We all know the anxiety when it comes to choosing a color for the nails. An important decision for the coming weeks has to be made.
What do i wear the coming weeks, are there any important events coming up? Birthday’s, holiday’s etc. You have to have the right colors for any upcoming party there is :).
Clients feel the pressure and technicians try to advice and accommodate any wishes.
Carefully the client decide first between a regular polish or will it be gel this time. Now will it be a natural/clear, a french or colored? Those are the easy questions …most of the time.
Then color….. some clients split this up in something pink today..now we are half way, woohooo. Or lets have some glitter. Easy clients are the ones that say…do what ever you like. Not something you should do on my desk. Because my client base is mainly elderly people who can be very conservative ( certainly not all of them) in their color choices, i go crazy with the glitter and the stones when somebody let me of my leash and tells me ” do whatever you want”…I go wild lol.
But all of these “luxury” problems are nothing compared when i have to choose my products before they are in my suite. My supplies so to say.
There are these days so many brands and so much available that you really can not buy it all.
And having a collection of polishes around the amount of 7000 dollar is not even that much. Brands like Kiarasky for example ( my latest favorite) is for 160 polishes a whopping $3100 dollar. Buy the matching gel polish and you are talking about $6200! And 160 colors is really not much. There are salons and technicians with almost 1000 bottles in their inventory.
And still you will have clients ask you, ” hummm yes that is almost what i mean, but a bit different, don’t you have……
For many of us it is just impossible to keep up with all the trends and the latest and greatest.
You just can’t store and have it all.
For some reason the suppliers think we all have a huge storage space behind our salon or suite. A place were we can store and keep it cool enough for the thousands of polishes we should have for our clients. Because of course when you don’t have the latest collection you are not moving fast enough and keeping up with your profession. At least that is what they want you to believe.
But for me the worst part is that you never have the best product on the market. This according to the brands.
Because as soon you think you hit the goldmine and found the best product or brand on the market, there is something else or another brand telling you THEY have the best now. Even when you bought just for hundreds of dollars of that same brand all kinds of good stuff. Well wrong….they have now something new. A must! You will stay behind and your customers will leave your salon to go elsewhere when you don’t have this NEW product!
And best of all….you can be the special one who will be or can be trained for this new product by the company them self, this will make YOU unique. So special and clients will be lined up to come in for an appointment.
You only have to sign up for the training day and when you do this right now you only pay $200. You will learn how to use this product. And we will sell you our products with a 10% discount that day.
Humm????
Were did we go wrong that brands, companies are ruling our business. Or let them rule us? Decide that we have the best or not? There was a time ( when I was still in the Netherlands) when beauty brands came to you, you got overloaded with their service, goodies and samples to try. And I still see that here in the US in other branches. The reps come in and try to pull you in for their products. Give you samples and present and explain properly about their “amazing” items. But not in the beauty business. Oh no…. some brands have even the rule that you have to buy for a minimum of $250 dollars before they sell to you. For me sorry it is bye bye, even when it is one of my favorite polishes.
I stepped away from this circus. No longer will i be impressed by being a brand ambassador or a specialist for any company when they don’t promote me… I am their customer and not their puppet. Funny is that with their system they developed, they made it that we don’t even need them. Because their greed to sell as much as they can, made it that there is nothing special about their products. They don’t protect any of us and it is all a sale number game and they throw it open on the market. I can buy it all on Amazon. Just like my clients. So why should i store and buy everything?
When my client like the products i use, i give them the link were to buy it. When it is something i don’t have, they can bring it in. And i use it on them. When i like it, i buy it. I also tell my reasoning for doing it this way. And you know, most are first surprised about it. And then they agree totally with my system.
Now what about customer service you would say, or making profit of the sales. Because the brand told me i could make my rent only in sales!!!
Well think of this. You are a stylist/technician not their sales person. That’s number one. In my eyes when you can not make a living with your skills you are adding indeed other aspects to increase your income. But this always takes away from your own profession. And don’t get me wrong when you sell products all the power to you. But calculate also the storage of your products, the training some companies push you in, the time you spend to test ( you are not testing??? how do you know it is good?) the products and that it works in your area, the time you spend buying. And here a good one…your outrages shipping costs you pay. And what about the annoying not receiving on time with the orders or waiting for ages for a product. And not continuing a product when you just love that product. Or out of stock..now that is a good one. Ordering a polish by a huge company and they don’t have the color available? CRAZY.
And you promote the brand/product of a certain company and not yours. You drag out their name! not yours. So next to being a stylist/technician, you also are their sales person and marketing ( tool)
Instead of them promoting you! You know we are customers of these brands. So why do they treat us like we are lucky that we can buy of them. Because it is really simple to NOT buy anything of that brand and go to another brand. Or even decide to make your own for creams, soak and scrubs etc. Very simple when you don’t know how to…Google and YouTube are your best friend.
And i hear you say ” i don’t have the time for that” well good that are choices you make. I make time in my schedule. Because i like to know that my cream is good and the right ingredients etc. My clients love it that i give them the little cups with cream to take home. I am promoting my own business! And i can tell my customers what is in my cream or scrub, how to use it and how much. And guess the nice part?
I always have it by hand in minutes…because running out just means make new. I also decide how much i have in storage. I can test what works best. Every couple months i go to Amazon buy my ingredients ( so lower shipping costs) and that is my biggest storage. And i am good for months! No issues with not having what i want or waiting. And it is cheap, much cheaper than buying a brand name with all the chemicals in the products. Expiration is what i watch time wise and in storage ( some i even store in the fridge). My massage and moisturizer are 323% cheaper than the prize i normally pay for a brand name product. Now that is a lot. So that is were i earn my money and no brand can do this for me.
Plus i promote myself… when my clients ask were can i get this…well only by me 🙂 You even get it with every service to take home. No worries come in and you get a new one every service. Very POWERFUL. And works like a charm. I know this wont work for everybody. But some trust in a system like this and you would be amazed what people do to come in make an appointment, enjoy your skills and your products. They will appreciate it a lot!
For polishes it is another story. Unfortunately that is a circus itself. But i stop promoting a company that is for sure. Yes when they drag my name out there i will do theirs. Otherwise i work for my own business and promotion. Not for them. And i am doing fine… and hope to look into expanding in the (near) future. So not going bad at all. Must do something right here 🙂
Disclaimer: I use some brands I am very happy with. Great customer service and products..you know who you are 😉
Next to them, Amazon and the internet in general are my biggest friends.
