When the days become longer and hotter, salon owners turn into salon slackers. They see these months as time for vacations, parties with friends and family and kicking back in every way possible. After all, there will be plenty of work to do in the fall, right? While that’s true, it doesn’t justify blowing off June, July and August, and possibly even September! While some salon owners are enjoying their summer fun, others are using this time to plan, strategize and grow their businesses. Let’s take a look at their industriousness … and what can be learned from it.
Kick it Off!
While this might come as a surprise, the summer can be a time of increased foot traffic in any tanning salon. If timed correctly, a free tan weekend, customer appreciation day or similar promotion held during the spring motivates people to purchase discounted packages designed to keep them tanning until August. While savvy salon owners have proven this concept successful, they don’t stop there …
Salon owner Darrell Ringler makes the most of his summers, and doesn’t pull any punches as to why. “There’s no such thing as down time,” he stated. “There’s too much to do!” To ensure things stay busy at Midas Touch Golden Tans in Emporia, KS, Darrell and his family start planting seeds during the spring. As he explained, “Each April, we host a free tan weekend that always draws a huge crowd. People take advantage of our special offers, which keep them tanning throughout the summer.” Since this year’s event marked the salon’s 12th anniversary, Midas Touch offered $12 sign-ups, $12 VersaPro spray-tan sessions and $12 BEAUTY ANGEL monthly memberships, as well as a 25-50% discount on lotions.
While August marks the end of summer, it’s also the time the Ringlers take one last shot at making the most of it. “August 18th is the first day of classes at Emporia State University,” explained Darrell, “and it’s the time the school hosts its business showcase. We have a booth there each year and give away all kinds of great prizes. The students love it.” Not only is this a great way to spike business for the last half of August, Darrell says it also keeps most of these students tanning at Midas Touch throughout the fall.
Growth During “Down Time”
Some salon owners might be terrified by the idea of opening a new facility during the summer. They might worry how they’d make up the money they invested during the slowest time of the year. Other salon owners, however, aren’t letting this “summer scare” keep them from growing their already-successful salon businesses. What’s their secret?
Opening a new Glo Sun Spa location in the spring meant Todd Earnhart had to market and promote that salon during the summer. He welcomed the challenge, adding, “We believe in our Glo Sun Spa concept so we’re confident about opening new stores any time of the year! We held a four-day grand opening event that included free tanning, and people came in droves to check it out.” Todd created other incentives for people to become members, including waiving the EFT enrollment fee, as well as specials on other memberships, packages and lotions. By all accounts, the new salon remained busy throughout the summer and beyond. “We all know our industry has experienced contraction,” Todd explained, “but anyone who’s not reinvesting in their businesses is just dying on the vine.”
The summer didn’t stop Stan Olszewski from growing his Copper Tan Professional Salons chain. In May, he began negotiating with his competitor to arrive at a rather unique arrangement – trading salon locations as a means of strengthening their ventures in their respective areas. After finalizing the deal in early July, Stan says he’s pleased with the arrangement, saying, “This was a great move for us because it allowed us to increase market share. The fact that we did it during the summer shouldn’t come as a surprise, either; it’s the time when every salon owner should be more aggressive with their sales and specials. Gaining new clients is the name of the game!”
Catch Up!
If the summer is slow, why not use the time wisely? Salon owners can do many things to improve their business and summer can be the perfect time to do it. Some tanning pros have already figured this out, making their so-called “down time” work for them.
During Perfect Tan’s busy season, Brian DeMint often finds himself saying, I wish I had time to do that. He writes down all of the “thats,” then bides his time until the off-peak months, which is the fall in Temecula, CA. Then, he and the Perfect Tan team go back to “the list” for some much-needed catch-up. As he recalled, “Last year, we kicked off a major project – acquiring some empty space next door – and completed it just before peak season. When things slow down this year, we plan to install a new floor in our lobby and a few other cosmetic improvements.” Training and re-training staff on every aspect of Perfect Tan’s 50-page employee manual is also a big summer focus, as is product and sales education.
By mid-summer, Darrell Ringler and his daughters, Amy and Lauren, like getting things caught up at Midas Touch Golden Tans. “It’s the perfect time to take each tanning unit apart, clean it and do any maintenance required,” Darrell said. “We’ve been doing this for 12 years now and have it down to a science.” In July, Amy took six staff members to a Devoted Creations lotion seminar held at Heartland Tanning, Inc. “Lisa Parsons (Devoted Creations) did a great job training everyone,” Darrell added. “She got us motivated and excited about selling, and it’s increased everyone’s product sales!”
What You Don’t Know …
… Can help you! We’re talking about the articles printed each month in ist Magazine, and we know some of you put off reading it during the summer. You might mean to, even putting them aside in hopes of getting to them later, but you sometimes end up losing them. It’s a shame because you don’t know what you’re missing!
For the eight years she’s owned and operated Coconut Beach Tanning, Diane Nowicki has read every story in ist Magazine, and for good reason. “There is so much information available in ist,” she said, “and I never put off reading it, not even during the summer. I’m always using a combination of ideas that I picked up from ist and other sources because it helps my business during the off-peak months.” After reading the June and July issues, Diane utilized at least one summer sales idea – 60 days for $60, or 120 days for $120 – in July. “To keep them coming back, I included an incentive, such as half-off all upgrades, and ran the special for four months.”
This summer, salon owner Susan Lebb took the time to read ist Magazine, and she gathered many useful tips from Lisa Parson’s (Devoted Creations) “Notes from the Road” column. As Susan explained, “I liked all of the ideas to get our tanners to stay through the rest of the year. I especially liked the suggestion to charge a set fee for unlimited tanning until the end of the year, and the 90-day upgrade plan.” Susan also liked Lisa’s suggestion to allow tanners to try a new unit for three months, and she’s sure the lotion credit will appeal to many of her salon guests. “I also want to try the ideas presented in August’s ‘Salon Pros Say’ feature next year!” she added. Susan and Bill Lebb own and operate Bronze Bodies in W. Berlin, NJ.
If summer is slow, why not train your staff? Professionalism behind-the-counter is one thing this industry needs more of, and there’s no better way to get it than Sun is Life® Training and Certification. “After two years in development, we’re proud to offer this educational program,” said Vince Lorraine, ist Publisher and Sun is Life creator. “Blending user-friendly technology with advanced training techniques, Sun is Life addresses the needs of salon operators and their staff.” This new genre of Internet-enabled learning was designed to change the way salon pros deliver customer service, promote responsible and moderate tanning and exhibit professionalism in their markets. “It’s become the leading online training and certification program in the U.S., with over 500 salon owners enjoying its benefits to their business,” Vince added.
Plan Ahead!
There’s a reason ist Magazine did this story, and it’s not to shame some salon owners with the successes of their peers. Instead, it’s to shake up the notion that everyone should just throw their hands in the air and give up the moment summer starts. As the salon pros interviewed in this story have shown, there’s much work to be done from June to August and even more profits to be made; the only thing that needs to change is this industry’s perception of summer. And as to why a story about the summer ran in the September issue … it gives everyone eight months to look back on what they did (and didn’t do) this year, and look forward to a successful summer in 2015! ■
