Electronic Funds Transfers

EFT also offers many benefits to the customer. Tanners who purchase memberships know they can maintain their tan throughout the year, taking any last-minute franticness out of the tanning experience. In addition, customers on EFT generally are charged a lower fee since the salon owner is guaranteed that income month after month. Overall, EFT proves to be a win-win situation for both parties.

The salon owners who are making money throughout their slow seasons with the use of EFT inevitably are the ones who have a strong sales program. Every new customer should be given the opportunity to join a salon’s EFT membership program, and getting customers to join begins with a strong sales staff.

Veterans agree that salon owners need to have a structured sales program and an effectively trained sales staff. Most of salon operators have heard of EFT; however, they have no concept of the presentation of it or the sales of it. They present it as, ‘We’ll just take $20 per month out of your checking account and you’ll have an unlimited package.’ There’s no value in that—they haven’t gone over why this person is looking to tan, what they like about tanning, or what they did or did not like about their old salon. All of these issues need to be addressed in order for a tanning salon to have a viable EFT program.

Additionally, the salon’s sales staff must know how to give a tour, how to overcome objections on the floor, how to structure the price presentation through to the close, how to take inquiries over the phone and set appointments, and how to obtain referrals at the point of sale.

In addition, he says it is imperative for sales staff to overcome customers’ objections on the floor before they begin their price presentation. If you haven’t overcome all objections on the floor, then when you sit down with the customer and give them your presentation, it’s nothing but a pressure situation. If you overcome objections on the floor while you’re touring the facility, then it’s simply a matter of signing them up.

Many companies provide salon owners with materials and services to aid in their sales presentations. Additionally, there are a number of ways a salon salesperson can market the idea of EFT to their customers by catering to a client’s continual desire for more time and less stress.

In today’s busy world, the customer will know that when they come to your salon, they don’t have to worry about filling out any paperwork. They can do it once and their payments are deducted from their account with no hassle. When they come in, it’s more of a relaxed atmosphere. In addition, EFT is a budgetary tool. The customer can obtain a report from their bank at the end of the month that will show how much money was deducted and what it was used for.

Another effective sales approach is to price a membership attractively and then make the EFT program the only way to pay for the membership. The approach should be non-threatening, such as, "We’re going to put your bank or credit card company to work for you—they’re going to pay this automatically for you every month and you’re not going to have to worry about it.’ The wrong approach would be, ‘This is a debit program, and on the 15th of every month, we’re going to go into your account and take out $30.’ Anything that gives a consumer the impression that they’re losing control will scare them. It sounds more friendly to say that their bank is going to take care of the payments for them and they’re not going to have to worry about it.