Louise Philpot, owner of Bodyworks Day Spa, talks to Georgia Seago about the importance of working with a product house that understands a small salon’s needs

Less than impressed by the service she was receiving from her product house at the time, Louise Philpot, owner of Bodyworks Day Spa in Crawley, decided it was time for a change. Philpot has run the familyowned, three-treatment room salon for 26 years and knows exactly what she wants from her relationship with a brand.

“We were a Darphin salon but the service wasn’t what you’d expect from a premium brand,” says Philpot. “So I wrote to every skincare company I was interested in and waited for them to tell me what they could offer.”

Shortly after making the decision to move away from Darphin, the brand pulled out of the UK professional market, solidifying Philpot’s decision. She says she knew what she wanted from a partner – a sampling service, a cruelty -free and largely vegan product range, and people who understood her needs and constraints as a small business – but wanted to feel out a positive relationship.

French, family-owned spa skincare brand Sothys ultimately won her business. While she recognises that no brand will tick every box, Philpot says she was particularly drawn to Sothys for a few reasons: “They give free training, offer sampling, and there are no minimum orders – all things that are important for a small business,” she says.

A therapist for 31 years, with special interests in complementary and Eastern therapies, Philpot also needed to work with a brand that would allow her to infuse her own philosophies and experience into treatments. “My massage style is influenced by techniques I’ve learned in the Far East as well as here in the UK, so I want to use my own movements, as well as those a brand shows me, and some don’t allow you to do that,” she explains. “But Sothys allow you to have your own identity. They give you free rein to put your stamp on the treatments and how you run your business, whereas with some brands it’s their way or no way.”

Signature treatments

Philpot’s personal areas of interest are reflected in Bodyworks’s menu, which includes therapies such as hopi ear candles, reflexology and chakra massage. Sothys also offers several body rituals with Eastern elements, like the Hanakasumi and Sensation Orientale treatments. Philpot saw these as great additions to the salon’s offer. “The Eastern influences aren’t just included because they’re trendy, they’re at the core of Sothys.

As a reflexologist I looked at the Hanakasumi protocol, for example, and knew why those movements were in there,” she says.

While Bodyworks doesn’t advertise itself as a vegan salon, Philpot says the biggest change the business has seen of late is demand from clients for vegan-friendly products and treatments, especially since a vegan café, named Sage, opened over the road.

“My massage style is influenced by techniques I’ve learned in the Far East, so I want to use my own movements, as well as those a brand shows me, and some don’t allow you to do that”

Fresh appeal

“I understand how difficult it is for people who have those values to find somewhere for treatments where staff know what’s in the products,” says Philpot.

“With Sothys it’s really easy. The range isn’t entirely vegan but a big bulk of it is, and the brand provides me with a vegan statement so I know which products are fine.” The salon has a downloadable menu of vegan treatments on its website and recently put together packages in conjunction with Sage Vegan Café to include a light lunch or afternoon tea. One of the main areas of difficulty Philpot says she’s encountered with product houses in the past is their unwillingness to provide samples unless a minimum order is met, making it difficult for small salons to grow their retail `from the outset. “A sampling service is really important for us because that client might have only ever used face wipes or be really budget conscious, so they’re not going to start spending that money without trying first,” says Philpot.

Selling up

Bodyworks’s average units-per-sale figure has increased since working with Sothys, and Philpot puts this down to link-selling with the help of samples, as well as the brand’s exclusivity to salons and spas. “Big brands are chasing to sell on the high street, but the people selling them aren’t working with skin so I don’t see how they can recommend products. You can’t get to know a client’s skin across a counter,” says Philpot.

“If someone’s picking up a day cream I can sample them on the night, and nine times out of 10 they’ll take the night cream on their next visit,” she says. These factors all contribute to Philpot’s belief that she’s found a supplier that understands her business’s needs, something she feels is hard to come by in the current climate.

“Small salons, with all the hurdles we face, just aren’t being supported properly. We’re easily forgotten in favour of the bigger spas, and retailers. Too often there is a lack of understanding by the industry of what we need,” she says.