Fabutan

when was the last time you heard nike, coke or any big brand advertise a location? who cares...advertise the brand and people will find the location.

when i think tanning i think brandX, so no matter where i am, when i want to tan im going to look for brandX. thats one benefit of being in a large franchise. we do alot of local advertising as well, we have 5 studios in one city, we never adveritise a location.

you being independant, you have to advertise a location, you dont have a brand to push, so just like you said...no one knows your there.

adam.sand

Is golds gym a big brand? Yes... It has been called one of the biggest, strongest, most recognizeable brands in the world. In fact, on the cover of a book called "wolds most recognizeable brands" the picture on the front is of a 45 lb plate that says GOLDS GYM on it.

Before they open a gym, they always have a preview office located near where the gym is being built. In our case, it was within the mall here, about a 2 minute walk from where the gym is, but on the gyms on the 2nd floor, the preview was on the first floor. In a giant open area viewable by everyone, top and bottom floor. We had lots of the equipment in there, the Hummer we are giving away free, pictures of the gym. And signs that said "PREVIEW OFFICE" Not soon after we opened our preview office, people were thinking THAT was going to be the gym. We ended up spending 25,000 dollars a month on that location trying to SHOW people that it WASNT the gym. (noone wanted to work out in a small, wide open place... obviously) We had GIANT signs saying "PREVIEW OFFICE... GYM TO BE LOCATED UPSTAIRS" all over the glass walls of the preview location. People STILL came in and asked "is this where the gym is going to be?"

Now, we have long since opened up the gym, there are people on the other side of the mall (its a big mall, but still) who dont even know that Golds Gym is in the mall. When I talk to mall employees about my tanning salon "being next to golds gym" they respond with "Theres a gym in the mall?"

So yes, on paper, I am an "independant" but I have the "front" and exposure of a large franchise, as we are a sub-franchise service to golds gym, they are spending close to, or over, 5-7K a month on advertising to bring people into the gym, and they walk RIGHT by me on they're way in. You can have the biggest brand in the world, people still need to know your there.

Look at Jack in the Box, if I watch my sattelite TV, it looks like a good burger, I want to eat one, its on TV and advertised to me daily, yet I cannot eat at one here because we dont have Jack in the Box here, So if a Jack in the Box were to open up in a spot that was out of my usual travel, I wouldnt go there, until someone told me theres now one open.

I am not trying to bash franchises, as the reason I went with Golds Gym in tanning salons is to get some of the franchise benefits. (exposure, legitimacy, trust, big advertising budget that I dont pay for, lease and product negotiation power) without some of the drawbacks (Royalty payments, large franchise fees, lack of flexibility) Sure I lose a lot of the systematic advantages in that someone basically trains me how to do my job. But I dont think that would have brought in any more clients. The fact is that we spent more on advertising in one month (as golds gym) than fabutan or planetbeach in my city, and it didnt let anyone know we were here any faster.

My three most popular reasons for where people heard about us are 1. The Gym 2. Word of Mouth 3. Giant 45 foot sign on street

Never radio or TV. Direct mailings arent very often either, flyers in some of my friends stores, and walk-bys are about the only other reasons.

Fabutan also does advertise their locations. X locations in the city, Locations all over city, etc. Coke, Nike, they dont need to. They make you want to go find the product and you already KNOW where to find their products.

adam

__________________
There is now Tanning in West Edmonton Mall!



Mr. Belvedere wishes he had half of my ideas, and 100% of my nerve.

PNS Tans

Has anyone who has been with a franchise ever left? Any comments on the process?

UVAddict

Ya $4200 in February is Pretty Harsh!! We opened in October of '01 and we did $7500. Maybe you opened in a Saturated Market?

river_brat

I have done both, I own a franchised gym and an independant tanning salon and worked for an absentee owner of the largest womens fitness franchise. There is no way I would do a franchise again. BAH, why do i need to pay money for someone else to do my branding tell me what I can or cant do, what I can sell, what specials to run. NEVER again. I saw Curves screw their franchisees by first setting a 3 mile radius around gyms, and they then changed the radius to 1 mile thus taking away from the franchisees and saturating their own markets. The franchise I own, has made changes over the years that I am not in control of. At least being in business for myself, I control my destiny, I make my own decisions. Whether right or wrong they are my desicions. Being not to far from this new HT, $4200 is very low for February. Feb was my best month, exceeded my goal by double the $4200. Yes the markets are saturated which is why I have the question of...Why would you do a grand opening with little or no advertising if you are one of 13 in your area?

exectans110

Jobless, congratulations on opening your new salon. I remember that day. I appreciate that you're enthusiastic and towing the party line on the franchise, but I'd like to point out a couple of things (having had an inside view of the franchise).

