watch how much you're investing because it may not last.
Well, hello everyone and thank you for joining me today
for our third episode of Beauty Babble.
I'm Suzanne Diaz and I'm with Beauty Cult
and I'm the Director of Education and Training.
Today will be not too long of a segment
because I know that it's sometimes hard to jump on
and stay on for a long period of time
and I know that things can be really busy
so we're gonna jump right to it.
So choosing the product lines or potentially equipment,
there's a few things that happen
and I know in today's world that we're living in,
everything's happening so quickly
and people are always jumping on to the new trend
and then potentially asking you,
would you carry this, would you recommend this,
what should I get?
And it's hard to keep up with it sometimes.
So it's really good to stay on top
of what's the trends out there.
But the one thing with trends that you know
is potentially gonna go out of style
or out of fashion or out of the trend.
So watch how much you're investing
because it may not last.
That's a big one that happens to many of us out there
that you think this is the latest and greatest
and then within a year it's gone
and you've made this huge investment
and how do you keep it going?
The other thing is sometimes the customers
expect the change to happen.
So again, just keep in mind it's educating your clients
on the best steps for it and talk to them
about what they like, what they didn't like about it
and that will help as well.
So it's extremely important to consider,
how is this gonna impact your current services
that you're offering in your place
or amongst your staff?
If you have staff, will this engage
or help your staff to do better?
Yes, it can bring the profits
and that's the idea behind it that,
and your client loyalty that's coming through is important.
However, you have to look at it can be a costly mistake.
Like I said before, there's been machines out there
that either put you into a pinch
because now they don't make certain things for it anymore
or it's product lines, you can't seem to get the orders in
and you have all these people lined up.
So just watching and how that'll impact,
I'm gonna kind of break that down for you as well.
So search the markets really important.
I want you to think about,
out in this industry and the beauty industry
from hair and nails and skincare products,
there's lots of things out there
and really do your due diligence and research it
just because one particular product line is what's out there.
Is there anything else that is competitive with it?
Is it something that's gonna differentiate you
from the others that are jumping on the bandwagon
of the trend?
So think about that.
The other thing to consider is the internationally known
brands and are there local ones as well?
Like sometimes there's something great happening in Europe
that doesn't mean it's not available in North America.
So take a look at your area
and see if you can search it out that way.
That's the one great thing about the internet.
You can find and really dive deep into your research as well.
Whatever brand you're going to choose
or what you think you wanna do,
please ensure that you're using professional products.
I know out there,
I'm not gonna say names of companies out there
that are hot, trendy.
And if you see something,
why don't you look at,
is there something in our professional market
that complements and still mimics of what's out there
and the trends instead of running to those retail stores
that anyone can go buy?
And you're buying it at retail yourself,
even if they're offering a 10% because you're a professional,
your still margins are very, very low
and you're not gonna make anything really from doing it
because you have to look at your costs involved as well.
So do try to find if there's a trendy,
brow lamination handy little kit now available
out there in the retail world.
Is there something that you can compliment yourself?
Cause there's things like that happening
in our professional product world as well.
So talk to your distributors, really important.
The other thing is when anything news coming into play,
you wanna take a look at the FDA
and make sure that it's approved product.
The Food and Drug Administration
oversees everything coming through your country.
Here in Canada, I can speak to that.
They can have something,
allow it to come in and you're safe for the next six months.
And then all of a sudden there's an ingredient on there
and they take it off the market.
So we're gonna touch on that a little bit
about how you will know through the companies you purchase,
how reactive they are to those,
how on top of that are they,
how experienced are they,
these brands with the country
when they're bringing in importing product, right?
The other trend that's really out there
is people are really understanding
the natural organic product.
It's more natural as possible,
mindful of the organic.
Sometimes if it's 100% organic
you can get contaminated very easily, very quickly.
And before you know it,
you're ending up with a bacterial skin infection.
So be mindful of what's in your products.
But at the same time,
people are really asking the questions
and same with ourselves and staff
are looking into this as well
and looking at the ingredients,
what's in the ingredients,
is there anything toxic going on?
And today they're really focusing
on the health of the consumer.
And that's something that we wanna apply to ourselves too.
So you wanna find something
that's gonna compliment your business,
which compliments your clients as well.
So choose the products that fit your style
or your belief system as well.
