How to sell retail with Sonia Tomas the Salon Doctor

Does recommending retail products make you feel pushy or "salesy"?

You're not alone. But what if you've been looking at it the wrong way?

In this episode, Nic and Tess sit down with Sonia Tomas, also known as The Salon Doctor, to unpack one of the biggest mindset shifts every salon owner and stylist needs to make: selling isn't about making more money, it's about serving your clients well.

Drawing on more than 37 years in the hair industry and helping salons generate over $8 million in retail sales, Sonia shares why so many teams struggle to recommend products, the limiting beliefs holding them back, and how a simple shift in perspective can transform both the client experience and your salon's profitability.

If you've ever felt uncomfortable recommending retail, this episode will completely change the way you think about sales.

In this episode, you'll learn:
💡 Why selling is really about serving your clients—not pushing products
🧠 The mindset blocks stopping salon teams from confidently recommending retail
💬 How asking better questions leads to better client outcomes
🎯 Why consultations should focus on solving problems, not making sales
💰 How creating value naturally increases retail sales and client trust
🤝 Why your clients actually want your professional advice
🚀 Practical ways to increase retail sales without feeling pushy or uncomfortable

Whether you're a salon owner wanting to grow your business or a stylist looking to build more confidence with client recommendations, this episode is packed with practical advice you can implement immediately.


To follow Sonia's journey: 
https://www.instagram.com/thesalondr/

To follow our journey:
Instagram @aheadhair_
@the_conscious_salon

Transcript

Sponsor And Warm Welcome

SPEAKER_03 0:52

This episode of the Conscious Salon Podcast is brought to you by CPR Hair. Welcome back to the Conscious Salon Podcast. Tess, we've got someone. Tess is fangirling.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

She is I'm not one fangirly, but I'm also with my friend.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

I've never seen you so sorry, you're not fangirling like a loser way. I'm just saying, I have never seen you.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

I'm so ged up. I'm so ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

I've never seen Tess so excited for any podcast that we've done in the last three years as what she was today.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

So today we are joined, I wrote you a little intro. Today we're joined by someone in the industry who has seen this space from every single angle. She started in hair more than three decades ago as an apprentice hairdresser with a dream, a lot of passion, and no real idea where it would all lead. Since then, she's worked on the salon floor, owned businesses, hit burnout, rebuilt herself, left a domestic violence relationship, moved to the corporate world, and spent years working closely with salon owners across the country. So when she speaks about this industry, she's not speaking from theories, she's speaking from actual lived experience. What we love about this guest, and we fell in love with her at a conference, at CBR conference at Salon Forum a couple of months ago, and we watched your presentation and we literally fell in love with you within the first 90 seconds. But we really love that she can also understand both sides of the coin: the creative people side, the part that draws so many of us into this industry in the first place. And then also the business side, the leadership, the retail, the numbers, the confidence, the consultation, and the part that so many incredible hairdressers and salon owners just don't get taught properly. Today she has helped salons sell over eight million dollars in retail products.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Club for that.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

She is direct, experienced, deeply invested in this industry, and passionate about helping salon owners stop leaving money on the table while building stronger, more sustainable businesses.

Meet Sonia And The Mission

SPEAKER_03 2:57

If you have ever felt icky about selling retail products to your clients, this is your podcast episode. Please welcome to the Conscious Salon Podcast. Sonia Thomas, aka the Sunday Salon Doctor!

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yay! What an icon! I'm so excited. It is honestly from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much. It's absolutely my honour to be on here with you girls because I see what you guys are doing with your teams. I see what you guys are sharing with our industry. And I really think that you guys being just you lands for so many people. You're just authentic, you're real, you're raw, and people need to see that more. I think there's a lot of noise around our industry too. Um, I definitely had when I started imposter syndrome of you know, you've got to be a name, you've got to be someone to for someone to listen to. And I really had to go, you know what? Um, and my mentor even told me, like, you've got a voice, and I've just kind of organically grown just being me.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

And thank God for that, because honestly, we Tay and I especially, like, I feel like you're already a little bit familiar with Sonia, huh?

