Ask the experts

Our beauty experts answer your questions about every aspect of running a salon or spa business

How can my team use storytelling to boost retail sales?

All salon managers and owners would like to maximise their team’s selling levels, bolster engagement and boost confidence. To enhance product sales, productivity and conversion rates, you need to give your business and your team a new angle and learn the value of emotional selling and storytelling.

When it comes to retailing products in a beauty salon or spa, storytelling goes beyond sales; it can be used to create narratives that play a vital role in conveying the uniqueness of each product.

Here are three key ways you and your team can implement storytelling in your salon business.

1. Use the consultation to create your story

The consultation is the most important part of the service – take your time and ask all the questions you need.

If that means your consultation needs to take longer then that’s OK. Remember, the key is finding out as much information as possible to support your guidance, using a story that will resonate with each individual client.

Make the consultation conversation as though you are two friends having a chat over a cup of tea.

2. Use stories to create emotional connection

Therapists and other team members can use storytelling to overcome doubts and strengthen connections. By sharing their own personal stories of using a product or service, retelling brand anecdotes, and sharing client testimonials, they can establish trust and create an empathetic environment.

This approach focuses on guiding clients towards self-discovery and empowerment through meaningful conversations, rather than solely promoting products.

Encourage your team to describe each product’s formulation and ingredients within their own storytelling format so it feels natural for them and authentic to the client.

3. Do not underestimate the value of reconfirmation

Reconfirmation is a powerful tool for creating authority and structuring confidence in recommendations.

You can reconfirm at any time during a service simply by repeating something that the guest or client has told you back to them.

During the consultation and treatment, encourage therapists to actively listen and to remember the conversational nuances in order to bring them up later as points to reconfirm for a stronger close.

With the right training and support, therapists can master the art of storytelling. By crafting narratives that resonate with their clients’ personal preferences and needs, they can create meaningful connections that foster trust and loyalty. Storytelling in salon and spa skincare goes beyond sales strategies. By using narratives, therapists can lead customers to invest in a vision of beauty, wellness and empowerment, not just products.

Arif Isikgun runs Ai Beauty Consultancy, training brands, salons and spas in retail. In his 17-year career in beauty, he has worked across luxury retail and spa, launching and educating brands. arif@aibeauty.co.uk.

How can I address the skin concerns of clients undergoing cancer treatment?

While highly effective, modern anti-cancer therapies still cause unwanted side effects that affect oncology patients in various ways. Chemotherapy, for example, disrupts cell proliferation in the skin and annexes, causing skin toxicities such as hair loss, redness, rashes and dry skin, to name a few.

Radiotherapy destroys DNA in both cancerous and healthy cells, resulting in different levels of acute inflammatory reactions, radiation dermatitis, longterm fibrosis (hardening and scarring of the tissue), and so on.

Skincare professionals can offer tailored services to oncology patients affected by skin toxicities to help find relief and improve those conditions. Such services must focus on four major aspects to approach the compromised skin: hygiene, moisturisation, UV protection, and camouflage or makeup if applicable.

Regarding skin hygiene, the use of daily, gentle, non-harsh cleansers that don’t excessively disrupt the skin barrier and/or cause irritation is a must. Select milky or creamy cleansers with mild surfactants and avoid any kind of exfoliants and sponges. Apply product gently and use cool water for rinsing. Avoid wiping the skin dry with rubbing motions and preferably tap gently with a sheet of soft tissue paper.

Tone the skin with a non-alcohol-based toner and preferably one that also contains soothing ingredients, like chamomile. A good tip for additional comfort is to keep the toner in a refrigerator.

For the moisturisation aspect, apply a silky-textured moisturiser that contains natural repairing, soothing, calming, water-bonding and protective agents, like hyaluronic acid, squalane, allantoin, green tea, glycerin, and vitamin B derivatives like niacinamide and panthenol. The aim is to lubricate and comfort the skin while reducing cracking and severe dryness.

An ideal moisturising formula contains a balance of elements proven to deliver deep moisture retention and surface barrier-shielding properties to enhance wound healing while reducing dryness and dehydration.

As far as UV protection, during cancer therapies skin can become extremely fragile, burn and blister easily when exposed to the sun, turn overly red, become irritated, develop pigmentation changes, and be prone to cutaneous cancer. Select broad spectrum, high SPF products that contain physical barriers against UV rays, such as zinc oxide, but avoid nanoparticle formulas. Also avoid chemical action ingredients, like avobenzone.

