SMME EP404 5 Ways to Sell More Retail with Daniela & Sara of Team Addo

3:14PM Apr 28, 2025

Speakers:

Keywords:

Retail sales

visual merchandising

consultations

social media feature

bundling

restock

reach out

product displays

client engagement

skincare routine

product recommendations

seasonal changes

subscription service

client education

retail strategy.

Welcome to Spa Marketing Made Easy, a podcast for spa owners who want to step up their leadership and business skills and step into the role as spa CEO. I'm your host. Daniela Woerner, CEO of Addo Aesthetics and Founder of the Growth Factor Framework Program, where we teach, coach and guide spa owners in scaling their spas to the next level of growth and unlocking freedom in their life and their business. I'm so glad you're here now. Let's dive into the show. All right, Sarah, welcome to the spa marketing Made Easy podcast. I this is certainly not your first time on the show, but it's your first time in a while, and you know, I wanted to bring you on as one of our adult coaches to really help me to talk about retail. And this is your specialty. This is your expertise. I always remember our event that we had in where were we were? In Florida. Yes, you knew what I was going to say before I had all these freebies that were the most random things. It was like, cups and products and T shirts and like, I don't even know what there were all these random things. And I was like, I need this to look pretty. And we were gifting them to people who were coming in and doing testimonials for us, and I set it up, and it just looked weird. It just it wasn't balanced, it wasn't working. And it's not like, I'm not someone that understands visual merchandising. I'm actually really good at retail and displays, but you're on a whole new level. And so you

put a dresser,

you may I walked in, I was like, I want to buy this. I need this. So I, you know, this month, I wanted to do a special episode around retail and highlight five different ways that you can sell more retail this month. Because retail, I think, is something that is absolutely essential for any practice, whether you are a solo or if you you know are a med spa with 35 providers, retail is an essential piece of your business model, not only for the financial aspects, but also for the overall health and results that your clients and patients are seeing, they will get better results. They will be happier if they're using high quality skincare,

and they get to take a piece of your spa home, essentially, and get to be reminded of you every time that they're using it as well.

Yeah. So let's start off with, you know, we're going to talk about five different areas that five different ideas, five different things to look at in your business to help you sell more retail this month. And the first thing is consultations. So consultations are something that, you know, some people do them stand alone. Some people do them when they're you know, doing the cleansing and exfoliation piece. What's your thoughts on consultations? How do you incorporate them? Or how have you seen your coaching clients incorporate them successfully? So

I just think that consultations in are just such a good conversation piece to start and also build the relationship, but it also gives you an opportunity to educate your clients and also understand what they're doing on a daily basis. So I like to include a consultation in every single service, and I always tell people to just remind almost do business first, like, okay, just walk me through your skincare routine. What are you doing in the morning? Has anything changed? Even if they're your regular but if you can also have it where you can have just a designated consultation time, it can make such a difference to set the tone for what's going to happen after they leave, instead of waiting until the very end to try to fit it in. I think consultations makes such a big difference, and I always encourage even everybody in coaching to just revisit that piece.

And there's so many through, yeah, there's so many different ways that you can do it based on your business model, like if you're a solo and you're focusing on these kind of relaxation, experiential services, your clients may not think, why do I need to come in for a consultation that may not make sense? Where, with a medical practice, your your DERM office or something, or a surgical practice, for that matter, you have a dedicated patient care coordinator that's doing a 45 minute to an hour in depth consultation, doing the entire client journey. But by the way, a huge portion of that time in that consultation is spent on retail and what they're doing at home. But even if you're solo, just add. That 15 minutes and doing that check in understanding it's going to give a more thorough service. Now

you're also positioning yourself as like, I care about you. I want because a lot of what you do at home makes an impact. We know as estheticians, on what your results are going to be in the treatment room, so it's still important, and it's showing that you care as well. It doesn't have to come off like salesy in any way. It actually makes it more seamless for you to sell retail.

One of the, one of the really fun things with consultations that I know has worked really well for me, and you kind of brought it up to me as well, is having your clients or patients bring in what they're using for home care that really they love it. It adds this level of customization of like, oh yeah, I'll show you this. And that also gives you the opportunity you know you're reading the ingredients. We first of all, we never want to judge. We always want to educate. And you know how estheticians feel about St Ives scrub, right? There's this, like, ongoing, it's this, it's a thing, and it's really important. I'm using just that as an example, but it's really important that if someone uses that, that we're not like, oh my god, I can't use

