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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

SHOP MANAGEMENT 

Age is not a barrier to success in beauty work. We grow old with ideas, not gray hairs, and just as long as we are able to keep up-to-date and in step with the times, we may stay clear of life's greatest enemy, old age. This unwelcome tyrant gloats in selfishness, domineering and irregular personalities, and weakens the nervous system, hardens the arteries, and the result is premature old age. Going along daily in the same old rut, too selfish to receive new thoughts and ideas, is the chief cause of standing still, lack of progress, and eventual failure in business.

A beauty expert's work is of vital importance. Probably no other vocation, aside from nursing or medicine, has a higher calling, for is not a woman's beauty paramount? Your patron comes to you either to make or mar the beauty of her face and hair. So, first of all, it is essential that you understand your work. 

Never feel that you are the sole manager of affairs and that your shop cannot exist without you. If you employ other operators, you must train them along your own ideas. Nothing is so disparaging to the patron than to have a different operator, employing different methods each time she enters a shop. When one method, the right method, is used by all the operators, the loss of one, or the absence of the shop owner herself, does not handicap the business. 

Keep up with the latest advancements made in the science of beauty culture by subscribing to the popular trade journals, some of which are published by and for our own race. And do not be selfish with the information gained if you have other operators under your supervision. After all, you are building an organization, a distinctive establishment which you want to be known by the high type beauty service it renders. To do this each member of your staff should be as well trained as every other member. No chain is stronger than its weakest link.

Every two years, you should by all means attend the Biennial Convention held by The Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company for its agents and graduates. There you will receive new ideas and the latest methods for the improvement of your business. Then, too, your trips to these conventions and to the beauty centers will give you added prestige and impress your patrons with your progressive spirit. 

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TEXTBOOK OF BEAUTY CULTURE

SALESMANSHIP

Much money is lost by beauty shops because of the indifference of the manager as well as the operators to the great part efficient salesmanship plays in increasing the income of any business. Perhaps more than many others who are trying to sell the public something, the beautician offers real value. To know this value and be able to impart the knowledge of it to the customer in a convincing way impelling her desire it is salesmanship. 

The art of knowing what you are talking about it is important, but it is just as important to talk about what you know. For instance, you may be the best facial masseur in the shop, but unless you are able to convince a patron that she needs a massage you'll have little opportunity to exhibit your knowledge of the art. 

Salesmanship does not mean forcing unwanted service or merchandise upon the customer. Neither does it mean letting the opportunity pass to present the merits of what you have to sell because of fear, indifference or the don't-dare-to-suggest-anything feeling. Between these two lay the happy medium and knowing your services and stock or merchandise thoroughly and being able to convey this knowledge to your patrons in a pleasing and persuasive manner. One never knows the financial status of a customer when she presents herself for a certain service. The attitude to be assumed by the operator is that she is a potential buyer of something else you may have to sell and proceed to try and sell her. If she applied for a shampoo and curl try to sell her in addition, a manicure, a facial or an eye-brow arch. If she suffers from dandruff try and sell her a box of Madam C. J. Walker's Tetter Salve, etc., etc. 

CARRY A STOCK OF MERCHANDISE

One of the greatest sources of income and perhaps the most neglected phase of the Beauty Shop business is the profit that ensues from the sale of preparations. This does not mean to stock your showcases with everything that comes along, but to carry a line of well-advertised goods, the merit of which is unquestioned. 

What better and more complete line would any shop wish to carry than Madam Walker's World Renowned Superfine Preparations for the Skin and Hair. They are known everywhere for their excellent quality. In addition, there is supplied free a continuous stream of high-class advertising to insure sales for everything purchased. 

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