Posts Tagged ‘tanning beds’
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
No architect would think of constructing a building without a blueprint. Yet many tanning salon owners today are seeking new clients, introducing new services and even planning new locations without a clearly defined marketing plan.
Most companies have marketing plans, although some may be outdated and in need of revision. Your marketing plan should be comprised of small, interrelated steps that involve everything from how your signage looks and how your employees treat customers to the cleanliness of your salon and your salon’s image in your community. All these items involve marketing and all must be planned, coordinated and evaluated in an overall action-oriented and cost-effective blueprint. That blueprint is the marketing plan that outlines the path your business will follow to long-term growth.
If you do not know where to start, you may have to hire a marketing professional or team. But basically, your marketing plan can be segmented into four steps.
Define your current situation.
Situation analysis is usually the longest portion of the marketing plan. It is a statement of where your business is today and how it got there. It should include all relevant facts about the company’s history, growth, products, services, sales volume, share of market, competitive status, markets served, past advertising programs, results of marketing research studies, company capabilities, strengths and weaknesses and any other pertinent information. Marketing requires a clear understanding of what you have to offer, what you want to achieve through marketing and how you are going to communicate to your audiences.
Strategize and write the plan.
Exercise your creativity by setting meaningful goals. Vague directions result in wasted time. Ask yourself how changes will take place. Be specific so you can measure progress. Make a calendar or timetable of expected change and anticipate problems and how you will solve them. You must plan for any training that might be needed to get you or your staff ready, decide who you will target and then prepare advertising and other communication vehicles to reach those particular markets. Your plan must include a sensible time table, a realistic program budget and a back-up plan in case the market changes, the economic climate is altered or to face competition. Establish a launch date and plan backward from it.
A key factor in determining an overall marketing plan for your business is determining the image you want to project to your clients and non-clients. It is helpful to consider what the local community knows about your business, what image you want in your community and how our salon’s image has changed over the years.
Also, you must know the position of your salon against the total market. The position is basically what makes your salon unique. Do you have a clearly identified position? If so, what is it? Proper positioning can make a positive difference when it is consistent and consciously built in a way the practice is operated. Good positioning will also work well against the competition.
Implement your plan.
After you have written your plan, take some time each day to implement a part of it then visualize the end result. Assign tasks to staff members and pursue your market with consistency. Implementation means follow through at all points. Identify key referral sources and target each for new business. Incentivize new customers and existing ones for coming to you. Train new staff members to develop new business.
Evaluate your progress.
As your plan takes shape, you may notice that some of your objectives have changed. Do not lock yourself into a result you no longer want. Be open to adjusting your marketing plan to a changing market. A monitoring and evaluation step should be included to track results and make changes as needed.
Conduct weekly or monthly meetings with your staff to review projects, budgets and new business. Review milestones set in the original plan to be sure you are on track.
Some problems you may run into are lack of coordination, communication or personnel commitment to your marketing plan. These three things can be the difference between a workable plan that gets results and a meaningless effort.
It is also important that those who develop the marketing plan are determined. They must be committed to seeing that the items on your list get done well and on time. When approving the plan, they must be able to consider a full range of alternatives and have the confidence to push your salon toward these alternatives, even if it means making things more challenging for themselves or others.
A completed marketing plan is one that is well thought out, using all staff input and involves senior- and middle-level employees working together to accomplish mutually agreed-upon goals. If all this is accomplished, your marketing plan can be successful in making things happen for your tanning salon.
Tags: blogging, business development, business development tips, customer appreciation, customer service, ETS, ets tan, indoor tanning, indoor tanning bed, indoor tanning beds, indoor tanning salon, tanning, tanning bed, tanning beds, tanning salon Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Friday, September 24th, 2010
Two months after taking effect, the 10 percent federal luxury tax on tanning, one way or another, has hurt tanning sales according to a SmartTan.com poll of tanning facility owners conducted in late August. Three-quarters of tanning business owners say the tax has hurt sales, according to the poll. Almost one-quarter said the tax has had no impact on their sales. Less than 1 percent felt the tax actually helped tanning sales. That result is identical to a SmartTan.com poll conducted in mid-July.
