Steve Underhill

Brandy this is an excellent question. To start you never want to be under-funded. When designing your salon after you have identified the best location it is time to work on the packaging of your salon. Design your space to have large comfortable rooms. Show some attention to detail and comfort in the restroom. A large enough lobby without wasting space. Avoid things sitting around that creating cleaning or potential damage to the walls problems. Look like a national chain even though you are not. Integrated seating in the rooms instead of chairs. Closed circuit sound systems so you can control what the tanners hear. Lobby signage that identifies your equipment and pricing program. Proper equipment mixes. Displays that create a buying environment instead of a selling environment. Color and textures throughout that lobby and salon that make the tanner say WOW. Always keep the salon looking the way it does the day it opens year after year. Carefully trained employees that meet and greet the tanners every time with the same enthusiasm and create lasting relationships with the tanners. Employee training meetings regularly that teach sales technique, not salon procedure. employee training manuals that teach procedure. Properly train employees before they are left alone. Your pricing should be very carefully calculated to control the tanners spending. Consistently advertise sending the proper message at the proper times of the year. Email, Radio, Direct mail used properly with the appropriate message each time is very important. All of these things coordinated like a well oiled machine will get you all there is to get. You must remember that every thing you do will have a positive or negative effect on business, never neutral. Not doing something that you should be doing will always have a negative effect. Have I painted a picture of your salon and your operating procedures. If i have, you are operating a successful salon. If you can't enter the market this way it will be difficult to compete and always maximize your potential income. This is a very broad stroke description of a successful salon model but I think you get my point. There are so many little things that also go into your success. Example. A lot of lotions leave your salon. They should all have a small label with your salon logo name address phone number and a line that reads. Return this empty bottle for a % discount off your next bottle of lotion. Small thing but effective. Every thing makes a difference. The right special at the right time.