Episode #14: Retail Genius with Lindsey Young

Hairdressers are experts at hair but often struggle when it comes to sales. 

It's tough to make sales when you're not sure what to say or how to act. You may feel like you're pushing too hard and feel salesy.

A membership program can really up your bottom line and take down your stress level at having to feel like a salesperson.

In this episode, Lindsey Young, the owner of Luna Salon in Tallahassee, Florida, and I chat about an innovative twist on retail - a membership program. This type of program offers guests a variety of perks and discounts... If you're thinking about starting a membership program at your salon or if you're already running one, this episode is for you!

Lindsay Young is the owner of Luna Salon in Tallahassee, Florida. She has been in the hair and beauty industry for over 20 years and has extensive experience in both cut and color techniques. After struggling with retail sales, Lindsay started a membership program in her salon to help her clients save money on their haircare needs. This program has been extremely popular and helped her grow her business significantly.

If you're a hairstylist looking to take your retail sales up a notch, this episode is a must-listen!

Transcript

00:00:22 Cameron 

Welcome to another episode of the Chair-apist. 

00:00:25 Cameron 

I am really lucky today to have Lindsay on and I first met you at a MOB Retreat when you went on stage I, my mind was blown because you had some really good retail input. 

You know, I love it. 

Tell us about you, where you are, what your salon is called, what you do... 

00:00:47 Lindsey 

Yeah, my name is Lindsey Young uh, my own Luna salon. We're located in Tallahassee, FL. So, in the upper Panhandle of Florida. 

We're not a huge salon. We have 7 stylists full time, one more part time, so 8 total at the moment and we've been open about 3 1/2 years, but we're doing great and actually getting ready to open a second location. 

So let's stay in and keep going, yeah? 

00:01:12 Cameron 

Awesome! Congratulations, that's exciting. 

00:01:16 Lindsey 

Thank you, thank you. Yeah, we're really excited. We're just in the building process, right now so come February we should be open. 

00:01:22 Cameron 

What made you get to the point where you were like I need to come up with something? 

00:01:26 Lindsey 

Well, we sucked at retail. We really did I've never been...I've been in the Industy 21 years, and retail has always been a weak part for me. Never, never my strong suit. 

And so, when I opened the salon, I didn't even know how to train the girls really because it wasn't a strength for me. 

So, the fact that they weren't real strong on it and I wasn't real strong on it.  

You know we'd have classes, and we do things like that, but we still our numbers weren't so great. 

I think I was in a business forum of some sort, and this lady gave this idea. And I kind of took it and ran with it because I thought it was absolutely genius and I was actually really surprised 'cause no one commented on it and I was like this is like the smartest thing I've ever heard, and I've never heard this before and I'm going to do it my way and let's figure this out. 

Because it wasn't so much about selling the retail products as another revenue source, what it is a retail membership club. 

People who buy retail is a big advantage. 

I can just go into our packages. What we do? 

00:02:31 Cameron 

Do well, it is an advantage, right? 

Because if you're not selling them retail, we don't know what's going on their hair and a lot of times it's Costco liters, right? 'Cause that's get the most bang for your buck and it's not good for your blondes. 

00:02:47 Lindsey 

Non. I know like most people, I think that's what we do. Mostly, especially like in Florida. Like everybody blonde, so you know what they use is important and you know struggling to kinda get the words in the right verbiage for selling this productmembership club really, really helped us out. 'cause it opened up a door to talk about it, to talk about retail, to talk about the products, what they need and then to give them this offer basically to help save them money. 

So, one thing we struggled with and I kind of hated was coming up with promotions all the time. You know, like what product are we going to have for 20% off or 10% off next month and I'd fall behind on it, nonestly to plan all that It’s just a lot, so doing the membership club, kind of streamlined everything. 

So, what it is - We have two different packages that people can join, and it's a one-time fee. We have what we call our platinum package, which is $60.00 one time for a year. 

