Do we have an appointment?

NJDave · 03-26-2003, 10:23 PM

Hope to open my salon very soon. Will be in an upscale area. I'm also limited to how many beds I will be able to have because of the limited space. I hope to be very busy during the busy season. My closest competitor (4 miles away) takes appointment. Do you think I should?

TikiTan · 03-27-2003, 09:25 AM

How many beds will you have? We have 16 in operation now with 2 more going in.. We do not take appointments..but during our busiest time of the day we have about at 10 minute wait (so not bad)... If however I only had 4 beds and the wait was always at 30 minutes I would take appointments...

tonyab122 · 03-27-2003, 01:10 PM

If you aren't going to take appointments, you may want to run a special "early-bird" price to help spread your tanners out and eliminate some of the 5:00 rush.

Tropical Image · 03-27-2003, 01:12 PM

Hey Dave,

I live in Central NJ, and boy do we need a good tanning salon around here.. Where in NJ will u be opening your salon?

NJDave · 03-27-2003, 08:24 PM

I'll probably start out with 4 base beds, a mid-level bed, HP high end bed and a stand up. Will probably have enough room for just one more bed.

TanningEmporium · 07-17-2003, 11:36 AM

We have been open for 2 years and I do not take appointments. We are the busiest between 2 and 7, we tell our clients if they come between that time, they will have a 30min to 1hr wait. We are open 6 days a week. The open hours what make your salon, we open earlier and stay later than any other salon.
Margaret

lotiongirl · 07-17-2003, 12:24 PM

OK, here is my humble opinion. If someone wants to make an appointment, let them. Think about this. We make appointments because we know we only have the oppurtunity to do certain things at a certain time, and we want to make sure we will be able to fit it in. If you don not take any appointments, then you may be excluding people. You don't want to exclude anyone. My suggestion is to let people make appointments if they want to, but have some sort of penalty for not showing up(you don't want a salon full of empty beds waiting for people to show up and they never do), and still take walk ins. You make the appointment people feel special, and the walk'ins will love the convenience. Just a suggestion!

TikiTan · 07-17-2003, 12:28 PM

I say No to appointments. Typically you have the same people making the appointments and the same people breaking the appointments. Your goal is to make customers feel special (connection so they continue to tan with you)...

So they break their first appointment and you say "Sally you owe me a $3 No show fee" and Sally gets upset and says "but my son got hurt or my car broke down"... Now if you dont waive this fee then you are the b**** that owns the salon, but if you do waive it..you will have to waive it again and again and again to keep Sally happy!

trusno1 · 07-17-2003, 01:04 PM

I'm with tikitan. I don't want to be in a position where I need to be the bad guy. I used to tan at a place that took appointments(before I opened) and the worst thing was that you had to make appointments several weeks in advance to be able to get in. At least with no appointments I could I can go in and wait my turn. a month unlimited package isn't a good value when you can only schedule 3 appointments in that time.

Alias · 07-17-2003, 03:40 PM

Appointments are really not necessary and these days, very hard to stick to with everybodies buisy schedule. (How many times are you on time for an appt. in the middle of rush hour?) People are really not turned off by a 10 minute wait. Give them something to look at though; i.e. magazines or this is also a good way to get them to look at swimwear of wraps that you could sell.

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03-26-2003, 10:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
NJDave Join Date: Feb 1 2003 Location: usa Posts: 22 Rep Power: 0	Hope to open my salon very soon. Will be in an upscale area. I'm also limited to how many beds I will be able to have because of the limited space. I hope to be very busy during the busy season. My closest competitor (4 miles away) takes appointment. Do you think I should?

03-27-2003, 09:25 AM	#2 (permalink)
TikiTan Join Date: Jul 27 2002 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 7	How many beds will you have? We have 16 in operation now with 2 more going in.. We do not take appointments..but during our busiest time of the day we have about at 10 minute wait (so not bad)... If however I only had 4 beds and the wait was always at 30 minutes I would take appointments...

03-27-2003, 01:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
tonyab122 Join Date: Mar 5 2003 Location: Greensboro NC Posts: 44 Rep Power: 0	If you aren't going to take appointments, you may want to run a special "early-bird" price to help spread your tanners out and eliminate some of the 5:00 rush.

03-27-2003, 01:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
Tropical Image Join Date: Nov 18 2002 Posts: 400 Rep Power: 6	Hey Dave, I live in Central NJ, and boy do we need a good tanning salon around here.. Where in NJ will u be opening your salon?

03-27-2003, 08:24 PM	#5 (permalink)
NJDave Join Date: Feb 1 2003 Location: usa Posts: 22 Rep Power: 0	I'll probably start out with 4 base beds, a mid-level bed, HP high end bed and a stand up. Will probably have enough room for just one more bed.

07-17-2003, 11:36 AM	#6 (permalink)
TanningEmporium Join Date: Jul 15 2003 Location: 213 Skyland Shp Ctr Posts: 4,192 Rep Power: 8	We have been open for 2 years and I do not take appointments. We are the busiest between 2 and 7, we tell our clients if they come between that time, they will have a 30min to 1hr wait. We are open 6 days a week. The open hours what make your salon, we open earlier and stay later than any other salon. Margaret

07-17-2003, 12:24 PM	#7 (permalink)
lotiongirl Join Date: Jun 11 2003 Posts: 66 Rep Power: 0	OK, here is my humble opinion. If someone wants to make an appointment, let them. Think about this. We make appointments because we know we only have the oppurtunity to do certain things at a certain time, and we want to make sure we will be able to fit it in. If you don not take any appointments, then you may be excluding people. You don't want to exclude anyone. My suggestion is to let people make appointments if they want to, but have some sort of penalty for not showing up(you don't want a salon full of empty beds waiting for people to show up and they never do), and still take walk ins. You make the appointment people feel special, and the walk'ins will love the convenience. Just a suggestion!

07-17-2003, 12:28 PM	#8 (permalink)
TikiTan Join Date: Jul 27 2002 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 7	I say No to appointments. Typically you have the same people making the appointments and the same people breaking the appointments. Your goal is to make customers feel special (connection so they continue to tan with you)... So they break their first appointment and you say "Sally you owe me a $3 No show fee" and Sally gets upset and says "but my son got hurt or my car broke down"... Now if you dont waive this fee then you are the b**** that owns the salon, but if you do waive it..you will have to waive it again and again and again to keep Sally happy!

07-17-2003, 01:04 PM	#9 (permalink)
trusno1 Join Date: Apr 4 2003 Location: Marysville, OH Posts: 231 Rep Power: 6	I'm with tikitan. I don't want to be in a position where I need to be the bad guy. I used to tan at a place that took appointments(before I opened) and the worst thing was that you had to make appointments several weeks in advance to be able to get in. At least with no appointments I could I can go in and wait my turn. a month unlimited package isn't a good value when you can only schedule 3 appointments in that time.

07-17-2003, 03:40 PM	#10 (permalink)
Alias Join Date: Jul 1 2003 Posts: 148 Rep Power: 6	Appointments are really not necessary and these days, very hard to stick to with everybodies buisy schedule. (How many times are you on time for an appt. in the middle of rush hour?) People are really not turned off by a 10 minute wait. Give them something to look at though; i.e. magazines or this is also a good way to get them to look at swimwear of wraps that you could sell.

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