ETS Tanning Bed Blog

Here are 6 key strategies that you can use to bring tanners back into your tanning beds more often. Remember, your repeat and returning clients are your business’s bread and butter, so use these strategies wisely to not only get them coming back, but also spending more at every visit.

1. Communicate with your customers.
Communicating with your customers doesn’t mean sending them a mass email, it means building a personal relationship with each of them.

• Start by learning everyone’s name.
• If a customer tries a new lotion, call them in a few days to see how they liked it.
• If a customer upgrades to a new tanning bed , follow up with an email asking about the results.

Basically, start communicating with your customers on a truly personal level.

2. Acknowledge your customers and make them feel special.
Keep your tanning bed users coming back by acknowledging them and making them feel special. A great way to do this is to host a special event around the holidays, put on an open house or treat your best customers to free samples of lotions, tanning bed sessions, etc.

3. Create and sell long-term buying programs.
You should already have monthly membership scheme for your tanning beds, but do you have:

• A Tanning Product of the Month Club?
• Do you offer discounts on tanning package "refills" or multiple tanning lotion purchases?
• What about varying tanning membership levels?

These are all programs you can create to get your customers buying more over the long term.

4. Use price incentives to lure clients into trying new services.
Let’s say you just got a new Velocity tanning bed in, but no one’s trying it (hard to believe that would happen, I know!). Instead of letting that new bed sit empty, try offering your clients one free upgrade or a discounted rate on the new bed. That kind of price incentive could convince a client to try the new tanning bed and stick with it at the higher price.

5. Develop a range of products you can sell.
Stop and ask yourself:
The goal of this exercise isn’t to flood your business with non-applicable offerings, but to focus on what could fit into your existing product line.

For example, one tanning salon owner I know noticed that the bulk of her new clients came in because they were planning a vacation and wanted to get a base tan. So, she started stocking small travel accessories that were functional and chic. She saw a major return on her investment.

6. Promote other businesses.
We’ve talked about cross-promotion before, but it’s definitely worth mentioning again. Just as your own client list is valuable, so are those of fellow businesses. Develop a relationship with a complimentary business like a nail salon, cosmetic dentist or local gym and start trading referrals.

Frequent buyer programs can be a great way to retain customers and keep them coming back. For example, a friend of mine loves coffee. And we all know there are lots of choices for purchasing a cup o' joe.  But... everytime he goes to a particular local coffee shop and buys a coffee, they swipe his rewards card and record his purchase. After purchasing 10 coffees, he gets a free one. He also gets the occasional email coupon thanking him for being a customer and offering him a free specialty drink. It’s an effective strategy and one that keeps him passing up the competition and coming back for the rewards.

Frequent buyer programs work for three reasons:

1. Provide an incentive for customers to return or buy more.

Creating an Experience

Product prices can vary depending on the context in which it’s delivered. For example, a shipping container full of dirty coffee beans is one thing and a premium, no-fat, mocha latte is another. That same principle can apply to your tanning salon.

Why Luxury Levels Work

Luxury levels work because they make customers feel privileged, they invoke status and they provide an experience.

Stop Charging Lower Prices

You may think that the secret to success is being able to charge a lower rate than the tanning salon down the street. But, do you really want to be the discount bin tanning salon known for its low, low prices, flickering fluorescent tube lighting and chipping wall paint? I hope not.

If you want to successfully market your tanning salon business to a higher echelon of customer, you need to appeal to that customer. And since you can’t do that having the lowest prices in town, stop worrying about price and start worrying about the experience.

Why Charging Higher Prices Can Work

Your tanning salon is more than just a space to hold tanning beds – it’s a sales tool. Just like your out-of-store advertising or your employees, your salon space itself is a way to sell your tanning packages.

 So, how do you turn your tanning salon into a customer-referring, power-selling space?

Ask Yourself “Does it Sell?”

The male customer can be an elusive prize, particularly for tanning salons that combine their tanning bed salons with beauty or spa services. But, since men are such a huge source of potential new tanning bed customers , what’s the best way for a tanning salon to market to men?

1. Focus on Your People

Your staff needs to be able to respond well to male clients and understand that their needs are different to women’s. For example, men that are new to tanning may be shy and need some reassurance.

It may sound cold, but you must evaluate every employee in your tanning business as a profit center.

Look at it this way, if you hire an employee to work 40 hours a week and you give them a basic salary of $8 per hour, then you’re paying out $320 a week, not including the additional expense of taxes, insurance and paperwork.

In turn, you should be asking yourself “how much profit does this employee bring in?” The cold, hard truth of the matter is that when it comes down to it, every employee should be evaluated by how much profit and how much revenue they’re bringing in.