Skincare: A Profitable Market For Tanning Salons

Today, people want options—whether it’s choosing what they eat or what they put on their skin. Customers are asking more questions about ingredients and looking for products that will help them follow a healthier lifestyle; as salon owners, we have a unique ability to help our clients in this quest by promoting good skincare.

My husband, Tom, and I opened our first salon in Michigan in 1994. Like most other salons, we were all about tanning. I loved it. I had two employees, but I worked around the clock. I knew all of my customers. However, it didn’t take long to figure out that, with a tanning-only mindset, all we could offer was tanning, tanning lotion and eyewear.

So, I began to brainstorm what else could I offer without investing a lot of money. We tried swimwear, T-shirts, sunglasses and diet aids—and, for the most part, they did OK. But then I began noticing our 40-something tanners were disappearing because of their fear of wrinkles. That’s when we decided a top-performing skincare line might be the answer. We could keep our tanners and make more money.

Our decision to add skincare products has really paid off for us—and it can for you, too. As Tom says, “Our business is skin, so keep the focus on skin.” Ultimately, skincare is a perfect add-on sale because it complements tanning and tanning-lotion sales. With the addition of skincare, you can sell customers a tanning package, tanning lotion and eyewear, plus a variety of skincare products for the face and the body. Instead of limiting product sales to a bottle of tanning lotion, you can offer several additional products to each client—from moisturizers to anti-aging serums to protective lip balms. The possibilities are practically endless.

Of course, offering a skincare line in your salon does come with a catch: To really be successful with it, you have to open your mouth, ask questions and generate a dialogue about skincare with your clients. Most salon owners—myself included—make the mistake of placing skincare products on the shelf and waiting for them to sell. In the beginning, I would spend my time educating clients about my tanning equipment and tanning lotions, but never even mention the skincare products. That was a costly mistake. In order to sell skincare, you need to engage your clients in a conversation about their skin.

As salon owners, we are the experts; trust me, customers see us that way. And, when we take the time to teach our customers to take good care of their skin, they will be happier with their appearance and with their tanning results. Loyalty is built when your customer gets a great tan, keeps it and has great-looking skin, as well. In addition, one sale leads to another. Generally, if your customer uses one skincare item and falls in love with it, he or she will be interested in trying other products in that line. I know that if I can get a client using a quality cleanser, moisturizer or eye cream, they will continue to buy products from me.

Another pleasant surprise that we found when we started selling skincare was the new business it brought in from non-tanning customers. We began to notice people walking in the door asking for the “eye cream that my friend Mary bought.” These were people that would not have come in our door otherwise.

The Products

OK, so you want to add a skincare line to your salon offerings. Here are some things you should look for when choosing products to bring into your salon:

What’s in it? Do the products contain ingredients that really work? Be sure they don’t include components that could compromise their integrity—big ones to look out for include mineral oil, petrolatum (or anything petrol), lanolin, SD 40 alcohol and animal by-products. Also test the product to see if it absorbs into the skin or just sits on the surface. That is called the delivery system, and it is a key component of a product’s ability to work properly.

Where does it come from? Find out if skincare products are the primary products of the manufacturing company, how long the company has been in the skincare business and what the company’s reputation is in the skincare industry. Also, find out who is in charge of the formulations.

Is there name recognition? People are more likely to purchase products with names they recognize. In addition, this can bring new customers into your salon. We have new customers that come to us simply because they have heard we carry the skincare line that we do.

How educated is the company representative? And that goes for tanning and skincare knowledge. Some companies we looked at had no knowledge of the tanning industry, or were negative towards it, and couldn’t help us market the product in our salon. We needed someone to show us how skincare works in a tanning-salon environment so that we could be successful with it.

Do you love it? Lastly, one of the biggest criteria for your decision should be whether or not you love the products. If you don’t love them, don’t even bother trying to sell them. You will sell what you use and love because you will be excited and knowledgeable about it, and the customer will pick up on that.

