Ok Salon/Spa Owners this one is for you. Technicians fire up that printer and bring this to the establishment owner. 10% Commission on all retail? Are you kidding me? If you are still offering only 10% commission on all retail sales to your employees than stop wondering why your retail sales are so low. It likely has nothing to do with your customers and everything to do with the lack of encouragement in your business.
If Betty sells $100 in retail this week she gets a big whopping $10. Where is the motivation in that? She can get a gallon of gasoline and a Grande Starbucks for her hard work.
Here's what I recommend (and keep an open mind). Give your employee's 20-25% commission. Sure it sounds scary to take less but it will increase the number of sales and inevitably make you more money. Now you've given them an incentive to sell the retail product. Whenever Tony and I bring this up in our seminars the response is the same. "I won't sell for just 10%", and "oh hell ya I will for 20 or 25%!!".
Next, get competitive. Offer up a big prize at the end of the year. Trips are a great incentive. Winning money will just go towards bills or the necessity. A trip is an experience they might not otherwise get. But here is the trick. Don't just offer the trip to your employee with the highest sales, otherwise the others will just give up. What you do is give them a ticket for every $10 sold. The ticket then goes into a big fish bowl. Now everyone has a chance to win. However, the highest selling employee will have a better chance of winning because they'll have more tickets in the fish bowl.
Implement these two ideas and I guarantee you'll at 'least' double your retail sales.
Elaine
(writing from Valencia, CA today)