The beauty industry is broken. Hard-selling tactics and big packages are the norms, and the focus on quality and customer satisfaction has diminished.

This is bad news for consumers, who are often left feeling scammed and unsatisfied. But it doesn't have to be this way! In this blog post, we'll discuss how you can help to fix the beauty industry and create a more positive experience for everyone involved.

Here are the 7 reasons why it's broken, with a tip at the end of each part on how you can play a part in helping to fix this.

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1. SOOO many Consultants

There are places that are infamous for having 3 consultants chasing to talk to you during your trial. Before, during and after your facial, you have to say no multiple times. They just keep selling.

Here's why it happens.

The career track in the beauty industry is usually: Beautician -> Sales Consultant -> Manager

People generally want to progress in their career and make more money. This means that unless a Beautician can become good at selling (aka. maximise revenue at all costs), they don't get much more career progression.

Here's how it looks like at the different levels of the business:

• The beautician wants to get promoted to consultant so they can earn more. Despite the fact that their personality might be more suitable to be a beautician
• The consultants want to sell more so they earn more (the hard-selling starts). Other consultants compete with the main consultant (if I don't sell them, someone else will). This mindset leads to hard-selling and over-promising.
• The owners chase and reward the consultants who sell more because they need to cover their costs and make a profit.

Here's what we can do about it:

• If you're in the service business, create a career track for your skilled producers (beauticians, hair stylists, doctors, trainers, etc) to make more money doing what they're good at. Not everyone needs to be pushed to a consultant.
• If you're the "skilled producer", find a company that rewards you for doing great work. If you keep doing great work, eventually someone will recognise it and reward you for it.
• If you're a consumer of beauty services, vote with your dollars 'SAY NO' to hard-selling. By saying yes to their dirty tactics, you're enabling them to hard-sell someone's grandma. So, SAY NO.

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2. The problem with packages

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It sounds like a good deal on the surface where you get a discount for buying multiple treatments in advance. But, there are actually a lot of problems with it.

When they sell you a package of 10 treatments, what happens?

Well, businesses need to make money and optimise for that. So they "let you rest" for a few sessions.

But hey, you get paid monthly right? So next month, let's upsell you some treatments, products, and top-ups.

And if that wasn't enough, why not cross-sell you other packages too?

Ever heard them say: "Actually your skin is already hydrated now, so you need the lifting treatments instead. And now we have a special promo."?

When you're halfway through your first one, they start telling you to buy another. If you stop buying packages from them, they lower you on the hierarchy of priority and make it harder for you to book appointments. Or they book a new trial at your appointment time and make you wait because they want to close that sale.

So what to do about this? Saying NO to packages is a good place to start.

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3. Package debt

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Package debt occurs when businesses sell packages. When someone sells you 10 sessions for $2,000 but you only did one session the day you purchased, they accumulate $1,800 of package debt.

As someone who has bought and sold businesses and looked at many businesses in the beauty space, it's a fact that the majority of businesses that sell packages accumulate package debt over time.

You might feel like you're getting a good deal when you buy a package that "doesn't expire", but you should instead see it as a package that can expire anytime.

The typical thing that happens is a business sells $100,000 a month, mostly in packages. As they only fulfil $70,000 a month, they start accumulating $30,000 worth of package debt. Because businesses optimise themselves for sales, they prioritise these two groups of people:

• Someone who buys packages over and over even when their packages haven't finished
• New trials who haven't bought a package

When going to beauty salons, you will may have a positive experience at the start. But, when you stop buying more packages (and they accumulated enough package debt), it gets hard for you to book a slot.

At some point, a business with enough package debt will break. The dirtiest part is that these businesses have pushy sales consultants who will sell you a package even if they know that are going to close down.

If I had it my way, I'd make the Director of companies liable to pay for Package Debts when a business closes down. Or ban package sales in certain industries.

But we're only a tiny business (with a strong opinion) and don't have the power to fix business laws. What we can all do is say NO to packages.

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4. “If we don’t hard-sell them, someone else will” mindset

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An aesthetics doctor friend of mine mentioned that consultants always said: "If we don't hard-sell them, someone else will".

Which, sadly, is mostly true.

The system and the industry are that way now. This makes it hard to find a place to enjoy treatments without getting hard-sold.

Here's what we can do about it:

• I (Wayne Yap) am passionate about getting rid of hard selling - so if you have a business that has pushy sales and wants a new business strategy, let me know and I'll help you.
• Or if you struggle with competitors that hard sell while you don't, I can help you too.
• If you're a consumer, vote with your dollars and support us or one of the other friendly businesses that don't hard sell.

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