“You can pay your rent, phone bill, and supplies with the profits form retailing,” Becky Rocco enthused to other nail techs recently on the NailTech message board at www.beautytech.com. “Get those retail displays up – women love to shop, and they need items

for home-care. If you don’t sell them, they will buy them elsewhere.”

Rocco’s clients put their money where her mouth is every day – her retail sales at Yellow Strawberry Global Salon in Sarasota, Fla., regularly equals 31% of her service sales. New that she’s started retailing the One Minute Manicure and Skin Ceuticals skin care lines, she expects the number to jump even high. “We started retailing One Minute Manicure two weeks ago, and we can’t keep it on the shelf,” she says. “I don’t even use it as an add on.” The secret, she says, is to show – rather than tell – clients the benefits.

“I walk the clients to the bathroom, turn on the water, and put some One Minute Manicure in their hands,” she says. “While they exfoliate I explain the benefit to them.” For pedicure client, she invites them to try One Minute Manicure on their hands while she exfoliates their feet with Creative’s Sea Salt Scrub. Clients often leave with both products.

Rocco offers these tips to max your retail:

  • Educate yourself about every product. Know each product’s features and benefits, and test them for yourself. If you don’t think a product lives up to its promises, neither will your clients, and they’ll hold you responsible.
  • Consult with every client about the condition of her nails and her lifestyle. Identify any problems, and discuss solutions. If you have retail products that will help the solution, recommend them.
  • Educate client about the products you use and why you use them. Explain product benefits as you work.
  • Keep retail products at your station. Rocco is fortunate that the salon’s nail retail center is right next to her station, but other techs at Yellow Strawberry clear a spot off their stations for the most popular retail products.
  • Have testers for every product. Offer samples when you can. Samples are particularly important for higher-priced lines such as skin care.

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

Read more about