SPEAKER_03 4:12

Whereas Yeah, well, I'm also a beauty therapist, so I want to say, and you may differ on this, I want to say that the mentality in beauty is like if a client comes to see you for a skin treatment, it was expected that you would talk to them about home care. I think it's really different in the hair industry. There's so many, I see so many more blocks, mindset blocks, with hairdressers as opposed to beauty therapists. And being a beauty therapist, I was like, that's just part of the the process. I think for you guys especially, you were so fucking excited to hear Sonia's message.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Because it it's it's so true to the hair industry, particularly. Like, there's so many things.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

I feel, and this is something where I remember when we were watching you with your keynote, and the camera didn't go down. It was just like, oh, and that's another great quote, that's another great minute. Oh, that's good, snapshot of that back spot. Like it was just uh the back slide, not the back spot. Because what I feel you do is that you speak to people really directly. There's actually, I'm gonna quote the phrase the biggest thing I found that really stood out for me with what you do is that you talk about clients and how everyone's like, oh, it's my family, it's my family, and how quickly those family members that we have aren't there when we're not taking care of them. And I feel like that is something that is so missing in our industry. We have this, we play into this performer of being um, you know, funny and like um safe for people and and all of these beautiful qualities and like ways of holding space, but rarely do we lead with our knowledge or lead with our power or lead with really educate like education at the forefront.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah. What I in my program I actually teach salons that trust is built on what you do, not what you say or how much you know about someone. No one's gonna say, oh my god, I love Sonia because you know she's got two cats and she names them after cars, right? They're not gonna care about my cats. One's Aston and one's Portia, like so what, right? But they're gonna say she makes me feel good, I love my hair, my hair looks great every day. We forget it's on deliverables because if I don't deliver and my clients paying for a service, they will leave. And we think they leave just because of a bad haircut or colour, but let me tell you, they leave for so many other reasons: oversharing, um, being rude, being unorganized, being untidy, um, the salon's too cold, the salon's too hot, high prices because we don't actually deliver what we actually charge. Um long wait times.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Taking the piss out of people's time, is that what you're gonna say? Yeah, long wait times, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Making people wait.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Um, I'm not gonna be long. Yeah. Tell me how long that is. Does anyone know how long a piece of string is, right? I'm not gonna be long. Be honest. Like, I'm gonna be 10 minutes. Do you want to go and grab a coffee? Yeah. Well, clients. Do you know what? We all don't mind if we have to wait a little bit, as long as we know there's transparency. Okay. Right? So when we're recommending retail, at this point, I just want to tell you what that looks like when you're at home. Because you're at home longer than you are with me. You're with me for three hours, great. What are you gonna do in the next six weeks?

SPEAKER_03 7:41

God, okay. So for anyone who's just like woken up and climbing. This is why I'm so excited. Yeah, either Tess, have a breath or a look at the back.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

I don't need to be here. It just needs to be just leave Sonia and the cameras and we're good.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Agree. But here's the thing: so, Sonia, for anyone landing on this for the first time, I want you to talk say who you are, what you do. Obviously, we know who you are, but tell us what you do and how you help salons.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Yeah, so I've been in the industry for 37 years, and as you said, I have owned my own salon, had my own challenges. Um, I did leave my salon as a victim of DV. My kids were seven, five, and three at the time, and I left with zero dollars. Um, uh, ex-husband who didn't want to pay child support, and I literally had to navigate that by myself. I lucky I knew a real estate agent as a client, and I said, I need somewhere to live, I have no rental history, I don't know what to do. Um, the job that I went for was playing a really good base salary, it was um had commissioned, had OTE, um, and it also had no experience

