How to create the perfect ambience in your salon?

Some advice from an ex marketing manager to improve your salon’s ambiance and attract more customers

I have worked for a few years in a big company in the marketing team, and I got to learn a few classic sales tricks, which I will gladly share with you now.

Today, it is very important to become and stay authentic. In this article, we will cover the psychological tricks you can use when decorating your workspace interior.

This is a very broad subject, but in order not to lose the readers’ interest, I kept the article short.

To understand the article fully, you must try to put yourselves in your client’s shoes.

So, let’s start.

You are entering a room... what do you notice?

1. The color
2. The smell
3. The music

These three things are directly connected to the human senses and can therefore affect your client’s mood.

COLOR – matching the colors of your interior

You should always pick the colors based on your own personal preferences, but still following the basic rules of color coordinating. The old rule says to choose a maximum of three colors – lighter tones, mid-tones and darker tones. (According to the golden rule of 60:30:10)

A nicely decorated space reflects your professionalism as soon as the client walks in. 

SMELL – the psychology of the room’s scent

The sense of smell, more than any other human senses, is tightly connected to our memories and feelings. For example, hospitals and dentist’s offices have their own specific smell which sends a subliminal message to the patient that they are in safe hands. When we are disinfecting something, the smell brings back memories of us being at either of those places.
Moreover, the hotels also have their own scents that are impossible to find for purchase in stores, and when we run into a similar scent, we remember the hotel we stayed in and are more likely to book a stay with them again. Why wouldn’t we apply the same principle to salons?
Your workspace should be clean, but it should not give the client a sense that they are about to lay on an operating table. When the client is relaxed, the relationship with them during the treatment will be more relaxed as well. In that way, we are potentially building trust and a good relationship with the client.

Did you know that in the professional world, the colors of the interior are combined with scent?

I’ll mention just a few:

Combining the scents according to the room’s dominant colors:

• white, gray, black, green (Musk & Orchid)
• neutral colors (Vanilla or cotton)
• earth-toned colors (Red berry & cedar)
• dramatic colors (Sea salt)

Many of these scents are available in PhiShop, in the section PhiFragrance.

MUSIC in the room

You entered a store to buy one item, but you left with more than what you planned for... sounds familiar?
We listen to music on a daily basis and it is everywhere around us. This also has roots in psychology, and it is the reason we listen to different music in different store brands.

For example:

• In shopping malls we can often hear music with lyrics, with a mid-tempo speed that boosts our mood and causes us to buy more because of our emotions
• In hair salons, they play fast-paced music, because it makes the staff work faster
• When you go to the massage parlour, you can hear relaxing, slow music that makes you relaxed

What is the situation like in a beauty salon?

The music that is played here shouldn’t be too fast or too slow. Also, it shouldn’t be something that is overplayed on a radio station.
Choose authenticity and elegance for your space by picking instrumental music over one with lyrics. Playlists with instrumental covers of famous songs (cello, violin, piano, etc.) are a good choice. You shouldn’t work too fast, but in a relaxed and concentrated manner.

Choose to be different than others... Authentic, yet professional.

Text’s author: Edita Salkanović