Do you ever walk into your salon and think, “this place is a pig sty,” and then have a guest tell you moments later how much they love your salon and how clean it is? Worse, do you ever have the opposite happen? You see sparkling clean, and the customer complains about the one speck of dirt or dust in the entire store. These moments are important to remind us to always look at our business through the eyes of those who are the most important to please: our guests.
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When training our teams, we make sure to tell them time and time again how important it is to always look at the salon through fresh eyes. When you see the same thing every day (and clean the same beds 20+ times each day), the loose screws start to blur together. Here are a few tips to help keep your salon fresh to your customers’ eyes:
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1. Change your retail area. At least quarterly, re-work your retail displays. Move lotions around, change the way products are merchandised. You’ll be surprised when products you’ve had for months suddenly move when a guest says, “I’ve never seen this before!”
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2. Assign a “Bed of the Day.” A few months ago, our manager came up with this as a good way to give our teams some focus on what needs to be cleaned each day. We found that saying “clean whenever you have downtime” is too general, and doesn’t give ownership of the task to any one person. Instead, we now have a chart, and each day lists 2-3 beds that are to be “deep cleaned” on that day. When we give them just a couple to focus on, they are able to check that task off the list. They walk into a tanning room, analyze the bed’s condition, and clean it as necessary.
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3. Recruit Secret Shoppers. This is great for more than just looking at the salon through your guests’ eyes – this will help you understand the guest experience your staff provides when you aren’t there. Recruit friends or customers to “secret shop” your salon and experience the full service that happens when you’re not at the counter. This exercise highlights areas of success and weakness, so you’ll know what to work on with your team.
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When training our teams, we make sure to tell them time and time again how important it is to always look at the salon through fresh eyes.
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4. Re-evaluate packages. While your packages may make sense to you and your staff, they may be confusing to your customers! Try to look at your price list objectively, imagining that you didn’t know what tanning beds are and how it all works. If you were a new customer, would you understand what your price list communicates?
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Hint: if your staff asks questions about packages/deals, that means they are confused. If they are confused, your customers certainly are.
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5. Small improvements yield big results! Not every change to your salon has to be a massive remodel. Taking time to make small updates – touching up paint, adding new mirrors, a new piece of furniture in the lobby … small improvements are easy on the budget and remind your guests that you care and are always looking to improve.
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In these last few months of lighter tanner traffic, take some time to look at the facility through customers’ eyes and make things better!
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