Eleven years ago, Salon Services developed a skin-care-only sales force to position skin care in the Northwest territory. We initially hired an educator/skin-care therapist as our first consultant to sell and educate, creating the build-up for interest for the product. After several years of utilizing a specialist in the skin division, we blended the sales force with our hair sales consultants. This allowed us to utilize the established, trusted relationships that the hair side had with salon owners while integrating the skin-care product into the salon. At one point, the need for the specialization of the skin care therapist was necessary, so we separated the teams again.

What we learned from this exercise is the best and worst of both worlds. While the skin-care-only consultant understands the needs of the therapist, it is more difficult for them to establish a relationship with the owner due to the length of time between visits. The rotation of our skin team is a monthly to six-week cycle visit due to the size of the territory. This is a common practice in the skin-care world with the direct sales forces of respective skin-care companies. The consultant can service sixty to eighty accounts with this rotation. All visits are planning sessions for continual implementation plus each meeting ends with an appointment scheduled for the next rotation. Territory sizes range from a specific geography to a state or several states depending on the initial sales opportunities in the area. This can be determined by purchasing a list of potential accounts from a database company, such as InfoUSA, depending on the type of account that you determine will be the focus for the skin-care company you are representing.

The profile of the skin-care sales consultant we hire is a licensed therapist with experience in the field plus sales experience (directly or indirectly related). Our compensation program is dependent upon growth over prior year with existing accounts plus incentives for new door openings. Benefits package includes expected travel costs, per diem, mileage and cell phone. With the technology of the medical community aggressively posturing business within the skin-care arena, training is intensive and ongoing.

We have a dedicated skin-care education room with all necessary equipment and locker area in our corporate facility. We also have educators on staff to support the client needs with weekly classes hosted on a territory rotation basis. We have a sales manager dedicated to the skin-care-only sales force plus an internal registrar for the education registration. Event orchestration and participation is also a substantial fundamental for the consultants to perform regularly. It is used to instruct the client how to facilitate the marketing components to capture the attention of the sophisticated consumer who is looking for solutions and use of the appropriate equipment to demonstrate the effectiveness of the products. Our current hair consultants act as active lead generators for the skin consultants with their relationships being on a more frequent basis. Our sales are appreciative of the dual support they receive with both consultants.

Sydney Berry
Salon Services & Supplies