Variety is also a key to this.
So yes, staying on top of trends is really important.
Keeps your clients happy,
keeps your employees happy,
keeps yourself going too.
I mean, you're always looking for motivation.
If you're offering couple facials
and it's the same facials
and you keep offering the same ones over and over,
sometimes you gotta look at choosing
how can we change this up or the pedicure.
How do you make a pedicure fun now?
Waxing's a little different
cause there's not a lot of funness in waxing,
but maybe it's the ambience of the place
or your after-cat product that you're getting.
Maybe there's a new scrub or this new mitt,
things like that or what they could apply with it.
So really staying on top of things when you're choosing
and then sometimes the costs are lower
that way for you as well.
Typically what happens in our bigger placement
and sometimes our self-employment, right?
You are the person, the manager, the owner,
or sometimes staff in there will say
that I love this product, it's so great.
I think it'll do great here or you think that, like I said,
but will your customers really like it too?
And that's a big one.
So sometimes it's really maybe find a few key clients
that you have and that you could use them as a test
and say, hey, I'd like you as a model,
I'm gonna try this stuff out.
Would you be interested in doing that?
And even offer it at a very low price point
just to cover the cost of your product or something.
That works really well and they think it's pretty neat
that you're involving them in your business as well.
Sometimes families get to you and friends,
but if they're not clients regularly coming to you,
maybe they won't appreciate the whole ambience
of your business, so select those people accordingly.
And really it comes down to that customer, right?
So figure out what that means to that customer as well.
The other thing to consider is
there's some trendy things out there.
What's your customer age that you're targeting
or what's your average age
and you're looking at what you're bringing in,
what are their wants and what do they wanna see?
Sometimes nationalities are part of it.
For example, I say that because there's this,
great tinted moisturizing cream,
but the Fitzpatrick, they don't fit in it
because they only have one type
and usually those are only gonna be about a,
maybe a two or a three Fitzpatrick
that they tend to cater to,
but what about your ones and twos and your fours and fives?
That's not gonna work that well.
So just watch when you're doing that.
And then who's making that purchasing?
Like who has the purchasing power?
If you're catering to very, very young people,
is it parents, is it a spouse out there?
Like just take a look at what's going on
at the full dynamic, do your full research.
And yes, the treatments, you wanna pick something
if you are bringing things in, how will that cater to men?
We're not getting the male clientele
that's out there right now.
And this has been going on for years.
Men go into the drugstore, they purchased last minute,
they see something they want and they do it that way.
So when you're looking at something,
you talk to your female clients that you have
and tell them, we have this great product for men.
I don't know if you know anyone,
your other half, your brother, your cousin, your uncle,
your dad, like whoever it may be,
and you could offer them if they're into this
as a model as well and get their opinion on it.
And then you can start catering to men,
start bringing in the male clientele.
It's a huge aspect that we tend to be missing out on
in this industry as well.
And like I mentioned before,
does this fit with your concept, your philosophy,
and again, with your other treatments
that you're currently offering?
Do they mix well?
Are they complimenting each other?
Does it sound like it's part of your fit
as well, not so extreme to one level to the other?
Because then there's not a focus or trend
to your own business, your own spa.
And then taking a look at the country.
Yes, it could be relevant.
There's this amazing body treatment out of Italy,
let's just say.
Where is it originating?
And is it a great thing there,
but will it be a wonderful or amazing thing
where you are and where you're located?
So take a look at the brand's international reputation.
How is it looking across Canada or across the US?
I'm just referring to that Italian brand, let's say.
And take a look at the reputation
that currently has where it is and what you're hearing.
That's a great thing about the internet nowadays
is that you can look and see what people are saying about it.
All right, big thing too is keeping things simple
is really key.
Don't overdo it, sometimes it's just baby steps
into something.
So that doesn't mean, like I said before,
you yourself or your staff or both,
you want to keep the control of the product itself.
Just because it's a new line
and maybe you're getting the whole thing in,
it's huge investment,
you wanna make sure that you understand
the content of the stock that you have,
how many treatments you're gonna get from this
or services, what retail's involved,
what's gonna compliment those treatments,
and you do wanna make sure
that you're really paying attention to it.
How many treatments can you get out of that cream?