And then we have our gold package which is $40 one-time fee for a year and we do have it through our system. We use Forrest. We have it under their membership, so it's an auto renew. So every year on that date they get charged, either their 60 or $40. They can opt out, you know as well to leave the membership program, but we really haven't had that at all. 

Their gold package, the $40 one gets you 5 products again of something we carry any size they want. If they want liters, you know downlands whatever comes in, we get that to them for wholesale price. 

10% off all the time. 20% off on your birthday and five wholesale products on our wholesale day. 

To bump up the $20 more to the $60.00 platinum membership, they get 10% off products all the time. 

So, every product we carry, if it's the month of their birthday, they get 20% off for that entire month whatever they purchase. But instead of five wholesale products, they get unlimited wholesale for that one day, whatever they want to order as much as they want to order. They also receive for deep conditioning, like masks with their service through the year to use. 

So, for anybody who buys retail, it's kind of a no brainer like they should be a part of this membership, there is going to say, you know, within a few products they've gotten that money back. So it's really smart for them to do. 

And then the wholesale, you know when I first heard it, I was like, wait a minute, you know they could stock up for an entire year and never buy anything again. 

Like how does that work? So, you know, I kind of started jotting some numbers down on that. 

Like what would that really mean? You know to the salon and are we gonna actually lose money by this? 

But then I started again doing the math and I was like ok, so let's say we have our $60.00 package and let's say 10 people become a member. That's $600.00 and at $600.00 that I don't have any overhead on, so it's pure profit. 

You know you're like well that's 10 people and how many clients do we have coming in? 600 a month? 

00:05:42 Lindsey 

What could this possibly mean? So you know you start adding up those numbers you're like, well I could be making $10,000 extra in my revenue just for selling memberships and it's not costing me anything because I'm always going to have a product on sale at 10%. 

I'm always going to be running some sort of promotion and the advantage two of we don't do any other promotions through the year, so it's only the Members that are getting these deals, so it makes sense. 

And looking at the numbers, I was like wow, this is really smart because they're the amount of products I'd have to sell to make that same. Say $10,000 or $5000 is a lot of retail, you know from pure profit part. 

00:06:22 Cameron 

For sure.  

00:06:22 Lindsey 

So, is it OK if someone doesn't buy a shampoo for the next 6 months? Yeah, it's ok. 

Like we've definitely made that money back and a whole lot more especially if you're, I mean if you're a star and you sell everybody everything, well, it's still just going to be extra money for you. 

But the other thing that we found is the wholesale thing has not affected us, because there's always something new they want to try that they didn't get or a new product that's released from the line that you carry. 

Well, you know when you have that favorite product that you're like, oh I'm so hooked on this right now, which you use on everybody? 

It's probably one that they didn't buy, so it really we have not seen a drop even the month after our wholesale day, you know our sales at all. 

And we encourage people to participate in the wholesale day, but I'll be honest and say too, like we don't get as many orders on wholesale day as we do have members. 

00:07:15 Cameron 

That's amazing, so you're still making some serious cash. 

00:07:19 Lindsey 

Absolutely, then then you know, as an owner, you also want to figure out a way because I do worry about my stylist with wholesale, you know, like their Commission that they're used to getting on selling. So, figuring out a way to compensate them. Whether it's you know they get $5 on every membership that you know is sold or you know things like that. 

Contests that we run for selling or some way to compensate the stylist. 

00:07:43 Cameron 

That's awesome, and you do this through your membership program on your scheduling system. 

00:07:49 Lindsey 

Yep, on our software system. 

00:07:51 Cameron 

OK. 

00:07:52 Lindsey 

Yeah, absolutely. And then we did this year as a promotion we did $10.00 off becoming a member to get, you know, some excitement for new members to join and again to be able to open that door to talk about it, yeah. 

00:08:05 Cameron 

It's awesome. When I first heard this there was a moment where I was like the wholesale caught me up too, but when I started doing the numbers and I haven't implemented this into my salons yet, but the plan is to do that. 

00:08:17 Cameron 

And are you a Commission or independent? 

00:08:19 Lindsey 

We are Commission. 