it on your feet. Let's maybe, hey, let's not use it on your face. But we still have skin other places. I always tell people that too with their products, that they're bringing it in and if it was that product or we definitely don't want to judge. But also, sometimes they do have some really great products that they can use now, but we can keep in mind, like I love that you have this Hyaluronic let's keep this in your routine, and then, you know, maybe when you need to restock, I have another one here that I think that you would absolutely love. So you're not also, you're setting yourself up for success in the future too, by having them bring things in. And you're also getting to learn a little bit more about them, about what they're picking because I'll even ask clients, I'll be like, Why do you like this? Because it smells good in the most direct but fun way. Like, why do you like this? Or what made you buy it? It's it's a nice conversation piece, and it also makes you understand their buying habits. When people come in with like, 30 things, you're like, oh, they love products. Yeah,

it gives you so much information. So if you're not doing consultations right now, then consider, you know for the remainder of the month or for the next month promotion, maybe setting your timing in a way that you can say, hey, as the season's changing, as the weather is changing, we're doing complimentary 15 minute consultations, adding on to any service, bring your skin care in. We're going to go through the products that you're using and make recommendations to keep your skin the healthiest, to help you transition into the new season, and even position it on, like, if you're using good quality skincare, you can even stretch out your services a little bit longer. And I know that that's something that maybe we're like, oh, we need somebody to come in every single month. But if we position it in a way, like I'm on your team. I'm here to do what is going to be the best for you, and if, depending on the season of life that that individual is in, they have, yeah, if they have kids, like even,

I mean, my daughter right now, she's in soccer, and realistically, my evening schedule, or I know a lot of moms now too. Oh, I can't get in for services, really at this point. Or even if it was summer, there's somebody that vacations. That's where you can position retail to say, Okay, well, why don't we have a consultation, go through what the most in depth way would be. How about every Wednesday, Sunday, we do this, and you're going to need this mask, and you really just hold their hand and educate them through because that's how we should also be positioning ourselves. We're there to be of help, and they appreciate it. And sometimes I think we end up maybe as estheticians, overthinking it a little bit, but they love it, and if they're not buying from you, they're going to probably be won over by somebody else on social media 100%

All right, let's go into way number two to sell retail this month, and that's doing a social media feature. So how are we I think step number one is like, review your social media. Are you actually highlighting the products that you're selling. Do you have product posts? Do you have yourself or your providers talking about the products? Are you educating on those particular products? I think so often we think about services, or we think about our promotional offerings or our membership or whatnot, but we're not always getting into the home care. Her and positioning it as something that's vitally important. So what have you seen work on social media? Well,

I just recently did over the summer, because a lot of people don't come in for treatments as much in the summer, depending on where you live. And I did like in my kitchen at home, where I was actually just going through using them on my face, and also just explaining what I liked and what I didn't like, or what's good for somebody else, or just, like, having a conversation and actually physically showing them how to use it, because sometimes that's really hard for people to understand. Like, okay, well, I'm gonna use a mask, but like, how long do I keep it on? Or what's the best way to take this off? Like, the tiniest little things, so the things that are helpful, or being on stories and getting and being relatable, but then also maybe showcasing a product, like, everybody can benefit from a mask. If we were saying everybody needs self care time.

And also like things with masks. So I actually usually do my mask in the morning before I get in the shower, and so I or if it's in the evening, if I'm going to do an evening shower, but I'll put my mask on and let it sit there for however long, and then go take a shower that I can just rinse it off there. Kind of going back to the consultation piece. I remember when I was doing consultations. We the practices that were that I was at, we carried SkinCeuticals. And almost every single patient, I was selling two, sometimes three cleansers. And so I would sell, like, the gentle cleanser, but then I would also sell the lha cleanser. And I was like, I want you to use this once a week, and what you're doing is putting it on. It's kind of like a gel cleanser, as like you put on a thin layer, let it sit there for five minutes, then get in the shower and rinse it off, and that's how we're using that thing

with those I love skin at the lha cleanser too, or the simply clean. But I also think that you can make skincare fun. Some people enjoy it, like some people really enjoy skincare. Or how can you find a way where masks, if we're speaking on that in the shower, I'll always tell somebody like a hydrating mask. I'm like, cleanse your face. Put the mask on if you like steaming hot showers. I know I do, but it's dehydrating my skin. I'll be like, throw it on and get into the shower and just really meeting them, like you said, where are they at in this season? Of like, maybe they can't sit down for 15 minutes, but they can in the shower. I ask a lot of questions, even during consultations, to understand where they are. So you can be having a conversation online with people like, almost what we were just saying and just bringing that up. You know, what I

like that could be. It could be like five different posts, what we just talked about, what we just

talked about, could be five different posts. So I think that probably what I would encourage for social media. What conversations are you having in the treatment room. How can you remember that, and how can you bring that to life, to other people and more of an audience, and really just have the same discussions you're having with people, or questions people are asking and showing up and doing that with products. Or

are you doing this on stories? Are you doing this as reels? Are you doing kind of static post, or some combination of the three, a

