Woodlands

So I've been on my quest to try different salons to see what's out there in my 'hood. This one is in the town next to me and just opened up. A LOT of money went into this baby - I thought it was a chain until I look up the website and that's the only location. Seriously, it's slick. Had some simple things missing though - no lights in the room and no mirror were glaring issues. At least 14 beds, maybe more.

Anyhoo, I went in and said I wanted a one time tan in a bronzing bed. I have a good base tan which is both from tanning beds and natural sun. She said "OK, that will be Level 2" which was an Ergoline 350 - same bed I was in on Sunday that didn't tan me well - this one did but was also several dollars more, lol. I noticed they were Ergoline bulbs so perhaps they are brand spankin' new. So I ask her "What are those Level 3 and Level 4 beds?" that they have on the menu - all Ergolines and they have the Mystic. "Oh, those are higher powered but Level 2 is our best seller and the best value".

Now why wouldn't she try to upsell me? I don't think she was worried I'd burn. The beds were empty. It certainly would have been more money and I can't imagine that much more electricity...and the beds are already bought....

Can someone explain the rationale behind this? The salon I'm looking at buying only has the two levels, but I thought if I had someone who was spending a lot of time in a 1 and not burning I'd try to upsell to the 2 and I was thinking of putting a 3 in there too - or am I thinking about that all wrong??

eileen

it was probably hired help and they should probably be fired lol

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"under exposure to UV rays is as dangerous as overexposure....this is D life" eileen

eyecandytanning

So the rooms were dark?

Our big chain here has no mirrors in the room...forces people out in a timely fashion. ;)

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"Well-behaved women seldom make history." --Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

sunsally

It could well have been an owner too!

The bottom line is, there are more owners and salons that do NOT know what they are doing than do in this industry.

People who buy equipment because a rep sells it to them - and have no idea how to price it or "sell it".

People who say WRONG information ("medium pressure" beds, "no burn" beds, calling anything with a facial "High pressure", promoting sunless as "safer",....)

People who don't tour clients through their salon, don't describe the different equipment, don't ask questions to figure out a clients' needs and desires.

Different levels of equipment has nothing to do with burning - ANY client can go in ANY level of bed ANY time -- it is all a matter of exposure time. Now - they may be fair enough and a L3 may be strong enough that they could only stay 3 minutes -- and maybe it would be a better overall "experience" to do a lower level bed for more time. But the levels aren't related to "burning".

Keep reading the site and gathering more information so that you can have a "leg up" on many of the people you will be competing for customers from in your market.

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Ann Wiggins Noe
VP of Leasing

anoe@highlinecapital.com

Direct line - 720-562-0450

unity

"But the levels aren't related to "burning".

Another misconception among customers that annoys me a little. Most salons I have seen have higher output UVA (and less UVB) beds as you go up the chain. So, in essence, the higher the level bed the risk of a burn is reduced following proper session times.

Yet clients come in and tell me "I went in the MegaSuperExtreme bed and SalonTan and got NOTHING, not even red". Its all psychological. If they don't get as red as they like they dont think they get as tan and they should.

This is just a general observation. Not all salons are setup the same.

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ekc123

or it could of been since you were checking out the place, she put you in the bed that she thought had the best lamps so that you would be pleased with the results and come back again. I agree with Unity about the getting red and seeing results immediately thing. that plays a valuable part in getting shoppers to come back again, especially if they are already tan. it is very hard to get them to believe "you will see a difference in 12-24 hours.

Woodlands

Thanks folks. I'm going to be brownest "student" in town, hehe.

Yes, it was so dark with the dark walls and floors and black door that I couldn't see to lock the door - I had to just test it, lol. They may have had hooks to hang clothes on but the only things I could see was the trash can. Pitch black!!

I've also found I don't like beds w/o having the minutes left able to see. All the beds where I tan/planning to tan have that when you're shifting to get spots that don't always get hit, it's nice to have that. In the beds that don't have it, I bring my ipod and judge the time by how many songs have played ;)

I've also realized my biggest competitors have Erogoline so I need to find something better :)

glowtanning530

UWE and KBL are nice alternatives to Ergoline.

sunsally

And this could be your first step toward a VERY expensive mistake!

Make sure you know the answer to these questions first:

-Do customers go to that salon because of the equipment? Or something else? Location, pricing, advertising, ease of parking, environment, hours,.....

-Is that salon actually making money with their particular equipment mix?

-If you buy "even better", can you make money with THAT mix (and cost)?

-What sort of "deep pockets" do your biggest competitors have compared to what you have - who can "outlast" the other in a head to head competition if it comes to that?

-Is the market missing "better than Ergoline"? Or a "value concept" that is clean and friendly? Both can work.

Etc....

On these boards and in the industry you see a LOT of people who think "if I just have new equipment or better equipment -- I'll take all their customers and thrive". Rarely happens. Have a fully researched plan to gain this market before even considering moving forward.

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Ann Wiggins Noe
VP of Leasing

anoe@highlinecapital.com

Direct line - 720-562-0450

unity

Exactly SunSally. As salons owners we want the biggest best beds. Clients want a clean place to go that tans them well.

If the place is spotless and tans "ok" they could easily take more income that a place that tans well but is dirty. Its more than the tan, its the experience.

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