Growing your Beauty Business with Jana Elston

Guest Post By Lynne Baker  1: Don't think of it as "selling". Your clients want to buy, but they don't want to be sold to.  It's recommending the very best product for your client.  Listen to your client and recommend the product to solve their problem.   2: "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king".  Your clients come to you because you know more about skincare/hair care/makeup/nails than they do. They look to you for advice and guidance on the best products for their individual condition.  Don't disappoint them; make sure you DO know more than they do.  Everyone’s an Internet expert these days! 3: Believe!  If you believe in the products you can sing their praises to your client.  Use the products yourself and tell your clients how brilliant they are!  You will lose any shred of credibility if you can’t genuinely tell your client what the products have done for you. 4: Understand the products.  On...

Not happy in your current situation? Are you stuck in a rut, just plodding along, hoping for the economy to change or for someone to make things better for you? ... Are you laying blame on other things or people for your situation? Is it the landlords fault, is it your customers fault, is it the governments fault? There are certain things we can't control, it will either hail or shine tomorrow, there is nothing we can do to change that. What you CAN control and can change, is how you RESPOND to it, how you think about it, how you feel about it, and what ACTION you take as a result. For things to change, first you must change your internal dialogue, how you think about the situation you are having challenge with, and what you literally say to yourself about it. Language and the words you choose are extremely powerful. The pen is mightier than the sword! People can be moved deeply with words, can be influenced to take action, can be motivated or broken down. So be care...

Weekends are great to take a breather and think about your goals. Reflect and think about your week, your year, your life so far, what you like about it, what you don't, what changes you can make and set some goals. If you want to get somewhere in your life, first you need to know where you want to go, before you think about how you will get there.  Get a nice journal and start writing your thoughts down. Even if you are not sure, start jotting down your ideas, your wish list, or your frustrations. A good tip I once received when I said "but I don't know WHAT I want" , I was told to write down what I DONT WANT. It was a great start, most of us know what we don't want. So write all the things you don't want on one side of the page, then next to each point on the other side of the page turn it into what you DO want. For example "I don't want to run out of breath and struggle like that when I climb that damn hill." will turn to "I want to b...

While I was researching for my article on how to deal with busainess competition who sell ridiculously cheap beauty services , I attempted to put myself into the shoes of the businesses owners who actually do this. Common sense tells me that offering a dramatically discounted service will affect the business negatively somewhere along the line. It just makes no sence how a business that is practically giving away treatments survives in the long-term. I thought, surely they must be cutting corners somewhere. So when I booked for a 90 minute spa package for $35, I wasn't expecting the quality to be fantastic, I was prepared for the average treatment, hoping even to be pleasantly surprised, but I certainly wasn't expecting this! The advertising displayed fake photoshop images of a beautiful model relaxing, while being massaged in a beautiful spa environment, candles, flowers, we've all seen these ads. Unfortunately the reality was a huge disappointment. Looking for the addres...

In this article, I will share with you  tips and experience valued at thousands of dollars. TIPS THAT WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO YOUR INCOME, if you choose to implement them.  There is nothing more alarming than seeing your competitor offer a similar service for next to nothing. I have seen some crazy pricing out there, and wonder in amazement how on earth do they plan to survive when they are practically giving away the services? And, in most cases, loosing a great deal of money as well? What is happening to our industry?  Today, more then ever, the competition in the beauty services industry is fierce. I have been in this industry since 1991 and I have never seen as many beauty salons as there are today. The traditional beauty salon is being affected from many angles, not only by other beauty salons (there used to be on average one or two salon in a suburb, now there is double that). In addition to more beauty salons per area, there are now nail bars of...

People shop online for reasons other than to save money. They shop for convenience and because it is engaging, fun and entertaining. Some local retailers really need to lift their game in order to attract the customers back to their stores.  Sadly there many brick and mortar retail stores that are simply dull. Inadequate product selection, tired looking displays,  poor customer service creates an ordinary shopping experience. Watch how long people stay and browse in your shop. If they are in and out quick, not buying anything, then you haven't engaged them.  If a business has little to offer in retail or they stock cheap and poor quality products, their customers take their business elsewhere. Besides products, customer service is another area where brick and mortar businesses can further develop. Visiting stores, I have dealt with staff that simply do not have the skills to offer excellent customer service. Some are downright lazy and don't know how to a...

We all have to deal with difficult customers from time to time. Something I learned a long time ago, is that if we could successfully resolve issues for an angry or complaining customer, they would most often become our most loyal customer. Customers make judgements on the service and judgements about the business based on how the staff and management respond to a difficult situation. When dealin g with a difficult customer, it is important to acknowledge their feelings, don't ignore, or worse, dismiss their feeling. Typically a complaining customer would have been psyching themselves up for the confrontation, often taking you by surprise.  Imagine the customer blown up like a balloon full of hot air. If you confront your customer, question their judgement, deny or justify your actions, you’ll just be adding more hot air to that balloon. If you keep adding hot air to that balloon, it will eventually explode. The best thing to do is to let the hot air out of t...