1. I'm sure you've gathered that a $4200 first month is not as great to seasoned owners as it is to you. They are right.
2. The franchise fee you paid for your first month represents about 25% of your gross revenues. How long can you do that and stay in business?
3. And you paid this fee, btw, for the priviledge of opening with 'minimal' advertising. Didn't your franchise agreement make certain promises about grand opening advertising? Two weeks of radio ads, etc....? My agreement sure did, and I think I got about as much advertising on my grand opening as you did.

4. You reference those franchisees who are 'unhappy' because they thought it was an easy job. With all due respect, you might be re-thinking that comment if you'd talked to any of them instead of believing everything the franchisor tells you.

Most of the 'unhappy' franchisees I'm acquainted with, both still in the franchise and soon-to-be out of it, are extremely hard-working, and have leveraged their entire lives for their business.

Given that you've been in the business all of....a couple of months, is it? it seems a little naive to assume that you're smarter-harder-working-more business-savvy-and-just-plain-luckier than ALLLLLL those 'other' unhappy franchisees.

You're the only one who read your franchise agreement? helloooooooo?
And everyone who didn't bargain for 120-hour weeks and bankruptcy is lazy? Puh-lease........

5. The franchise you esteem so highly is being sued by the owners of nearly half of their still-existing salons. The link provided earlier in this thread is right out of the Rocky Mountain News.

Good luck to you and your business.

Steve Underhill

Be careful of the claims that franchises make. I just visited a franchise web site that I have never heard of and yet they claim to have 250 salons. I don't believe a 250 store franchise can fly that far under the radar. I have no intention of lending any credence to a franchise by mentioning their name because I personally believe all tanning franchises to be a rip off. They offer many credible services, however the cost is too high and goes on forever.

bossless1

It's been a while since we posted our message but it is interesting to see everyones comments. That $4200 was pretty good considering we have NO Streetside signage, we are in a building that everyone thinks is something else, no flyers, no coupons, Just Word of mouth. We have now tripled that income every month since then and expect it to continue. Yes it's a struggle but so is any business. Our franchise fee is a set amount every month and a good portion of it is used for direct mailers to a targeted demographic every month. Our buildout expenses were determined by us not them we could pretty much do whatever we wanted with our decor as long as we used the bed manufacturer that they have an agreement with. Our rent is half what most pay in this area so at least we're not bustin our butt just to make rent. Sure we probably would've been better off independent but we can't complain. We made a decision and our customers love the place, the equipment, the atmosphere, the comfort knowing that we are a franchise and that there is some bigger entity making sure the place stays open and keeps the standards high. I can totally understand what independent salons are feeling and why because our other business (totally unrelated industry) is an independent and the big conglomerates make things more challenging for us. Only time will tell but we prefer to keep things friendly.... franchise or not we are all in the same business and should be helping each other out not slamming one another for their decisions. Good luck every one!!!

bossless1

That was my wife's response, now it's my turn... WOW $17,000 in your first month. Incredible, timing and location. This is way above average. Great job I look forward to those days. When I mentioned $4200 in my first month, I was not bragging. we lost money that month, and in month 2 for that manner. (our break even is just over $9000 each month. this includes the franchise fees. and since someone asked, They are $495.00 for National Advertising campaign and web site. (we do not benefit from the Nat. Ads yet, but the web-site helps, not sure if it's worth it though) and $1195.00 for franchise fees. these number do not change regardless of our volume. We opened in Feb. a short month to begin with, but we opened on the 7th. Considering only 21 days, with only word of mouth advertising, that's pretty good.
I would like to mention, the reason for our lack of advertising was because of the contractors lack of ability of complete the project on time, not because a lack of franchise support. We were originally planning to open in Oct.(that's a whole other story, one that I'm still upset about. but I did chose the contractor...)I digress. I also want to point out here, I'm not advocating for or against franchises. I'm simply stating the facts in OUR Case. Every salon owner in my area that I have talked to have told me things are tougher this year. So, when I say I was happy with a $4200 first month, it's because I did better than expected. Our expectations were given to us BY THE FRANCHISE.
The decision to franchise or not, is one that needs to be considered very carefully, that was the whole point of my first respose back in March.
I would like to respond to each of exectans110's point though. Here goes...
On a personal note, referring to me as "jobless", Funny, I truly appreciate a quick with. seriously, good one.
1.

I KNOW IT ALL

You should stay away from any and every franchise in this Indsutry. Especially especially one's based out of Colorado. Seen them closing down left and right and then want to offer failing locations to the next dummy that comes along.

That is fact jack.