Can you remember the first day you got “permission” to re-open your tanning facility after the illegal and unconstitutional COVID lockdowns were lifted? I can. We didn’t have hundreds of customers busting down our doors that day; but the ones we did have were spending money like they’d hit the jackpot.
It was almost like people were spending money they hadn’t earned. It was almost like people were given more FREE money to stay home than they were making when they were actually working and were more than happy to spend it like crazy for the next few months.
What happened next? The illegal and unconstitutional lockdowns were lifted and most people went back to work and got pay raises for coming back to supplement the FREE $600 they were getting each week from the government to stay at home and watch “Tiger King” on Netflix. And our tanning businesses still boomed for a while.
Then, the free money stopped and inflation went off the rails. Cost of electricity skyrocketed. Cost of gas doubled. Cost of cars, the cost of entertainment, the cost of food all went up 20%, sometimes more. Heck, even Chick-fil-A costs over $40 to feed a family of four. And we haven’t even touched upon the interest rates that skyrocketed from 3% to almost double digits in what seemed like a blink of the eye.
And right now, where are we? Probably in the most intense and interesting election cycle ever. We already have witnessed an assassination attempt on a former President, the “early retirement” of a sitting President, and a Democrat candidate nominated without receiving a single primary vote. What does all of this combined with all those rising costs mean? Scared consumers. And just like YG said “scared money don’t make money” or in this case, “don’t spend money.”
Not many consumers are walking into your salons right now saying, “Keep the change” or dishing out $50 tips; it seems quite the opposite. It seems folks are trying to save money and pinch pennies anywhere they can because the cost of everything is so high.
Not many of your current salon guests are saying, ‘Keep the change’ or dishing out $50 tips; it seems quite the opposite.”
What can you do as a salon owner? Tighten up your game. Provide additional, continual education for your team members so that they can maximize each and every sales opportunity. At this time of the year, a low-traffic salon is probably seeing close to 50 tans/opportunities each day; a high-volume facility is probably seeing two-to-three times as many opportunities. If you’re able to generate just $1 more per tan, that’s an extra $50 – $150 a day or $1,500 to $4,500 each month. And it’s not hard to generate an average $1 more per tan. An extra lotion bottle sale versus a single sample sale can get you there. Turning a single session into a membership sale can get you there. Or, just convincing a few guests to add a loved one to their family plan could get you that extra $1 per tan.
Closing thought: For the next 4-6 months, focus on doing more with less.
This article is the opinion of The People’s Champ about what he sees going on in the real, day-to-day tanning world. Meant to be comedic/informative, the opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of IST Magazine, so before you complain to the IST Brass about The People’s Champ, take a chill pill.
