Top 5 Ways to Grow Your Backbar Business

By | September 13th, 2017

The salon backbar all too often doesn’t reach its full selling potential and can be an overlooked area of the salon that could make a huge impact in monthly sales. Here, we spoke with Tim Timmons, the successful owner of Salon Gloss and Spa, who offered up five major ways to grow your backbar business. Increase both your sales and know-how with his helpful tips.

How to Grow Your Backbar Business

  1. Make it memorable.

“At Salon Gloss and Spa, we use experiential design to create a memorable experience for clients that touches on four different senses: sight, sound, smell and touch. We create a visually pleasing space with branded light boxes, digital signage and mood lighting, all focused on Keune. We play soothing, relaxing music so that our guests expect that we’ll take our time. Smell is a crucial part of our backbar service area, and we have come up with a ‘scent brand’ consisting of ylang ylang and lavender from Keune So Pure’s essential oils. As for touch, our signature scalp massage is designed to enhance the customer’s mood and decrease stress.”

  1. Communication is key.

“The most important step in increasing backbar business is the communication of service menu offerings. Clients are not beauty experts. They don’t know what best suits them, what would look good on them, or what their specific hair needs are. We often forget that we are beauty consultants. Communication starts with the stylist. There is so much earning potential for a hair stylist when it comes to backbar services—it could be a weekly $500 bonus just by making suggestions!”

  1. Analyze your inventory weekly.

“We use inventory control sheets to keep everything in the backbar fully stocked. Whatever we use goes into specific bins for empty bottles, color tubes and more. We count what we go through weekly to keep track of what we are using and know what we need to buy, and also to see what’s not being used and why. We do a main order each month, and a supplemental order for a particularly busy month or if we’re running a promotion.”

  1. Give a complimentary service.

“Not only does Salon Gloss and Spa offer a signature scalp massage at the backbar, but also complimentary hand massages and paraffin wax treatments that are performed by our aestheticians, as well as makeup touchups after services. What this does is lead to a dialogue about spa services, and sometimes turns into spa upgrades. The scalp massages sometimes lead to treatment upgrades, such as a hair mask, Bond Fusion or color glazing.”

  1. Proper training is essential.

“The person managing your salon’s inventory needs to be trained on how the financial part of the salon works—cash flow, shrinkage, overstock—to have a better understanding of why and how they need to manage the salon’s inventory. They also need to be trained on customer experience.”

Get more first-hand business tips and tricks by taking one of Keune Advanced Academy’s workshops, such as the Editorial Workshop or True Business course this November. Find out more HERE.


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