The single most important resource a salon can have is its staff. Thousands of dollars can be spent on advertising and equipment and offer freebies to get customers into the salon, but if they’re not treated well, they won’t be back. And no salon can survive without repeat customers.
On the other hand, what better promotion can there be for a salon than to have courteous, helpful and attractive employees ensuring that everyone who comes in has an enjoyable visit? You’ve been in restaurants where the waiter ignored you, or in stores where the sales staff knew less about the product than you did. It didn’t leave you with a favorable impression and you certainly don’t want your clients to have a similar view of your salon.
Building the perfect staff starts with the hiring process. Staff your salon with friendly, attractive, healthy looking people. Tanning is a vanity business and the more you can appeal to your clientele’s sense of beauty, the better off you’ll be. Let your staff use the equipment for free. You will see two benefits: they will look better and will know more about how it works. Both help your salon.
Make sure they are well trained in the services they administer. Your customers, for the most part, don’t possess a detailed knowledge of how the service works or even what it is supposed to do. They will be much more comfortable if your staff can answer their questions correctly and confidently.
Finally, give them some incentive to promote your business. A commission of a few dollars for introducing a client to a new service or for bringing a new customer into the salon is a very cheap way to improve your cash flow.
Your clientele is another excellent promotional resource. If you don’t already offer them incentives to refer friends and acquaintances to your salon, start now. You’re missing out on a huge network of potential customers.
Grand Openings
As many salon owners know, grand openings and re-openings can be a fun—and reasonably priced—way to open a new salon or to recharge an existing one. Most tanning equipment manufacturers and lotion makers have some great ideas—and contributions—to help salons with these events.
Before you can get the party started, you have to determine how to get people to your event. Begin by deciding on your best form of advertising. Remember that a large majority of tanners are apartment renters—and that most apartment complexes have monthly newsletters that they distribute to their tenants. With a little legwork, you can advertise your event directly in the contents of their newsletter or in an insert.
Next, by calling around to newspapers, ad mail companies and other advertising agents, you should be able to get an idea of who best serves your area for tanners—with the typical demographic of women 21 to 45 years old.
Local papers, value pack mailers, fliers and handouts work the best and are the most economical. Also look into some popular area radio stations to see if they will hold a two- to three-hour live remote at your location. Ask the station for a DJ that actually will hold part of his broadcast while tanning in one of your best beds.
Have the radio personality award a tanning session or product for the first three or more people that come in to see the disc jockey’s new tan. A nice door prize, such as a trip for two to a sunny location—with the winner announced during the remote—also can be a very positive draw.