How many treatments can you get out of that scrub
or mask, whatever it may be?
One thing that is kinda neat out there
is there's a lot of product lines
that offer these specialty kits if you wish,
and they give you a step-by-step
and they also give you measurements as well
so that it's an easy introduction into your staff
or yourself, so you just follow the steps,
maybe it's a cool new treatment for the summer,
maybe you're gonna look at doing things for seasonal,
to start bringing in something fun
a little bit throughout the year,
and that's a great way to compliment your current services
that you have as well.
And the big thing is its consistency in the service
when everything's laid out for you as well,
so if you or you have other staff doing this,
it's hard to control what's going on in the treatment room
when you have people doing the same.
And when I talk about that,
it's because many times you'll have friends going together
or they refer people,
and they talk about their treatments with each other,
and they say, oh, I didn't have that serum,
I know she didn't mention that at all,
I thought I booked the same thing that you had.
So things like that, you gotta watch that consistency
is so important, and that's easy to manage and control
when you can have these kits,
especially if you're bringing in something trendy or fun
or you're experimenting and seeing what would be fun
and neat to bring to my staff for keep them motivated
and also with my clients,
or to try to get new clients as well,
is a great way to do it.
So brand reputation is another one.
How easy is it to work with your supplier?
And this is something we talk about often,
being the educator and trainer here for beauty cult,
I do try to help people understand,
when you're looking for a new product, a new machine,
anything like that, find out, do they support,
do they help, are they gonna deliver on all that?
Will they offer training as well?
If you're purchasing something online,
there's not a person you're purchasing from,
now what are you gonna do with the product?
There's no, maybe details to the steps, the ingredients,
how it affects the current,
does it work with your current products you have right now?
Maybe it's a math that you're bringing in for pedicures,
but your massage cream is different.
Will they react together?
So it's important to understand,
not just bringing in something trendy,
but understanding at a higher level,
is it going to be compatible
with your current products you're using as well?
So hopefully they offer some training with that.
And the day-to-day communications,
maybe you have some questions.
Yes, you wanna allow some time,
if it's a Saturday or a Sunday,
and most distributors are open Monday through Friday,
summer till Saturday, but allowing that time
and being aware that they're probably not gonna contact you
or reply back to you at eight o'clock at night
or at midnight, but I bet you first thing in the morning,
a reputable company would respond to you.
So think of business hours when they're open
and how they would respond to you as well,
and that's a good way.
Do they answer your questions quickly is an important one,
because if you have something that happened on a Saturday
and you can't get a hold of them,
will you hear from them first thing Monday morning
when they reopen or whenever they reopen, right?
You wanna take a look and see,
because that's gonna see, are they reliable?
Are they swift to help you fix your problems
or your questions or challenges that you've had
and help resolve it?
Maybe something went wrong with the product
and it's not working like you thought it was going to work.
And you have clients booked and you're trying to promote this,
you don't want a negative impact in your services
to your clients and to your staff.
So really look at how swift they are at responding to you.
There's a lot of places out there in the world
that you can order from.
So it's okay to do it, just find out.
And then look at time zones.
If you're ordering from Australia,
they're on a whole other opposite time zone of North America,
most of North America.
So be reasonable as well on this, okay?
Take a look, you can even ask them,
hey, I'm in Canada or I'm in the States,
in California, how quickly would you respond to my emails?
And hopefully they'll give you a reasonable answer
that you're okay with.
If you're not okay with it, that's up to you
to say yes or no, to go with the product or ask them.
You know what, I think I need better than that.
I mean, a week to get back to me
isn't going to be suffice for if I have an emergency.
So think about that right from the beginning,
set that relationship with your distributor,
learn how they work and see if it works for you as well,
because how they react at the beginning
is just gonna carry on all the way on
with their services in the future as well.
And yes, staffing can be difficult.
So if your representative is saying,
I'm sorry, we're short staffed right now,
we're working on it, but you know they've been really reliable,
then yes, you gotta cut some slack on that.
You gotta allow them some time to rebuild that.
But if it's constantly all the time,
then you are trying so hard to give your customers
the best that you can give of yourself
and you deserve the same from your suppliers as well.
I know I'm putting pressure on all of them.
Okay, moving into another one.
Now looking at international brands.
