Money is tight these days – how can you train your staff affordably, except to do it yourself? And with staff turnover, time and money is often spent, only to have them quit. Luckily, a number of tanning product vendors offer FREE and inexpensive training that will allow you to staff your salon with a well-trained team with very little time or planning.
Let’s cover a few of the no cost ways to train your team. Many tanning product companies offer on demand training, which means you just go out to their website, click a button, and a pre-recorded seminar will play. You can stop and start at will, just like watching a rented DVD. You can watch the session as many times as you like, any time of the day or night. For example, Australian Gold has an entire training library at TrainWithAG. com. You can learn how to sell lotions, how to be professional in a salon and learn about their entire product line. To take advantage of Devoted Creations educational library, just head to the Customer Support section at DevotedCreations.com and call for a login code. Performance Brands has one-minute YouTube videos on each of their products, so your staff can quickly learn the product benefits in under sixty seconds! Taking a different approach, Eye Pro offers just one training: a free, 40-minute session on why eye protection is critical. The presentation includes dozens of gory eye damage photos and covers all state and federal laws on eye protection. At the end of the Eye Pro training, your staff fills in a form and receives a package of product samples and an eight-page guide on eye protection to share with your clients.
Another way to train your team without leaving your town is utilizing FREE webinars. Webinars differ from on demand training. Instead of being recorded, webinars are live and interactive. Scheduled at a specific time, you “attend” the online class and can type in questions and have them answered during the presentation. Check out Supre.com, DevotedCreations.com and TrainWithAG.com. PerformanceBrands.com offers Skype trainings, so you can see the Powerpoint presentation AND the trainer – it’s more interactive and entertaining.
If you’d like to have some live train ing in your salon, many tanning lotion companies will come to your salon and train your staff. Some have a minimum number of attendees required, but if you are zealous about their products, they will come to you. Excellent trainers are available from Devoted Creations, New Sunshine, Supre and Performance Brands. Now is the time to contact them, so you get worked into their schedule when they travel to your area.
A number of tanning product vendors offer FREE & inexpensive training that will allow you to staff your salon with a well-trained team with very little time or planning.
If you offer spray-tanning at your salon, check out the on demand sunless training at NorvellTanning.com. Norvell University’s basic course for hand-held spray-tanning is $25 per person, but includes a 65-page manual and a test each trainee must pass to receive their certificate. Norvell offers several formats – take it at your own pace online, participate in a live webinar or attend one of 50 in-person conferences throughout the year. Once your staff has their Norvell Basic Certification, your team can then take a live training to receive Norvell Master Sunless Certification, where each trainee will learn to properly hand-spray a model. New this year is California Tan’s Sunless certification program called Doctorate of Sunless Science. The program is designed to help grow your sunless business by learning key selling tools, relationship building, and spray techniques and guidelines all for FREE! Contact your distributor today for a schedule of classes in your area.
What about being trained on your salon’s equipment and actually running the store? Several sunbed manufacturers and distributors have built full, working salons in their showrooms. You can actually learn about all their equipment and run their salon to learn their software! Check out PC Marketing, Suntan Supply, Future Industries, Ergoline and Four Seasons,to name a few. Also, JK North America Ergoline will train their customers and their technicians for FREE on their equipment in a two-day, intensive seminar they hold at their Arkansas headquarters twice a year. Need some technical info? Check out the websites – for example, salon owners can access technical info on all Ergoline, Soltron, ETS and Sundash equipment at JKAmerica.com. This site also offers informative webinars and a free Sun Business Magazine.
Let’s not forget salon operator certification! If your staff has been certified in the past, you may want to try another program to make sure your team has the most current, factual info. A new, online certification program called Sun Is Life® is available at SunIsLifeTraining.com and costs just $9 per module. Using video to showcase different scenarios, the training is very engaging and broken into small, specific subjects presented in 15-minute modules so you can customize your staff’s learning plan.
And you can always be certified or learn about a myriad of tanning products by attending national and regional trade events. Ask your favorite distributors about upcoming dates, check istmagazine. com, as well as manufacturer websites and Facebook pages for shows near you. The key is to train often and train early.
Happy learning!
