As the weather warms up, we tend to see tanner counts dwindle as people are trading their time tanning indoors for more time outside enjoying the sun. Avoiding the drop in customer traffic is something we discussed last month; this month, I want to dive a little deeper into other ideas to help ease that slowdown phase.
Don’t cut prices!
I see this all too often – salons will run crazy promotions
during their slower months just to make sales. Instead of slashing prices, how about adding value to the packages and products you offer? Instead of deeply discounting a lotion, what about offering a tan extender with it for $5? Or, with select packages, offer extra upgrade credits? When you dramatically decrease the price of your products or services, you devalue them. Instead, offer extra incentives for salon guests to purchase them at regular prices.
Keep up with direct marketing.
Email marketing, text marketing, etc. are all extremely effective ways to communicate with your customers. Just because it’s summer and your business is slower doesn’t mean you should stop these efforts; if anything, you want to make the communications more appealing. Invite people in for a free session, or offer a one-day-only promotion. Anything that catches someone’s attention and drives foot traffic will also drive sales – the extra effort is always worth it.
Host a summer event.
Why not host a free tan weekend or a customer appreciation event? Getting people through the door during slow times is the ultimate goal. More Guests = More Sales! Have a cookout at the salon that includes free tanning and some great promotions on your products and services. Make it fun and something everyone will want to be a part of. People are much more likely to commit to packages if they have already tried the service, so let everyone coming to your salon try any bed they would like. You will notice a big difference in the number of people who purchase a membership in your higher-level equipment.
Partner with other businesses.
I’ve always been a fan of cross-promotion! Not only are you supporting other local businesses in your community, but you also target people who may have never heard of your brand. Something that I think is great is doing a weekly prize drawing – this works by partnering each week with a different business in your area and each business has a contest to give away a gift card for the other business. Example: if you partner with a nail salon, all the nail salon customers can enter to win a tanning gift card, and all your tanners can enter to win a nail salon gift card. I would suggest that after the drawing is done, you email each person who entered and offer them a free tan – that way, you get more new people through the door.
Stay positive!
They say “positivity radiates,” so if you are not positive about the change of season, not only will your staff feel it, but so will your guests. A positive outlook can go a long way toward keeping your entire team motivated. As we all know, motivated and happy staff always outperform our expectations!
Anything that catches someone’s attention and drives foot traffic will also drive sales – the extra effort is always worth it.
