Beauty Barrage Provides ROI²

Beauty brands are looking for ways to evolve, adapt and thrive without digging into their profits or relying on the staffer– that’s why Beauty Barrage exists.

We’ve all heard the conventional sound bite that “retail is dead,” even in the face of irrefutable data contrary to the fact. NPD Group data shows that 80 percent of prestige beauty sales are happening in the physical retail channel – proving that Millennials prefer experiences (in store) to connect with a brand, versus online.

If brands don’t have somebody connecting with their consumer in store, then they’re missing out on an opportunity. However, the economics of hiring a field team are astronomical, creating a drag on every company’s P&L. This impacts the bottom line including: salaries, general and administrative expenses, travel and entertainment, as well as funded and unfunded employer liabilities.

Breaking the Norm

It’s important to unpack the current, archaic sales model, to better understand. First off, a brand typically hires an account executive and then proceeds to over-load them with an impossible number of doors to manage. Then, they give the AE an additional budget to hire freelancers. From there, the AE is expected to establish relationships with all these stores – to hire, train, replace and manage these freelancers in a futile attempt to somehow hit their sales goal, (No wonder Beauty Barrage compares this approach to herding cats). Brands can’t build meaningful relationships with store teams or consumers with sporadic and hopeless freelancer visits. Even if a brand does see a sales increase, it is often mitigated by the T&E costs to support this approach. All this model does is create an unwinnable balancing act between rising field costs and effectively managing store relationships and Sonia Summers, CEO and Founder of Beauty Barrage. sell-through – a challenge most beauty brands are feeling today.

While there are companies that offer your typical freelance talent-on-demand, they fail to offer a strategic management solution that solves the root problem. Beauty Barrage offers a rapidly-scaling outsourced sales management platform that provides just what the name indicates – a strategic bombardment over a wide area.

Since its launch in 2015, Beauty Barrage hit the ground running working with brands such as Glamglow, Drunk Elephant and Dyson, conditioning beauty professionals as “boots on the ground” brand ambassadors, that “stay and play” with the customer, creating that elusive in-store experience that both customer and retailers desire. Covering over 3,000 doors in North America, Beauty Barrage offers localized talent without the additional overhead expenses.

Why it Works

Beauty Barrage’s business model stands apart from any resource – it is a sales management agency, boasting a dedicated corporate team to oversee accounts. This trusted partner, comprised of the best and brightest in the industry, elicits unparalleled account management expertise handling the hiring, educating and scheduling of the field team. Additional strategic and ongoing intel is provided for beauty brand clients across North America.

Alternatively, hiring and managing freelancers to replace or supplement your existing team is challenging, time-consuming and most of the time, ineffective. Entire teams are put in place to continuously attract, retain and replace new warm bodies constantly. Then, additional teams are required for ongoing training, scheduling and managing this inconsistent chaos. How many times have you been ghosted by a freelancer that never shows up for their jobs? All of this chaos requires an inordinate amount of manpower and sunk cost to the brands.

Beauty Barrage decided early on that localized employees were the key to field team success, they just don’t hire freelancers – with a team of roughly 300 W-2 employees strategically deployed for beauty brands. All of which are fully-versed on their products and ready to engage their customers.

Scaling Transparency

Whether your brand is looking to replace the entire team, or only supplement your existing sales network in key areas, Beauty Barrage’s scalable model can meet your needs, eradicating the need for costly account executives or freelancers. You also get full transparency and reporting through a proprietary web-based application that Beauty Barrage has built, which houses a client portal containing monthly schedules for all Brand Ambassador visits. Geo-fencing technology ensures that the talent you paid for is in store and on time, preventing you from paying for talent that doesn’t show up. The portal also provides daily shift surveys that are customized for each brand and aggregated into a dashboard, giving brands access to critical information in real time. Ever wonder what your tester units and displays look like today or what your inventory levels are? Simply download a report from Beauty Barrage’s brand portal containing this vital information that allows you to make strategic decisions, which translates into better execution of your in-store initiatives.

Boosting the ROI

Now, here’s the million-dollar question – what about Beauty Barrage’s execution? Currently, Beauty Barrage is providing brands with an average ROI of 350 percent, meaning that for every dollar given to Beauty Barrage, these brands are seeing an average return of $3.50 back in retail sales. This is largely due to their unyielding dedication to training and education. Brand Ambassadors receive education and training every month, and in most cases, up to three times per month, per brand. Education programs range from brand-specific topics to training modules on best practices and retailer expectations. Not only do they know what each store needs, they understand how to build relationships in store through a consultative, problem-solution sales model. With territories that are limited to a 30-mile radius, the Brand Ambassadors are encouraged to stay and play, which builds consumer confidence and trust. Scheduling is optimized using data that extrapolates the best days of the week and high-traffic times in store, in an effort to capitalize on brand exposure and sell-through.

Brands must stop looking at field sales support as an expense and understand that it is an investment that can deliver an exponential ROI. By only paying for the hours that brands have talent in store, Beauty Barrage can help you drastically reduce and sometimes even eliminate the P&L costs associated with carrying your own sales team while also providing brands with an average sales ROI of 350 percent – hence, ROI-squared.

For every dollar given to Beauty Barrage, brands are seeing an average return of $ 3.50 back in retail sales.”