The Conversation

Once you’ve added a skincare line, you have to sell it. Here is a typical example of how a skincare conversation between me and a customer might go. We will call her Mary (but keep in mind it could be Bob, too—men like healthy skin just as much as women). Anyway, back to Mary, who has already purchased a tanning package, professional indoor-tanning lotion and protective eyewear. I want to introduce her to a few skincare products:

Kathe: Hi, Mary! How are you feeling today?
Mary: Great, thanks.
Kathe: Actually, Mary, I was wondering how your skin is feeling today? Are you having any issues, such as dryness?
Mary: You know, my skin has been a little dry lately.
Kathe: May I ask what soap you are using in the shower? How about for a body moisturizer?
Mary: Well, I use liquid soap in the shower and a popular over-the-counter lotion afterwards.
Kathe: Hmm. Perhaps that is the reason then. I’d like to show you something ...
Kathe: This glass bowl is filled with mineral oil—a popular baby oil, in fact—and the other is filled with plain tap water. That saltine cracker soaking in the bowl of mineral oil has been there for quite some time. Now look at this fresh cracker that I just pulled out of a box of crackers. Can you see how much smaller the cracker in the mineral oil is compared to the new cracker? (Picking up the cracker soaking in the mineral oil with a pair of tweezers and tapping it against the bowl.) It clangs because the cracker is void of moisture and is as hard as a rock. (Submerging the fresh cracker in the bowl of water.) It’s only been about 30 seconds, and already this new cracker has hydrated to about double its original size. Mary, do you see how hydrating the water is for the cracker and how dehydrating the mineral oil is for the other cracker? I believe the reason you’re having trouble with dryness is that you are using a moisturizer that contains mineral oil and it is dehydrating your skin. And, though your moisturizer may also contain water, the mineral oil is blocking the water from reaching your skin and hydrating it. Basically, the water in the product is useless—as are all of the other good-for-you ingredients it may contain. That is why, even when you use a lot of moisturizer, your skin still feels dry and dehydrated.
Mary: Wow! I had no idea. What should I be using?
Kathe: Personally, I recommend what I use. I know that it works and that it doesn’t contain any ingredients that will compromise your skin. As an added bonus, it will actually help you tan better. I am confident that you will see and feel the difference after using these products.

At this point, I would hand the recommended products to Mary so that she can see/smell/touch them, and then ask what she thinks. More often than not, Mary is ready to make a purchase and I have just made an additional sale to a current customer.

The best part is that I know she is going to love the way her skin feels and will potentially purchase more product from me—whether she continues to tan or not. (Sales tip: Be sure to put a water-resistant sticker with your salon information on the back of every skincare product you sell; that way, the customer will remember where they purchased it. It also works in the event that a client purchases a product as a gift—you want the recipient to know where to purchase more.)

The Props

To help sell my skincare line, I love to use props. Here are three basic ones I recommend:

1. Two cracker bowls. This is for showing the moisture/no moisture example as demonstrated above.

2. Two jars with prunes. This is the same idea as the cracker demonstration, except, with this, you are showing wrinkles/no wrinkles.

3. The “skin” jar. The skin jar shows the three basic layers of the skin so that I can teach my customers why regularly exfoliating their skin is such an important part of maintaining healthy-looking skin and for achieving a great-looking tan—most customers think that exfoliating will wash their tan down the drain. I explain it like this: Regular exfoliation of the skin is very important, especially for tanners. The top layer of dead skin cells needs to be removed so that the underlying healthy skin can be exposed to the sunlight. In the skin jar, the crushed cornflakes represent the top, dead layers of skin that need to be taken off. You can easily see that exfoliating the dead skin cells will expose the skin you want to tan. Then, after I teach them why exfoliating is important, I recommend a good exfoliation product.

All three props are easy to make. Or, you can go to my Web site (www.infiniteabundance.us/salonowners.html) and download pictures to use. But I do recommend the actual prop. Placing them on the front counter inspires questions from customers and provides the perfect opening for a skincare conversation.

The Bottom Line

Skincare products are a perfect add-on sales opportunity for your current tanning-customer market. Offering skincare products can also generate sales from a non-tanning customer market. Skincare customers are happy because proper skincare makes a world of difference in how they look and feel. Tanning customers are happy because they will tan better. You’re happy because you are making more money, retaining clients and bringing new ones into the salon. Everyone wins. Enjoy the skincare experience.

Kathe Ray is a salon owner and independent consultant/regional vice president for Arbonne International LLC, a Swiss-formulated, U.S.-manufactured skincare line with a company mission to offer a product that is pure, beneficial and safe. Ray is also a moderator on TanToday.com. To learn more about Arbonne skincare or about how you can partner with her by offering Arbonne, call 734.464.1401 or e-mail arbonnekathe@msn.com.

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