14th November 2025
CLIENTELING, when I first saw the word, it made me think someone had had a stroke of genius and made up a word that explained why telling clients about products and services is better than trying to sell them something.
But, it’s actually not a made up word and its meaning is:
‘CLIENTELING is a retail sales technique focused on building long-term customer relationships through personalised service based on their preferences, purchase history and behaviours. It shifts from a reactive, transactional model to a proactive one, using customer data to provide tailored recommendations, anticipate needs, and create a unique and engaging shopping experience across all touch-points, both in-store and online’.
Reading through the definition (above) it fits in perfectly with the approach I suggest salon owners, sales people and hairdressers take with their clients. Selling stuff no longer works, there has to be more than pushing a product or a service just for the sake of it, clients these days demand, and expect more, and that doesn’t matter whether it’s B to B or B to C.
- B to B – Business to Business
- B to C – Business to Consumer
It’s all about the experience and the long term relationship that successful ‘sales people’ create with their clients, and, as I have said many times over the years, hairdressers, who think they are not sales people, really are, because they sell themselves and their services multiple times every day.
Getting anyone who ‘sells’ to understand, acknowledge and change their approach to ‘selling’ is the key to generating greater ‘sales’.
And whilst anyone who reads these blogs will know, I always advocate DON’T SELL – DO TELL, the absolute bottom line is, that’s what we do, we sell, but it’s the way that it is done that changes the perspective from a clients point of view.
So that word, CLIENTELING actually fits perfectly with the concept of creating experiences and generating long term loyalty with clients around retail and salon services. Remembering what clients engage with, what excites them, what their purchasing patterns are, things they like, things they don’t, all aspects of the client visit become integral parts of the interaction between client and stylist, salon owner and sales representative.
At its most base level, we are all here to shift more product and earn more money, but it’s how we approach the ‘tell’ that makes the difference. If it’s a hard sell it’s a short term gain, if it’s an experiential moment that the client buys in to, it’s a long term growth pattern that benefits all parties, (win 1) the client because they engage with their stylist and ‘buy into’ the product and service recommendations, (win 2) the stylist because they generate more client loyalty and earn more from doing so, (win 3) the salon owner because business grows organically with sustainable growth clearly visible in footfall and revenue, and (win 4) the sales person because they get regular (bigger) orders and have clients, salon owners who are more receptive to new product launches.
CLIENTELING, it’s a definite win, win, win, win!
BUT – One of the key aspects to a successful CLIENTELING technique is the brands that are chosen to elevate the experience for each and every individual, and that’s why choosing SALON PROFESSIONAL brands that are committed to supporting salons in critical!
Want some advice about brands that might fit your ethos? Get in touch, I’m happy to recommend some fabulous ranges to you.
#SalonPro #ProForPro #Clienteling #ItsAllAboutTheExperience
