If the thought of more money and better profit margins makes you smile, consider adding cosmetic teeth-whitening products or services to your salon. That’s what I did at my salon, L Spa Modern—and it paid off big time. In less than two months, my LED teeth-whitening device paid for itself.
So, how do you get started? First and foremost, take a close look at cosmetic teeth whitening and see if it fits your business model. At L Spa Modern, the average age of customers for this service seems to be right around 25, which makes for easy cross-promotion with our tanning clients. Our main way to sell it is: Get a tan and get your teeth whitened, and in less than 90 minutes, you’re looking hotter than ever. We are in the business of vanity, after all. The reason your customers come to your salon is to look and feel good—it’s a no-brainer that teeth whitening would be a good fit for tanning salons and spa/salon hybrids.
Once you’ve decided that teeth whitening would be a great addition to your service offerings, research the dozens of options available to tanning salons. At L Spa Modern, we have a reputation for having the finest equipment and we spent more than four months researching the various units and gels on the market. The most important factors to us were: safety, the percentage of peroxide in the gel, ease of use, and the company’s attention to and support of our salon.
Online salon-owner forums, such as TanToday.com, are a good source for information about teeth-whitening products. Just search the topic “teeth whitening,” and you’ll get a ton of feedback regarding what other salons are using and what they think about the products. Choices range from simple, retail mouthpieces filled with a gel that is activated by UV light (which clients use while tanning) to stand-alone systems that use LED equipment to activate the gel. There are even units that can accommodate up to four people at one time, allowing you to offer unique and fun cosmetic teeth-whitening parties.
Once you’ve decided on a product or unit, you must figure out how you will market the new service. Start by presenting teeth whitening to your existing clientele using internal point-of-purchase advertising—such as posters and flyers in the salon—and make sure your staff mentions the new product/service to all customers that visit the salon. You can also make brochures available—for those who opt to buy a teeth-whitening unit, check with the manufacturer. Most will provide you with free promotional brochures to display at the salon. Also look at potential cross-promotions with other services that you offer, such as UV tanning, spray tanning, body wraps, etc. Make sure to post some form of announcement in every room you have—even the bathrooms.
For external promotion of the service, use whatever media typically gives you the best ROI. I like using marriage mail and network television. TV ads provide great TOMA (top-of-mind awareness) in the market and the marriage mail is great for call-to-action campaigns, such as a discount or bundled offer. If we are targeting our database, we will start by farming it to find the most likely purchasers of this type of service and then utilize direct mail to get the message out. Another big hit in our salon has been adding teeth whitening to our top-level VIP membership—if the client signs up for a year-long VIP membership, they receive a free year of teeth whitening services. Even better, after the year, it becomes a lifestyle for them and they often choose to continue.
Overall, the process of adding teeth-whitening products or services is simple and the margins are great—however, there are issues that need to be taken into account. Salons that decide to bring this type of service into their business need to be very careful about local and state laws. Dentists, who are seeing their clients migrating to salons and spas for these services, have resorted to lobbying for restrictions against teeth whitening in salons. Their argument is that salon staff members are not licensed or trained dental practitioners and, therefore, are illegally practicing dentistry by offering teeth whitening.
To combat these campaigns, take the advice of Joyce Osborn, president of the Council for Cosmetic Teeth Whitening (CCTW), which is comprised of manufacturers, distributors and salon operators that support the consumer’s right to cosmetic teeth whitening. The group is diligently working with the FTC to fight unfair laws now in place in certain states. She suggests that salon owners stress the fact that their teeth-whitening services are a strictly cosmetic, over-the-counter service that involves application of carbamide peroxide, a commonly available substance that changes nothing more than the color of the outer layer of the tooth enamel (there is no change in the texture or structure of the teeth). In addition, Osborn says salon owners should acknowledge that they do not alter the whitening substance.
The tanning world is not what it was back in 1998. Most salons are finding that diversification to be the way back to a solid bottom line and fat bank account. If you are interested in diversifying, look into cosmetic teeth whitening. It may just make your future several shades brighter.
Tom Brookshire is CEO of L Spa Modern in Fort Wayne, Ind. His salon was recently recognized on Looking Fit’s “Industry’s Coolest” list for its innovative internship practices.
