Lavish salon owner Kristi Brehm is serious about retail. The Webster, Texas-based owner even went so far as to completely remove her front desk in order to get her staff out on the floor, greeting clients and assisting them with retail (read more details on the table that replaced her salon front desk).

She makes sure they’re never at a loss for words, either, with weekly product focus classes.

“By featuring different products with the staff every week, they feel much more confident having conversations,” she says. “They have no problem walking up to a client and saying, ‘Hi! What can I assist you with?’”

She also has her front desk trained in make-up as well, so they are comfortable in any domain. Beyond that, a bi-monthly huddle with the front desk, a weekly huddle with the entire salon and quarterly coaching where Brehm talks numbers and benchmarks also keeps retail at the forefront, especially when incentives like a paid day off are offered.

“We also just had our Aveda rep come out for two days and do individual meetings with each staff member, which had a huge impact,” says Brehm.

“Every month, we usually take in about $1,200-$1,500 on the staff’s personal order—these are the products they use at home (at back bar cost). When the rep came in, we talked about what prod[ucts they were having challenges with behind the chair. After the rep visit, that same personal order was $2,500.”

And of course, this new enthusiasm translates when stylists retail to clients, too. Brehm also allows her staff to deduct products out of their paychecks.

“It encourages them to use and like the product,” she says. “I also talk to them about their retailing fears, too. I think the thing that has grown my business the most is the one-on-one conversations I have with the staff all the time,” she adds.

A Unique Position

One of Brehm’s most important assets in the retail department is her Life Stylist, Bria, who she has employed for almost two years.

Bria is not a licensed cosmetologist. Instead, she is considered part of the front desk staff and is paid some commission on products she personally sells.

“The manager checks, and she gets credit for what she was featuring that week and what she has sold,” says Brehm.

As a Life Stylist, Bria’s job is to do value-added services in the salon like hand treatments or quick massages for clients who are getting color processed or waiting.

Bria chooses products like salts/scrubs, lotions, aromatherapy oils, candles, skin care and more. And while her stylists are also trained to do value-added services, Brehm says having an extra staff member dedicated to it ensures ALL her clients who are getting a color treatment will get the value-added service. The result? Improved retail sales on featured products.

“We’re touching our hair clients with things they might not normally see,” she says. “Aveda has always encouraged value-added services like hand treatment, scalp massage, make-up touch up, etc. But I found it took a long time to get my staff to consistently offer these services.”

Brehm did eventually get her staff to develop some consistency but still encountered roadblocks.

“Asking them to do these extra treatments became difficult—some weren’t comfortable in this area and some simply didn’t have time,” she says.

“But I needed to make sure guests receive all the value-added services they can,” she adds. “If that means I need to bypass my stylists, then I will.”

Ultimately, Brehm decided it was more important for clients to get the treatments done than for the stylists to do it, which is how she ended up hiring a Life Stylist.

“The staff loves it because they know guests are getting taken care of and they don’t have to deal with it,” she says.