Imagine, if you can, seeing your salon for just one day through the eyes of your customers. Learning to use customer eyes is an idea that many successful tanning salon owners have accomplished in maintaining a professional looking facility. Year after year, surveys reveal that cleanliness is one of the most important factors influencing customers when deciding where to spend their hard-earned tanning dollars. From the moment a customer enters a tanning salon, impressions begin to form. Whether to appeal to a first-time tanner or a client that has been with you for years, your salon must be clean.
With more tanning salons opening every day, your customers will have more choices about where to shop. Customers are the first to see old smudges, smears and dust that seem to become invisible to employees over time. In addition to the thorough tanning unit sanitation after each use, the following are some things to look for with those newly acquired fresh eyes.
Floors
The floor is the first thing a customer sees when they enter a salon, and it continues to be scrutinized throughout the tanning session. Clean floors can be achieved by attentive staff that pays close attention to details while carrying out their cleaning duties. Edge cleaning is usually the biggest challenge. That’s the spot where the shelving and walls meet the floors and sweeping and mopping seem to push the dirt into that space. Staff should be especially trained to keep those edges clean. Your floors literally can reflect who you are as a tanning facility.
Displays
Your shelves, cases and doors require constant attention. Most salons still are in search of the perfect feather duster that can clean without knocking the tanning lotions over. The most effective cleaning program has staff working with a rolling cart; they remove lotion bottles in small sections, clean the shelves and re-stock the product.
Bathrooms
There is no other area that reflects your cleanliness commitment more than your bathrooms. Try and keep these areas free of brooms, mops and buckets, employee coats, and cleaning supplies. Keep them spotless and well stocked with paper supplies and soaps. Framed pictures or posters (not ripped, worn ones taped on the wall) can add a nice touch.
Back Rooms
“It’s the back of the salon so customers don’t even see it,” is what many salon staff may think about the receiving or employee area of the store. The standards that you set in your employees-only areas are indicative of how clean the entire store is. If an owner makes a cleanliness commitment in the back, then employees will be more focused on keeping the customer areas clean. Strive to keep employee break areas clean and clutter-free—including the refrigerators, counters and microwaves.
Closing Checklists
Cleanliness accountability is one key to ensure your salon stays clean. The closing staff should have a checklist for each area of the salon that should be checked each night before the employees leave. The closing staff should review the list together, sign off and leave it for the owner or opening staff. In larger salons, it may take five minutes or more to check each area on the list. However, the results are well worth the investment of time and money. Staff will work hard as the day comes to a close to clean properly so the check goes smoothly and everyone can go home.
Be sure that when a section of the salon is checked on the list to allow enough time to correct anything that was not done properly. Remember, at the end of a busy day, fatigue takes over and employees can forget certain cleaning procedures. As a reminder, a checklist displayed in a prominent area can help reduce errors and make it easier to maintain store cleanliness.
Check the Competition
Finally, spend some time in your competitors’ salons. Look for areas that stand out as both clean and dirty. Then go back to your salon and check how the same areas compare.
