A Hair-Raising Sales Pitch

To sell the products behind her, Gayle Giacomo had to shoot an infomercial

Image: Courtesy of NBC's Style Network

Teasing thin hair into a Jerseylicious mane is all in a day’s work for the ladies of the Gatsby salon off Route 22 in New Jersey, but selling their eponymous products on a live infomercial is nearly cause to call the paramedics. Sunday night's episode of the Style Network’s reality show hit on a topic that many entrepreneurs deal with: how do you sell a product across generations?

Faced with lower sales numbers, salon owner Gayle Giacomo, must take matters into her own hands and make a pitch for her shampoos, conditioners, and styling collections—by putting her face behind the items. It’s a classic branding exercise, and one that she’s terrified to be a part of. “The camera light goes on and my mind goes blank,” she says.

Tracy DiMarco, one of the stylists in Giacomo's shop, has the following advice for any businesswoman in a similar situation:

• Know who your audience is
• Figure out your goal is and that will determine your selling points
• Decide which products you’re going to bring and which you’re going to highlight. Not everyone can be the star
• Find a way to relate—especially when you’re selling to a younger audience

Breaking the age barrier may not be easy, but it doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs should fall into the ageism trap. “Just because I’m younger than you doesn’t mean you can talk to me like I’m a moron,” says fellow stylist Gigi Liscio.

So how do you avoid those pitfalls? “Don’t just say ‘hey girlfriend,’” suggests DiMarco. Talk to your audience like they’re normal people and convince them to buy your products by finding a pain point. For Giacomo and DiMarco it was bonding over frizzy hair—the bane of many women’s existences.

Once you break the ice over something genuine, the sale doesn’t feel like a transaction and it becomes more about one woman sharing a beauty tip with another. She then goes out and tells her girlfriend, and that’s how word of mouth happens—and not just in Jersey.

Are you a reality TV junkie? Want to get a business lesson from watching dysfunction, backstabbing and brawls? Check out more from Portfolio.com's blog My TV MBA.

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