Tanning Salon Owner FAQs

Tanning salon owners and managers, here are the answers to your questions.

For the past 30 years, I’ve helped 500+ tanning salon owners improve their businesses. I’ve also answered questions from hundreds of tanning salon pros. I’ve gathered many of those questions and answers here. It’s to make it easy for anyone searching for answers. Scroll through to find the information you need.

Tanning Salon Manager Duties

Q: “What are a tanning salon manager’s duties? Should they work in the salon and take care of employees?”

TL;DR: Yes. Your manager should work a few shifts in addition to her/his other duties.

A: Managing at the salon level includes many duties. Your manager should also work a few shifts as well to keep up with the current “culture of customer service.” This one-on-one interaction reveals a lot of feedback on your salon’s service mission.

Swinging the other way too much will turn your “manager” into a high-paid sales consultant. The key is to have a manager who recruits, trains, and teaches, but also manages. She also needs to watch everyone’s numbers and encourage or redirect employees. A manager who has high personal numbers, but the rest of her team is doing poorly, is not doing her job correctly.

Tanning salon management is one of my specialties. Get a free consultation by calling 859-250-8475 or emailing [email protected].

Tanning Salon Employee Meetings

Q: “Are employee meetings really that important? How does this benefit my staff?”

TL;DR: Employee meetings help make your employees feel involved in your business.

A: While employee meetings can be great, it all comes down to how you run them. Poorly run meetings are a HUGE loss of employee productivity and potential. Bad meetings are usually one-directional. These get-togethers feature the manager or owner talking at their employees. Don’t do this with your staff!

Meetings can be motivational if you get your team involved and engaged. One way to do that is by picking out high performers. (Look for categories such as lotion sales, EFTs sales, etc.) Ask these high performers to tell the group what they do to be good in these areas. This engages employees and makes the meeting “their” meeting.

You can also try to make the meeting fun. Here’s one easy trick I recommend. Have big bags of candy to hand out to anyone who volunteers a comment or suggestion. It reinforces their participation. Remember, tanning salon sales are not rocket science. These things are more affected by your employees’ attitudes than any other condition.

Tanning salon management is one of my specialties. Get a free consultation by calling 859-250-8475 or emailing [email protected].

Cancelled Tanning Appointments

Q: “How do I handle people who miss appointments during peak season?”

TL;DR: It only matters if we’re talking about hand-held sunless tanning appointments.

A: How rampant is the issue? It’s dicey to try to charge folks for being late or as a no-show. It’s different if we’re talking about handheld custom sunless tanning appointments. There’s a lot of time involved in this process. This makes it more of a revenue loss issue that also impacts your business schedule.

If canceled appointments are REALLY bothering you, I have a solution. I recommend posting a policy of late fees, or you can take a charge from them upfront.

Need more help with your salon’s day-to-day issues? Get a free consultation by calling 859-250-8475 or emailing [email protected].

Recognizing Talented Salon Employees

Q: “Whenever an employee does something good, should I make a big deal out of it?”

TL;DR: Talented people might not stick around if you don’t give them the recognition they crave.

A: Giving recognition to your employees is more important than getting recognition for yourself. Like WAY more important! Consider what’s identified in Dr. Frederick Herzberg’s “Job Enrichment and Motivator-Hygiene theory:

  • Recognition – Performances reinforced with recognition are repeated performances.
  • Achievement – People need a feeling of accomplishment.
  • The work itself – Tanning salon work should create pride in the salon and what it provides.
  • Responsibility/Authority – Enrich a salon job with increased responsibility and authority.
  • Advancement – Every salon chain or single salon should have a path for promotion.
  • Growth in skills – Employees love to work at a business that develops “portable skills.”

Notice how “recognition” was second on that list? It is important to people because of our instinctual drive to protect our self-esteem. We want to be noticed and made to feel important. In other words, we need to be recognized.

Recognizing standout employees is not hard to do. Just honestly praise them on all the things they do well, and they’ll do it more!

Managing employees is one of my specialties. Call 859-250-8475 or email [email protected] for your FREE consultation.

Tanning Lotion Sales Tips

Q: “What are some quick but good lotion sales tips you can give me?”

