Making your business boom

When it comes to purchasing products for your salon, what are the factors that drive your decisions? The UK’s leading pro beauty supplier for lashes, brows and PMU, Lash Factor, guide us through their top tips for perfecting your purchasing to elevate your salon’s revenue.

The key is to tune into three areas that are pivotal to running your business and these are:

Skills

Depending on your confidence and experience in the industry, some products will be better suited to you than others.

For example, if you’ve recently qualified in (and want to get more comfortable with) lash extensions, you might opt for premade fans and a slowersetting adhesive. This way, you can focus on your application rather than on creating volume sets at speed.

However, if you’ve been in the industry a while and you’re looking to upskill, you might try your hand at volume lashing. In this case you’ll be looking to purchase tools, such as tweezers, adhesives and curing products, best suited to your technique.

These same principles apply to all beauty treatments. Remember to stay true to the current state of your skill set (whilst still learning and growing) to avoid feeling out of your depth.

Clients

Trends will come and go, but you want your clients to stay. That’s why it’s essential to recognise their expectations and preferences when purchasing stock.

For example, considering the popularity of henna and hybrid brows on social media, you might jump to buy products that fit right in with this trenddyes with staining power and longevity. However, your clientele may prefer a more toned-down look, meaning skin stains are out of the question.

Don’t forget to consider the hair and skin types of your clients! Skin prep is important for achieving Insta-worthy brows or the best waxing results. Your oilier clients may need different types of prep products to those with drier skin. You might even find they need different products altogether.

For example, do you find some brows (and maybe even lashes) are more stubborn to lift than others? You may need to review your processing times, but it could be that your lifting system just isn’t cutting it. Troubleshooting might reveal that differences in your clients’ hair porosity are causing varying results across the board.

The more you investigate, the more you’ll learn about the types of products that will best serve your business.

Budget

To save your pennies, you might opt for the cheapest options available. Alternatively, you might believe that the more expensive a product is, the better the results. The truth is, there will be more affordable products that work great for you and more expensive products that don’t. Therefore, the best place to start is to consider your budget.

Often overlooked, your overheads should factor into your treatment cost. With the rising cost of living a concern for many right now, ensure you regularly review these so that margins align with your expectations.

Location is also a key consideration. Whilst it’s important not to undervalue your work, you want to keep your treatment prices realistic for your area. Try to strike a balance between respecting your craft and pricing yourself within your local clients’ budgets.

Once you’ve figured out the above, you can determine how much you can afford to spend on products. We recommend calculating the cost per treatment based on your usage. While there are ways to use products frugally (and still get results), you need to ensure you’re being realistic about how many applications you’ll get out of a product, rather than solely relying on the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Where does this leave you?

After considering the above, you’ll likely find that you can discount products that won’t work for you. Now you can hone in on your must-haves.

The best place to start is to follow other artists and brands on social media. Find out their recommendations, tips and product advice for working with clients with similar needs. Most importantly, check in with clients for feedback; after all, this has the most significant impact on your business.

Considering all the above, you might find your product needs differ vastly from your current stock, or maybe you need to diversify your inventory to ensure you’re catering to all your clients.

lashfactor.co.uk

@lashfactor

Wherever you’re at, at Lash Factor, we support beauty techs at every stage of their career. That’s why you’ll find over 30 brands worth of products on our website at varying price points.

And, until the end of April, we’re giving all readers 15% off when you use code LFSME215 at the checkout*.

*One-time use per customer. Code expires 23:59 BST April 30th 2023. Excludes Brow Code, Brow Daddy, Perma Blend, Tina Davies, Gift Cards + Bulk Buy Cleanser Sachets.