Remember: Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.
As those of us in the tanning business get through this holiday season, we’re gearing up for our favorite time of the year: BUSY SEASON! Let’s go over a few key ways that every salon can prepare to maximize busy season profits.
Prepare: Check all equipment; make sure everything is working properly. This is also a great time to do intense detailing of your beds while your salon traffic is still slower. Do any beds need to be re-lamped, or are close to needing new lamps? How is your pricing structure? Right before busy season is the best time to make pricing adjustments or increases. Give your salon a facelift; make sure everything is perfectly clean and your supplies are well-stocked. Initiate your advertising plan ahead of time. It can take a few weeks to roll out a new campaign, so you should have it all scheduled well in advance.
Education: By this time of year, you should have chosen the products you will be selling for the upcoming season. Make sure you have selected products that sell at various price points and that really help serve your clientele. Most lotion and product manufacturers offer free in-store and online training, as well as ongoing support to ensure that your team has all the key elements to sell every product on your shelves. Check with your product distributor to see what benefits your favorite lotion manufacturer has to offer.
Staffing: This is probably the biggest difference between an average salon and a super salon. You should strive to keep your team motivated and self-sufficient; but in the upcoming months, this is more important then ever. Are you adequately staffed? Do some shifts require more than one employee? Sales opportunities can be easily missed if your staff is just trying to keep up with cleaning beds and checking guests into rooms. Make sure that going into season, you have not only enough staff, but key people on key shifts to maximize profitability.
Salon Tours: There is no time more important than now to have all of your staff review and practice their salon welcome tours. With lots of new tanners starting at the beginning of the New Year, many of which might have not used your facilities before, it is important that your staff knows the correct way to greet guests and show them the features of your equipment, products and packages. Making your new guests feel at ease and welcome in your salon will make the difference in whether they decide to try your competitor, instead.
Specials, coupons, Groupons and ads: This is the season when salons spend the most money on advertising and promotions. But are you turning those coupons into sales dollars when your guests come in to redeem them? My suggestion is to have set add-on packages that correspond with each coupon and review these with your team, so they know exactly how to handle a new guest with a coupon and to up-sell them into larger packages and memberships. It costs you advertising dollars to get them into your salon and now it’s up to your staff to ensure they continue to tan with you, purchase add-on products and upgrade their memberships. Review and role-play with your staff different scenarios that could arise when a client brings in a coupon, and teach them how to overcome objections to up-selling.
Every salon is in business to make money! Make sure your facility and staff are ready to take on the 2016 season and make it the most profitable yet. Every person who walks into your salon represents an opportunity! Make sure your team is educated and utilizes all the ways to capitalize on that. Remember: success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.