When it comes to camouflage and makeup, such products should be hypoallergenic, high quality, and preferably mineral formulations. When removing makeup, a gentle cleanser like the one recommended for skin hygiene should be used. Apply gentle strokes with minimal friction and cleanse thoroughly.

It is imperative that skincare products and treatment modalities respect restrictions and contraindications and are tailored to each client’s individual needs. Always opt for pH-friendly, safe and effective formulas free from artificial ingredients, aromas, fillers or sensitisers.

You can also assist in enhancing self-esteem and body image during cancer treatment-related changes; educating oncology clients on the benefits of proper self-care is key to helping them improve their overall physical and psychological wellbeing.

Dr Christian Jurist is an aesthetic medicine physician and facial specialist with over 28 years of experience. He is currently the medical director of global education at Pevonia International in the USA.

How can I foundation match my clients?

“How do I find my foundation shade?” is something most makeup artists will have heard from their clients. With an array of shades and textures now available, it can often be overwhelming.

My approach is always to put the client’s preference first. Everyone has an idea of how they would like their makeup to look. Therefore, I like to work with my clients to choose a shade for them. Asking as many questions as possible to begin with will really help to direct you when beginning the shade matching process.

Questions can include:

• How would you describe your skin?

• What kind of coverage and finish would you like your foundation to have?

• Do you want a foundation that is your natural skin tone, or do you prefer something slightly lighter or warmer?

Most brands now segment their range of shades very well. For example, at Et Al we have nearly 100 shades across three different foundations, and we segment the shades by light, medium, tan and deep, and each shade reference will have a letter to describe the undertone. This makes it easier to navigate and shortlist a handful shades to begin with.

Step 1: Identify what category your client falls into (for example, light, medium, tan or deep).

Step 2: Choose three shades and swatch them using a fluffy brush so you avoid too dense an application, going from the middle of the cheek down to the jawline. This will help you to see if the shade is contrasting the neck.

Step 3: Lightly blend the swatches out to get an accurate picture of how the product will diffuse into the skin; judging this based on a swatch won’t give you the accuracy you need, so this is an important step.

Step 4: Show your client and give them the opportunity to choose the shade they feel meets their needs.

Step 5: Everyone’s face can host a number of different tones, so it’s important to try the chosen shade all over the face to ensure that it blends seamlessly and provides the coverage and finish your client has said they’re looking for.

Once you have completed this step, you can add concealer to bring back some dimension. When concealing, I opt for something with a yellow tone to counteract redness, something with a peach tone to counteract blue or green, and orange to counteract dark or dull areas. You can also choose to conceal first if you are colour correcting, but I find that by concealing after foundation you will naturally use less product because your foundation will have done a good job already.

Finally, finish with a wash of colour on the cheeks. I tend to go for a matte blusher if my client’s skin is quite textured, as anything that has a sheen will accentuate texture on the skin. If my client struggles with redness, I opt for something with a peach, nude or bronze tone so that if any redness does come through, we’re not adding to it.

Anushka Patel is a makeup artist with over 15 years’ experience, having trained at the Academy of Freelance Makeup. Patel is currently the head of makeup brand Et Al, distributed by IIAA.

How can I effectively and tactfully promote menopause services?

Awareness of the menopause and perimenopause is growing. Previously dismissed as “women’s troubles” and one of the last taboo topics in medicine and culture, conversation is now becoming more open.

In beauty and aesthetics, professionals are privileged in helping women with their concerns. However, as the menopause can affect mental as well as physical health, those experiencing it are in a vulnerable position. With trends comes misinformation and harmful marketing aimed at exploiting people and parting them with their cash.

“Capitalism has plans for menopause” was the title of a 2023 article in The Atlantic – this is why you need to tactfully and ethically promote services with the right messaging.

Protecting clients: We need to take a stand against un-researched treatments and supplements that are shilled to women at what can be a confusing time of their lives. You probably already offer treatments for the face and body that alleviate some of the perimenopause or menopause symptoms. Promoting them ethically starts with how you frame, package and market them. Explore your treatment menu and match concerns to your existing offering. Once you’ve framed your services, it will be easier to build marketing messaging and campaigns around them.

Online marketing: According to the Menopause in Aesthetics 2024 Trends Report, self-referral is becoming increasingly popular as women educate themselves on their symptoms and the treatments which can help to alleviate them. This means beauty professionals need to be visible when they search for such treatments online, using search engine optimisation.

