Beating The Summer Slowdown Think Outside The Booth By Matt Morgan

The hot summer months usually mean one thing for indoor tanning salon owners: slow sales. Even regular tanners take to the beaches, leaving beds and booths seemingly powerless. Never fear. Successful salons have learned to roll with the punches, strengthen their summertime deals and diversify their businesses to grind through the tough sales months of July and August.

"It's really hard this time of year," laments Pamela Huson, co-owner of the six-salon Paradise Bay network in the greater Seattle area. "No matter how much you advertise, it seems like it's always pretty much the same. People just stop coming in, for whatever reason. I have no idea."

Experienced owners tend to have a tried-and-true sale they like to offer to get tanners coming back during July and August. Paradise Bay runs specials during the summer that entice clients to come in. "One thing that works really well, I think, is if you sell a bottle of lotion, give away free tans," Huson says. Other deals could include giving away free product with, for example, a $50 purchase.

Like many salon owners, Huson stresses the importance of at least maintaining the level of advertisement and effort toward sales during the slow summer months. Paradise Bay historically has advertised on the back of register tapes and in the Yellow Pages. But the company is beginning to scale back ads in the phone directory for the wider, more immediate recognition of TV commercials. "It's cheaper for us than paper," she says. "We're going to see how that goes."

TV ads aren't for everyone, she notes, because the bang-for-bucks ratio depends on the number of salons and the size of the salon's market. It seems Paradise Bay's six locations and the Seattle market may be a good fit.

It's no secret that customer service is important in a sales environment. Customers who are treated with respect and courtesy will be happy to return the favor with business--time and again. This is especially true considering the number of alternatives the public has these days, with tanning salons popping up throughout the country as well as the emergence of divergence.

1 Tabitha Myers, owner of Tanning Place in Nashville, Tenn., goes with what always has worked: listening to her employees and clients. It is cost effective, promotes communication within the company and builds customer service. Each month, she meets with her employees to discuss what their customers are saying about the products, packages and prices.

"I rely on my employees so much," she says. "When I have employee meetings I always ask the girls, 'What are people asking for? What do they want? Do y'all think I should mark it down?"

Tanning Place also holds an annual sale during the month of Myers' birthday, which happens to be in July. The sale changes each year, but it's eagerly anticipated.

"I always run some kind of outrageous special the week of my birthday," she says. "People look forward to that. They'll ask me, 'When is your birthday? When is it coming up?'"

Beach Bums, Inc. in Yakima, Wash., is busy through June, so the specials typically start July 1.

"I reserve the better specials for the slower months and run the unlimiteds on sale," says Vice President Dona Heit. "One in particular is the Endless Summer special, which is a three-month unlimited for $85. I like to do the bigger packages of the unlimiteds on sale during the slow season."

Always Tan in Melbourne, Fla., offers a special every month covering lotion promotions or tanning packages. But Owner Dan Peragine capitalizes on the wonders of the Internet to kick-start his summer sales. He maintains an e-mail database of his clients, and sends a message to them each year giving notice of the special.

"Around June, I put up a special," Peragine says. "I call it the Summer Fun special. I give a highly discounted rate on an unlimited package that goes throughout the whole summer. It locks people in to come in here. I sell a ton of those things."

Huson of Paradise Bay also realizes the benefit to e-mail. "We're getting our customers to give us e-mail information so we can directly contact them," she says. "It's a great way to go. It will take a while to get all that started, but as it goes, it will be another avenue for salon owners to consider, because it's free."

Discount Dangers And Diversification

There is something to be said for not discounting too much, however. "If somebody can get something for nothing, they're not going to pay you for it when you're charging for it," says Michael Domanowski, CEO of The Beach in Bardonia, N.Y. "It's no good to bring down your initial package pricing to almost zero, because if the perceived value of tanning is nothing then people aren't willing to even pay for it during the in-season."

