This week we're following up with onsite in-salon training at your salon with me. In last week's post, we talked about custom-designing your add-on menu and getting the nail department consistent with all services. This week, it's all about the products.

During my visit, I work with you to revise the professional and retail products that you have on hand. I find that many salons carry so many products that our customers can't tell which products lines we believe in. We have so much of everything on hand, so many different product lines, and our retail shelves look like a mishmash of products. We have one of this lotion, two of that cuticle oil, several foot creams, etc. Have you ever had to dust off a product before showing it to a client because it has been sitting on the shelf forever?

One thing I have learned and strongly believe in is partnering up with your professional product distributor. What I mean by this is to build a professional relationship. How many of us order products weekly or monthly from a number of a catalogs or Internet sites, then run to three local distributors just to get all of the products we need? This not only takes a lot of time, energy, and gas, but it wears you out and gets old fast.

I have built a rapport with my distributor sales consultant Mark Bonin from Salon Centric/Peels. He is very aware of the products lines we represent, sell, and believe in. He is conscious of my weekly budgets for professional and retail products. I don't just pull numbers out of everywhere and order whatever I THINK we need every week. I have a system that allows me to figure out my weekly budgets for professional and retail products. This lets me know how many of each product I need to have on hand. This precise calculation allows me to stay on budget and not overspend.

At many salons that I visit, the owner says, "We don't have money to buy products for the new additional services; we just can't afford it." So, now the owner has told me that she is too tied up in products to make money doing add-ons?! I tell them if they want to know where their money went, just go up to the retail shelves to visit their money. They have too many lines, too many product distributors, and they don't stick to their financial plans.

Working with Mark has freed up a lot of my time. He comes in and does the ordering for me. Can you imagine giving someone your budget and having them do the ordering? Now, I know that many of you are thinking, "She lets her distributor sales consultant order her products? Won't he just order whatever he wants to sell her?" No, because we have discussed the budget and through our ordering system, he knows how many of each product to order.

Working with one distributor has also helped us in many other areas of the salon. Mark comes in and also takes care of the return products. I am no longer mailing or returning products to several places. He tells me about upcoming sales and from those sales we work together to come up with promotions. Envision how coming up with promotions with your distributor could impact your sales. To support those promotions, he has helped with incentives to encourage our employees to talk about and sell promotions.

Mark also supports us with education. He knows the products lines we believe in and he is able to support my team through education. He know the names of all of my employees and they know that he is there to support them with education. Now, because we do our product ordering through Mark, we earn points. These points can be redeemed for education, products, and many other things.

This affiliation with our distributor has changed my life! I know that growing my salon is truly his business. It has been so nice to deal with one person, order our products from one store, and have the support of one distributor. Partner up with your product distributor — it could change your life! One more way to help you stand out above the rest and become the BEST!

For more information about which distributors I recommend or how to set up your personalized in salon consulting day with me, e-mail me at jwilson@summitsalon.com.

— Jill