Your Google strategy should include encouraging patients to leave you a Google review, mentioning that they came to you with menopausal symptoms.

Building out a menopause section on your website, and detailing the treatments you offer, is essential. Your website should be a resource centre for client information and education.

I always suggest putting the client at the centre of marketing, allowing them to share their experiences. This could be in written or video format and shared across websites and your social media channels. Menopause is very personal to each patient but the solidarity that comes from seeing other women’s experiences is empowering.

Never drive to sell a particular treatment to these vulnerable patients; drive enquiries to a consultation where you can use your expertise to recommend a course of action. What works for one patient won’t necessarily work for another.

Early menopause: It’s worth noting that perimenopause and menopause don’t just happen to people over 50, so you shouldn’t commit all your marketing efforts to Facebook, SEO and email – you should also consider using video marketing in short and long formats (reels, TikTok, Youtube) as a regular pillar of your social content. Again, education should be the cornerstone of any content creation.

In-salon messaging: Print material in waiting areas might catch the eye of clients who may be otherwise too embarrassed to enquire about these services. If you expand your services, inform your existing client base and don’t discriminate by age. You never know who’s looking to read some information and share it with friends or family. You can even give them the choice to discuss this in privacy with you when offering a consultation for another treatment.

Alex Bugg is a content editor and digital marketing strategist at Web Marketing Clinic, a family-run digital agency which specialises in medical aesthetics.

How should I conduct a waste audit for my spa?

A waste audit is the only way of knowing whether your current waste management strategies are effective; whether there are opportunities to reevaluate your procurement strategy to buy less of what’s being wasted; and if there are ways to help your business save money by identifying valuable recyclables that can be sold.

Regular audits also provide a benchmark for future improvements and, importantly, demonstrate to clients and employees that your business is serious about reducing waste.

The following waste audit procedure should preferably be conducted on a quarterly basis:

1. Choose a waste management team to do the audit.

2. Gather audit equipment in advance. This will include protective equipment (the team will physically sort through waste and must be protected from sharp objects and exposure to harmful substances), labels, permanent markers, a weighing scale or measuring tape, clear rubbish bags, large plastic sheets, containers, tongs, first-aid kit and an audit sheet.

3. Select an area where sorting of waste can be done on a large plastic sheet without interference from wind or other people.

4. Get your audit reports reviewed by your green team or admin department to determine major waste streams, find reduction and recycling opportunities, and address issues to improve your waste management objectives.

To get a comprehensive picture of your waste, request your cleaning staff to collect and set aside waste gathered over the course of a few days, with the bags properly marked with the types of waste in them (if collected from specially designated bins) and where (which department or section) the waste originated.

Your audit sheet will then provide to you an analysis of your waste, which can look, for example, as follows:

• Recyclable waste 45%

• Compostable waste 10%

• General waste 15%

• Hazardous waste 30%.

Using the example above, the waste audit, at that particular time, reveals that:

a. Recoverable (i.e. compostable or recyclable) materials form the greatest part of the waste, which presents a significant cost-saving opportunity.

b. Hazardous waste (which should all have originated from the designated hazardous waste receptacles), presents an opportunity for reduction.

c. The reduction in waste between the two most recent audits may then suggest that more effort can be made to reduce waste, most likely with respect to packaging.

d. More effort can be made to purchase products that come with minimal packaging.

The actual audit is then conducted based on the following methodology:

Step 1: Set out your waste. Place the selected waste on an open plastic sheet (that you re-use in future audits).

Step 2: Measure the volume of the total waste. The pile will most likely not be entirely regular so record its length, width and height in centimetres, using a tape measure.

Weigh the waste if a big enough scale is available.

Step 3: Create an audit sheet noting all the different types of materials; for example, paper, plastic packaging, cotton wool, earbuds, cans, chemical containers, food scraps, etc. Then categorise them under their waste types, namely compostable, recyclable, hazardous and general waste. The same audit sheet should then be used for all audits going forward.

Step 4: Make a note of the number of days; for example, five, over which waste was collected. This time span should be adhered to for all audits.

Step 5: Estimate the composition by volume and percentage for each material present then aggregate the figures, where necessary, to reflect the composition and volume for each waste type.

Charné le Roux runs Green Spa Africa, advising spas on sustainability. She has also created the Sustainable Spa Practitioner Course, GreenSpa Guide and GreenSpa Calculator.