Sometimes change doesn't need to mean a complete overhaul of your current situation. In a salon suite, an independent business owner might look at tweaks, updates, and additions to a service menu that are small changes that can translate to big value.

Kelly McCarthy-Westbrook, vice president of member development at My Salon Suite, is a seasoned leader in the beauty industry with over three decades of experience. She is dedicated to empowering students of the beauty, health and wellness industries and independent beauty entrepreneurs through strategic guidance, education, and operational support.

With her diversity of experiences--as a stylist, an educator, working with manufacturers, and now with My Salon Suite, she is an advocate and cheerleader for the artists who call My Salon Suite home.

Q: As beauty professionals head into the second half of the year, how should they evaluate their service menus?

Kelly Westbrook: Start by reviewing your service menu and highlighting the services you love performing. Then identify the services you like but do not love. Set that list aside for a moment.

Next, review your actual business data. Although you can look at the first six months of the year, I recommend using a trailing 12-month period—for example, July 1 to July 1. Winter and spring alone do not necessarily predict what will happen in late summer and fall, so a full year gives you a more reliable picture.

Rank your services from highest to lowest based on how often they were performed. Identify your core services—the tried-and-true appointments clients book every four to eight weeks—as well as your least-booked services and any services that were not booked at all. Then ask whether the unused services still need to be on your menu.

Finally, compare the rankings with your “love” and “like” lists.

You may discover that the services you like are among your top performers, while the ones you love are not. This shows whether your current service menu truly aligns with the work you most enjoy.

Q: What questions should professionals ask as they analyze their top and bottom services?

Kelly: Begin with questions such as:

• What are my top 10 services?
• What are my least-booked services?
• Which services were not booked at all?
• Do my most popular services fall on my “love” list or my “like” list?
• Which services are common in my market?
• Do I offer any high-performing services that are uncommon locally?
• Are my prices consistent with fair market value?
• If I provide an exceptional service, am I charging appropriately for it?
• Are my pricing and offerings right for my current stage of business and career?

If a distinctive service ranks highly and few competitors offer it, that may be an opportunity to market it more intentionally. The goal is not to compare yourself emotionally with others, but to gather useful information and plan the rest of the year—or the following year—with clarity.

Set aside dedicated business time for this review. It should not happen between clients or at the end of an exhausting workday. At minimum, evaluate the menu every six months using trailing 12-month data. I recommend spending about 10% of your working hours working on the business instead of in it. For a 40-hour workweek, that means approximately four hours.

Q: When considering a new service, how can someone determine whether it fits the business, the clients, and their personal strengths?

Kelly: Start with the research you have already done. It can reveal services that may be missing from your menu, as well as services you already perform exceptionally well and could promote more heavily.

Then go directly to your clients. What are they asking about? Clients frequently mention something they saw online or heard about from a friend or family member—perhaps an evening style, a type of nail art, an overlay, sugaring instead of waxing, or another treatment you do not currently offer.

Ask clients what they have been seeing and whether anything interests them. Begin with the needs of your own clientele rather than copying what other professionals are doing online. A popular service elsewhere does not necessarily fit your local market. Once you identify genuine client interest, you can build a strategy for learning, testing, and introducing the service.

Q: What profitable add-on or complementary services are beauty professionals introducing?

Kelly: Three categories stand out across beauty, health, and wellness:

1. Scalp health. Interest in dry, flaky, or dehydrated scalps has remained strong. Scalp treatments can be incorporated by cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians, and massage professionals.
2. Hydration. Hydration treatments are relevant across skin care, nails, and hair. Even a moisturizing hand massage added to a haircut can create value.
3. Natural and wellness-focused options. Consumer interest has expanded from sustainability and recycling to broader wellness—including what people eat, put into their bodies, and apply to their skin.

Another opportunity is a lower-commitment “test drive.” Instead of asking a client to invest immediately in a full head of extensions, offer a smaller application in an area needing volume. Consider temporary smoothing treatments before permanent options, or demi-permanent color before permanent color. These trial services can make a larger service feel more approachable and help build demand.

Q: How should a professional evaluate the return on investment before adding a new service?

Kelly: Do not stop at the cost of the class or training. Ask how you will earn that investment back after you make it. If a class costs $1,200, determine how many paid services you must perform to recover the expense—for example, perhaps six appointments.

You will need to introduce the service, become comfortable performing it, and book it regularly. But the return is not limited to immediate service revenue. Education increases your value to clients, expands your professional knowledge, strengthens loyalty, and supports a more sustainable business.

Build education into the business budget. If you have never done that, start small—perhaps by setting aside 3% of annual earnings in an education account. Beauty professionals give their time, expertise, and care to clients; continuing education is one way to reinvest in themselves and refill that bucket.

Q: Once a professional chooses a new service, what is the best way to launch it?

Kelly: Start with a proof of concept among your existing clients. Even after investing in a service, you may discover that you like it but do not love it. If you are not enthusiastic about it, selling it authentically will be difficult.

If clients helped inspire the idea, tell them what you are learning and invite interested clients to be among the first to try it. Focus on your paying clientele rather than defaulting to friends and family. Your clients can provide honest feedback, help validate demand, and become your strongest advocates.

With permission, document the new service from beginning to end. Capture supporting footage, before-and-after material, and spoken or written testimonials. You can then use that content on social media, in email or text marketing, and during in-person conversations.

Not every client will want to participate, and that is fine. Focus on the clients who are interested and enthusiastic. As my mentor and former boss Winn Claybaugh taught me, “People support what they help to create.” When clients are part of the process, they are more likely to support the launch, recommend it to others, and help you grow without a large marketing investment.