gravesmc

This was my first spring in the tanning business and we have done well, increasing sales by 40% this April from last year when we opened (at the end of March).
Today, the EFT's have been calling in to cancel for May (8 already today) and many also did last week. What a sudden change!!! I think the warmer early spring hurt us really. I never used to start tanning until May in Iowa, when shorts could finally be worn.
How is everyone else doing???

Turbo Girl

Congrats on raising it. We are still going strong here. Summers can be a real rollercoaster ride. Just keep hangin in there :)

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sunrisetan

hmmm, so offering eft as a "low" priced way of getting people in and keeping the monies rolling in thruout the off season, does'nt work so well when they can cancel out. i do not offer eft...and this supports my reasoning of not doing so. you have not made the monies needed while these people did tan...thus doom is in the forecast? seems the only way eft's work is when people pay and don;t use it. i just can;t grasp that side of "business"....hoping a person does'nt tan, to make a buck. i'd rather make a buck every time they do tan.

sunrisetan

by the way, typically we slow the first part of june when we start getting consistant 70 degree days...
the record warmth we got during our busiest 2 weeks of the year, just prior to break break did hurt us!!! made march just a hair slower than last years march. don;t have april's numbers yet, but not thinking it was "up" ???

gravesmc

Hopefully I will make enough money to get this off of layaway soon.

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Turbo Girl

^^^LOL!!

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Steve Underhill

It is important to have programs that will keep tanners on board all year long. Just letting eft members cancel without having an alternative package or membership to keep the majority of them on board is a major mistake. Your business model is not quite complete. good job with the 40% increase, still more work to be done.

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Stephen Underhill
Consultant
steve@smuconsulting.com

toasted1

@stephen underhill What do you recommend for EFT retenton outside of freezes, holds?

delany

I had a cancellation fee prior to the end of their one year commitment. They also had to come in and fill out paperwork to cancel so we had a paper trail (and it required effort). The big chain near me requires you to send in a cancellation via certified mail, then have to confirm via a phone call that it was indeed you canceling and that you still wanted to.

DH

You have to have some kind of pain for them to cancel like everyone has mentioned. We only require the client to notify us BEFORE their next payment date that they want to cancel.

If they cancel before their 12 month agreement, they're not allowed back in the EFT club for 12 months from the cancellation date. This year we're telling them that next year more than likely the EFT club will be full and they'll have to be put on a waiting list to get in which deters some from canceling (we expect this to be true).

We do not charge a sign up or cancellation fee, require a contract or written cancellation, and allow them to hold for four months.

This is a slow fix but it works. We've had clients come back the following year begging to get back in.