Whenever I visit clinics offering assistance to owners and managers I tend to follow a simple system to increase therapists' sales figures:

1. I put into place strategies for increasing the number of retail sales each therapist makes and look at this figure as a ratio comparison to the number of clients serviced.

2. I set pound figure targets in small incremental steps for retail, services and total takings.

3. I work with staff on the average pound spend - either per client or per hour that they work.

This third stage is a very effective way of increasing each staff member's takings and clinic profits. There are only two ways in which the average dollar spend can increase: add on extra services to each treatment or sell extra products per person. In this article I want to provide just a few examples of how additional services can be added to each client's spend in your salon.

The easiest way to encourage add-on sales is to rethink how you sell your services. In many of the clinics I visit, their service menu lists off a variety of different treatments that are on offer. These are briefly described and their prices stated. This exercise leads the client to self-diagnose their condition and therefore choose what treatment modality they believe will work. However, we know that most of our clients have very little idea what is causing their problems and even less idea about the best way to treat them. In my own beauty clinic we do not list facials on our price menu. Instead we list the various skin problems that we treat, from acne to age management, sun damage to dehydration. We then explain that we conduct a full diagnostic skin analysis using the latest in skin scanning equipment. From there our therapists, in consultation with the client, will devise an in-salon programme of treatments and homecare requirements. Prices start from £40.

Of course there are constraints, such as the time allocated to their visit and their budget. However, now the therapist is not only free to offer the best possible skincare solution, but is actually expected to develop a plan that will achieve the desired results. It makes sense that the therapist is choosing the treatment because she is the expert. There is very little point in most clients picking a facial treatment from a menu of services when most of them do not understand the treatment or the requirements of their own skin.

Now the therapist can offer the inclusion of a variety of extra facial treatments that will both delight the client and add to the treatment price. Instead of simply cleansing, exfoliating, balancing, massaging, applying masques, moisturising and giving sun protection (as in most regular facial regimes) a whole raft of extras can be added to achieve a better result. For example:

1. The skin analysis can have a value and be charged.
2. There are choices for exfoliation. The therapist can now choose manual exfoliation, microdermabrasion, AHA or BHA peels, or combinations of these according to the client's skin and budget.
3. LED Light Therapy can be added.
4. A range of serums or ampoules can be included. And there are a number of different infusion methods for these serums, including iontophoresis, sonophoresis, massage, hot towels, etc., that can be added to the treatment to improve the result.
5. Multiple masques can be utilised - either after each other or for different areas, such as the neck or décolletage. Some of these masques can be infused as well.
6. The eyes are always a concern with women, so the therapist can offer a lash tint or special eye masque to the treatment. This can be done whilst the facial masque is on so that it takes no extra time, uses very little product and is an easy add-on.
7. Why not offer a hand exfoliation and paraffin masque? The same can be offered on the feet. Or perhaps some reflexology or a pressure point scalp massage.

This is just a taste of what can be added.

The point is that the therapist is now in the driver's seat creating the facial. Now you could be a massage therapist that can include reflexology or some Bowen or acupuncture, it doesn't matter; the point is that you are the expert and should decide what the best treatment regime should be.

Another area I check when I visit clinics is the breakdown of their services and retail sales. I group together services, such a facials, pedicures, facial and body waxing, tinting, etc. And I group together product sales, such as facial products; body products; after-waxing products; sun, eye, and nail products. This information helps me decide exactly what items to include in newsletters, flyers and special offers. If very few eye creams are selling, I tend to include an eye masque or lash tint as a free add-on in the special offer. Then the client gets to try these treatments. Also, the therapist could talk to the client about the fine lines, dark circles and dehydration issues they see whilst doing the treatment - resulting in the sale of extra eye creams. And if, for example, very few pedicures are being done, add a foot massage to the facial special offer, and so forth. The client will still be in for their regular facial or waxing but now they may purchase the extra services and products they tried and enjoyed.