Survival Story Into Sales Mastery

SPEAKER_00 8:47

required, and I just went, This is my job. So I went for the job interview, and I said to Brendan his name was, I said, I'll take the job. And he goes, Oh no, we've got some more interviews. I went, okay, I'll take the job. Cancelled them. Oh no, we're gonna talk to HR. I went, what's her name? Natalie? I'll I'll take the job. I'll take the job. Natalie said yes. Natalie said yes, right. I just I needed the job, right? So um there was weeks where I didn't even eat. The weeks I didn't have the kids, I didn't eat, and the weeks I had the kids, we ate, right? Wow, and I remember this this the December, um, I literally had no money, and I'd started the job in the uh the September, and I'd already made Target, right? A new business. And I went remember going to David and I said to him, um, now mind you, I'd started this job and I told no one I was going on. So I just started the job and just worked and just started. So they had no idea. They had no idea. Wow. So December come, I'm like, it's Christmas, I've got to go on holidays and I've got no money. So I went to David and I said, uh, would it be okay if I got my commissions paid early? And he's like, sure. He said, You're doing great. He said, the worst thing he could have asked me, or the best thing he could ask me goes, Are you okay? And I just burst into tears and I went, actually I'm not. And I told him, he went, I would never have known you were going through anything. And I remember him ringing up um the operations manager and said, Can you bring the checkbook? Now I'm going checkbooks here. Can you bring the checkbook? And he wrote me his $5,000 check. And he said, Here's $5,000. He said, When your house sells, you pay me back. And I was like, You are a gift from God. So I ended up um that ended up being one of the most amazing jobs I had. Did exceptionally well, but obviously got burnt out after 10 years. I was leaving home at six, getting home at six, right? One played netball, one played football, one played soccer. So then I ended up selling to industry for 15 years, and that's when I really saw what our industry was like. Because I thought, you know, how I thought I did so well in corporate, I was like, I'm I'm gonna eat this alive. I know you guys, and I know how to sell, so I was like, I got this. Do you know what I found? I got we don't sell, we're not salespeople, we have too much stock on the shelf, we don't like retail, we can't afford it, we don't have the money. Um yeah, just people not using the product, like it was no, no, no, no, no. And I'm like, what deal was I doing in corporate that I'm not doing in hair? Because I felt like I'd actually taken off my sales hat and went back into hairdresser mode. And I was like, what am I not doing? And then I really it was like a penny dropped, and I was like, so tell me a little bit about your business. Talk to me about where the like leaky buckets are. So then I started getting really doled in. Um, and then I came to a fork in the road where I wanted to do this with the business I was at. They didn't see this as part of their journey, so I took a chance on myself. Um, and now I have been doing this for quite a few years, going to four years now. And what I actually do is, sorry, was that a long-winded answer? No, perfect. Perfect answer. Um I now teach teams on what the client journey looks like. So the first part of my program, I actually walk them in their clients' shoes. What does it look like from a client's lens? The half, the other half of the journey is what are our limiting beliefs? What do we feel, how we we feel sticky about it, and systems and processes. Because what I see is uh I think I mentioned to you before that we think staff are lazy and they don't want to do it. And I've actually noticed it's not laziness, it's confidence, it's mindset, it's money. And what really fills my heart is when I come to the end of the program, like I'm I run my program for five hours, and I know when I do it, they're like, I don't know if I've got ADHD, I don't know if I can sit there for this long. This is what I get when I first tell them how long it's gonna go. And then they're sitting there like this, like, is it finished at the end? Um, and I so I literally unpack everything. Um, I normally have someone have a breakthrough, so they'll cry my lesson, but teaching salons that your client almost is part of the journey. If you do not recommend aftercare to your client, you're not completing the service.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Agree.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Play that back. Play that back, Sonia.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Oh my god, we're so excited to have you here. We have you so we have, we were really thinking about okay, we have the opportunity to have you on the potty. What do we really want to pick your brain about? But also what do we know that every single salon owner and stylist and therapist needs to hear in our industry right now? So we formulated what are all the questions that we've heard recently. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Well, it's not quish questions, it well, you know, they are questions, but there's also like some mindset blocks.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

We want to pick your brain if that's okay. Okay, go for it. And I think this will be really incredible. I want to talk about your programs as well. Thank you. Because we need so many salons to change the way that they're doing things, not just from the perspective of obviously what it can do for your business and what it can do for your team's confidence, but also going back to always looking at, and we talk about this in so many circles. We forget that in the hair and beauty industry, someone is actually seeking a professional service from us. They are not seeking a friendship, they are not seeking a good time, they're not seeking three hours of performative behavior, which is what so many of us just drop into. They are actually coming to you because they have a problem. And you, as a stylist or as a therapist, or as a skin professional, you have the solution to their problem. And we take that for granted after we build a relationship and we go, awesome, this person's a client for life. And this is what this was such a massive penny drop, as Tess said at um Salon Forum when you spoke about this and spoke about the clients will leave you. So before we get into any of the questions, can we talk about what you see typically in the industry when you first come into a salon to like resuscitate the salon, for lack of a better word, in terms of retail sales? How do you find the salon? Talk about the common things that you see in there.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

This is a big one.