00:08:21 Cameron 

OK. 

00:08:21 Lindsey 

We're all Commission at my salon, but I think this would work for anyone. 

I mean, especially, you know someone who's a booth renter. Think of how much again, it's just pure profit so you know if you don't carry a ton of retail or you know whatever this is another money stream for you. 

00:08:37 Cameron 

Well, a lot of companies, corporate companies do this type of structure to where you can be a member, you know and then you save money which in the long run for me as a consumer if I'm going to save money, I'm going to join. 

00:08:50 Lindsey 

Yeah, absolutely yes. And if we see someone come up to the front desk and they have two or more products we are talking them into this membership, it's not something hard to talk them into because it's saving them money. 

Like I said, if they're going to buy the products, it makes that though anytime we see that person buying, that's our opportunity to get them into the membership program. 

00:09:10 Cameron 

Do you feel like your stylists feel more motivated to sell knowing that they have some incentive too? 

00:09:16 Lindsey 

Yeah, absolutely there has...there needs to be something because we do give a percentage you know of Commission on the retail sales which isn't, you know a ton. It's definitely a nice bonus for them. 

00:09:26 Lindsey 

Umm, but the membership you need to have a perk for them to sell that as well, because we do want you know we don't want them to lose out on wholesale day that they're you know, client did stock up pretty well and maybe doesn't need anything for a few months and I don't want the salon to be the only one making that extra you know, profit on the membership. 

So the...you know that I make sure the stylists get taken care of that too. 

00:09:49 Cameron 

That's awesome. 

These are all questions that are important because, you know, for anybody thinking about doing something like this, you know we all have all these questions and I remember sitting in the crowd listening to you going. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to pick your brain about this and you know, here we are here later finally. 

00:10:06 Lindsey 

I know, I know. 

00:10:08 Cameron 

But, it’s just such a great idea. Where did you hear about this originally? 

00:10:11 Lindsey 

It was on a Facebook forum like one of the salon owner forms or something like that that I follow and I think someone had put a question about retail and like what have you used to motivate, you know for sales and how have you increased like. Does anyone have any great ideas for promotion? 

And so, of course I was always looking for those as well. So I'm you know, reading the comments and I don't know where this lady is from. I don't know who she is, but she had put about this membership program that she did. 

And yeah, I mean really, I was just like wait a minute. Kind of same thing. Questions like who don't you lose money don't you, like, I don't understand, they're gonna get it all for wholesale. 

And I don't...this doesn't make sense to me until I started writing those numbers and I couldn't believe that no one else commented honestly. 

Because when you think about it, like I said, I was like this is genius. How was no one interested in this? 

How was nobody like? Everybody, not like whoa, you know my mind is blown, right? 

00:11:05 Cameron 

Now it's like a secret goldmine. 

It kind of is the plan is I can't take credit for the idea, but I think it was a fantastic line and we had definitely taken it and run with it. 

00:11:15 Cameron 

Well, and it sounds like you've customized it to what your needs were in the salon, and I think other people do that as well. 

I think sometimes changing your retail structure or what you're doing can be a little scary. It's like deciding to be a rent or deciding to go back to Commission, you know? 

Thank you so much for sharing that. 

00:11:34 Lindsey 

You're welcome, I know. 

00:11:35 Lindsey 

When I brought it up, I was working with my business coach at the time and I brought it up to him and he kept just saying his favorite saying was, like yes and...like. how much do you think this is a good idea? 

00:11:44 Lindsey 

He's like yes and and...He kept pushing me to what we could do to customize it, you know, to fit us, and I think that was really great. 

00:11:50 Cameron 

That's awesome.  

00:11:51 Lindsey 

So I think you know whether you're a renter or a salon wwner, you could really do something with it to make it your own. 

00:11:57 Cameron 

Style sharp shears is the best shear sharpening service. I love it because Trey comes in here and he sharpens my shears here. He doesn't take him with him. He will do mobile orders as well so you can ship out to him, but for those of you who are local or ones he can travel to, he is great 'cause he comes in and he does your shears in Salon totally blends in with your environment. Makes you super happy and then he's off and he makes her next appointment. 