So if it's something that is not in your area,
you know you have to import it in,
you really wanna look at the FDA again,
do they already bring it into your country, into your state?
Wherever it may be, Canada is a little different.
If it can get into Canada,
then you're probably gonna have no issues across Canada.
Sometimes Quebec can be a little bit different,
but on that note, usually it's gonna come through.
Again, the other thing is,
if they're already delivering into Canada
in good volume and have for many, many, many years,
so take a look at that,
that means they already understand how the FDA works
in this country or the states, whatever it may be.
They already have experience,
they're probably going to know exactly
what on the packaging would trigger the whole.
So what I mean by that is a shipment comes in
and you're direct buying from your supplier
from another country.
It could be stopped at the border and held there
and you may not see it for months and months.
And now you're scrambling trying to figure out
how to get this product in.
You've been looking at bringing it in.
So you really wanna understand to what level
do they have understanding what needs to happen
to get it into the country.
And if they find something that triggers,
and especially with the translational,
they're from distributing out of another country
and they're translating to the English,
sometimes it's the words that they use
to translate that trigger the FDA to say,
no, you can't have that.
You're gonna have to look and consider something else.
We can't let you have this product.
So now you're talking to the distributor saying,
they won't, I can't get the product.
So really consider those things, ask those questions.
How long has they been importing into the country?
What experiences do they have
with importing to other countries?
So the bigger that way, the better
because they have a lot of experience
and more than likely they're already on it as well.
The other thing is look at your cost margins
because if it is coming from another country,
what is the currency and what's the exchange rate
and how much higher do you need to mark your product up
in order to compensate for that?
Cause you still need to make the money.
Even if the costs are high,
you have to implement that cost into your services as well.
So keep those things in mind. So on that note,
like I said, you wanna maintain the correct amount of stock.
So if you know you've purchased a facial box
and institute treatment of some sort,
there's 12 in there and you're on your last four,
then when are you gonna order another one?
Because you wanna make sure you're moving your items quickly.
You don't wanna be sitting on your shelf for a year or more.
Like you wanna make sure that you're moving
but how quickly can you bring in that stock as well?
And consider when it's sitting on your,
if you're purchasing at high volume
and it sits there for a year or more,
then that's lost revenue.
You've paid for that.
So you really wanna look at what moves
and how you can get things to move as well.
And as I said before, you wanna consider the price.
If you're bringing something new in,
you definitely wanna look at the price of your service.
What should it be?
Implement those costs,
especially when you're introducing a new treatment.
Yes, you could say introductory offer for the first month
or your first treatment
or however you wanna do that
to try to get the clients to try it, that's okay too.
One great tip on that is testimonials when they have had it.
If you're doing an introductory,
maybe for your VIP clients,
then ask them if they'd be willing to do a Google review
or write something about it
or mention it on social media for you when you're posting
so that there's a little bit of back and forth
with your customers and that what you brought in
is really doing what it says
or what's exciting about it as well.
So yeah, think about all those things.
I know there's lots to consider
when you're purchasing a product,
but look at how it comes into your country,
how experienced is the company you're dealing with?
Have they been doing this a long time
because then they know how the FDA works?
You wanna consider, is it a trend that you can upkeep with?
Sometimes the trends are very expensive.
So you have to look at that or it's saturated.
The market is just saturated with it
and you're competing with hundreds of others
doing the same thing.
How do you set yours apart?
So sometimes it's okay to say you're not bringing it in
or you get very creative on how you can bring it in as well.
So sometimes to working, like I said,
with the distributor that you have will help with that.
Hopefully they can work with that,
especially in the training and education department of that
or the sales reps that are working with you.
Really ask them, see how long they've been in the industry
for and how they can help you with your business.
Again, making sure that your staff is fully trained,
that you have stock control.
So if you are figuring out that you should have 10 pedicures
out of the scrub,
that you're getting 10 pedicures out of that scrub,
not five, because that's already,
you've lost half of your margins right there.
So really look at your costs.
You can make money in this industry.
You just have to be really smart about how you're doing it.
And a lot of it is because we're not controlling the back bar
of how we're using it in our services as well.
The other thing is retail side of it.
Are you retailing the product to support the service?
Or maybe the trend is the retail product.
Ask for the recommendation of how much you should be charging
for the retail.
Typically it's double of what you paid at cost.