The Client Lens And Deliverables

SPEAKER_00 15:47

I see a lot of um like I said before, I think it's a lot of things. I think we don't look at it from a client's lens. Right? We are tired, we're busy, we're run off our feet. Do you know you can change someone's state literally in a minute? So I talk about body language in my training. So tonality is 37%, and body language is 55%. So if I rush over to you, I think I'm doing you a favor by coming over to you going, Oh, hi, hi, how are you going, Tess? Oh my god, thanks. You know, I've just changed your state to she's rushing, panic. If she's gonna be listening to me, so we are so busy. I see a lot of salons not charging their worth. Like, honestly, guys, whoever's listening to this, I think I say this on another podcast, just put your prices up. I don't care, just do it. Right? Just no do not pass go, do not click 200 if you know Monopoly. Um, but they're not charging their worth, but they're also not delivering. Right? So if you're coming over to a client and you're rushing and your trolley's not organized, you're not paused, you're not asking intentional questions, right? You're already setting your client up and you're not even opening up the conversation properly. Like you talked about solving solutions. We're not even asking about what does it look like when they're at home with their hair. Like we're not actually getting, I call it the anchor. What is the driver? So you may have a client who's got oily hair, but that might not be their problem. But because we're visual, we will see something and we'll go down this rabbit hole of what we think they need to fix without even asking what they actually really want. So really intentionally asking, if I had a magic wand, what would be the one thing that you would fix on your hair? Um, what's the one thing that's giving you the most pain? Right? And actually, do you know we talk too much?

SPEAKER_03 17:59

I've noticed that as an industry in general.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

There's a lot of talking from our lens, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

Rather than um It's the performance, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, well we Especially hairdressers. We play a game, I play a game with um teams called Questions Questions. You can only ask a question, but you can only answer with a question.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

I love that. Oh my gosh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Intentional listening is honestly, guys, when you ask a question, you have to think about the next question. You have to stop, listen, and then ask. But we don't intentionally listen.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

We're not intentionally asking questions to know enough because we have one thing we know about them, and then it's like yeah, and I feel like this happens so much, is that and the main thing that people want to know is what shampoo and conditioner are you using? Oh, you asked that question, you're selling, sorry. Well, yeah, because this thing, and then they say, like, oh, I don't know, you buy and sell on, yep.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

People think that's what a consultation looks like.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, so how about asking? So actually, what are you using at home? Really curious, like leaning into the body language.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

How are you using it? How frequently exactly question with the question with the question.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Yeah. I want to know what type of buyer I've got in my chair. Exactly. Like there's so many other questions you can ask without asking. And I see salons actually even uh upselling treatments at the basin. Do you feel like a treatment? I don't know what that feels like, just quietly. Yeah. Um, but if you're asking someone at the basin, totally God, what problem are we solving if we're having a lot of people?

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Well no, no, you're selling that.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

You haven't even added value at this point, right? Um, so it's just it's just so I see you know what, I say the small things are the big things. And if they really dialed in being intentional, looking at the small things that do make you know our our regulars get treated the worst. Oh hi, hi Tess, come come take straight the basin.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, just take Tess straight through.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah. Oh, oh, that lady over there, the one with the blue jacket, yeah, yeah. Can you just rinse her hair? Yeah. I'm like, her, her, in the jacket? Like, you don't know. I pride myself when I'm in training. You ask any salon, I always use their name, and I'm very I've got very good eye contact, and I just use their name. You know I'm speaking.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

It's just a way to build trust, yeah. It is a yeah, it's a huge one that we have. Yeah, too.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

It's so interesting. The performative side of of our industry is it's so true, and you get we see so many people standing behind the chair or servicing a client in the beauty room. And they they start the conversation straight away on, you know, how how was your trip or how was whatever? And it's straight away they lose that conversation, and the next thing they're 25 minutes in and they know when this client last had a pap smear, but they don't know what's actually going on. And it's so hard to regain that conversation afterwards if we're not asking the right questions.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Okay, I need to ask that we're we're like, I'm we're not gonna be leaving otherwise.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

So many incredible things. So these are the biggest things that we have heard recently in the industry in terms of we're talking excuse uh excuses.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

No, we're call we're talking blocks with team members. So Tay and I came up with these last night. These are the biggest things that we learn from the salons that we're working with with their teams about why they struggle with selling retail.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Great. So I want to do a bit of a like a fire round. And I want you to say what you hear with this so that we can just get aware of it.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Okay, do I be really honest?

