How to turn your beauty advisor into a sales champion?
With so much competition, it can be difficult to make a sale to a customer if you cannot effectively explain and show how your product will benefit them. This is why beauty advisors are important for all cosmetics brands at the POS but are especially integral to direct selling companies. Certain personal skills demonstrated by brand representatives and beauty advisors can improve the chances of making a sale – enthusiasm, confidence, communication, empathy – but what happens when these skills don’t come naturally?
Despite their best efforts, sales representatives cannot always guarantee that consumers will be fully engaged and informed. It’s no secret that selling comes more naturally some people than others so whilst training will benefit everyone’s skills and knowledge, for some individuals, a little confidence boost goes a long way. If the customer does not feel confidence in the advisor, they will be left unconvinced of the product and unwilling to purchase. Creating a confident and knowledgeable pitch is therefore essential in order to connect with consumers and advise them properly.
So how can sales support managers minimise the extent to which product sales are impacted when beauty advisors are not able to answer every question consumers throw at them? They need to be able to more efficiently convert their time into sales or even better to convert selling into consulting, gaining loyal customers. Inexperienced sales representatives must become brand champions.
One way to do so is by equipping your salesforce with demo tools. Immediately, you will see their confidence increase as making sales becomes a whole lot easier. Sales support tools act as conversation starters – having something more than their well-rehearsed pitch to offer to customers immediately makes advisors feel more comfortable and willing to approach consumers. Secondly, the offer of an experience from which they could gain something valuable engages customers as they recognise value in interacting with the advisor. Utilising the demo tool facilitates feeling, learning and consulting as the consumer experiences an “A-ha” moment, unique to them. They are left with better knowledge of their own needs as well as advice on which product to buy – backed up by tangible evidence – encouraging trust in the brand.
Through this demonstration, the beauty advisor is able to shift the focus from specific product information to finding the right match for the individual. In this way, the dependence on product knowledge is lowered and the loss of sales minimised. Moreover, the situation changes from selling to consulting, something far more highly valued by consumers than a pure sales approach.
While demonstrating product knowledge shows commitment, demo tools gain lasting trust by showing that your brand cares about matching individuals to the right product.