2 The Beach's slow season doesn't start until September. For summer, he promotes long- term packages--but not unlimited memberships--to get people in his doors. "The end of May or beginning of June I'll start running a special on my six-month Beach Pass, which will take people right on through to January, where they may not be tanning in September, October, November or December," Domanowski explains. "A six-month Beach Pass will keep them coming in for that length of time--maybe not as frequently, but it will keep them coming in."

The most innovative part about Domanowski's Beach Pass is the copay. "They have a copay every time they come in here, so they're not just tanning for what they purchased back in May or June," he says. "Each day they come in they also have to give me a small fee for utilizing the beds. That helps cash flow during the slow periods of time when I'm really not selling a lot of packages. I still have these 25 to 40 people coming in every day paying me between $2.50 and $10."

Tired of losing summer business to drug stores carrying cheap sunscreen? Offer SPFs. After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If customers are going to head to the beach instead of a salon, it might as well have professional-quality sunscreens available for them. The salon will get a sale out of the deal, and keep its customers coming back for more. Chuck Stenger, owner of Total You in Columbus, Ohio, has the idea. He makes sure he has plenty of SPFs in-store in summer for his beachgoing clients.

"If indoor tanners are already coming to us, and they think of us as the experts on tanning, we should be able to spread it into SPFs and gain their confidence with that," Stenger says. "The biggest problem with selling SPFs is the customer views it as a general commodity, such as gasoline. They'll shop for the cheapest gasoline without looking at the ingredients. I always tell people, 'You can shop for the cheapest gasoline and your car is going to run poorly, and you can shop for the cheapest SPFs and it may not apply, it may not work the way it's supposed to.' But SPFs in the salon are great for people who want to cover their face a little bit while they tan."

He also touts SPF lip balms as a great way to cover tattoos while tanning.

Owners also may consider offering other tanning-related products and services. Many salons carry refreshments and nutritional supplements because they understand the same health-conscious people frequenting their salons are the ones visiting gyms and health clubs, too.

Paradise Bay is diversifying with spray booths and infrared body wraps. "We've always done strictly tanning, so we're trying to add something else," Huson says. "That's something everybody can do. Those are the things that are kind of nice that might add a little bit of extra money, and there's hardly any cost to it."

For Heit of Beach Bums, diversifying with business comes back to tanning packages. She looks at it this way: "I figure if I can keep them coming in over the summer when it's

3 slow, there's every chance to sell a swimsuit, lotion or jewelry if their tans are already taken care of."

In Their Words

A handful of LOOKING FIT's Top 250 salons were willing to share their summer selling secrets. Here's what they had to say:

"Right before the summer is really going to hit, I send an e-mail out to everybody reminding them of our Summer Fun package, how much it is and what it does--and it gets direct e-mailed to my clients' homes."

Dan Peragine, Always Tan Melbourne, Fla.

"I like to run what I call a Beach Pass at a reduced rate. They have a copay every time they come in here, so they're not just tanning for what they purchased back in May or June. That helps cash flow during the slow periods of time when I'm really not selling a lot of packages."

Michael Domanowski, The Beach Bardonia, N.Y.

"I like to do the bigger packages of the unlimiteds on sale during the slow season. I figure if I can keep them coming in over the summer when it's slow, there's every chance to sell a swimsuit, lotion or jewelry if their tans are already taken care of."

Dona Heit, Beach Bums, Inc. Yakima, Wash.

"Other than maintaining our level of advertising throughout the slow season, we do run different specials--things that are a little bit more enticing. One thing that works really well, I think, is if you sell a bottle of lotion, give away free tans."

Pamela Huson, Paradise Bay Woodinville, Wash.

"July is my birthday month, and I always run some kind of outrageous special the week of my birthday. People look forward to that."

Tabitha Myers, Tanning Place Nashville, Tenn.

"If indoor tanners are already coming to us, and they think of us as the experts on tanning, we should be able to spread it into SPFs and gain their confidence with that.

4 SPFs in the salon are great for people who want to cover their face a little bit while they tan. That's one of the biggest things I use for selling SPFs."

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