SPEAKER_03 21:41

Oh, please.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

You become honest. So like give them to them straight. They need we need to, we need to, we need to, what is the thing? We need to address it so we can change it.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Yeah, we want to and everyone take a nice big deep breath in. And no, the the people listen. We'll do it with them. Okay, we'll do it. But this is about getting really accountable, and we say this because we want better for every single person listening. First one. My clients prefer to buy online or from big businesses like Mecca, Sephora, and Audor Beauty.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Rubbish. If you don't have no more. And next. If your client trusts you and and guys listen to this, they do trust you, and they believe anything that you say. We just don't have conversations. We're not actually even asking them to buy at this point. I actually sold to the industry, and let me tell you, I used to go to a big chains and I'd have to wait for the manager and I'd serve people because that was just me. I can't stand around

Consult Like A Pro With Questions

SPEAKER_00 22:47

doing nothing, right? So I just serve the customers. Right? So the customers. My hairdresser had this product and it was in a white bottle. Yep, they're all in white bottles, sweetie. Need a bit more detail, right? Yeah. No. No. Because if you re if you actually go online, okay, here we go. I'm gonna shoot back. Ten percent. If it's eighty dollars product, it's eight dollars. If it's fifty dollar products, five dollars. They're not saving money, you can't buy coffee for five dollars. So tell them what the discount looks like, and they've got to have a minimum spend so they don't charge freight. Because let me tell you, no one likes paying for freight. So you have to spend $80 because it's very strategically done. You've got to buy three products, not just two. So therefore, you have to pay freight. So when you really break it down, know it's your job if they trust you. Do a re-evaluation every three months on your client with their retail, and let me tell you, they won't go rogue online. Next.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Next, just how can we not be obsessed with it?

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Okay, next. Next. Cost of living.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Cost of living.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Right. I love this one because I get it every single day.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

You know what? We all live, don't we? Okay, how many things do you have at home that you shouldn't have bought?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

It's weird a lot.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

That needs to be buying drivers. The buying drivers are what's in it for them, value, that they see value in it, and status. It's not how much something costs. I thought it was gonna be emotion, the last one. Nope.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

So if I don't see value, status, Tess, you are a wanker if you 100%.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Do you know what? Louis Vuitton, this is what I say, Louis Vuitton's never been on sale, and they're keeping opening up stores. If you've seen the store in New York, they've got four stores on every corner and they're like 27 stories high. That's not an industry that's dying.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Yeah, you're not seeing them having an easy stuff.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Do you go into Louis Vuitton and go, oh, I can't afford things that don't have you been watching TV? Um, can I get a discount? You just know you're gonna spend and donate a kidney when you walk in there, right? So, no, it's never about price. People question price when they don't see value and what of what they're buying and getting. If you've got a client that says to you, how much is it? Do you know what they're doing? They're thinking their heads in their bank account where they can afford it because they don't understand what they're buying. You haven't created enough value, you haven't created enough value around that.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Oh, okay. This is a good one. Already using good quality salon products. Even though so they're already using other, like another brand that you don't stock in the salon. I love this one.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

They haven't bought it for over a year. They're like, oh no, I'm still using that same shampoo.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, so call your client out on the bullshit, they're not using it for a year. But but if they say they're using a good product, guys, this is the consumer you want in your chair. Okay. Because they're educated, they value product, and they spend money. Tick. Tick. We just need them to understand why we use what we use. So if you're a brand, if you're a salon.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Sorry, a moment for that. Your client needs to understand why you use what you use.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah, what you why you have what you use. Because no one tells us what to have in our salons.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

That's that's needs to be a catchphrase. That's really good.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Right? So we don't we pick what we have in our salon, don't we? Last time I checked.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Okay. I used to sell to you guys, I know. Wow. Um, but if I say to you, if I've got the same colour brand and same retail brand, I'm gonna tell my client, I love the fact, because we want to appreciate and relate. Okay, this is very sales, this is sales training. So appreciate and relate. So I'm gonna say, oh my god, I love the fact that you look after your hair. And I like that using a good quality product. But would it be okay if I share with you why we use what we use? And write it down. We use this product because it chemically balances with our retail. So if we're using this colour on your hair, it's ideally we'd like you to use this retail product. Anyone with OCD will change straight away. But this is what I need you to have in your hair care range, home care range, to keep the integrity of your colour.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

So they talk to each other. Love, love, love, love.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Write it down.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

That was great. Sonia, we want to ask you why do you think our industry as a whole struggles to value uh itself or ourselves?