combination of the three. So I think it's just a matter of, like, if you have products out there so people can see it in your feed, like, what products you do have? Or just highlighting one in reels is great because it's more video format. So I think that that's a really great way to reach a bunch of people, especially if you have, like, an e commerce website, potentially too, for a nice way to get people to buy, but stories, I think, is more of like that conversation where it's like, you're really big fans that are going to engage with you as well. So I think all three is great,

wonderful. All right, let's move on to number three, and talk about bundling. And this is, this is kind of one of those love hate relationships, right? Some people sometimes bundling. It's like, Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna sell them this package, and then they have to buy all these products, or they have to, you know, and there's certain brands that have actually kind of built that into their culture, like, if you're going to do these services, you're required to purchase these products. I see it a lot with face reality, right? With acne like that. Makes a lot of sense, right? You're going through acne bootcamp. You've got to use these products. People that sell face reality always have really high retail to service percentages. DMK, another brand, enzyme treatments. You've got to use the product they've built kind of this culture into their companies, where there's always high retail, but bundling, where you're kind of really coupling those things, and I have found works best when you're doing it specifically with a post. Kit. So maybe you're doing a if, if in October, you're doing a shed the dead chemical peel party, maybe use part of your offering is buy a package of chemical peels and get your post peel kit included for free, and bundling that in that gives them the opportunity to sample the product to make sure that they're using the right home care, etc. So what do you think, has bundling worked for you? Not worked for you? Like, what's been your experience with it? I think

bundling is great. And I also think, especially if you were to have an event, I usually try to highlight something that pairs either perfectly or is like a post care kit. So even if we were highlighting a chemical peel for brightening, and then we're pairing like the best brightening products as well that accompany it, or I do think if it's something that's we're selling a chemical peel series or micro channeling series, or something that really requires good post care health for the skin. I think it just makes it effortless, because they're going to have questions anyway, and you're taking the guesswork out of them. It doesn't have to come off like it's a sale or a discount. It's really just making sure that they're getting the best results at home and in the treatment room at the same time, I think it's all about how you word it and how you educate your clients on it, and they want to be guided,

baby. I think testing also, like some of these, these practices, you have to test and see what works with your clients and your patients, and see what they're leaning into. Um, okay, I'm excited about this next one, because I think that this just really couples so much of what we believe in here at Addo, and that is the kind of going deep rather than going wide. And so this is the restock, reach out. So running a report finding you, you will have patients and clients that are due for product that don't have an appointment booked, and we know that product is going to last about six weeks, eight weeks, you know, depending on how you're using it. Do you have a system in place in your business that identifies when that last patient, the last time that they were in that notified, like, just like we were saying the different seasons of life your daughter's in soccer right now. It, it doesn't always have to be something financial, like, Oh, I'm gonna it can be a time wise thing. It can be orderly, honestly, of value, like, where you place it on the value ladder, like, Hey, I love facials, but I'm only able to commit to coming in quarterly. And so we still want to serve those people. We want them to be purchasing products from us. So running those restock, reach out reports and saying, all right, how many people are due for product, and how can I serve them where? Hey, Sarah, I saw that. You it. You must be getting really low on your CE for rule. I've got some in stock. If you want me to ship it out for you, we've got no charge on shipping. I'd be happy to do it. It'll be there in two days,

yeah. Or even that's which is fantastic. And also sometimes I know I as an individual, I love having things like that, where people contact me, and I actually, what I'll do is, if we even bring it back to consultations, I'll be like, well, I'll make it fun. I'll be like, I'm going to reach out to you when you're running low, or when it's been a while, or how often do you like to come in, but especially with products, they need products. So once a cleanser is out, it's out. And I think it also makes it really nice when you contact your clients and say, Hey, I noticed that you're probably running low on this one cream Did you want? Like you said, and position it however. It works for your spa. For me. How can

you but how can you make their life easier, right? If you're thinking, oh man, like the if someone like my house doesn't function, if I don't have coffee creamer, like it is, I need coffee creamer. And if someone were just tracking, hey, Daniela, you must be out of coffee creamer. Let me just I'm going to add that and have it delivered to your house, like you're taking something off of the to do list. You when people have 10 million things on their to do list, instead of them trying to figure out how they're going to get it this weekend, or how they're going to, you know, or even, like, whatever it is, you know, you are helping them to have one less thing to do in their day to day when people are already busy, you know, with life just continues to get busier and busier, and even make

a subscription service depending on the platform. You're using online to make it even more. You just ask them, hey, 100% Shopify

does that. There's a lot of there's a lot of places that are a lot of softwares that make that very easy. And I mean, guys, look at Amazon, subscribe. How many things do you have? Subscribe and Save. I never run out of toilet paper because it is on Subscribe and Save, and I never have to think about buying toilet paper, because every month, you know, I save 15% because I subscribed and saved so. So

how can we make our clients not have to? How can we be of such service to them and make it so it's effortless for them to continue to stay with us and buy from us, is really how I see it, or my clients will say to us all the time, they're like, Oh, you're so organized. And I'm like, and really it's just that we're being thoughtful.

