During King's presentation, she urged attendees to discuss their salon's own best retailing practices with one another. Jamie Newman
During King's presentation, she urged attendees to discuss their salon's own best retailing practices with one another.Jamie Newman

SALON TODAY and ZeeZor partner for Data-Driven Salon, a conference and trade show that assembles some of today's most successful salon leaders who share their strategies from their own businesses on how to leverage the knowledge data gives them on a daily basis. DDS is taking place Sunday, June 25 and Monday, June 2016 at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast just outside of Atlanta.

On day one of the event, Allyson King of Hair+Co. BKLYN and Beauty 360 Consulting Group walked attendees through the data points of retail success and gave strategies for engaging salon team members.

She began by addressing the audience of more than 200 salon owners, stylists and industry leaders.

“We’re a group of people in this room that already love and live by data or, for those of you that don’t have the name neurosis I do, congrats on being here and wanting to learn more,” King said.

King shared her winning formula in ramping up retail in a salon. She bulleted five key points:

1. Keep score: With the help of ZeeZor, King and her staff can track their numbers in real-time. King often notices members of her team competing with one another to boost their numbers. Although there are many significant data points, the ones King most often looks at to determine how the salon and staff members are doing are: RPCT (retail per client ticket); SGPR (service guest purchasing retail); and AUT (average unit/transaction), which she looks at once a year. King looks at RPCT and SGPR often and ZeeZor gives benchmarking numbers. "Now I can see how my team is doing and how we stack up among other ZeeZor salons," she said.

2. 2/3 of sales come from merchandising: After years of working for beauty-giant Ulta, King learned a thing or two about how and why products are displayed where they are in a store and how important it is to understand your customer and their shopping habits. "Explain, don't just display, what retail you carry," she said.

3. Mix matters: Remember that how you shop is different than how your mom would shop, which is different than how millennials shop. Today's shopper focuses on what makes her happy, which means mixing and matching the "best" product out there, and isn't as brand-focused as your mom's generation might be." We have to think about even though that brand story is true—whether you carry only uber luxury, or value brands, or something in between—that shopping story may not be true today," King said. "Ask yourself, 'Would I add something to my portfolio to have something that makes her happy?'”

4. Create value: Show clients how to use the product and create an experience out of the product. Someone might not remember the product if you just show it to them; use it on her hair, let her smell it, explain why you love it. Most clients buy a product from somewhere within 48 hours of getting a salon service done, why not have that be from YOU rather than elsewhere? King says to establish an effective selling system and coach to it daily to your staff: remember the emotional connection, superior performance, technology difference, and allow them to be a curator for their clients.

5. Be a coach: Be there to motivate your staff every step of the way, not just once every so often in a one-on-one meeting. Ask them what THEIR goals are and then draw out a plan with them to help them achieve it. If they're successful, your salon will be successful.  Whether it’s a career path or being on the floor and seeing what they do, take them from learning to earning.

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Originally posted on Salon Today