SPEAKER_00 27:27

I think because it's a very uh woman-dominated industry, and I think that we struggle with confidence, we struggle with a lot internally, like we're changing, hormonal, we're just always evolving as women, right? But I still think it's just a self-belief. Self-belief and trusting the process. Um, I started my business over 50, and a lot of people would say, oh, that's old, like that's too late, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

Are you 54? Yeah, what a joke. Are you 54? I'm doing the math because you said you've been in the business. Are you 50 fucking four?

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Yeah, this is absurd, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 28:14

I'm 35 and you look younger than I am.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

No, not quite. Um, so I I really believe that is very much a limiting belief internally. Um, and I this is one part of my job of that I absolutely love because when I finish my training, I have staff like by the first module, they're already in love with me and I love them. Like I can build rapport and trust really, really quickly. But they're just like, I just love seeing them believing themselves and having the confidence and the skill set. We weren't taught this at TAFE. We're not taught this at TAFE. And I really think we need to understand that guys borrow the belief, borrow my belief in you before you believe it. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Oh god. They really do need to teach this in TAFE. I really do think they need to be like counselling, self-belief, all these things. So good.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

I want to talk about how a salon owner hearing this right now, how we could help them to flip their mindset or their team's mindset around selling retail.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

If you love doing hairdressing, you love doing hair. Recommending aftercare, our our guys, please listen to this. Our clients want our advice, but we're just not giving it to them. We're just not like remove yourself from the the friction of selling. It's not about selling, it's about serving. It's like I use the analogy of going to a fine dining restaurant. Let's say we go to a fine dining restaurant tonight, okay? And I think you guys have you heard this one? Did I use that at CPR? We're at a fine dining restaurant and they don't give you the wine list because they assume you can't afford it, they assume that you don't want it, or they couldn't be bothered.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

Like they forgot.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

They forgot.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Like retail and aftercare is part of keeping the integrity of a client's hair.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Because the reality of this is when the client leaves and their colour, if they've got a high fashion colour, they've got bright red, and they're not going home with the products that are going to ensure that, and they wash it with head and shoulders for two weeks, and then suddenly that colour's gone, they're not gonna clock and go, must be the product that I'm using. Oh, it's they're gonna go the hairdresser with shit.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Yeah. Like I I like I I see it all, and if you just offer it and it's organic and it's authentic, like

Retail Objections Get Debunked

SPEAKER_00 30:57

I go in and do shadow work, and honestly, they go, Oh, talk to this client. That client's like already going, like, what do I need?

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Honestly, I you go in and shadow the team.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Yeah, so I'll go in and do consultation shadowing with them. That is so good. Right? And then I'll actually do so, they'll see me do a consultation and I'll go, where's your client card? What's on your client card? If you don't know what your client's drinking after two years, you don't care. Agree. Right? So what why aren't we putting these in our client notes, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Um, so I look at all of that. So when I was doing, I'll do shadow work and then I'll just I can they'll just the client just starts opening up. They're like, oh, even if they say to me, Oh, I'm using the product, so I'll go into a s I went to sell in Port Macquarie and they said, Oh, we're using, I'm using this. And I said, Oh, you know, how are you finding it? And she goes, Oh, it's okay. And I went, Mmm, interesting. I'm actually not happy with okay. Tell me a little bit more about what okay looks like for you. And so she said, Oh, you know, it's not uh we need to align with their expectations. So she just liked something that's a little bit heavier on her hair. And I went, okay, can I just show you? Do you mind if I'd show you what I would like like would recommend? She goes, Yeah, sure. So this is not in my client, I'm not even doing a hair. She was already happy for me to do her hair at this point. I didn't even talk to her about anything other than hi, how you going? I know you're a regular client. Like the body language oozes confidence. So they're already like they're heads up going. It's like Sonia, can I rebook with you next time? Yeah, right? So I went over and I bought some product over and I said, Look, this is ideally what I'd recommend. Give that a go. I honestly think it'll align with what you're actually really needing. She bought shampoo, conditioner, mask, styling product. I did not even touch this client's hair. We're not offering it. We're not having conversation. Remove yourself around the sale part. I always say the money is a byproduct of you delivering a great service. The money comes. Right? Yes, you need to track numbers. Yes, you need to plan daily on your KPIs. Yes, you need to know what your daily number and your average ticket is. Yes, yes, yes. Right? We still need to do that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made targets when I was in sales. So I've got a really simple formula on how to do targets as well. Like, really super simple, because you know us hairdressers love maths. Um, but if you actually generally care about some sure we do.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Some do if they get it right for a long time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

