New Customer Specials - why "FREE TAN" is the WORST!

[exoticexposure]

Originally Posted by sunsally

Enticing - and CAPTURING new customers - is a KEY to your success!!


WORST SPECIAL you can offer, hands down:

One free tan


Why?

Because you "get them there" - and give yourself the worst opportunity to "convert" and keep them there!


With a single free tan offered to a new customer, you have to:

-Get them in the door

-Fill out all the paperwork

-Tour them around your place (hopefully you DO this!)

-Try to talk to them about lotion

-Try to explain your salon pricing setup/structure

-Come up with the unit they will be using (and the WORST of the WORST is a single free tan where their ONLY option is your lowest level bed!)

-Skin type them to set safe tan time

-Show them to the unit, let them tan

AND THEN .....

Either let them walk out the door - and HOPE they come back!


OR - try to ALSO talk them into some sort of package/membership - when they still haven't really "experienced" your salon (or just finished tanning, but with all the prework have already been there for 30 minutes and are ready to get the heck out, not now consider a package purchase!)

we have always offered 1 free visit, and thats all people need to see that our beds are so much better than anyone else around...
I guess it depends on what equipment one is working with...for us it works!

[sunsally]

Originally Posted by exoticexposure

we have always offered 1 free visit, and thats all people need to see that our beds are so much better than anyone else around...
I guess it depends on what equipment one is working with...for us it works!

With 1 free tan - at best - they get to try one of your units.

And many, many salons out there doing "1 free tan" have it be on their LOWEST bed - so the customer tries the WORST!


People WILL try FREE - even just one.

But much easier/higher success rate to close them on a follow-up package when you have more than that single visit to your store.

[Steve Underhill]

There is more to the effectiveness of a new tanner offer than the offer itself.

7 tans $7

3 tans $3

One Week $10

Tan For A Week Free or get one free spray tan

These are examples of some specials that are used. you must remember that what ever you use to insure that a tanner comes to your salon, what you do after they get there is where the effectiveness of the special is determined.

First of all you must make sure you are giving plenty of time to impress the new tanner with your customer service and level of tanning result they receive.

You must also have packages ready that are offered at an initial discount if purchase before the trial special is completed.

You must make sure that all contact information for the new tanner is obtained and verified.

Through your efforts you will determine if this person that has acknowledged that they in fact are a tanner be coming to your salon choses your salon as their choice for a long term tanning customer.

You must make sure that your price structure is designed to appropriately emphasize your equipment levels and allows you to easily upgrade this tanner based on the individual needs.

You must also have an advertising and marketing strategy that will get the most out of each of the three annual tanning season segments.

Initial contact with a new tanner, price structure, customer service, advertising communication through current media, promotional specials at the appropriate time, client appreciation, employee training and participation are all parts of what will make the specials to draw new tanners effective.

So you can see it is not as simple as simply 7 tans for $7. It is a well or castrated business model that the new tanner offer is a small part of.

The more you know the more successful your new tanner special will be.

You can't simply add a special or EFT or any single new price element and expect it to be successful. A price structure is a road map to a specific destination.

All pieces of an effective price structure must be designed to specifically work together.

This is why on many occasions you will hear an operator say they tried EFT and it did not work. That is because the rest of the price structure they added EFT to did not support or encourage the sale of EFT memberships.

[Steve Underhill]

Originally Posted by sunrisetan

I've done the "tour" but found a lot of people would just time their visits appropriate to their vacation, and just purchase it only prior to leaving. If you have decent equipment they get their base in just the few sessions offered. But some renew...some come back after vacation. Maybe the tour shouldn't be offered in season, just the off season.

My goal was a special to bring in the higher end clientele. They don't necessarily need a "special" to bring them in. Just the word of mouth, that you are the best salon in town. Any of these gimmicky specials I believe to bring in mostly bottom feeders. If all local salons run these ridiculously cheap promos to bring in these cabbu's, well, the cheapest typically draws the cheapest clients as well.
McDonald's has the dollar menu...but I like to compare my salon to our nicer higher end restaurants...what specials do they run? Nothing cheap! Usually they just feature an entree. Or add something new to the menu, but nothing discounted or reduced in price.

I'll leave the ridiculous promos to the cheaper lower end salons in my town. Seems there's a market for both low end and high end, but trying to mix the 2 together? Well, I think your higher end clients prefer the nicer accommodations while some of the bottom feeders are'nt comfortable in a nicer environment anyhow. Sort of like, how many nicer looking people do you see in Walmart as compared to the magnitude of lower end looking folks?

