Founder and owner of Dermalogica, Jane Wurwand has empowered her brand with two core concepts: the power of human touch and the effects of education. Professional Beauty spoke to Australian general manager, Suzette Cassie, on the brand’s strategy and success.
How can salons encourage staff to attend training, both internal and external?
The best way to encourage staff to attend training is to create a learning culture within the business. Recognise staff for their efforts in attending external workshops and training days as well as host regular internal skills sessions that you as owner attend where possible, to prove the importance of continuous education. Owners may like to reward staff for their attendance, or set incentives in place in which they take ownership of their new skills and knowledge, therefore becoming more confident in utilising these skills and seeing the true benefits of education in action. Dermalogica’s Expert Program encompasses the ideals of education, incentives and staff empowerment.
Knowledge is power and by encouraging the team to build on their education and qualifications, you will see the full result of this power via increased revenue, client growth and loyalty as well as team productivity and professionalism.
How can salons increase their retails sales and compete with the growing online threat?
Firstly it’s important not to see this as a threat. When we feel threatened by something we can easily become stuck and feel helpless which is certainly not the case. The internet is another emerging shopping platform, growing quickly and not going away. Rather than be intimidated, we encourage stockists to learn more about it. We often conduct free expert evenings to help demystify the web and provide expert information on how to utilise the internet to your advantage, regardless of the size of your business. Both the internet and understanding how to capitalise on social media can provide a relatively cheap and effective opportunity to skin centres to present their points of difference and help them find ways to reach new clients and keep in touch with the all-important existing ones. There is certainly an argument for both bricks and mortar skin centres as well as those that choose to add a professional online component to their offering and many more are looking at doing this.
We also endeavour to remind skin centres what they can offer that cannot be obtained via the internet, namely human contact, at times a greatly underestimated thing. A relationship built on professional knowledge, trust and communication does not happen readily online; it comes about predominately through human contact and touch. By ensuring staff are highly educated, current and professional, you not only invite clients into your business you create something special they want to be a part of, and from here you have the opportunity to build long-term and mutually beneficial relationships.
Communicating the importance of professional skin treatments alongside a personalised home care routine will ensure your clients achieve their skin care goals. Be sure to reward client loyalty by continuously building and nurturing this relationship via regular contact, value-added promotions, incentives and perhaps add onto the calendar one or two personal style VIP events per year.
For salons that still struggle to compete with unauthorised skincare stockists like Strawberry.net, (whom we do not supply) we have found that educating the consumer on the risk of buying from such websites has really prompted them to think twice about where they buying from.
A recent current affairs program highlighted the cleverness of counterfeit operations that have copied many of the leading brands so as to be indistinguishable from the real thing. We have to be careful!
Dermalogica has a 100 per cent money back guarantee from authorised accounts only and in buying from sites otherwise customers need to realise the risk of purchasing expired product, product that may have been tampered with or a no refund or returns policy.
Aside from product, what is the greatest contribution a supplier can make to the success of a salon?
In my opinion support via education, marketing and brand awareness are the greatest contributions a supplier can provide to a skin care business.
Dermalogica provides not only the tools to build and run a successful business in each of these aspects with our extensive, complimentary education syllabus, consistent business support through marketing and strong PR, but we also pride ourselves on developing relationships with our stockists so we can better understand their businesses and work together to achieve their goals.
We have incentives in place designed to ensure no stone is left unturned, hence the umbrella name of our program – Cornerstone. Cornerstone currently has three active components, MyMarketing, MyEducation and a Business Growth Plan, with more to roll out later in 2012.
MyMarketing is really your own marketing budget that funds your businesses’ promotional program to drive more customers to your salon. This includes covering 50 per cent of all pre-approved advertising, including print advertising, signage, treatment menus and campaigns as well as providing additional event support.
Growth Plan rewards accounts for achieving set spend levels and includes added incentives the more growth you achieve. It offers annual rebates when achieving growth of 10 per cent of more at a set spend level. Once your account achieves these set spend levels, you become a part of an elite stockist group entitling you to many additional benefits.
MyEducation allows you to go online and research, plan and book your education schedule. Our training specialists will mentor you through the programme, depending on the needs of the business and the therapist, and work towards gaining Dermalogica’s new expert status.
Essentially, it’s a partnership, and our primary concern is understanding the businesses’ needs and working together to achieve those goals.
What are the essential components of salon professionalism?
Professionalism within our industry has many of the typical faces; appearance and grooming, efficiency, ethics and reliability, but always includes competency. Professionals strive to become experts in their field, which sets them apart from the rest of the pack.
This is the reasoning behind the Dermalogica Expert Program and the impressive response it has received from our accounts. To be a professional in your chosen occupation is the highest merit possible and as ours is such a fast-paced and competitive market it is yet another way to stand apart from the rest and find success. Professionalism is not only the individual’s responsibility, but the team’s as a whole. It can include such basics as cleanliness, manners and achieving rapport with clients from the moment they step into your space until they leave with a smile after a positive experience in your care.
What do you believe will be the biggest threat facing the beauty industry in the coming decade?
Again, I would say there are no threats – only opportunities! The key element for skin care centres is staying relevant. Businesses need to understand the changing nature of the industry and these changes are being pushed for by the consumer. They are time-poor, more frugal and definitely want to see big results in a shorter time or ‘more bang for their buck’. The skin care centre of today is not the same model as it was 10 years ago when pampering was the order of the day. What we have done well is educate the customer that they need to care for their skin as well as they would any other organ of their body; it is a health issue, not ‘beauty’.
Introducing new techniques, new treatments and new reasons for visiting the centre for expert guidance are essential in these times. Not evolving is a dangerous risk.
A current opportunity is in stepping up to consumer expectations by offering advanced product formulations that bridge the gap between medical and cosmetic (cosmeceuticals). At Dermalogica, our highly active, patented products deliver on every count from our advanced AGEsmart system that addresses the challenges of ageing skin to our Medicbac system perfectly aligned for adults suffering from acne.
It comes down to keeping skills updated via education and working with a great product that can guarantee outstanding results time after time!
Visit www.dermalogica.com/au to find out more.