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Create your free business website! www.ascpskincare.com 17 O will create a sense of urgency for each client to take a bottle home. If you have additional estheticians working with you, make sure all staff members are on the same page. If you work in a full-service salon or doctor's office, check to see that all service providers understand the focus of the month. Perhaps conduct a product knowledge class for support staff and/or create an incentive contest to reward those who sell the most cleansers over this 4–6 week period. To reach clients who do not come in during the promotional period, you might want to send an email to your client list and/or do some direct mail marketing announcing specials on cleansers. Make sure you include something to entice people to act on the promotion. For example, "June is cleansing month. Let us analyze your skin for free to determine the right cleansing routine for you. Plus, get a free aromatherapy upgrade on your next facial service when you purchase any cleanser during June!" Use Displays and Signage Do you have a display of cleansers large enough to attract clients? Perhaps use some clever marketing props to get the point across to clients that cleansing is the foundation of their skin care routine—some clients spend minimal time washing their face, while a few might skip it completely. One successful skin care studio strapped inexpensive toothbrushes to each bottle of cleanser and displayed them with a sign that read, "You brush your teeth twice a day. Your skin deserves the same attention." Want to really catch your clients' attention? Research "toothbrush prop" on Google. You will find ones from 15 inches to 3 feet tall! They make great impact displays. Check that displays and/or signage about cleansers are visible everywhere a client may be: in the bathrooms, at the front desk, in the reception area, and in the treatment room. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat Once you have a large customer base purchasing in this one category, create an incentive for clients to return to you to purchase their next bottle. With every bottle that goes out the door, make sure there is something beneficial to motivate the client to return for a refill. If you have an incentive program, include a coupon with a six-week expiration date that gives clients double points in your program when they repurchase their cleanser. Or place a sticker on the bottle that states, "Return by this date to purchase your next bottle, and receive a free moisturizer," and again add a date six weeks from that day. (That free moisturizer could be a travel size, and could lead to your next product focus!) You might prefer to tie in the client's return with the repurchase of a service instead: "Return by this date to purchase your next bottle, and receive a free 15-minute peel consultation." Finally, you might want to consider a special that moves the client up to a larger size of the same product. This is especially good if the client started with a smaller trial- size cleanser, which may also be an easier initial sale: "Return by this date to purchase the 16-ounce size, and receive a free gift." Focused Effort Pays Off Fast-forward six weeks from the start of this promotion. Instead of having a handful of clients who have purchased a cleanser in that span of time, you might now have 60 clients started on a product that will repeat every 6–12 weeks, depending on rate of use and One successful skin care studio strapped inexpensive toothbrushes to each bottle of cleanser and displayed them with a sign that read, "You brush your teeth twice a day. Your skin deserves the same attention." size of the bottle purchased. By putting in a few weeks of focused effort, you have just increased one product retail category by a significant amount. Best of all, this approach can be used with any product category—cleansers are just one of the easiest products to start with. Pick a new focus each month, and at the end of this year, you will drastically increase your retail income. A native of Chicago, Aaron Sonnenschein began his career in the professional salon industry at the age of 16 working at Hart Beauty Supply Company, which he later purchased with his wife Jamie. After working for Mid City/ Salon Centric, a division of L'Oreal USA, he is now district manager for Dermalogica, an international skin care and education company based in Carson, California.