… “The 10 percent federal luxury tax on tanning has created uncertainty more than anything else,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “We’re hearing mixed reports from owners on whether or not the tax itself has actually affected consumer habits. At this point, in most markets, I am more inclined to say that it has not affected consumer interest in tanning as much as it has just created uncertainty.”
Tags: ETS, ets tan, indoor tanning, Joseph Levy, Smart Tan. SmartTan.com, tan tax, tanning bed, tanning beds, tanning salon, tanning salons, tanning tax Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Remember back to the last time you walked into a new-to-you business. How did you feel? When you entered, did you notice how vivid the lighting was or how dark and dreary your surroundings were? Did things smell fresh or did you notice a particular odor? Was it loud or quiet inside? What types of things kept you busy if you found yourself waiting, such as magazines, TV programming or radio tunes?
Perception is reality. What your customers experience from the moment they enter your salon until the time they leave is critically important as you strive to retain your faithful clients and welcome new ones. Of course, the big things matter, like smiling and helpful employees, fast computers, efficient credit card approval machines and an overall comfortable, pleasing and inviting environment. But the little things matter a great deal, too.
In addition to your daily work to provide a safe, comfortable, sanitary and enjoyable experience for your clients, keep in mind this daily five-point checklist that can help you focus on some of the smaller things that can help you make a big impression on your customers and create a more satisfactory personal customer experience.
Take a look at … your floors. Throughout the day, ensure your floors are clean and dry. Make sure any area rugs or entrance mats appear straight and flat. Make sure no trash is on your floors. Straighten any chairs and tables that might get moved as your customers populate your store.
Take a look at … your windows and walls. Make sure your windows, including entry doors, are clean and smudge-free. Same for your walls. Ensure you don’t have outdated material available for view, such as a wall calendar or a poster. Make sure any public boards where flyers or business cards appear are neatly organized.
Take a look at … your showcase area. Make sure your front counter, typically the showcase area of any salon, is neat and clean. Coral your pens for credit card signatures in an attractive holder. Make sure any point of purchase items and marketing materials are organized neatly and are located away from where your customers may place their personal items while they’re signing their receipts. Ensure no one leaves food or drinks on your front counter.
Take a look at … those common areas. Make sure any magazines offered for customers are recent, in tact and neatly organized. Make sure the trash containers aren’t overflowing during the day. Ensure coffee cups, napkins and tissues left behind by customers are picked up and disposed of.
Take a look at … conditions outside. Make sure trash – especially cigarette butts – aren’t littering the entrance to your salon and adjoining businesses. During inclement weather, make sure the walkway to your salon’s entrance is safe and manageable. Make sure your signage outside appears clean and is fully functional if lighting is involved.
Tags: ETS, ets tan, indoor tanning, indoor tanning bed, tanning, tanning bed, tanning beds, tanning salon, tanning salons, tanning shop tips Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Customer service. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind:
Don’t make promises unless you will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship and good customer service is no exception.
Think before you give any promise – because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.
Listen to your customers. Let your customer talk and show them that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve any problem.
Deal with complaints. No one likes hearing complaints but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please one person at a time – and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.
Take the extra step. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you but your customers will notice when you make an extra effort. And they’ll tell others what you did.
Throw in something extra. Whether it’s a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use a product or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were going to get.
Remember, provide great customer service with a smile and hopefully the rewards will follow.
Tags: customer service, customer service tips, ETS, ets tan, tan tax, tanning, tanning bed, tanning beds, tanning lotion, tanning salon, tanning salons, tanning shop tips, tanning tax, Vitamin D Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
Here’s how to jump off the social networking cliff if you haven’t done so already. It’s easy. In just five simple steps, you can be fully engaged with friends, followers, customers, fans and colleagues that will help you share what you have to offer and grow your business.
