Taking time out to write this article has given me the opportunity to reflect on the enormity of the past six months and wonder what indeed the next six will bring. Of course, I think about the pandemic every day (who doesn’t?) and the impact it has had on all of us in so many different ways. There can be no doubt about the levels of devastation it has caused in terms of human loss, business loss and the inevitable ripple effect of loss permeating all of our lives.
[gap height=”15″]
But as a person who always tries to look at his glass as half-full, I am keen to focus on the positives that I have experienced and also the positive experiences of others I have heard about over the last six months – yes there have been some, indeed many! – and ultimately, how we can hope to build upon these going forward.
[gap height=”15″]
There cannot be an industry or sector that hasn’t been negatively impacted by the pandemic, but the indoor tanning industry is overall showing signs of having used lockdown positively. There are countless examples of operators who used lockdown not only to deep-clean the salon, but their business approach, too! Training, marketing and customer experience are just some of the disciplines that have been re-visited, enhanced and ultimately improved upon. We ran some amazing online education webinars for our salon customers which were extremely popular and well attended.
[gap height=”15″]
[gap height=”15″]
There cannot be an industry or sector that hasn’t been negatively impacted by the pandemic, but our industry is overall showing signs of having used lockdown positively.
[gap height=”15″]
Interestingly, input to these areas during lockdown was influenced not only by “available time” but also by inspiring discussions with those not normally part of the salon owner’s decision-making process, i.e. family and friends. Regular online gatherings during lockdown saw many of us having more in-depth discussions with our nearest and dearest (another positive!) Turns out, ideas and initiatives fuelled by sharing experiences in different industries has had a positive impact on many salon operators, resulting in an invigorated drive to be the best and most professional tanning salon in town!
[gap height=”15″]
Lockdown delivered another unexpected yet bizarrely intriguing bonus. During lockdown, the anti-tanning bed lobby was propitiously yet suspiciously quiet, no doubt in part due to the plethora of media stories that ran consistently, highlighting the importance of sunshine and vitamin D to boost our immune systems, clearly relevant at any time but particularly so during a pandemic. You have to ask yourself, what better time could there have been for a campaign to engage and lobby with the population, its target audience, than whilst the majority of the nation was unfortunately confined to home for weeks on end, with long, empty hours to fill? Whatever one thinks about the campaign or what questions could be posed as to why this happened – or rather didn’t happen – the result is unequivocally the same – it’s a slam-dunk opportunity missed. This conundrum was further compounded when, as soon as we came out of lockdown, the anti-tanning bed lobby picked up its derisory effort to attempt to besmirch our industry. One can only assume it must have been startled by the quick out of the box, robust marketing efforts of the many professional operators re-invigorated and focused on getting their businesses back on track. Yet, despite its apparently best efforts and “scraping the barrel” to achieve this, acknowledgement comes from little more than a handful of individuals, with some social media platforms apparently abandoned. So, it will come as no surprise that I put this down as another positive to note and fill my glass to the brim!
[gap height=”15″]
[gap height=”15″]