TL;DR: Train your staff, pay them well and monitor their progress.

A: Three not-so-secret (to me) tips on lotion/product sales are:

#1 Continuous sales training and communication between those on your team that do a better job than some of the others so they will share with their peers their tidbits of success,

#2 A good simple commission selling incentive (10% on all product sales; don’t use a minimum they have to meet,

#3 And management monitoring of sales folks’ progress along with constantly reinforcing their efforts as well as their actual accomplishments.

That may sound like promoting “trophy kids,” but the truth of solid HR practices is that we ALL need reinforcement from time to time. When in doubt… reinforce those positive accomplishments as well as efforts.

SHRM (National Society of Human Resource Management) studies show that more people leave jobs because they don’t find satisfaction and reinforcement from their bosses. I see this every day from new clients who know the tanning business but NOT the leadership business.

The best advice I give is that everyone should strive to make their salon the “employer of choice” because the most naturally interpersonal selling talented employees don’t HAVE to work for a salon if they don’t want to.

Need help with interviewing, hiring, and motivating your salon staff? Give me a call at 859-250-8475.

Free Tan Weekends & Free Tan Weeks

Q: “Is offering a free tan weekend (or week) a good marketing strategy?”

TL;DR: Yes. These events have been a HUGE traffic draw for all my clients.

A: Some salon owners bristle at using free tans as a marketing tool. Although tanning at your salon prices garners a lot of good margins, your raw cost on UV tans is ridiculously cheap. (Would you believe your variable cost on a UV tan is about 75-80 cents per tan?)

If you use free tans, you want to do it right and get full value for what you’re giving away. But even a badly-organized free tan giveaway promo can be huge traffic draw from the most basic tan levels to your highest pressure beds.

I would strongly suggest a free tan week promo. (My team has created graphics for about 45 salon owners this year, and they’ve all had increased foot traffic, lotion sales and EFT sales.) Look at giving away some free tans as a retail “loss leader” to get folks into your salon. Once inside, you and your staff still have to sell them on memberships.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Tanning Salons for Sale

Q: “Does anyone know how to find tanning salons that are for sale?”

TL;DR: To make the most out of the experience, get some help from the professional. Me.

A: As a 31 year vet of this industry, I am happy to see your optimistic approach to growing your business. I am also very optimistic about where the biz is going this year. We should all kick some major tanning booty!

One caution would be to do an analysis on the current health of your current salon. Or have the “Salon Doctor,” AKA me, do it for you. You might be doing wonderfully, and I hope you are. But taking on another salon could require some introspection about how you can make it even better. Also, I can consult you on what to offer to buy the next salon and what to look for if and when you do find a new salon candidate to purchase.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Buying Existing Tanning Salons

Q: “A salon about 15 miles from me has decided to sell. What could help me decide if I should make the purchase?”

TL;DR: Don’t do it unless you can get their sales numbers. (You might have to consider signing an NDA to give them the protection they might feel they need regarding their numbers).

A: Get their sales numbers for 2019 (2020 has too many anomalies), and focus on what they sold in EFTs, if any. Then look at their numbers for unique customer count. Also, if they have a lease, get the details. I’ve bought and sold many salons, so if you want help, let me know. I hate to see folks over-pay for trashy, non-productive salons. It could be worth $20,000 or $7,500, depending on many factors. Researching this decision is critical!

I specialize in helping salon owners with EFT pricing, sales/marketing, employee management/motivation, and more.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Must-Haves for Tanning Salon Owners

Q: “For tanning salon owners, what is the most important ‘must have’?”

TL;DR: Hint: it’s NOT lotions, lamps, tanning beds or sunless, even though those are important.

A: Each year, manufacturers come out with exciting new products and innovations. Whether it’s lotions, sunlamps, units, and even sunless, we always have something new to look forward to each year. While we’re an ever-evolving industry, some things must remain the same. For example:

  • You always must have a trained and motivated staff.
  • A solid EFT program is vital to your success.
  • You must continually market and promote your salon.
  • It’s good to offer at least one sunless tanning option for clients who can’t or won’t use UV tanning.
  • Salon owners will always need to make lamp changes to keep clients coming back.

