Over time, people’s perceptions of beauty has evolved. With general wellness taking centre stage, wellness is now viewed by consumers as a much broader and sophisticated concept. Embracing not only beauty and appearance but also fitness and nutrition, with overall physical and mental health as a personal objective.
Yap Yann Fang, the founder of Beauty & Co., began her career as a teenager working at her mother’s salon. Fast forward to a life-changing experience in the United States, where she learned that the beauty industry operators do not need to compete aggressively, pushing clients away with desperate techniques.
The Problem Within The Industry
The global beauty and wellness market was estimated to be valued at more than USD1.5 trillion, with annual growth of 5 – 10%, according to McKinsey.
Despite its growth, the industry is beset with problems. Negative sales strategies include gimmicky hard selling techniques, emotional blackmail, and body shaming. In the process, these techniques put the customer under duress and intimidate them, resulting in sales but also a terrible image of the industry as a whole.
“Hard selling is a major issue in the beauty and wellness industry,” Yap Yann Fang remarked during the event. “The tactics may result in short-term gains, but over time, damage the reputation of the industry at large. With pent-up demand returning, this is an apt time to look into this area. Clients today are more vocal and voice their opinions openly. With the rise of ‘reviews’ as a main source of credibility, businesses must prioritise genuine integrity above all else, irrespective of industry.”
Beauty & Co.’s Movement To Revolutionise The Malaysian Segment
Beauty & Co. hosted an event called ‘Selling With Love,’ in collaboration with international speaker and author of the book ‘Selling With Love: Earn Integrity and Expand Your Impact,’ Jason Marc Campbell, in order to change the industry’s attitude.
“I believe that we must propagate and share knowledge on the value of responsibility in how we sell, how we market, how we treat our employees, and even how businesses invest their money. This applies to any industry, but is particularly rife in beauty and wellness,” said Jason.
“We are driving efforts to spread awareness on ethical selling and raising industry standards. To help with this movement, we need to band together with our peers for a larger impact. In spite of the tremendous global market size, we are able to expand so much locally if we do things ethically and raise the standards,” Yann Fang added.
Beauty & Co. Applying The Principles Of Selling With Love
The founder believes that “the principles of selling with love encourage businesses to be strategic about their long term goals in the industry. Understanding their target market and what really attracts the segment will make it for business to build effective products, minus the gimmicks.”
Simply defined, Beauty & Co.’s practice of “Sell with Love” can be broken down into five primary ideas, each with a mission to challenge business owners.
The Five Principles
1. Love the IMPACT:
As beauty providers, their professional knowledge can guide customers towards achieving their emotional needs, which translates to confidence around others and in society as a whole. Beauty & Co. knows that being a woman is tough.
Being a mother, an employee, a leader, a daughter, and a wife at the same time can take a heavy toll. The impact they’d like to have at Beauty & Co is to empower & help women to carry these identities better.
2. Love the CLIENT:
At Beauty & Co, they are clear about the segment we are targeting: professionals and entrepreneurs who lack time but want to feel and look good and perform at their best. If a business owner is unclear about its client base and targets everyone from mass to premium segments, a self-sabotaging cycle ensues – selling premium services at mass price points.
Many competitors wage price wars, where they price RM2,000 services at RM200, for services using a specialised machine that costs RM500,000.
3. Love the PRODUCT:
At Beauty & Co, they are a one-stop solution centre but performing particularly well in their slimming category. They understand their clients well; entrepreneurs who lack time yet want consistent and lasting results. With this in mind, they’ve tailored slimming services to cover diagnosis, detox, fat loss, muscle building, and maintenance.
The result is a 360 degree solution to help achieve their goals. The results are long lasting as they not only address the symptoms of fat accumulation, they also correct factors that contribute to weight gain.
4. Love the PROCESS:
At Beauty & Co., they know their clients, and recognise where they consume content. They are not always on social media and do not usually consume ads. Instead, they are highly influenced by their peers and by word of mouth.
Thus, they focus a large portion of our marketing efforts on collaborations and referrals as these yield quality leads and bring them closer to ideal clients.
5. Love the SELF:
Though Beauty & Co. helps others gain confidence and self love, they know the importance of loving their business, company and selves. When this happens, the results naturally show as confidence and assuredness are reflected in their services.
The Success Of Selling With Love
Beauty & Co., a co-working and wellness centre in The Gardens Mall, has been open since 2020, despite the pandemic. By employing the principles of “sell with love,” it has increased income by more than 60% and expanded to six locations around the Klang Valley.
Beauty & Co. is Malaysia’s first beauty and wellness co-working space, where space and technology are provided in the form of aesthetics, beauty, and wellness machines as well as qualified beauty professionals.
Beauty and wellness practitioners can concentrate on their abilities while Beauty & Co. assists them in marketing their services and providing the essential structural support. In terms of future ambitions, Yap Yann Fang is looking forward to further extending the company’s influence in the sector.
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