For salons in most parts of the U.S., tanning season is just around the corner (and in some parts, it has already started). In order to maximize your profits and sales commissions this year, think about bundling up. Instead of selling your guests one bottle of lotion, sell them an “Essential Tanning Set.” Here are three ways to look at this sales technique, and reasons why it can be one of the most effective you’ll use this year.
It takes no more energy to sell three products than it does to sell one. Simple truth.
1) People are already trained to buy “sets” or “collections” and don’t even realize it. If you get your hair done at a professional salon, the stylist will use professional shampoo, conditioner, and styling aids, and sell you the same products needed to replicate their work at home. Nobody buys just the shampoo; you will almost always buy the shampoo, conditioner and styling aid, because you understand that all three together make the results possible. The same holds true at the grocery store. You usually won’t buy just peanut butter – you buy peanut butter, jelly and bread. You complete the set.
When you present a tanning lotion, a facial-tanning product and a tan extender to your salon guests, you are educating them that they need to use all three professional products to maximize their color and skincare benefits from their tanning session. Just make sure that you are educating them that all three are equally important. If YOU don’t believe that they are, your tanners won’t, either.
2) It takes no more energy to sell three products than it does to sell one. Simple truth. You won’t break a bigger sweat, burn any additional calories (sorry!), or really take any more time to present the three-product set to a guest than you will by just pulling a single bottle off the shelf and selling it. You’ve also educated your guest that they need all three products, and you will, quite often, be rewarded with a three-bottle sale – a “set” that the tanner will re-purchase every time they need to replace their products. People are creatures of habit. Once they have purchased multiple bottles from you, they will continue to do so. Nobody likes to go backward in their tanning results.
3) Each product serves a specialized role in your guests’ tanning success. A facial-tanning product is built to address the special needs of the sensitive, thinner skin on the face. Many contain antioxidant properties to help ward off lines and wrinkles, and almost all are fragrance-free, which helps avoid unwanted reactions. Lotions designed for the body also feature this anti-aging protection, with added ingredients that can help aid in melanin production and oxidation, and UV absorption, delivering faster, darker, longer-lasting color. Tan extenders are developed to replenish and replace certain natural skin protectants that are lost during the tanning process due to moisture evaporation and perspiration. No one is any more important than the other two when it comes to the tanner achieving their best possible color.
As an industry professional, it is your job to educate tanners as to which products will deliver the best results, based on their needs. They need to understand the importance of preparing their skin to receive UV light, so that they are protecting it during the tanning process and promoting the best possible results. A tanning lotion, a facial-tanning product and a tan extender are the three basic products that will deliver both the bronzing they crave and the skin protection they need – and once you educate them on this, you will become their tanning hero!
Happy Bundle-Up Season!