These are just a few of mine. What are some of your “must-haves” in this rapidly-evolving industry?

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Increasing Peak-Season Revenue

Q: “What one thing should I do to increase my revenue this season?”

TL;DR: One thing isn’t enough to see the kind of increases you want.

A: Want to increase revenue this season? If so, you better start planning now!

Peak Season is right around the corner. I can help you get more feet through your doors and more bodies in your tanning beds. To do that, I’ll help you develop these solid strategies:

  • UV and spray tan pricing that delivers long-term value.
  • EFT strategies that reward your salon’s bottom line.
  • Killer social media and traditional marketing plans.
  • A first quarter advertising/promotional plan.
  • A customer reward system that sells more memberships and long-term packages.
  • A commission plan for employee incentives.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Price Tags on Tanning Lotion Bottles

Q: “Does displaying tanning lotion prices on the front of the bottles help with sales?”

TL;DR: This strategy only helps you sell your cheapest lotion products.

A: Prices on the front of bottles only serve those looking for a cheap price. How can anyone determine the quality of any one lotion by just the price?

We are in the indulgence business, and we have to sell quality of the experience including lotions for tanning and after-care. Pricing should be the second decision after the tanner decides they can trust the judgment of the consultant’s recommendation for any particular lotion or product. Prices on the bottom makes more sense if only for a “cheat sheet” for the consultant.

Hope this helps! For more assistance, email me at [email protected].

Marketing Inside Your Tanning Salon

Q: “Is inside marketing important? If so, what’s the best way to do it?”

TL;DR: Yes, in-store marketing is extremely important, and I have many tips to help make yours effective.

A: Salon owners can be so focused with outside marketing that they forget to market inside their stores. The best in-store marketing is a staff trained in all your salon’s tanning products and services. Here are 6 more in-store marketing tips for tanning salon owners:

Create a PowerPoint presentation that guides associates through the tour process.

Create a referral program that gives tanners a reason to tell their friends about you.

Use a bounce-back offer to reward tanners for spending money with you. Example: 10 percent back on all purchases over $5 after six purchases.

Hand out referral gift certificates to your tanners to give to their friends. This lets clients have a signature portion on the gift certificate that lets you track who receives the offer.

It may seem simple, but send out handwritten thank you cards to every new tanner who visits your salon. My clients fill these out daily and personalize each with details of the client’s visit.

Make sure you’re using an email program to help you stay in touch with your clients. This is the most inexpensive marketing program you could ever use. It’s also an absolute must for any tanning salon.

Hope this helps! For more assistance, email me at [email protected].

Free Tanning Sessions for Disgruntled Clients

Q: A client tanned in a 20-minute bed and asked for a free visit because one tanning lamp was out. What should I do?

TL;DR: Yes, because it’s a very inexpensive way to keep a client.

A: Your raw cost per session is around 70 cents. If that’s what it costs to keep a tanning client, then fine. This game is all about good customer service and customer retention, after all. Now, if your clients makes a habit of this, you might want to reconsider keeping her as a customer. It’s all about balance.

Hope this helps! For more assistance, email me at [email protected].

Competing with Beauty Store Lotion Sales

Q: “How do I get people to stop buying inexpensive tanning lotions at beauty supply stores?”

TL;DR: Don’t allow the products in your stores and build rapport with your tanners.

A: The struggle to get customers to accept your higher value products versus something they can get from a beauty supply store or Walmart has been going on since the last millennium. The approaches that can work are always the same:

  • You can rely on the argument that you have to inspect all lotion usage because you’re trying to prevent possible damage to your acrylics.
  • YOU are the expert on lotions and their contents to protect the customer from harming their own skin.
  • The real difference in avoiding most of the beauty shop purchases coming into your salon is the rapport you have with your tanners. When relationships are bonded, customers take your advice on what is right for them and for their bodies.

Best of luck on your lotion sales! If you need more help, email me at [email protected].

Charging Fees When Hold Prices Don’t Go Through

Q: “A tanner put their EFT on hold for 2 months then came back in August. Their $5 hold price won’t go through. Do I charge for a month and I.F. fee?”