1. Connect. The first step with any social networking strategy is connecting. You want to start by attracting friends, associates, followers, customers, prospects and contacts and build a base by watching what they’re saying and where they’re saying it. This one is pretty obvious. You can’t converse or share unless you have someone to converse and share with.
2. Converse. The second step is conversing and this is really going to depend on the medium. The tone of conversation on LinkedIn, for example, is drastically different than on Twitter. So, find a way to talk to your intended audience that’s both appropriate and engaging. And remember, the verb here is “converse,” not “speak.” Social networking is a two-way street.
3. Identify communities of interest. Where you talk and share is very important. Connection Centric communities are sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace all focus on who you know. The goal is to connect with friends and business contacts. Conversations happen because members of these sites have common interests or histories. Conversation Centric are sites like Twitter, Identi.ca and even old-school discussion forums and message boards where the community is all about the conversation. People connect for one simple reason: They want to talk about what is being talked about. Sharing Centric sites are where you can share talent or expertise, like Flickr, YouTube, Scribd and SlideShare, are sharing centric networks that let you share what you do or what you know and the networking and conversation happens because of what you share.
4. Share. Let’s say you’re a musician. What should you be doing with social networking? Sharing your music. Say you’re an accountant, what should you be doing? Sharing your accounting expertise. The point being, you don’t have to be a rock star to share your talents. If you have experience in a field, then share it. As an added bonus, the more you share, the more you’ll learn and the more of an expert you’ll become.
5. Jump in. Here’s a list of the most popular and heavily trafficked social networking sites. Go for it.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Plaxo
Yelp
Technorati
Reddit
Newsvine
Wikipedia
MySpace
Sphere
Scribd
Flickr
SlideShare
Friendfeed
Digg
StumbleUpon
Propeller
Del.icio.us
Mixx
TinyURL
Yahoo! Answers
NowPublic
MetaFilter
Fark
I am Bored
Searchies
Care2
Slashdot
ShowHype
NowPublic
BallHype
Linkinn
Killer Startups
Zoomer
Shoutwire
BuzzFlash
Lipstick
DZone
Tags: ETS, ets tan, tan tax, tanning, tanning bed, tanning beds, tanning salon, tanning salons, tanning tax, Vitamin D Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Every business has to deal with competition, some more than others. Part of developing and implementing a successful business strategy involves researching businesses out there like yours, monitoring what they’re doing and analyzing what is and what’s not working for them. A great way to attack your competition is to play up what you have to offer that they don’t.
Find your No. 1 strength.
To truly be the best, consumers need to know that you are an expert and a leader they can trust.
Seize the competition.
Look for ways to turn your competition into clients. If you concentrate on your No. 1 strength that is different from your competition, networking and referrals between businesses will be possible.
Study the giants.
Analyze what the big companies in your industry are doing. Learn from their successes and failures. Adapt what they’ve done to your scale of business operations.
Build relationships with other business owners.
You can attack your competition by offering much more than what your business offers. Create and grow relationships with other businesses in your community and look into possibly offering packages of products and services to your customers.
Get involved in your community.
Show your customers – and your community – that you are a caring corporate citizen and get involved in the community. Support non-profit, youth, health and animal organizations through financial contributions and volunteerism and encourage your customers to do the same.
Tags: ETS, ets tan, tanning, tanning bed, tanning beds, tanning salon, tanning salons Posted in ets tan | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
 Nine new alluring, body-contouring and eco-friendly tanning beds make up a new line of commercial tanning beds that begin shipping soon from tanning equipment leader ETS Tan. The e3 line of tanning beds feature the latest in energy-saving science, ergonomic design principles and eco-friendly lamp configurations. The line includes four beds in the Ultimate Envy collection, two Epic beds and two Legend beds.
