Do You Retail Genuinely? Reframing Product Sales as Professional Care
Retail is often one of the most misunderstood and emotionally charged parts of running a salon or clinic. In her Winter column, Theresa Foddering tackles a question many professionals avoid answering honestly: do you retail genuinely, or do you shy away from it altogether?
Theresa explores how discomfort around retail rarely comes from a lack of belief in products, but from mindset. Apologising for price, hesitating mid-sentence, or pre-judging what a client can afford all subtly undermine confidence and trust. She challenges readers to notice how often they explain away cost, rather than confidently presenting value.
A key shift in the article is Theresa’s reframing of retail as care. When a product genuinely supports treatment results, improves longevity, or enhances the client experience between visits, recommending it is not selling, it is part of professional responsibility. The article encourages practitioners to stop deciding for clients and instead educate, recommend, and allow clients to choose.
Theresa also grounds this mindset shift in practical numbers. By breaking down simple weekly product recommendations, she shows how retail can significantly increase annual income without longer hours, more clients, or aggressive sales tactics. This clarity helps demystify retail as something complex or uncomfortable and reframes it as achievable and sustainable.
The article goes further by addressing culture. Retail confidence, Theresa argues, is not an individual issue - it’s a team one. When leaders model confidence and remove shame from recommending products, retail becomes woven naturally into the service experience rather than bolted on at the till.
This article will resonate with professionals who know retail matters, but feel uneasy about how they show up around it. Theresa’s message is calm and empowering: when belief is genuine, confidence follows - and clients feel it.
Theresa’s full column appears in the Winter edition of Salonpreneur Magazine for professionals ready to rethink their relationship with retail.