TL;DR: Have her pay her balances or pay cash for each session.

A: It sounds like she was free to tan when on a “freeze” status of $5 a month. It’s OK to “freeze” customers’ tans as long as they pay the single session price. In this case, it sounds like you’re not getting paid in any event.

Unless she has a huge revenue background for your salon, I would pass your efforts in another direction. Forget any collection activity. It’s not worth the potential of her going viral about your salon. Take comfort in all the great customers you have that DO pay, and tell this person she can only keep tanning if she ponies up with her balances or pays cash for each session.

If you need more help, email me at [email protected].

Marketing Tanning Salons Near Military Bases

Q: “My salon is in a small town with a military base nearby. What should I do?”

TL;DR: Start by offering a military discount, then follow the other tips below.

A: The first thing to do is offer some discounts for military IDs and rewards for referrals. The base folks will pass their endorsements of your tanning experience quite quickly to the rest of the base. I would suggest offering free tanning to a small bunch of base “tanning ambassadors.” Those base people who tan free as ambassadors should be asked to appear on your FB and raves about your salon.

Another thing I would suggest is radio if the spots are not too costly. (I’ve bought radio for 48 years.) Facebook and email are vital if done with a good mix of 80% social information (woman’s causes and environment issues, for example) and 20% salon commercial information.

Your EFT revenues may not be as big of a percentage of your total revenues because of the shuffle in and out of troops. You could do well if you sell 3-month packages of unlimited tanning. For troops stationed there longer, the 3-month or 6-month EFT pricing option could work well.

There are many other things that can be done that I don’t have the space here to offer. Welcome to the biz. We are one of the best there is because we don’t sell tanning… we sell self esteem!

To give you a more detailed answer, I would be nice to know the “vitals” of your business, such as rev YTD compared to LY, so I could help you with:

Revs per tanning piece

Revs per unique tanner

Lotion or EFT revs per unique tanner

If you need more help, email me at [email protected].

Additional Services for Tanning Salons

Q: “What other products or services could I add to generate additional revenue?”

TL;DR: Focus on maximizing your EFT revenues instead. That’s where the money is.

A: I appreciate your quest for additional revenue sources. Who would not want that? But at the end of the day, it could be a wild goose chase. UV is king and spray is queen in the royal realm of indoor tanning. This is why I encourage my clients to focus on maximizing their EFT revenues above all else.

I thoroughly inspect ALL my clients’ numbers. In all my years in this industry, there has NEVER been a time where I didn’t find ways to increase their EFT revenues. And these increases are always more profitable than other services they bring in.

I have many amazing techniques to help boost your EFT revenue. Call 859-250-8475 or email [email protected] for your FREE consultation.

Tanning Salon Referral Programs

Q: “Why don’t my clients take advantage of our referral program?”

TL;DR: You’re probably not offering a big enough incentive for them to care.

A: A weak incentive/reward is why most referral programs fall short. Salon owners hate to hear this but it’s true. There are many great ways to increase referrals to your tanning salon. Many of these are things you can implement right away without much cost. Some of them include:

  • Offer 3 FREE upgrade tans to anyone who sends in a referral.
  • Give a $10 credit to the referral and $10 to the referee. They can use it toward anything in your salon, including their draft.
  • Refer a friend and when they book and tan, both parties get $10 off their next tan.
  • Give 5 referral passes for 5 free days of tanning to each new member you sign up.

In the long run, the best way to increase new customer traffic is your “brand” in the immediate community. For most salons, the gain of new customers comes from good old-fashioned word-of-mouth PR. Also, if bad experiences are not recognized, if your staff is indifferent to creating a memorable experience for each customer. Also, if beds are dirty and other push-away factors are present, no one will want to refer their friends or family and then your brand suffers.

Tanning salon management is one of my specialties. Get a free consultation by calling 859-250-8475 or emailing [email protected].

Dress Codes for Tanning Salon Employees

Q: “When it comes to employee dress codes, what should I have at my salon?”

TL;DR: A shirt with your salon’s logo, a mask with logo (where applicable), and jeans, shorts or leggings.

A: When it comes to employee codes, you actually need two – a dress code and an appearance code.

