By Roy Griffith, Sales Engineer ETS, LLC

1. Referrals
Possibly one of the best and cheapest ways of attracting new clientele is from referrals. Simply place your business cards in every tanning room with a place for your customer’s name to be filled out on the back. When the referral of your customer walks in and buys a tan, you then credit your existing customer with a single tan on your best piece of equipment.

2. Employees
Your Employees are sales people not receptionists. Too often I will visit a salon that had shy, reserved employees who are more receptionist than sales person. Hire friendly, outgoing, professionally behaving employees and you will have better financial success. Hiring your niece or other relative may sound like a good idea but unless she fits the criteria listed above then you are severely limiting your business.

3. Let your staff tan for free!
Many salons I have visited and talk to, charge their staff to tan. This is not good business sense. The most profitable salons I talk to, only let their staff tan for free on their best piece of equipment and won’t allow them to tan on a base bed or mid-level bed. After all, the majority of your profits come from upgrading your customers to your bigger beds. If your employees are excited about the high-end equipment then this will project onto the customer and get the customer excited about the bigger beds, making them want to upgrade.

4. Email Lists
Be sure to collect an email from every customer that comes in your salon. Remember that this an excellent and basically free way of advertising for you and a direct way to communicate with your customers. Never “spam” your customers and only send out emails if you are truly offering something of value for them that will save them money. Contact more than once a month will be considered a nuisance.

5. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
WRONG! If it isn’t broke, break it and make it better. Too many salons rest on their laurels if things are going well. Constant improvement is the only key to survival and success in the modern business world.

6. Free tanning for new customers
Invite first time tanners to tan for free for a week or month and make sure they use your best equipment. This way you have an opportunity to sell lotion, gain a customer and by having them tan on your best equipment it will be hard for them to tan on your cheaper, less profitable units.