Unfiltered with Robert Cromeans – The Power of Take-Home!

“The industry average in take-home products is still around 10 percent. My flagship salon in San Diego is on track to do $200,000 in Take- Home^SM this year. The average for some of my stylists is $37 per guest. I want to push that national average in our industry, push the volume per guest. I don’t care if it’s 12 cents per guest—let’s push it. If everyone sold a bottle per guest a day, the world would be a happier place.”

So says John Paul Mitchell Systems’ Global Artistic Director and A Robert Cromeans Salon Owner, Robert Cromeans. Here’s what else he has to say on the subject of Take-Home^SM and in-salon merchandising.

1. “Our company founder, Paul Mitchell, had a dream. His dream was to shower with every woman in America. (Said by Paul himself.) In other words, he wanted our products in every shower. I came up with the phrase ‘Take-Home^SM.’ Because our guests always say, ‘My hair looks so great—I wish I could take you home with me!’ Well they can. As long as we always suggest the right products, based on our consultations.”

2. “Thirty feet from your salon is where your relationship with the guest begins. Your windows have a huge responsibility. They drive the guest toward your service or Take-Home^SM. I love to go to New York and London and study the windows at stores like Barneys and Harvey Nichols. Think about your windows. What are they saying about your business and your brand?”

3. “We all know how important it is to change your guest’s hair. But once salons open, they don’t change much inside. I don’t mean they have to remodel. But change the windows, change the displays. Guests get bored if you don’t. In our salons, we have teams that are always coming up with new ideas for our windows and our product displays. We create little bits of ‘wow’ all the time. It takes a village.”

4. “When we consult, we must have listening ears. Not talking ears. We must learn what drove her in the door. What is she craving? A solution for her split ends? For frizz? For an itchy scalp? We must understand her tolerance for maintenance. Her budget. Then we can recommend the products that provide solutions.”

5. “The world is so diverse. You never know who will be walking in your door. So you have to offer a variety of products to speak to that diversity. Products with an authentic story. And you must understand what those products do. You can’t sound like a dummy!”

6. “We’re selling emotion in the salon. Visuals help evoke emotion. Whether it’s for MarulaOil or Mitch, we play videos that make our guests feel emotion.”

7. “Our stations are blank. As a stylist works, the products they use begin to appear. It’s a systematic way of talking about and showing what we recommend for each guest’s hair. The guest may or may not choose to buy. But we’re doing our jobs of servicing the guest with what’s best for her hair.”

8. “My staff has dreams. And those dreams are connected to the amount of business they do. Servicing guests better helps them realize those dreams. Take-home is part of it, too. They have to be constant gardeners—they have to talk about take-home every day.”

9. “If I see someone averaging $1.19 in take-home per guest, here’s how I look at it: their guests are being cheated out of important, professional conversations about their hair.”