Golden Rules of Customer Service in the Beauty and Spa Industry: Focus on the Client – Not the Sale

When confronted with a sales opportunity, it might be the natural inclination of most employees to make the sale the most important part of the interaction.  This might mean using a hard sell approach to convince a customer that the product or service being sold is the best thing ever.  Especially in the beauty and spa industry, where trust with a client is critical, this is the wrong approach to take, no matter what the outcome of the sale.

While just about all of us make “impulse” buys, most clients that frequent spas or consider beauty products and services an important part of their lives are informed buyers. The average spa client already has in their mind what constitutes a fair price, a good product or an excellent service, and likely has done some sort of research regarding options.  In almost all cases, they are not looking to be “sold”; they are looking for assurance that they are making the correct decision.

Let’s say you are trying to sell a package of six microdermabrasion treatments (worth approximately $900 in advance sales), or an annual membership to your day spa for $299 that entitles the client to 15% off all product and service purchases during the year. Both are important sales because they provide two things – advance revenues and client loyalty. However, it is critical to concentrate on the client and not the sale!  The main reason for not emphasizing the sale over the good of the customer is that doing so conveys a negative message to the customer, and that the only thing you are concerned with is the sale and not the client. The sale should always be secondary to the customer’s wellbeing. This is because the lack of focus on a customer tends to make the client feel negatively towards you and your business.  The goal of effective selling is to get the customer’s business, but to do so in a manner that compels customers to come back time and time again. 

Repeat customers are the lifeline of every business.

Repeat customers help build company or “brand” loyalty, which means that if a customer likes a particular product or service a company is selling; they associate that product or service with the company and are far more liable to recommend your business to their friends and family. Most of all, the reason to focus on the customer is to let them know that their needs and satisfaction is foremost in importance to you.

A client should always feel like the sun rises and sets on their every wish and need. The customer is always right is not just a quaint saying; it is a way of thinking in terms of how to conduct business.  Thus if the choice is between making a sale the hard way and making the customer feel appreciated and important, the customer should always come first.  In the end, this approach will lead to repeat business, long relationships with customers and an overall good feeling when it comes to how you and your business is perceived by its most important clientele.      

Take extra good care of your clients – the sales will follow naturally…