But clients want to give, they want advice. Yes, just offer it. You know what? It's up to them what they do with that. I hear in salons when I do this client like consultation matrix, and they have to give me all the pain of what clients experience, and one comes up as breakage. And I'm like, two things. If it's a new client, it's not your fault. If it's an old client, it's so your fault. I love that. If your client's coming to you after six months and you've been doing their hair and they've got breakage, that is your fault. You haven't recommended a treatment and how to bond build that client's hair and help them manage it. Totally your fault.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

I love that. How humbling. That's one of my favorite. This is what I love her. One of the main reasons.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

Sonia, I want to talk about your programs because so many people right now are like, fuck, I've got this issue in my salon, but I need the help. And also, I want to I want to also say so many salon owners think that they need to solve this problem, but this is why people hire you is to bring you in to have an outsider's perspective. It always lands differently with your team. Having an outsider come in and helping you change your mindset around this, and doing this as a collective is so powerful. Can we talk about your programs?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yeah, so just on that, I want to say if it comes from a salon owner, staff seed as you just want me to make make more money for you, and they've already heard you it falls on deaf ears. If it comes from a sales rep who does product training, you just want to sell us more product, so we sell more and you sell more, right? I call myself Switzerland. Um, so when I do my program, it uh it's called the Accelerator, and it literally is very bespoke. Another thing what I see is a lot of um coaches will take salon owners away, but the salon owners who are actively working in the salon know you guys have moved yourselves away and run the salon, is that right? Do you work on the floor? No, no, so salon owners who actually work on the floor in their business, you I could take them away for a couple of days and teach them this. But do you know how much will get implemented? Pretty much maybe five, ten percent because they're too time poor. So this is why I offer in salon with staff because I do the heavy lifting. So cool, right? So I teach the staff, and then the salon owner just literally has to implement and make sure they are held accountable because we're not very good at doing that either, just saying. So the accelerator program is for teams and salon owners to really um elevate their client journey, understand pro systems and processes, and also understand numbers. Um, and I do a mindset piece at the end. So I talk about limiting beliefs and mindset in the story. Because is it a story or a fact that our clients can't afford something? That's a story, not a fact. No client doesn't come in and go, I look, okay, I'll take that back, maybe 1%. Yeah. Okay, but I'll tell you a really quick story because I know um time's ticking. But I had a client of mine who did my training, and she said she had a client come in and say, I've got $500 for my hair. So she was a high blonde specialist, and $500 was her hair price. And she said, and then I had you in my ear. Make sure you do the retail. She's like, but she's already told me I only have $500. Yeah. And she's like, okay, I'm gonna trust the process, I'm gonna do what Sonia said, I'm just gonna tell her what aftercare looks like. Yeah. She put $180 on afterpay. Mmm, amazing.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

And how was her hair six weeks later? Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Right? But she would have automatically stopped because a client gave her that objection. The boundary, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. So normally our clients'

Serve Not Sell, Track The Numbers

SPEAKER_00 37:32

objections are they've probably tried a product before, it didn't work. Yes, they've bought a product um at the wrong time for their hair, so their hair got used to it. Nothing you if you've got a regrowth, uh I call a thing called shampoo wardrobe. What are you doing halfway through the service? Right? What's your re regrowth look like? Um, so yeah, so with my program, make sure it's everything and the kitchen sink. I actually don't leave any stone unturned. And like literally on Monday, I'll give an example. I did also three days in Melbourne. Um, the sell-in I did on Monday, I literally had I get DMs all the time after my training. She's like, oh my god, I upsold $700 worth of services and increased my retail by 20% in one day.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

