ist magazine July 2021

Notes from the Road

Keep up with direct marketing.

gift card for the other business. Example: if you partner with a nail salon, all the nail salon customers can enter to win a tanning gift card, and all your tanners can enter to win a nail salon gift card. I would suggest that after the drawing is done, Anything that catches VRPHRQH·V attention and GULYHV IRRW WUDIÀF will also drive sales – the extra effort is always worth it. you email each person who entered and offer them a free tan – that way, you get more new people through the door. 6WD\ SRVLWLYH They say “positivity radi ates,” so if you are not positive about the change of season, not only will your staff feel it, but so will your guests. A positive outlook can go a long way to ward keeping your entire team motivated. As we all know, mo tivated and happy staff always outperform our expectations! Q

Email marketing, text market ing, etc. are all extremely effec tive ways to communicate with your customers. Just because it’s summer and your business is slower doesn’t mean you should stop these efforts; if anything, you want to make the commu nications more appealing. Invite people in for a free session, or offer a one-day-only promotion. Anything that catches someone’s attention and drives foot traffic will also drive sales – the extra effort is always worth it. Host a summer event. Why not host a free tan weekend or a customer appreciation event? Getting people through the door during slow times is the ultimate goal. More Guests = More Sales! Have a cookout at the salon that includes free tanning and some great promotions on your products and services. Make it fun and something everyone will want to be a part of. People are much more likely to com mit to packages if they have already tried the service, so let everyone coming to your salon try any bed they would like. You will notice a big difference in the number of people who purchase a membership in your higher-level equipment. Partner with other businesses. I’ve always been a fan of cross-promotion! Not only are you supporting other local busi nesses in your community, but you also target people who may have never heard of your brand. Something that I think is great is doing a weekly prize drawing – this works by partnering each week with a different business in your area and each business has a contest to give away a

Avoid the SUMMER SLOWDOWN By Lisa Saavedra

AS the weather warms up, we tend to see as people are trading their time tanning indoors for more time outside enjoying the sun. Avoiding the drop in customer traffic is something we discussed last month; this month, I want to dive a little deeper into other ideas to help ease that slowdown phase. 'RQ·W FXW SULFHV I see this all too often – sa lons will run crazy promotions tanner counts dwindle

About the Author: Lisa Saavedra is Director of Brand D e v e l o p m e n t for Devoted Creations family

during their slower months just to make sales. Instead of slashing prices, how about adding value to the pack ages and products you offer? Instead of deeply discounting a lotion, what about offering a tan extender with it for $5? Or, with select packages, offer extra upgrade credits? When you dramatically decrease the price of your products or services, you devalue them. Instead, offer extra incentives for salon guests to purchase them at regular prices.

of brands. With over 15 years in the industry, Lisa brings knowledge and enthusiasm to all aspects of the business, including social media, product development, training, customer relations, public speaking and marketing strategies. Lisa worked at the salon level managing a large chain, which infuses her sales training and brand concepts with real-world experience. Lisa has been voted

the IST Magazine Person of the Year three times.

ivector / stock.adobe.com

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July 2021

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