Dress code defines what is acceptable for tops, bottoms, and footwear. Generally speaking, I recommend a logo shirt, logo mask (if still appropriate in post-COVID), and jeans, shorts or leggings.

Appearance codes define the significance of hair, proper use of makeup, and tanning. (You can’t sell tanning without at least a good spray tan.) Your appearance code should also define acceptable limits for body piercings and tattoos.

A note about tattoos and body piercings. These are usually very personal displays a person makes on their body. Those statements may be very important and personal to the individual. These expressions also run the risk of being offensive to others who don’t identify with them.

The appearance of your employees should be an aspiration for the customer. Too many statements may be too much for a customer to want to look at and then want to tan like the salesperson. Your employees must be a great representation of your salon’s quality experience.

Tanning salon management, aka human resources, is my specialty. Call 859-250-8475 or email [email protected] for a FREE consultation.

Business Mantra for Tanning Salon Owners

Q: “What’s the most important thing I should know if I want to be a successful salon owner?”

TL;DR: Customer-pleasing stores are, first and foremost, employee-pleasing stores.

A: If you manage your people well, they’ll manage your store and its success. That’s because happy employees are motivated and inspired employees.

But how can you create happy, productive, and inspired employees? I can help you with that. Among my background as a tanning salon consultant, I counsel salon owners and managers on a variety of human resources management skills. (I’ve earned an HR MBA.)

Cross-Promoting with Local Businesses

Q: “How do I cross-promote with other businesses like gyms, nutrition places, etc.?”

TL;DR: Choose compatible businesses with busy email output and social media traffic.

A: Well, in a world where people are regularly going to gyms and nutrition centers again, here’s what you do:

Don’t be shy to approach fitness centers that don’t have tanning as a cheap add-on to their monthly fees. Chances are, they may be feeling the pinch of a national or regional fitness chain that does have tanning that they use as a loss leader. (BTW, if you find a fitness center or other partner that has only 2 or 3 pieces of tanning equipment that is not totally a bad thing. After their customers feel the pinch of such limited tanning availability, that could be the motivation for them coming to your full-service tanning salon.)

Rehearse your pitch. Remember you are trying to make a “sale” for a partnership with the desired retailer. So, be prepared with the number of transactions you serve each year in your tanning salon(s). 20,000 transactions should be expressed as 20,000 “customer visits.”

Next, know what it is you’re going after from the cross-partner. Don’t waste your time conditioning discounts at your salon upon the purchase or use of your cross-partner. And neither should they condition purchases at their establishment upon buying at your salon. It gets too complicated trying to serve each other’s interests and asking customers to jump through too many hoops.

Saying that they can get a discount on tanning services IF they purchase a membership at a fitness center or vice versa becomes an administrative nightmare for both partners. (Best possible partners are those non-tanning competitive services that are personal indulgence products or services such as fitness centers, beauty shops, massage, beauty supply stores, nails, hair cutting, or waxing.)

Your best goal is to find out how many emails the partner sends out, and how busy is their social media. What you want is to “piggyback” on each other’s ad traffic. So, when you do an email, you agree to place their ad at the bottom of your email, and they add your offers at the bottom of theirs. Social media is the same approach. Think about the additional audience this can generate for you.

Let’s say you have 5,000 emails and the non-tanning fitness center you want to partner with has 10,000 emails they send out every month. There may be some overlap, but it’s very conceivable that your email reach of 5,000 might now be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 recipients. The name of the game is to increase your “audience reach.” This can open up new clients for you and for the fitness center because one service is not necessarily predatory upon the other.

Finally, get an agreement on which party is going to manage the monthly submissions to social and email marketing. One party has to be responsible for bugging the other and themselves to get the copy ready for distribution.

One final note: each party should sign an agreement holding the other party “legally harmless” for these cross-marketing efforts. You don’t want someone to say that their business suffered because they were partnered with what you offer for services and products.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Buying Client Databases

Q: “I have the opportunity to buy a client database. I would be taking over the space and equipment but using my company’s name. Thoughts?”

TL;DR: The quality of the detail and revenue level is what’s most important.

