MAC Cosmetics
Ron flashed his perfectly manicured eyebrows at me. 'So what
should we do to you?' The cowboy of cosmetics was quite
literally glowing with anticipation, his black holster slung
around his waist, arming him with some 30 brushes hungry to
graze my face. 'You're the expert,' I replied timidly. 'My face
is your canvas.'
Walking into MAC--the cosmetics retailer with nearly 1,000
stores worldwide--to get a makeup consultation and application
lesson made me about as comfortable as a dude trying to walk in
high heels. I suddenly became a tomboy when it comes to
sprucing up my face. As women congregate around the glowing
amber makeup altars, my intimidation level reached new
heights.
But black-clad Ron was already taking a lap around the
minimalist store, returning with a full complement of
cosmetics. His desired color for my eyes: red. I had granted
Ron complete license, but I wasn't thrilled by his choice and
realized I was about to become that 'really annoying
customer.'
'I've always wanted to try turquoise,' I confessed. 'Could
we do that instead?' I expected an eye roll. But Ron had no
problem changing midcourse. In fact, MAC insists on nurturing
its artists to be spontaneous coconspirators with its
customers, and keeps them sharp with exercises in improvisation
and lessons in neurolinguistics. For example, if a customer
says, 'I love the way my friend's lipstick looks,'
that's different from 'I love how I feel when I wear
that color.'
This approach translates into sales. MAC, a division of $6.3
billion cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, got credited in the
company's last annual report for being a significant reason for
the parent's 13% net makeup sales increase ($274.8 million).
Plumped-up sales from MAC's Small Eye Shadow, Studio Fix,
Lustreglass, and Pro Longwear Lipcolour products alone
contributed $70 million in revenue.
Jazzed with my new aqua color scheme in hand, Ron divided my
face in half and explained he was going to show me his personal
brush techniques, deemed counterintuitive by some. He painted
the base-coat of eye shadow, teaching me the why, when, and
how, and then had me mimic his technique above my other eye.
'It can't be a one-sided performance,' explains Matthew
Waitesmith, who heads 'artist training and development' for
MAC's 10,000 employees. 'An artist really needs to be a
collaborator with the customer.' After countless swaths of
eyeliner gel, blush cream, and Lipglass (lip gloss to the rest
of the world), I felt mildly confident that I could actually do
this at home.
We were admiring 'our' work in the mirror-- specifically my
peacock-looking eyes--when I began to dread the big sell. This
$90 lesson wasn't just an exercise in altruism--it's to push
products, right? And then it came: 'Now which products would
you like to get?' Ron inquired. I blurted an extended 'hmm' to
buy some time, but he interjected: 'Don't feel any pressure.
I'll write down the names of the products you like, and you can
think about it.' Unlike most retailers that bait their staff
with commission, MAC pays its artists the highest hourly rate
so they can focus their energy on bonding with each customer
rather than shaking her down.
The aspiration, says Waitesmith, is to have each customer
feel as though they've had an authentically artistic
experience. 'That hopefully means they'll return to the place
that makes them feel like an artist.' So in the same way you
want to buy homemade olive oil at the end of a trip to Greece,
the customer will want to bring home a MAC souvenir. And like
any tourist taken in by her experience, I couldn't help but
surrender to some $40 worth of souvenirs in the form of
Aquadisiac Eye Shadow and Nymphette Lipglass.
Numbers Game
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Average number of products customers actually buy when they
come to buy one item
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Average amount each customer spends per visit >
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Percentage of new customers who are referrals
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| Number of brides-to-be each year who come to MAC for
their wedding makeup
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/108/open_customers-mac.html
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