Again, it depends on the margins
and where you're buying your product from.
So for example, the euros, that's very, very high.
The states is as well.
And sometimes bringing in that product just pushes it right
out of the margins of what you're able to do
with your current clients.
So get creative and take a look and search the market.
Maybe there's something comparable
that's going to work with you
until you can maybe financially reach
those other products as well.
So try to stay with the trends.
Be creative, ask questions,
correlate with other people.
Maybe you know, get friends or family involved,
see what they think of it as well.
And that's kind of some of the things you can do
when you're bringing in a new product or a new equipment.
How does the new equipment work
with your current skincare line?
I mean, machines are a big thing.
And a lot of people are purchasing them.
Can they help you with a protocol of what to use
with your current product line with the machine?
And that's why sometimes ordering online,
you're just ordering online
and they're not going to be able to assist you
because you didn't purchase the machine from them.
They won't probably help you
because that means they're liable now.
If you purchase the machine from the same place
that you're purchasing your product line
or you purchase other machines,
they know your product line,
then that's something different.
Just work with your distributors, ask the questions,
but do understand there's limitations on that as well
because there's liability involved.
All right, so moving into your questions,
I just wanted to say thank you for submitting them.
I've had a lot of responses to this, which is great.
And a lot of this one came up.
So they kind of correlate together.
It's starting out a new business.
They're new to the industry, new to the business,
and want to know how to get going.
Even consent forms came up.
And I'm thinking consent forms was a question,
do's or don't do it or how to do it.
So let's start out with when you're new
and you're starting out in this industry.
So you want to take a look at,
are you looking at doing your own business?
So if you are looking at doing your own business,
sit down and plan it out.
You want to sit down and look and see
and have a business plan, no matter how small you are.
Have projections and goals, your short-term goal,
your long-term goals, they're really important.
How are you going to do your services?
What's the breakdown?
There's a lot of things involved in starting a business,
not just saying, okay, I'm going to just start doing nails
out of my home.
It's a good start, but you do need a plan.
You want to know what costs are involved as well.
If you're new to the industry,
you're going to be needing experience.
And that's a big one.
So are you going to work for someone else
to gain the experience or are you going to do it on your own?
It's really up to you.
You decide how you want to get going.
It's nothing wrong with doing it yourself.
The only thing that I would say is try to get involved
in these workshops or these types of things.
Stay in tune, do lots of reading.
Because when you're on your own,
sometimes you get disconnected of what's going on out there.
So you miss the trends.
You don't know what's going on.
So maybe you can befriend somebody in the industry.
Maybe you're a lash tech.
And as you're doing other clients,
maybe they know, do you know a good nail client,
a nail person.
Do you know some of that's a great waxer?
And start correlating with them and working with them
and maybe cross promoting with each other
is another way to do it.
It could even be your location is right
by an insurance company.
Maybe go in and introduce yourself to them.
Talk to them, offer them.
And it's really about building relationships
amongst professionals and from the people around
in your area as well.
Consent forms, yes and yes and yes.
That's all I can tell you.
Now, how many should you have?
It depends on your services.
Sometimes your consent form could just be
that first page is preliminary.
The same information you're gonna ask every time.
Their name, their age, address, medical history.
They have to sign it in order to do it.
That protects you.
And also your insurance company is probably going to tell you.
So hopefully if you're doing your own business,
you have insurance and they can assist you
with what you would need or maybe guide you through that.
Especially if you are bringing in new product
or new service, will they cover you?
There's people who've started a brand new service
and found out their insurance company
after they purchase the equipment and the product
that they won't be covered.
So now they're seeking new insurance company
to cover that part.
So be aware of that side of things.
If you are adding to it, maybe it's something
at the top of the page, your consent form is their name
and they acknowledge their medical hasn't changed
because it's gonna reflect to the other.
Now these can be hard copies that you store.
Please take note, if you do that,
you need to have a lockable filing cabinet
for the Privacy Act so that you're locking
that information up.
If it's online, then you just submit the forms online
and store it there as well.
Make sure you have a secure browser and a site
that you're using that will make sure
that everything is secure.
So there we have it, trying to keep this
at the 30 minute mark.
Thank you again so much for joining me.
And I hope to see you again.
Thanks for listening to Beauty Babble.