However I would admit, in this tough economy the lower end salons with their cheap pricing and decor tend to do more volume...but then again, me having one client (one car) in a HP unit, compares to my competition having at least 6 clients (6 cars) in entry levels beds. Where parking is of concern...higher end salons win.

How to draw in higher end clientele?

I think you may have a misunderstanding of specials and promotions. It may be the value tanner (not bottom feeded) or the upgrade tanner that you are trying to reach. It may be the new tanner or an existing tanner you are trying to reach. No you do not want to be known as a discount tanning salon, however the right special at the right time will be important to the success of your salon. Drawing new tanners and maintaining a relationship with existing tanners or reintroducing your services to a past tanner are very different and the same.

Neiman Marcus runs specials, they are certainly not diminishing their product by doing so.

With todays advertising medias that are available to us it is easier today to reach new tanners and stay in touch with existing tanners than at any other time in history.

In many cases your advertising efforts should be designed to keep you on the mind of the tanner. Sometimes that is done with a special that even appeals to the high end tanner. Most importantly you are staying in front of the tanner making sure they are thinking about the fact that they enjoy tanning. That should all be part of your advertising strategy.

Word of mouth alone is not going to drive sales. It should be a part of it but you must be a part of making word of mouth happen. That is associated with a special. just like direct tv that gives a customer $10 off monthly bill for bring a new subscriber and $10 off to the new subscriber.

There is so much to advertising and making specials a part of that strategy.

Do not miss out on potential business because you have a dark age view of something that you do not have a clear understanding of the value of. You must be open to changing your thinking and learning something new. Things are always changing.
If you are not ready and willing to change your thinking or something you are or are not doing, you are doomed to eventually fail.

[lila-lu]

any ideas out there for tanning contests

[Tony]

close 60% + on an EFT on their first visit and it wont matter!

[crosbytan]

I recently took over a salon in a downward spiral but its the only salon in town. I made a bunch of noticeable changes then ran some crazy specials during jan and feb. Feb 14 I had Valentanz day name of the salon is Island Tanz. I also did the 16 dayz of giveawayz on facebook to build up my likes. Grand prize was 6 month membership with a manicure/pedicure at a neighboring nail salon and any bottle of lotion in the store for free. i also did a raffle in store which paid me back for the lotion and help recover cost for the 6 months of tanning. All was done to be a lead in for Valentanz day. In 16 days I got 300+ likes on Facebook and 7400 people saw the Valentanz day posts about valentanz day being free tan day. I ran a one day only sale on valentanz as well marking bottles down 10% and super months were 415 off and reg months $10 off. Not 1 person came in to tan for free, and we had the biggest day of the year. We actually had 2 $2k+ days in one week. which is awesome for us considering our average per day is around $500. All in all I dont feel as though it hurt us because today almost everyone of the new customers bought an after tan product ect....

[peach]

I combine tanning with other services ie Red light and massage therapy. I give them more for their money, I don't cut prices.

[sunsally]

Originally Posted by lila-lu

any ideas out there for tanning contests

Contests??

Not sure what you mean - to build customers?

Referral contests can be a great idea to get your CURRENT customers involved in helping to send you NEW customers.

What exactly are you wondering about?

[sunrisetan]

Originally Posted by Tony

close 60% + on an EFT on their first visit and it wont matter!

Can we talk about zoom tans competition killer? (Seems it's been called this prior?)

Anyhow, zero sign up fee's and $9.99 brown as a biscuit monthly eft tanning.

I believe there's a couple upgrade monthly's as well. Correct me tony if I am wrong? Like $19.99 and $29.99 for nicer bigger better stand ups from the standard stand up?

How easy would it be to sign up at $9.99. 60% sign ups on first visit. Heck yeah! I don't doubt this at all.

Location key correct? Must have some volumes for this to work. Tony looks for 1000 sign ups first month of any new location opening. Minimum $10,000.

Sure is a simple "special" I mean, zoom tan doesn't run specials at all. Etched in stone pricing. But $9.99 can't be beat...hence "competition killer" although salons do compete with lay down beds versus Tony's stand up only, salons.
Hmmm, but someone with deep pockets opening lay down bed salons at $9.99 could cripple the stand up model. Thus crippling each other in the long run? Won't happen will it tony? Or could it? Why not? Seems this industry is full of "matching competitors" pricing and or specials.

Hmmm...