Last week we talked about how retailers are cashing in on the scents of the season. We’ve noticed that everywhere coffee shops and restaurants are offering seasonally scented and flavored items.

Here are a few recommendations for entering in the world of seasonally scented services:

> I recommend that you get your clients used to purchasing additional services before you spend the money on seasonally scented services. What I mean by that is get your additional services numbers up, so they can provide the income to purchase the additional product necessary to perform scented services.

> The scented additional service should add little or no time to your service. If you take an additional half hour to perform the service, the additional money earned may not be enough to cover your time. This means it may not be profitable to you. If you can perform the service in the same amount of time and only change out a few products this will be more profitable to you.

> Pick scents that most people associate with the season. For example, during spring break season a “tropical” scent will probably sell better than the scent of “spring rain.” Choose scents that your clients can identify with immediately. If you have to describe the scent, it probably won’t sell as much as a recognizable scent.

> Make sure you sell the scented products in your retail area for more product sales. Your clients may want the lotion or scrub you used during the service. If you don’t offer it, they will go elsewhere to buy it or something similar. Keep your retail sales in-house; don’t let them walk out the door or go to another store.

> Offer the seasonal scent for a few months to achieve maximum sales. If you run the scent for only a month, by the time you get the word out, you will be discontinuing it. This won’t generate maximum sales. I recommend a three-month run on a scent.

> Talk about the seasonal scent and offer it to all of your clients. You will feel and look bad if you don’t offer it to your client and the nail tech next to you offers it to her client. Make it a practice for the entire department to offer it to all of the clients. Also, offer the additional service every time — you never know when a client may take you up on it.

I can help you construct your additional services, design add-on menus, and implement seasonally scented services. I am available to support you in building a strong, money-generating nail department by consulting with your staff on site. For more information e-mail me at jwilson@summitsalon.com. Generating retail and service sales by introducing and offering seasonal scented services — one more way to help you stand out above the rest and become the BEST!

— Jill