A: There are many considerations when it comes to buying a client base. One of them is the quality of the detail and revenue level of what you’re buying. If that salon is a failure, you may be buying customer data that is not profitable. But that is rare because it’s usually usable information. The question is what does the seller want for that data?

I have helped clients acquire databases many times. It’s just one of the many services I offer tanning salon owners who hire me as their consultant.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Birthday Wheels and Salon Contests

Q: “Should I get a birthday wheel and host contests to get more people through my door?”

TL;DR: Focus on your social media, email, and text marketing instead.

A: Tanning wheels are fun, but these things are not big traffic draws. At best, they’re fun for those who are already in the salon, but they won’t create any real competitive differential to ramp up your foot count.

With the same energy of creating an in-salon tanning wheel, salon owners should work on developing broader audience appeals with their Facebook, email, and text marketing, for example. There are many other things you can do as well.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Free Tan Week Limits

Q: “For a Free Tan Week, do you limit it to one tan per customer for the week?”

TL;DR: Absolutely not.

A: No, don’t limit it. The average free tan week customer tans 2.8 times during that week, and what you should want them to do is tan even more often. The key to your success is feet in the door. That’s what “lathers them up,” to use an old sales & marketing phrase. You and your staff selling skills is what gets them “shaved.”

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Staying Open on Sundays

Q: “Should I close my tanning salon on Sundays?”

TL;DR: There are a few variables to consider when making this decision.

A: That’s a straightforward question with many possible answers. To give you the right answer, there are some questions that need to be answered first:

Is there significant competition open on Sunday? If so you may have to be open just to defend your turf.

How many of your consistent customers want to tan on Sunday?

Are you typically doing enough tans on Sunday to at least pay for the payroll required to watch the salon?

What retail drawing cards are around you? Or do the retail sidewalks roll up on Sundays? If you have huge retail traffic in the area of your salon, but are not getting enough customers on Sundays, marketing might be your issue.

Keep in mind that the most important issue in tanning is to keep your top line of gross revenues growing. Even if you lose a few bucks of profit on Sundays, you can and should make it up during the week. Closing on Sundays might give your competition an edge. Take that and these other points into consideration when making your decision.

If you need more help with your tanning salon, email me at [email protected].

Retaining EFT Customers

Q: “How do I keep tanners in my EFT program without breaking the bank or losing customers?”

TL;DR: Start with dropping your signup fee during peak-season.

A: Here’s my list for keeping tanners in your EFT programs.

  • Dump your signup fee during peak tanning months. You want to sign up every tanner you can. To do that, you have to reduce as many barriers or objections you can.
  • Set realistic goals. Sell as many EFT memberships that you can knowing that some people will jump in for temporary cheap tanning then leave prematurely. It happens. Instead of getting discouraged, focus on servicing those tanners who stay in the program.

These are solid EFT-saving tips, but there are only 2 of them. I have A LOT more where that came from! If you want to add EFTs, or revamp your EFT program, contact me. Your first consultation is free. Email me at [email protected].

Negotiating a Lease for J.A.S.O.N. Discounts

Q: “Our business is seasonal. Do you have tips to negotiate lease amounts that might offer relief during off-peak months?”

TL;DR: The best time to negotiate your lease is when you are working out a new lease agreement.

A: It’s tough to find a landlord who cares about your off-season revenues during the lease year. If you have them sign an NDA PRIOR to finalizing a lease, you could demonstrate how your revenues drop during J.A.S.O.N. You’ll show why you need their consideration for rate accommodations.

Unless their lease rate is built on a percent of your revenues – and I hope it is not – the landlord might not be sympathetic. The exception is when your lease is coming up in less than a year. If you’ve been an excellent tenant, they might want you to stay. They may be open to lower rates July through December.

I negotiate lease agreements and salon sales all the time. For more assistance, email me at [email protected].

EFTs Vs. Single-Session and Monthly Membership Sales

Q: “Why should I sell EFTs when I make more money by selling single sessions or months?”

TL;DR: You’re not making more money with single or monthly sessions. Focus on selling EFTs.

