Every member of your staff has a role to play! Tanning salon operators must recognize that their team is “on stage” every time they are working a shift in the store.
Stage more engaging encounters for every guest. Better performances that focus on guest interaction turn traditional, scripted customer contact into customized experiences that inspire higher lotion sales!
Replace the worn out, scripted “employee meeting” with high-energy “acting” classes. During these classes, team leaders should direct their cast members and give them roles to play, help them define their roles and practice those roles so that they feel confident and can deliver better performances on the tanning salon sales floor.
Your First Acting Class
A surefire way to provide a truly uninspired visit for a salon guest is to walk her through the same played-out, boring impersonal routine time after time … c’mon, we’ve all heard it: “Tanned here before?” “All set with lotion?” “Okay, room 8 is all set …” sounds familiar, I’m sure.
To get your co-stars (salon guests) more involved in their tanning experience, practice turning plain ol’ scripted greetings into immediate ice-breakers. Try some of these instead:
- “Hi, (insert guest name here)! As your color counselor, how can I help your skin look its best today?”
- “Hi! My name is David and my job is to help you get the most out of your visit today. First, let’s take a look at some products that will get your skin ready for a great session!”
- “Hi, (insert guest name here)! As your color expert, my goal is to not only help you get a great tan, but also help your skin look beautiful during the process (you might pick up a bottle of one of your new products and mention the benefits of a specific ingredient, like a powerful new anti-oxidant or skin-firmer).
The real goal of these acting classes is to actually practice and rehearse each possible verbal exchange that can occur between members of your team and your guests.
Remember: Great actors practice!
Put incredible selling tools at their fingertips. You offer a vast range of products that feature dozens of unique skin-enhancing bronzers for pretty much any skin tone – yet, “This will get you really dark” or “It has DHA in it” are about the most descriptive explanations of bronzers I hear from the staff I train at most salons.
Practice more detailed explanations of your incredible bronzers that will get a guest excited to try them AND buy them. Try some of these instead:
- “(Insert product name) contains a combination of natural bronzers including Black Walnut Shell Extract that will instantly boost your skin’s natural tones.”
- “This (bronzer name) has a touch of natural Kukui Nut and Henna that will darken your skin a shade or two before your session even starts!”
- “This product contains a unique type of bronzer that continues to develop color over the next couple hours after your session to even out and perfect your tan.”
Have fun with it! Your new acting classes should be fun with the goal of having everyone participating and practicing their in-salon roles. It helps them feel confident if they use their own style and their own words, so have them come up with their own greetings, product descriptions and responses to possible objections – and let the acting classes begin!
Your new acting classes should be fun, with the goal of having everyone participating and practicing their in-salon roles.