For those Who need to ship in, he is super fast and efficient and soon he will have his own sheers. 

That is Trey with Style, Sharp Shear Sharpening services. 

00:12:34 Cameron 

So just besides owning your salon, which obviously that's a huge commitment. 

What else are you doing right now? 

00:12:40 Lindsey 

Well, I am doing some business and coaching and consulting for salon owners with 124 GO coaching and consulting. 

Based out of Atlanta and it's just a great group of coaches, everyone kind of has their specialties. So when you work with us, you're not working with just one coach. You have a whole team of people that get on and do Zooms and do meetings with you. 

00:13:03 Lindsey 

You know, depending on what you're needing help with, we host four-day intensives. I'm actually getting ready to leave in a couple days to go do a four-day business intensive with a bunch of salon owners and our entire team so that is a lot of fun. 

That's kind of been my new adventure right now. 

My salon is going in a way where I don't, you know, I'm not behind the chair anymore. And I don't need to be there every day for it to run and be managed, so helping other salon owners is now a big passion and kind of the next, the next avenue I'm going down. 

00:13:34 Cameron 

That's exciting. 

00:13:36 Lindsey 

Yeah, I love it. 

00:13:37 Cameron 

I know we can do so many things with this career of ours. 

00:13:41 Lindsey 

It's true, it's true. I don't think it's something you realize when you first start out. You think like I'm just cutting and coloring hair and you don't realize how many opportunities there are within the industry. 

00:13:51 Lindsey 

I know I didn't, but it's really. It's really exciting to see. 

00:13:55 Cameron 

I didn't when I first started. I didn't either. It was just like I'm going to yeah cut and color hair and I have to build a clientele and the stress of all that. 

And then once you get into it, you're like wow, there are so many different niiches,  branches of this career. 

You can go into education, coaching, podcasting, being a salon owner, a salon manager. 

There's so many, many things and it's just such a cool industry to be a part of.  

00:14:22 Lindsay 

It really is. We’re very lucky. 

00:14:23 Cameron 

And I'm so glad that the hurricane didn't hit you guys. 

00:14:27 Lindsey 

Thank you and we're very lucky there's a lot of South Florida that is pretty devastated. Absolutely devastated right now, and definitely feel for them, but feel very blessed that thankfully it turned course and missed us so... 

00:14:39 Cameron 

Oh man, I know I'm thinking about all you guys down there. At the end of the Chair-apist, I always do your craziest story and a little-known fact. 

Industry stories are funny because obviously we can all relate. 

00:14:51 Lindsey 

Oh relate to it. 

00:14:53 Lindsey 

I had one lady that wanted me to match the color of her shoe. to her, hair and at the end literally took off her shoe and held it up to her hair and this is...these are like the things that I think about, you know, like when I think of crazy story. 

That honestly just going to clients... 

00:15:10 Cameron 

How well did you match her shoe? 

00:15:12 Lindsey 

Her exactly this was like, Oh my gosh like 10 years ago, but it still sticks in my head. 

A dog matching the color to her dog. 

00:15:22 Cameron 

And then, what's a little-known fact about you? 

00:15:24 Lindsey 

Oh, little-known fact.  

I am terrified of caterpillars, which is so weird. I know - every body says like they don't hurt you and so I'm like, I know I can't...I will freeze, I won't move a muscle I can't...I'm terrified of caterpillars. 

00:15:38 Lindsey 

I had my sons open house and they were sitting in a little gazebo and he pointed down to this caterpillar, just inching its way on the little little railing and I was out like I literally ran away and without... I left my kid. 

00:15:52 Cameron 

Thank you so much for coming on and spending time with me. And obviously I know Tuesday we were supposed to get together on Tuesday, but the hurricane. 

00:15:58 Lindsey 

Yeah we were preparing. 

Well, thank you for having me on. It is definitely an honor to be with you.