

💬 WORK WITH ME:

1:1 Coaching: https://buildyoursalon.com

🎧 LISTEN:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3MZp6jP

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CHAPTERS:

0:00 - Why Leave Money on Table

1:18 - Why We Hate Retail

2:15 - Mindset Shift: Service Not Sales

3:10 - Being Selfish About Rejection

4:12 - What Doesn't Work

5:15 - Get Agreement in Consultation

6:03 - Have Products in Stock

6:50 - Prescription Framework

7:37 - Price It In Strategy

8:22 - Handle Objections

9:23 - Not Optional Anymore

#salonretail #salonproducts #salonprofitability

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Questions? phil@buildyoursalon.com

Most salon team targets don't work. Either they don't exist, they're random numbers that sound good, or - here's the killer - everyone hits their individual targets and the salon STILL misses its numbers.

That's because individual targets don't add up to the salon target.

THE FOUR MEASURES (Track these, nothing else)

Stop tracking 17 things. Your salon software has too many reports and it's confusing. Track these four for every team member:

MEASURE 1: SERVICE REVENUE

How much money each team member puts in the till from services.

Work BACKWARDS from your salon target:

- Salon needs £50k/month

- 4 team members

- £50k ÷ 4 = £12.5k per person

If everyone hits £12.5k, salon hits £50k.

MEASURE 2: RETAIL (Units, not revenue)

How many products did they sell?

Why units? Selling 15 shampoos is harder than selling one set of expensive straighteners. We're measuring the HABIT of retailing.

MEASURE 3: UTILIZATION

Percentage of column full with paying customers.

Target: 80-90% (85% is sweet spot)

- 100% = no breathing room, stressed model

- Below 70% = not making money

MEASURE 4: REBOOKING OR RETENTION (Pick one)

Rebooking: Percentage who rebook before leaving

Retention: Percentage who return within service cycle

Pick REBOOKING - you see results faster. Most retention reports are unreadable.

Target: 60%+

THE THREE-LEVEL SYSTEM (Makes it motivating)

Each measure needs THREE numbers:

TARGET: Challenging but achievable (15 retail products/week)

CELEBRATION: Above target (20 products/week)

When they hit this, recognize it publicly. Gives high performers something to stretch for.

MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE: Below target (10 products/week)

Don't mention in 1:1s. It's YOUR internal line - when coaching isn't working and you need a capability or disciplinary conversation.

THE 1:1 STRUCTURE (10-15 minutes max)

"Your four numbers from last week:

- Service revenue: £1,300 (target £1,250) ✓

- Retail: 12 units (target 15) - slight miss

- Utilization: 87% (target 85%) ✓

- Rebooking: 58% (target 60%) - close

What challenges? What should we focus on?"

Done. 10 minutes.

Frequency: Monthly if performing well (around payday). Fortnightly or weekly if struggling.

THE COACHING TOOLKIT

For each measure, have 3-5 tactics to coach:

Service revenue low? Upsell treatments, extend appointment times, fill gaps

Retail low? Prescribe like a doctor, show product during service, explain results

Utilization low? Increase rebooking, reduce cancellations, fill last-minute gaps

Rebooking low? Pre-book at till, create urgency, review service quality

Targets without coaching toolkit = pointless.

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE

Individual targets don't add up to salon targets.

ALWAYS work backwards from salon target. If everyone hits individual targets, salon should hit its targets.

COMMISSION VS TARGETS

Don't coach people toward commission targets. Commission should MOTIVATE them. If you have to coach them to hit commission, the commission structure isn't working.