That's how they see you have to, but you have to be organized as well. You do, you do. But I think that it's there is if you can have some sort of system where you're tasked to identify who, who do you need to reach out to, and you can make it a simple report. Your front desk can do that. Your Virtual Assistant can do that. You know it doesn't have to be one extra thing that's added to your list. You can have staff support that's reaching out and calling and placing in orders to help make sure that those individuals are taken care of. So restock, reach out for everybody. And it's it's put it in your mind that you are trying to take something off of their plate instead of calling them and be like, I want you to buy this thing. Hey, I'm just checking in with you. How can I help you? How can I serve you? How can I make your life easier? You got a product. I got

you. Take a moment at that point. If we even circled back to consultations, if the seasons are changing, you're reaching out and you know them, and they're your client and it's coming into winter, even take it further, depending on your relationship or how your front desk can position it and just ask, like, does it? I know, typically in the winter, we use this type of product instead, how's your skin? That might also be another gateway into getting them, into coming into the treatment room. But even just having that thought and making notes on your clients as well makes such a difference. Yeah, totally,

all right. And last but not least, let's go into the fifth way that you can sell more retail this month, and that is jazzing up your displays. So we kind of started with your master, you know, visual merchandising skills. And I think that it is, it really, you know, one of my favorite I love to cook, and I love the food network, and I kind of learned a lot about that from Jada De Laurentiis, and she always says, you eat with your eyes first. So it's the presentation, right? You're like, oh my god, that looks so good. And you're seeing something, you're smelling something. It's it's an experience that you have. And with displays, it's the same. We are attracted to beautiful things. If we there's a whole science behind symmetry and and all sorts of pieces. There's your eyes are always going to go to the bottom right in a shelf display. You know? You want to be able to ride your winners and make sure your one featured product is, everybody knows this is what we believe is the best vitamin C, right? So you want to make sure that you're using all of these principles, this knowledge, to highlight what are your top sellers? Are they on the best place in the display? How can we understand kind of what our hero products are, and are they at that eye level? Is bi level place like, what are some of the other things that that you look at as you're kind of trying to master the merchandising.

Think we just always try to, I joke around. I say, I want my space to be Instagramable. So I want people to take pictures and to walk in. We're in the beauty industry. Make it beautiful. How can I also add other things, whether it is shelf talkers, or how can I make it look pretty with maybe floral arrangements, or making sure it's with my branding and it's easy for my clients to locate. So I think it's just making it effortless, absolutely beautiful, knowing where your hero products are, and making it where they're like, oh yes, this one, you want it to be something where they enjoy seeing it, and it's not too cluttered either, because sometimes, if there's too much on display, there's too many choices. So I definitely think displaying for beauty, which I'm very big. On is the best option. And also, how can you highlight maybe some products? We'll have products right at our desk too, maybe, like a handful or ones that we're trying to showcase at that time, because when they're checking out, like you said, with the food or anything, it's like it's right there in front of them. So maybe I'm trying to highlight a lip balm this month, or SPF, or something along those lines. But how can you get into your client's head of or even yourself go walk in a beauty store and see what your habits or what you gravitate to, and how can you alter that in your space?

Yeah, I love that. So anything else that's coming up for you around retail, that has worked in practice for you in your location, or that you've heard from your coaching clients, any other last little tips that we didn't include in here to help people get the right mindset and focus on really Highlighting retail as a essential piece in their practice.

I would say for coaching clients that I'm speaking with, it's usually that there's don't hold on to some sort of guilt, like you're bothering your clients. You're not. They love you, and they want to hear from you. So really reaching out to them. I would just like to miss reference back to highlight that. And then I think in make retail fun. Retail is fun. We all love buying things and like, showcase when you have something new, and if you haven't talked about a product in a while, just act like it's brand new. And it's like, because products are fun, and people love that, and we're like, we want to make people feel good. That's what the industry that we're in. So that would probably be the only thing wonderful,

all right, my friends, so make sure that you are out there selling your retail it's such an important low hanging fruit in your business, a way that you can get more money in your business and serve your clients in a positive way and the same time. Thank you so much, Sarah, and we'll catch you on the next episode. As always, if you want to keep the conversation going, I want you to head on over to the spa. Marketing Made Easy. Facebook group, the number one free resource out there for estheticians, focused on business building. We've got weekly marketing tips, a monthly goal setting and planning session, monthly esthetician business book club, plus a community of 1000s of estheticians committed to business building in the spa industry. I'll see you there.