tanTALK - Tanning Salon Business Owners Community - View Single Post - Negative publicity, recession and less volume. (The elephant in the room)

Bondgirl · 05-31-2012, 09:10 AM

Good Guy - not a problem i can get into more specifics. Naturally i don't want my close competition to know my numbers but here goes..
Tan Till Year end sale started first week of June so 7 months for $99 level 1 $199 level 2, $299 level 3. Ballpark annual sales at that time $70,000 (8 beds) now about double that and still growing i hope. I think weather has really slowed my growth this spring but i think i will make it up through the hot summer similar to 2009 where 2010 was a beautiful summer. I know a seasoned salon veteran that keep a daily tally of sales versus weather and sunshine and 80 = slower sales rain or extreme heat = higher sales.

At that time i was losing about $1,000 a month (on average with the carryover from busy season) and running out of funds to keep it going and JASON was looming before me. I didn't want to work all 80 hours a week we are open AND not pay myself, so i needed a desperate change. That $8,000 was from a FREE TAN day(early June) with 50 BRAND NEW CUSTOMERS in one day from a $200 radio add i ran and texts sent out not via a service but forwards from friends, clients ect..

Those new customers talked about how great we were and referred their friends too. Not everyone bought the sale package, but many came back for shorter terms throughout the summer and fall. After that one day sale i raised the price to encourage immediate purchase that day, then lower it throughout the remainder of the year. The rest of the year was tight but actually July - Dec was 100% above the year prior, so no i don't think the June sale killed my summer but MADE my summer.

Another thing i learned is to fight the vendors for the largest wholesale discount you can get, if you are paying salon cost you are paying too much.

05-31-2012, 09:10 AM	#32 (permalink)
Bondgirl I'm Banned Join Date: Feb 9 2010 Location: Kansas Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Re: Negative publicity, recession and less volume. (The elephant in the room) Good Guy - not a problem i can get into more specifics. Naturally i don't want my close competition to know my numbers but here goes.. Tan Till Year end sale started first week of June so 7 months for $99 level 1 $199 level 2, $299 level 3. Ballpark annual sales at that time $70,000 (8 beds) now about double that and still growing i hope. I think weather has really slowed my growth this spring but i think i will make it up through the hot summer similar to 2009 where 2010 was a beautiful summer. I know a seasoned salon veteran that keep a daily tally of sales versus weather and sunshine and 80 = slower sales rain or extreme heat = higher sales. At that time i was losing about $1,000 a month (on average with the carryover from busy season) and running out of funds to keep it going and JASON was looming before me. I didn't want to work all 80 hours a week we are open AND not pay myself, so i needed a desperate change. That $8,000 was from a FREE TAN day(early June) with 50 BRAND NEW CUSTOMERS in one day from a $200 radio add i ran and texts sent out not via a service but forwards from friends, clients ect.. Those new customers talked about how great we were and referred their friends too. Not everyone bought the sale package, but many came back for shorter terms throughout the summer and fall. After that one day sale i raised the price to encourage immediate purchase that day, then lower it throughout the remainder of the year. The rest of the year was tight but actually July - Dec was 100% above the year prior, so no i don't think the June sale killed my summer but MADE my summer. Another thing i learned is to fight the vendors for the largest wholesale discount you can get, if you are paying salon cost you are paying too much.