Coach them toward SALON targets - what YOU need them to achieve.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📊 RESOURCES:

Salon Spark: https://salon-spark.com

💬 WORK WITH ME:

1:1 Coaching: https://buildyoursalon.com

🎧 WATCH:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/o5ErCGsd2w8

CHAPTERS:

0:00 - Why Most Targets Don't Work

1:20 - Problem 1: No Targets

2:12 - Problem 2: Random Targets

3:02 - Problem 3: Don't Add Up

3:52 - Problem 4: No Coaching

4:44 - Four Measures Only

5:42 - Why Separate Service/Retail

6:39 - Retail: Units vs Money

7:32 - Utilization (85% Sweet Spot)

10:03 - Rebooking vs Retention

10:56 - Three-Level System

12:39 - Minimum Acceptable Line

13:37 - Coaching Toolkit

#salonteamtargets #salonKPIs #salonmanagement

Questions? phil@buildyoursalon.com

Referrals are the best source of new salon clients - but most salon owners get it completely wrong. They put up a poster saying "Refer a friend, get 10% off!" and wonder why nothing happens.

Here's the problem: referral programs fail because you run out of steam.

You can't maintain referral-focused energy year-round while also running your salon, doing your marketing, managing your team, and actually doing hair.

So referral programs die by March. The poster fades. Nobody notices it anymore.

The solution: Split your referral strategy into TWO parts.

PART 1: ALWAYS-ON FOUNDATION (Background referral generation all year)

- Shareable transformations (before/after photos sent automatically to clients)

- Branded Instagram templates (make it easy to tag you)

- New client welcome system (acknowledge who referred them)

- Thank you texts (when someone refers, thank them immediately)

Set it up once. Runs forever. Generates referrals passively.

PART 2: FOCUSED REFERRAL CAMPAIGN (One month, high energy, then STOP)

Pick ONE month per year (or two maximum).

Week 1: Announce the campaign

- Email everyone: "This month only - refer a friend, you both get [REWARD]"

- Make the reward generous (not 10% - that's not enough to change behavior)

- Stacking rewards (one customer sent us 13 referrals in one month!)

Week 2-3: Push hard

- Mention to EVERY client in salon

- Post about it on social media

- Send reminders by email

- Create urgency ("This month only")

Week 4: Final push

- "Last week! If you've been meaning to refer someone, now's the time!"

Then STOP. Campaign over. Back to normal.

WHY THIS WORKS:

✓ Focused energy for one month is sustainable (year-round isn't)

✓ Creates urgency (if it's always available, nobody acts)

✓ You don't burn out (the always-on foundation keeps ticking over)

✓ Referrals have minimal wasted marketing effort (your clients pre-qualify who they refer)

The mistake: Running referral campaigns for 3-6 months. You'll run out of steam by month 2.

Better: One month of brilliance beats six months half-arsed.

Pick your referral month (February is great if January was quiet, August works if you need summer boost).

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📊 RESOURCES:

Salon Spark (Weekly Accountability + Community): https://salon-spark.com

→ £75/month, cancel anytime, try it for £1 first month

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

💬 WORK WITH ME:

1:1 Coaching: https://buildyoursalon.com

→ Book a call for help implementing referral systems

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

👋 WHO I AM:

Phil Jackson. Ex-salon owner (award-winning, since 2001). Now I coach salon owners who want profitable businesses without the hustle BS.

This podcast is for the ones who take their business seriously.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎧 LISTEN:

Spotify: [your episode link]

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3MZp6jP

Website: buildyoursalonpodcast.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CHAPTERS:

0:00 - Why Referrals Are the Best Source

1:18 - The Problem: You Run Out of Steam

2:14 - Why Referrals Have Less Wasted Effort

4:05 - The Poster That Doesn't Work

4:51 - Two-Part Referral Strategy

5:44 - Part 1: Always-On Foundation

6:27 - Step 1: Shareable Transformations

7:21 - Step 2: Branded Instagram Templates

8:01 - Step 3: Acknowledge New Client Referrers

8:49 - Step 4: Thank You System

9:41 - Part 2: Focused Referral Campaign

10:22 - Make It Rewarding (One Customer Sent 13!)

11:17 - Mention to EVERY Client

12:06 - Don't Extend It - You'll Run Out of Steam

#salonreferrals #salonmarketing #salonreferralprogram #salonbusiness #wordofmouth

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Questions? Email: phil@buildyoursalon.com

Need help with salon marketing? Reach out - let's chat!