As salon professionals, we know what the next ten weeks look like. Holiday parties, family photos, winter cruises, and gift certificates all land on our books at once. Your clients want their feet looking and feeling their best, and your schedule will be full from now until New Year’s Day.
This is also the time of year when new products show up everywhere. Reps stop by, social media lights up, and every Distributor and Manufacturer has something NEW they want you to try. It is tempting to stock up before the rush. However, the holiday season is the worst time to discover a product does not do what you hoped.
Here is the standard I hold myself to. A product is not ready for your treatment room (or my Distribution) until you can explain its outcome in one sentence. If you cannot, keep asking questions.
Question One: What Outcome Does It Deliver, and How Soon Will Your Client See It?
Every product should earn its place by what it does for your client. Not what the label promises. Not what the packaging looks like. What it actually does, and when.
Try finishing this sentence: “This product will ______ for my client, and she will see it ______.”
For example: “This callus softener will reduce the time I spend filing heels, and she will feel smoother heels before she leaves the chair.” That is an outcome. “This is a nice new softener everyone is talking about” is not.
Timing matters too. Some products show results in one service. Others need several weeks of home care. Both can be good products. However, your client needs to know which one she is buying into, and so do you. A client who expects overnight results from a product that needs a month will think it failed, and she will think you failed too.
Question Two: Can You Test It on a Real Client Before You Invest?
A demo at a booth is not a test. A test happens in your treatment room, on real feet, with your own hands.
I suggest starting small:
- Buy the smallest size available.
- Use it on your own feet or a team member’s first.
- Try a split test with a regular client who enjoys trying new things. Use the new product on one foot and your current product on the other, then compare.
- Watch how it performs with your tools, your timing, and your protocol.
Timing is everything here. October and early November are your testing window. By mid-December, you will not have the time or the open chairs to figure out a product that is not working. If it cannot be tested before the rush, it should not be introduced during the rush.
Question Three: Can You Teach It to Your Team in Five Minutes?
If a product needs a 45-minute training to be used correctly, it is not ready for the holiday season. Your team needs to be confident with it on a packed Saturday, not just on a slow Tuesday.
A five-minute teach should cover:
- What it does (the one-sentence outcome)
- When to use it, and when not to
- How much to use
- What to tell the client about home care
If you can walk your team through those four points quickly and clearly, the product is ready. If you find yourself saying “it depends” over and over, you are not ready to teach it yet. That is not a failure. It just means you have more questions to ask.
This also matters for retail. If your team cannot explain the outcome simply, they will not recommend it with confidence. Retail conversations around ongoing foot care start with a technician who believes in what she is holding.
Price Follows the Outcome
Notice that price is not one of the three questions. That is on purpose.
A low-cost product that delivers nothing is expensive. It costs you product, time, and your client’s trust. A higher-priced product with a clear, visible outcome often pays for itself through better results, stronger retail, and clients who rebook because they could feel the difference.
When you know the outcome, you can judge the price. When you do not know the outcome, no price is a good price.
If It Fails Any of the Three, It Waits
Waiting is not the same as saying no. A product that fails one of these questions may still be a great fit for your service menu. It simply is not ready yet.
Put it on your January list. The weeks after the holidays are a much better time to test, learn, and train. Your shelves, your team, and your clients will all be better for it.
Go into this season with products you can explain, products you have tested, and products your whole team can use with confidence. That is how you protect your reputation during the busiest weeks of the year.
Ask us anything about the products on our shelves. Let us help you choose what supports confident, professional foot care services.
Look for Retail bundles coming soon…just in time for the Holiday’s
Cj Murray, President
Outcome based education which, drives product selection & confident use!