Recently I was training on this issue in a salon and asked a young lass to lie down on a huge sheet of paper whilst we traced around her, leaving her outline on the paper. We then began writing on the paper all of the add-on sales we could think of for each body part. For example, the head included a scalp massage, lash tint, brow shape and eye masque. The hands included exfoliation, masque, paraffin treatment, nail tidy and nail paint. We hung that sheet in the staff room where it was seen regularly, reinforcing that no matter what service the therapist was booked for there were a number of add-on services that she could talk about and suggest. The manager chose a different area each week, and each time a therapist successfully included one of these add-on sales it was recorded, so that they could monitor their progress. In their first week that small staff group up-sold 20 lash tints at £5 each, just by suggesting them.

Over the years we have created a number of services specifically because they favour add-on sales. My favourite is an AHA Pedicure. I like this because after applying the AHA Peel we wrap the feet up in plastic and hot towels and leave them on for 6-8 minutes. We have created a 10-minute £10-maximum menu (that looks just like a menu from a restaurant) and this is handed to every AHA Peel client. The menu includes anything that can be done relatively quickly and at very little cost whilst they sit in the pedi-chair:

1. Lash tint
2. Scalp massage
3. Hand massage
4. Hand exfoliation and moisturising cream
5. Neck and shoulder massage
6. Nail paint
7. Eye treatment masque … etc.

All under £10! The client is already in the chair, they are waiting anyway, so why not offer them something extra other than a cup of tea?

Another great way of adding extra value to your services is to group them as combi-treatments. Offer leg and bikini waxing together, lash and brow tinting together, manicure and pedicure combinations. Even at a slightly discounted price the client is purchasing more than their usual service each time they visit. The same can be done with products. Put a cleanser and exfoliant together in a bag or with a ribbon. Add a masque and serum combination and display them prominently. I will often group a top seller with a slow-moving product to move stock and add some extra sales.

Every spring, at the start of the warmer weather, we run a short campaign offering clients a size down in bikini waxing for free. If they usually get a bikini wax we offer a G-string wax. A normal G-string gets offered a Brazilian, all at no extra cost. Short term I am losing a little money. However, it is a long summer and once most clients go down a size they don't go back. So we get the additional waxing every time they come back for their regular waxing. The same can be done with lash tints and a variety of other treatments, all adding extra sales.

Another easy-to-implement idea is to target specific groups of your database and offer them a special deal that is just too good to refuse. For example, send letters to all waxing clients that have never enjoyed a pedicure or facial, or to all facial clients that have never tried a massage or body wrap. Try targeting a different group each month with a suggestive offer. If you send 100 letters at under £1 each, or email 100 clients, you only require 3 or 4 responses to break even, and in the process you have introduced existing clients to a brand-new service that they might just enjoy enough to try again.

Nothing I have suggested here is too difficult or would cost very much to implement. However, it will all be a complete waste of time if salon owners and managers do not follow some strict guidelines:

1. Clearly explain to your staff what you are doing, when it is to be done and what expectations you have.
2. Make any targets achievable, realistic and individual for each staff member.
3. Conduct regular weekly or fortnightly meetings with staff - either in staff meetings or one-on-one to review progress.
4. Make your staff physically record their successful additional sales so that they can see their progress, and so that it is easy to check.
5. Make sure that there is a daily review by the management, so that any lapses in concentration can be jumped on immediately.
6. Re-assess staff performance formally, regularly offering praise and rewards where successful and help and encouragement to those who under perform.

It is not enough for management to ask staff to sell extra. Today's therapist has to fulfil so many different functions and is constantly bombarded with new information in one of the fastest changing industries on earth. You must establish strategies to ensure that your therapists are properly managed so that they gain these additional sales. If you want add-on sales then you have to drive them. Haphazard comments or motivational speeches are soon forgotten. What works is to run clear, easy-to-implement programmes where staff can achieve success and know their performance is being observed. Remember, an awful lot of people did want fries with that! TT

MarApr07