Life is about a journey of experiences, good and bad. Our memories are made from these experiences and we intuitively find ourselves drawing upon them to reflect, adjust, make decisions and steer our paths going forward.
The osmosis of experiences into life’s rich pattern does not only apply to our personal lives, they can and do equally apply to business. Increasingly, we hear the word “experience” being used to reflect upon everything from booking an airline ticket to buying a new kitchen.
The end product is something you will have already made the decision to buy but it’s the journey getting to the end of the experience; having the ticket in your hand – albeit more likely your email inbox – to enjoying that first meal cooked in your glistening new kitchen that you will intuitively reflect upon as much as the end product itself. And in business, it’s that journey, that experience as well as the end product that will determine whether you go back for more and, just as importantly, whether you recommend the same experience to your friends and family.
I would suggest that ensuring your salon guests have the best experience you can provide them with, alongside an excellent tan, is perhaps more important now than ever before.
It’s a well known fact that word of mouth recommendations have always been the most cost effective form of marketing. This is still the case but with social media now the first choice of communication, certainly for the under-35s, word of mouth has entered a whole new realm with a potentially global reach! So when the experience is good, it can be very, very good for business, but when the experience is bad – the outcome for your business can be horrid!
Certainly here in the UK and across mainland Europe, the last few years have seen a significant improvement in the whole indoor tanning experience. Not least is the shift in name from “tanning parlour” – which sounds like something from the era of Queen Victoria! – to tanning salon or tanning studio. Some businesses, in an effort to differentiate and better represent the range of products and services available, are now marketing themselves as stores.
The look of today’s modern salon is a better reflection of the industry as a whole – the focus is on professionalism, with investment in salon fittings, layout, imagery and, of course, the tanning beds. All of these elements create the first good visual impression as part of that “experience.” Cleanliness, a retail area for tanning lotions and accessories, and very importantly a well-trained staff to provide a warm, welcoming and informative customer dialogue keep ticking all of those “experience” boxes.
And I would suggest that ensuring your salon guests have the best experience you can provide them with, alongside an excellent tan, is perhaps more important now than ever before.
Creating a confidence within your guests about their tanning experience in your salon means they are, of course, less likely to consider trying your competition and importantly less likely to be influenced by the continued negativity that they will also “experience” in the media, online and elsewhere, even from friends and family.
Raising questions about any aspect of tanning with a salon professional should be no different from, say, the experience you have with a cosmetologist about the pros and cons of different beauty treatments and regimes.
I believe there was a time when tanning salons were as much about getting tanners in and out as quickly as possible, as they were about the tan. Those days are thankfully long gone. And, of course, when salon guests are relaxed and feeling good about their experience, they are more likely to be open to new products, special offers and extending their dollar spent with you – as well as telling their friends and social media all about it! ■