A: The salons with the biggest profits – either chains or single locations – do not concentrate on selling single or month packages. Those are “stepping stones” or opportunities for selling memberships, aka EFTs. The huge advantage of EFTs is that they don’t pay you once, as selling a session package or months do. EFTs have the effect of annuity style payments for your salon.

The key is to be aware of how much you’re collecting from each individual customer annually. Let’s say you’re collecting an average of say $100 in sold sessions or monthly packages. You can make much more from them on average via their continued active payments on an EFT plan. For example, if they are on a $40-a-month membership plan, and you require them to be on at least three months, you would take in $120. That’s a 20% more than if you just sold them $100 of sessions or monthly payments over a year.

The attraction in some people’s eyes is to just sell sessions or months because they collect more money immediately, and they like that cash flow. EFT memberships make you much more money over a year or even over a season, peak or off-peak.

Hope this helps! For more assistance, email me at [email protected].

Lotion Sales Tips Throughout the Year

Q: “How can I increase lotion sales during any time of the year?”

TL:DR: Since I give you five tips here, it’s best to read the whole thing.

A: In the past, I would suggest giving away a month of free tanning with the purchase of a bottle of lotion. Now, to avoid penalties and taxes for “Tan Tax evasion,” I’d offer these suggestions:

  • Sell a month of tanning at a DEEP discount. You could also graduate which beds they can use with the increased bottle price.
  • Stress the value of the moisturizer in the lotion for treating dry skin that’s common throughout the year.
  • Have meaningful rewards for employees selling your lotions. Graduate from 5% of their personal lotion sales. For your base line or average lotion sales per transaction…total lotion sales for this time last year divided by the total tans or transactions will give you the salon average. Start your 5% of that for any employee, then 6% if they sell an average sales dollar higher, then 7% if $2 higher, 8% three dollars higher etc. Go up to 10% if they hit an average $4 above average. (Do this math each month because of the seasonality of tanning.)
  • Monitor everyone’s sales and post results ranking highest to lowest using names. If they have at least a high school education, they have 12 years of report cards and should be used to performance feedback. (Reward more hours to those who request them AND have earned them with higher per transaction results.)
  • Have each employee pick out their personal favorite lotion in a top, middle, and cheaper price range. They should be an expert on why these 3 lotions work AND why they get better at each level. (Having them become an expert on EVERY lotion in your salon is crazy!)

Hope this helps! For more assistance, email me at [email protected].

Increasing Foot Traffic at Your Tanning Salon

Q: “I’m a new salon owner having a hard time getting people in the door! Any advice will be GREATLY appreciated!”

TL:DR: Free tan weeks are great… if you host them the right way.

A: Do you have email and phone contacts for your salon customers? Have you used text messages, email, FB, and/or Instagram? I’m not high on Yelp, flyers, or super savers. I think it’s best to use email, social media, and radio. (If you’re in a radio economical market). Use these to blast out weekly deals that give people reasons to come to your salon.

A free tan week for all units will get many folks you know and many more you don’t know through the door. Regardless of the media you use, keep in mind that it can only get people “lathered up,” so to speak. It’s still up to you and your staff to “shave them.” (I know. It’s an old sales and marketing analogy that I still use to this day. LOL) It means have everyone trained to up-sell EVERYONE who walks through your door during free tan week.

One last tip: knowing how to sell packages or EFT memberships from packages makes all the difference in the world. Developing those selling skills and techniques are critical!

If you need help with EFT sales, pricing, and much more, email me at [email protected].

The “Secret Formula” to Salon Success

Q: “What’s the secret to running a successful tanning salon?”

TL:DR: Be good to your employees and everything else falls into place.

A: This has become my most-repeated quote but I’m happy to share it again. A customer-pleasing store is first and foremost an employee pleasing store. You always must be doing something tangible to inspire and motivate your employees. They, in turn, will happily provide the best customer service to your tanners.

If you want an employee-pleasing store, email me at [email protected].

Are you ready to work with the best tanning consultant in the industry?

Sign up for a no-obligation consultation so John can review your revenues, marketing direction and more, then he’ll provide some advice to increase these and other aspects of your tanning salon business. You’re only one step away from working with the industry No. 1 tanning consultant. Contact John Farr today to begin to begin your tanning salon transformation!