As the indoor tanning community continues to evolve and grow professionally, the market’s most successful operations continue to focus on key competencies.
1. Recommit Your Business to Sunburn Prevention.
The science of sun care is coming back to center, as it needs to. As more and more research mounts to support balance, teaching sunburn prevention as a life-long approach to sun care makes more sense than teaching over-use of sunscreen and all-out sun avoidance, which, ironically, often leaves people more susceptible to sunburn when they inevitably do go outdoors.
With many researchers now implicating over-zealous sun avoidance as a major public health mistake, and as the dust continues to settle on the scientific discussion of this topic, the professional sunbed salons that will succeed long-term will be those who truly practice sunburn prevention.
That means recommitting your stores to teaching sunburn prevention in the salon, as well as teaching your customers how to prevent sunburn outdoors.
“There is no future for tanning facilities that are not at the cutting edge of teaching sunburn prevention,” says Joseph Levy, ASA Director of Scientific Affairs/Executive Director.
Commit to sunburn prevention as a cornerstone to your overall quality – the leading salons are doing this.
2. Measure Your Success.
Commit to sunburn prevention as a cornerstone to your overall quality – the leading salons are doing this. We suggest you take two days a year and survey your customers about their tanning results at your store – particularly, measuring your effectiveness at helping them prevent sunburn.
“The benefits of this are two-fold,” Levy adds. “What you’ll learn from this is how you can improve your performance. But if you do this correctly, your tanners won’t see this as an imposition. They will appreciate that you are committed to quality and to improving the service you provide.”
3. Stay On Message.
People come to tanning salons for many reasons. With “indoor lifestyles” as the norm, North Americans get less regular sun exposure today than at any point in our history – which means salon tanners will be turning to you for all of the therapeutic reasons that they would seek natural sun.
And even though it’s important that you and your staff understand the science behind all of these reasons, it’s also important that the message projected in your salon is consistent with the fact that indoor tanning is a cosmetic business.
This means the common message about risks, benefits and effects of UV exposure needs to be simple and clear:
“It’s my job to get you a beautiful tan and help you prevent sunburn.”
“Everyone agrees there are risks of getting too much UV from the sun or from a sunbed. It’s my job to get you a beautiful tan and help you prevent sunburn.”
“I’m not a doctor. There are lots of opinions on this. It’s my job to get you a beautiful tan and help you prevent sunburn.”
4. Spray-Tanning IS Tanning.
The UV-tanning community has fully accepted spray-tanning as an equal partner in our overall landscape. Aside from the fact that a spray-tan does not offer the same photo-protection from sunburn that a UV tan affords, spray-tans have come a long way – and so have salons that have integrated spray into their business models.
Your salon should embrace the fact that there are two viable ways to help people achieve a golden glow today. UV and Spray support each other.
5. Get Involved with ASA.
Since its inception in 2012, the American Suntanning Association: (1) Has held thousands of meetings in Washington, D.C. with members of Congress and their staffs – meetings that are key to protecting the future of your business; (2) Has led state lobbying initiatives in 43 states and has protected the market from over-regulation while promoting the industry’s message of responsibility.
To join ASA today, visit AmericanSuntanning.org/register.