“Our new tanning beds feature the latest in energy-saving science, ergonomic design principles and eco-friendly lamp configurations,” said ETS Tan CEO Bill Pipp. “I’m excited that after two years of development and testing this day is here. We’re eager to see these sleek, energy-efficient tanning beds inside salons throughout the nation.”
e3 tanning beds feature illuminated panels that change color and add movement, energy and ambiance to any salon. An easy-to-use control panel that includes a timer display for clear understanding of bed operations and optional voice prompts is directly in front of tanners on each bed’s canopy handle. e3 beds have an integrated sound system compatible with MP3 players.
Each e3 tanning bed features electronic ballasts that reduce energy consumption and can lower a salon’s operating costs by up to 30 percent. e3 beds operate at cooler temperatures, allowing salons to scale back air conditioning in the summer months, and use Wolff System lamps that contain less mercury, making them more easily disposable than non-green lamps.
ETS Tan also upgraded its popular Rejuvasun with Omnilux spa bed with e3 technology. The Rejuvasun with Omnilux is the only tanning and skin rejuvenation bed in the marketplace that offers FDA-cleared, medically proven light therapy panels that can reduce fine lines and wrinkles in the face and neck areas by up to 75 percent.
“We kept the investment that salons make when they choose ETS tanning beds at the forefront of our design plans,” Pipp said. “e3 beds are higher output beds that require less space and feature smart access panels that allow easy access to all internal components without removing any bulky covers. All beds feature impact-resistant covers that look great and will stand the test of time.” For more about the new e3 line of tanning beds from ETS Tan, visit etstan.com or the company’s Facebook Fan Page.
Tags: ETS, ets tan, indoor tanning bed, tanning bed, tanning beds Posted in ets tan | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
 One of the main problems people have with indoor tanning is the idea that the beds they are laying on are not properly sanitized. Even if you have your own home tanning bed, sanitation is a key element of your tanning experience. Fear of disease, germs, and plain old disgust at the idea of trying to relax where someone else’s sweaty backside has been often keeps potential tanners from ever giving it a shot. This is completely understandable, especially since some tanning bed users prefer to tan in the nude.
To help combat this often paranoid idea of the disgusting tanning bed we present to you some tips to check how clean the tanning bed you are about to make extended contact with is, and a few easy ways to clean it yourself when it isn’t quite up to snuff.
Tip No. 1: Closely inspect the tanning bed and make sure that the acrylic covering inside of it is not coated in grime and leftover tanning lotion. This tip is fairly straight forward and is good common sense. If you see any signs of dirt, smudges, fading, staining or rat droppings do not get in without having the tanning bed cleaned and disinfected by a salon employee or yourself first.
Tip No. 2: If the bed appears dirty, clean it with a disinfectant cleaner with the power to sanitize a pit toilet. After each tanning session you should disinfect any area of the tanning bed that touches the tanner’s body. You need to be sure to thoroughly scourge the acrylic shields where people actual lay on the bed as this is the spot where the most bacteria-infested contamination is located. There are lots of different cleaners made just for tanning beds and are crucial to keeping a clean, cockroach free tanning environment. Here is a list of a few tanning bed specific cleaners.
Australian Gold Tanning Bed Cleaner: Australian Gold’s tanning bed cleaner is a one-step cleaner with no fuss and no mess. It’s a disinfectant with a neutral pH and it acts as a sanitizer, deodorizer, virucide and fungicide. This is one of the best cleaners out there.
Lucasol Tanning Bed Cleaner: Lucasol is another one-step brand of deodorizing disinfectant. It’s hospital-grade and free from any dyes or scents.
Novus Tanning Bed Cleaner: This disinfectant is part sanitizer and part polish. It leaves behind a protective sheen that repels dust and minimizes static.
Tip No. 3: Enjoy your germ-free tanning bed. Now that your tanning bed is safely sanitized and clean enough to eat off of enjoy relaxing in the comfortable, irradiated glow for a while, but always remember to tan in safety and moderation.
Tags: clean tanning bed, cleaning a tanning bed, how to clean a tanning bed, tanning bed, tanning beds Posted in tanning | Comments Off
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