Level Up - Upgrade your Business

We spoke to some of the best in the business to find out all the little things you can do to really boost your profits. It’s time for an upgrade!

Sell the benefits
"As hairdressers, it’s our job to recommend additional services or products for our clients to get the most out of their style. During a consultation, even if it’s just a cutting service, we can still offer an upgrade with a conditioning treatment at the backwash. These vary in price but on average you can boost your service by £15. More importantly, it can also boost the clients' experience – we all know the time at the backwash is the best part of a service!

“Also, all salon members should be recommending treatments during colour services. Innolux and Olaplex should be offered as an upgrade as they are great insurance products for the hair, especially when bleached. “Finally, aftercare is vital for a client’s experience to maintain the luscious results achieved at the salon. This not only elevates your price but also their experience. It makes the client feel more at ease and allows them to truly trust your judgement as a stylist for future appointments. And don’t feel embarrassed to offer retail; everyone buys products and services and you’re offering them something that’s fantastic quality and really beneficial to them.” Ellis Henry, Bad Apple Hair

The little things
“A great way to boost profits is to look at the services you currently offer and think of some areas where you can upgrade the experience. For example, if you offer brow waxing, you and your teams should try to upgrade that service to a wax, tint, or brow lamination. You can go even further and consider adding a brow glue to your retail offering.

“Retail is a great way to boost your services. If you offer nail services, upgrade them by offering nail art, glitter or gold leaf. Make sure you add these in as an extra service as you must cover product costs and the extra time spent on the treatment. This could really boost your turnover.” Katie Godfrey of @kgsalon

"Why not offer VIP upgrades of the services you already provide? At our salon, we don’t just offer a Cut and Design; we offer a Deluxe Cut and Design which includes extras such as an added treatment, take-home haircare and return visit to the salon for a blowdry with one of our Junior team members. Not only is the upgrade of high value to the client, it’s also increasing the average bill in salon and ensures the client returns." Caroline Sanderson, @egohairdesign

“One of the services we believe adds to the customer experience and keeps clients coming back time and again is our backwash experience and we pride ourselves on offering something unique and special. We provide all of our clients with a hair treatment while at the backwash and following the treatment, we wrap their hair in a hot towel with lavender to enhance the treatment and allow the client to really unwind and feel good. We never want our clients to feel rushed.” Mark McCarthy, @markdavidsalon

“We decided to create our very own Colour Club and Style Club. We wanted to create something that our guests could feel part of and give it a bespoke, exclusive edge. For instance, the ROAR Colour Club is perfect for guests who want to keep their colour looking fresh and members of this club receive our luxury Colour Brilliance Ritual with every colour service. This ensures their colour looks its best for six weeks. Alternatively, for guests with damaged hair, we offer our Bondpro+ Ritual with each colour appointment to reduce breakage and protect their hair.

“The different services within this club allow us to tailor the service to each individual guest and gives an air of exclusivity. To add even more value, our guests receive a pure pigment additive to boost shine and stop fading as well as 10 percent off all retail in the salon. All of this costs them just £60 for the year which equals to £5 per month. 

“By keeping our Colour Club membership at an affordable price we are more likely to encourage our clients to sign up. In turn this helps to boost salon income and ensures our guests’ hair is in great condition and their colour looks the best it can. Subsequently our guests are likely to recommend us to their friends and be even more satisfied following their appointment.

“In terms of generating income, initiatives like this work brilliantly in our experience. You are generating revenue prior to carrying out the services, which is beneficial. You are also creating that sense of loyalty with your guests as they have a bond with the salon and will come back for the services/treatments they have already paid for.” Brian Leo McCallum, @roarhairandbeauty

“It’s great to see the world opening back up once again and our clients are happier thanever at the possibility of travelling for short breaks and staycations. Now clients fully understand the importance and value of professional hair products and this is a great opportunity to create bespoke packages and of course increase profits.

“As part of our new initiative we are creating bespoke hair packages for clients. The stylist puts together a bespoke group of products which have been used on their hair or are suitable to the clients’ hair type, colour and texture. We explain why these have been chosen, how they will help and care for the hair and how to use. It’s such a simple thing to do but has increased our retail sales significantly and clients are now actively asking to experience more products than ever.” Kevin Paul Finnell, F&M Hairdressing

“As clients head off on holiday again, we are actively pushing the JOICO minis –miniature versions of our most-loved product lines. Perfect for a holiday in the sun or a weekend staycation, these are a fantastic size and take up little room in the suitcase. The benefit of having smaller sized products is that the client can take more of what they need. A shampoo, conditioner and mini hair mask are perfect for a few days away and I always recommend four minis to the client, based on their hair type and texture. The benefit for us? Not only are we actively selling retail, we are shifting stock which has been unsold, generating income and also using this tactic to allow other clients to sample new products with a view to perhaps purchasing larger, full size products in the future.” Paul Watts, JOICO European Design Team