It literally shows how quickly like that investment happens. Really fast. Just crazy.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

There's no downtime. And for me, if you're working with me with your business, my objective is to get your return on investment as soon as possible. Like my plan is if you want to work with me afterwards, it's a choice you make, and I'm happy to do that. And normally they do, but I do this first, see what the results are, then come into most of them are like, oh no, I need you. I do one-on-ones, I do monthly trainings with teams, I do shadow work, I do um intensives with salons. Um, and these teams like us just like super, super dialed in. Doubled in.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

It's so amazing. I feel like even just the fact that and this is like as Sonia said, guys, you're not you are Switzerland, you're neutral in this. Like you're not going in and being like, you need to use this brand with this product, and blah blah blah. You whatever's there is what you're gonna be like, it's it's not about it because at the end of the day, it's not about the exact type of product, it's about giving your client the information, ask the questions, find the problems, give them a solution.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Oh, how good.

SPEAKER_03 39:33

Sonia Thomas, I want to ask you one final question before we wrap, but before we do, where can everyone find you?

SPEAKER_00 39:39

I am on Instagram at the salon doctor at D R at the end. Um, I am on YouTube. I'm gonna start with What? I didn't know that. I'm doing gonna be starting to do some education on YouTube. So good. I love YouTube, it's like one of my go-to?

SPEAKER_02 39:53

Nikki, Nikki's a blog. Yeah, you love it. You love a blog.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Going to be on YouTube. Um, and look, I do have a website, but I'm just gonna be honest, it hasn't been updated for a long time. So probably Instagram is probably my best way. Yes, the best.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Slide into our DMs. Sonia, I want to ask you before you go, you've got thousands of salon owners and their teams listening right now. I want you to give us one thing that every single salon owner needs to hear about retail sales.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

Remove the friction around selling because you're not selling. Just serve your client, they trust you already, have conversations and but like you said, we talk about everything else because I know you guys care. This is the thing, I know you guys care about your clients because you are talking about stuff that really you shouldn't be. Okay, but talk to them about their hair. Hair first is my motto. So hair first, and then if you want to unpack about their divorce, their kids that's running around making running a mark or whatever, do that when you're putting their colour on.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

But hair first, hair first, hair first. I am so grateful that you have come and shared your this is a career highlight for Tessonia. It is. You know why? Because I feel like you are so fucking refreshing. I feel like our industry so desperately needs you. But the way that you put things out there for people to really consider how they're serving or not serving their clients, it's so unique, it's like truly a superpower. I'm so grateful to have witnessed you and your magic so many times now. I'm so grateful that you've been here with us and shared it. But our industry, no, our world needs you, like truly. The fact that you you give

Programs, Proof, And Where To Find Her

SPEAKER_02 41:47

and you'll make me cry. But I feel like you are such an expander, and especially with now knowing how much like you have gotten yourself to the places you have gotten yourself out of dynamics and situations, and you you are truly the evidence of being self-made.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

But you offer that potential to our industry that needs it, and I truly feel like we are so care about our industry. And we are so privileged to have your like heart and your vision and your fucking power. Thank you for being with us and sharing that, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 42:19

That made me cry. I thought I was gonna get through another um one podcast for the first time. I'm just grateful. I didn't think I was gonna cry either.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

We love to make people cry in this room. I really appreciate you guys a lot since silly, honestly, uh, for even just believing in what I do as well. So it means a lot to me.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

It's so incredible when we stand behind you so much. But Sonia, thank you for giving us your time, especially on Hair Festival weekend. I know not something we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Oh my gosh, oh no, this is gonna come out after Hair Fest. I was gonna say, uh, we should do a bit more. We will be there tomorrow. We'll be there too.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

We didn't get any tickets to Hair Festival except you and um a couple of our mates who are speaking, and yours was something that we absolutely couldn't miss. So thank you for being here and for sharing your incredible brain. I hope that everyone rushes to work with you because our industry needs this so badly to get out of that mindset of icky salesperson. It's not what we want as an industry, we want to we want to elevate together. Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of the Conscious Cell On Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 43:17

Love you guys, stay conscious.