I used to go to a church where the pastor would start out each sermon by stating exactly what he was going to talk about and what he wanted the congregation to glean from his sermon. There was no way in the world you were leaving church without fully understanding what you had heard. I really liked that process, but haven’t had the opportunity to use it—until now.
In this article, I will be discussing what I believe is the correct way to program a new salon to fit a particular business model and when this should be done. This article is aimed mainly at newbies—people who are just thinking about opening a salon. I think this is an important topic because, once you have opened your salon, much of your future direction is already cast in stone. The choices you make when you initially open can’t be easily changed (for example, the type and quantity of beds you choose is not something that you can change your mind about after you have purchased them).
That said, I got started in this business in 1994. I was coming out of the video-rental industry and I was not an avid tanner, so I didn’t know much about the various types of tanning equipment. Heck, I could barely spell “tanning beds” let alone tell you what types were out there. My decision process in purchasing equipment came down to two factors: recommendations and cost. Like many newbies, I bought nothing but base beds. The people advising me tried to explain the benefits of equipment levels and I filed it away for later use—but at the time, my wallet said, “buy base beds.” Had I stayed on that path, the outcome would have been ugly and short-lived. Lucky for me, the people who helped me kept stressing the importance of improving my bed mix until I finally listened.
In my opinion, your bed mix is more important than any other decision you are going to make when you open a salon; yet, it seems like a lot of newbies worry about everything but their beds. They’re often too busy worrying about having the nicest tropical-themed décor, what pictures should go on the wall and so on. I think this is because equipment can be overwhelming—truth be told, I was so mixed up about what beds to buy and how to make them run that my head was spinning. I would have much rather worried about anything other than the tanning beds. I had no point of reference for tanning beds, timers or controllers, and most newbies don’t either. The sad fact is that you can’t avoid the decision; if you get the equipment mix wrong, you are really in a bad spot. (There are other, more colorful words and phrases I could use here but LF wouldn’t let me. Use your imagination.)
OK, so now you know that I believe a perfect mix of beds for your location—one that will tilt the scales in your favor toward making a larger profit—exists. But how do you find that mix? Well, a very smart businessman once told me that he had learned one complete truth in retailing: A business needs to decide what it wants to be and then translate that through its décor, products, advertising, business cards—everything. If you don’t, you’ll just end up confusing the customer (and quite possibly yourself).
So, do you want to be a salon that features all base beds, turns masses of tanners for the lowest dollar-per-tan average, or, do you want to be a high-end salon that turns fewer tanners at a higher average? Once you decide what you want to be, you can search for the mix of equipment that best fits your salon. The money that you are going to spend on equipment will define your earning potential and viability. Basically, the salon is configured to produce enough revenue to make a profit based on your forethought about what type of salon you want to be. Figure that out at the outset—you don’t want to end up posting on TanToday.com about how you “aren’t making what your business plan had laid out and can someone help?” because, by that point, you may be beyond help.
The choices newbies make today can mean lower salon turnover and a more stable industry for all of us in the future. Good luck, and remember, there is always one more thing you can do. If you know what movie that line comes from, good for you!
A veteran of the indoor-tanning industry for the past 14 years, Rich Morgan is the owner of Oasis Tanning in Topeka, Kan., and is a member of LF's 2009 Advisory Board. He was introduced to the world of indoor tanning while working as the general manager of five video-rental stores, which began incorporating tanning services. Morgan and his wife, Lynn, eventually left to open Oasis Tanning.
