What Hair Salons Can Learn From Medspas

Four effective techniques that can elevate your salon’s performance and enhance the client experience

The popularity of medspas is on the rise. Offering a noninvasive and customized approach to self-care, these establishments offer a wide range of services that combine both medical procedures and spa treatments. Medspa managers and front desk associates also act as high-producing sales teams, moving services and products that impact the bottom line. The result? In 2022, the average medspa generated over $1.9 million in revenue.     

 A hair salon may seem far removed from a medspa, but there’s actually a lot that your average salon can take from the medspa trend. Medspas excel at personalization, offering services that go beyond the initial visit, and implementing advanced technology. Although a hair salon may offer a different array of services, these are practices that a salon can integrate into its own unique offerings to elevate the client experience and increase revenues. 

Here are some key lessons hair salons can learn from medspas to create a more beneficial and transformative experience for their clients while empowering their staff to confidently sell more services.

Focus on personalization and consultations

Repeat clients are the lifeblood of hair salons, but they can present a challenge. Stylists may fall into the trap of assuming a returning client wants the same set of services they’ve always received, which may feel to the stylist like familiar customer service. But that familiarity can deprive a salon of opportunities to expand on a client’s usual set of services and may make the client feel like their needs aren’t being heard. Oftentimes, clients will not complain about this but rather find a new stylist or business that will better cater to their needs.  

Medspas, on the other hand, excel at personal consultations, where clients' unique needs and concerns are thoughtfully considered. Each returning client is carefully heard, and their current needs are addressed, giving the spa an opportunity to sell new services or expand on the client’s previous visits. This extensive consultation results in a personalized treatment plan, allowing the client to fully understand when they should expect to see the desired result.

Stylists can leverage their unique connection with clients to engage in meaningful conversations about the client’s lifestyle, preferences, and desired outcomes. The stylist can then offer tailored suggestions and create customized hair solutions that cater to individual needs, ensuring a more satisfying client experience.

Most importantly, this will allow stylists to manage their client’s expectations. For example, if their reference picture will take two to three visits to accomplish, the consultation is a great place to effectively plan that out. 

Expand services and offer integrated packages

One of the more popular aspects of the medspa experience is their range of services that go beyond traditional spa treatments. Medspa clients walk in the door expecting to return for repeat visits and a variety of services.

Hair salons can approach their services with the same mindset, crafting service packages, treatments, and even memberships to provide better client retention. You can create unique package deals by fostering collaborations with different members of your team, allowing clients to enjoy a comprehensive and integrated experience.

If your business is departmentalized, explore offerings with haircuts, color, and skincare all in one. This will not only broaden the service menu but also attract a wider client base and promote stronger retention.

Evaluate advanced technology and treatments

Demonstrating a commitment to remaining at the forefront of the industry will increase client retention and interest. Medspas often leverage technology and innovative treatments to provide clients with the best solutions possible.

Hair salons can follow suit by integrating state-of-the-art tools and technology into their day-to-day. For example, incorporating scalp analysis devices or non-invasive hair restoration treatments can demonstrate a commitment to staying at the forefront of the industry.  

The technology your clients interact with is just as important. Utilizing a client experience platform that caters to your business needs while elevating your client journey is invaluable. By investing in the right technology, hair salons can offer clients transformative client experiences and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Employ sellers, not receptionists

While a skilled receptionist can help you schedule appointments, you want someone at the front of your business who will move more products and services. A seller will become an advocate for your business, communicating the value of your services directly to the client and ultimately driving more revenue. 

Medspas place great importance on educating their clients about services, products, and self-care practices. They communicate the unique experience and transformative outcomes their services can deliver by empowering their salespeople to provide personalized consultations, actively listen to clients’ needs and desires, and then recommend tailored solutions. 

Medspa sellers utilize persuasive sales techniques like integrity selling to address any concerns or reservations that clients may have, providing reassurance and building trust, ultimately creating a mutually beneficial relationship with their clients that keeps them coming back. Put simply: People buy more from salespeople they trust. Integrity selling utilizes emotional intelligence and trust-building to deliver positive results. 

A salesperson using integrity selling techniques can, for example, skillfully highlight the advantages of various procedures, emphasizing their potential to enhance beauty, rejuvenate the skin, and promote overall self-care. 

Hair salons can duplicate this strategy by educating their staff on service, product knowledge, sales techniques, and consumer behavior. By sharing knowledge with their staff and providing resources, they can position themselves as trusted sources of information as well as help clients maintain a healthy appearance between visits. 

The success of medspas has proven that their effective strategies are here to stay. Salon owners have the opportunity to learn from this success and incorporate lucrative practices into their own respective businesses. By incorporating personalization, a diverse range of services, advanced technology, and sales education, hair salons can transform their clients' experience and create a space where clients feel nurtured, rejuvenated, and inspired to continue their self-care journey.