Traffic’s slowing down in your salon – selling those bottles of expensive lotion has gotten a lot more difficult since the rush to be golden for Spring Break or prom is over. There are fewer guests to whom you can pitch your upgrade beds … so what do you do?
Think about focusing on sales of smaller-ticket items this month, with the goal of selling more items to more tanners for less money per tanner. Let’s try pushing the lowly eyewear sale! We’re going to start with a plastic baggie. Yep, go to the grocery store and spend $3 for 100 snack-size zippered plastic bags. When a guest walks in, offer a complimentary snack baggie for her to keep her goggles in. Your guests will need to show their eyewear to you or your staff before they’re allowed to tan … do they even have eyewear? You’ll be able to explain how goggles get dirty in a woman’s purse or guy’s gym bag, and how a baggie keeps them clean. I like to also offer a rubber band to attach the baggie to their lotion bottle. As you take their goggle to put it in the baggie, you can mention your special eye protection sale, and how it’s important to replace goggles at least once a year.
Have you seen the new goggle styles in fun colors and animal prints? Order a few from your distributor. I’d display the fun, neon colored goggles in a bright, shallow plastic bowl from a dollar store, maybe placed near some fun, summery jewelry or sunglasses you offer. This type of eyewear sale is going to be an impulse sale – and it’s quick, easy and fun.
Now, you’ve offered the free baggies for a couple of weeks, so let’s change it up. One of my favorite salons offers an eyewear trade-in week, where guests get 40 percent off new goggles if they trade in an old pair. It’s a great way to discuss why eyewear is important and why you need to avoid touching the parts of the goggles that will touch your eye area (think “toothbrush”— you don’t put your hands on the bristles).
Offering FREE eyewear is another fresh option. A salon chain I frequently visit posts a tidy note on their front door that reads “Free eyewear for taking our eyewear test.” The ten-second test consists of looking at three photos to determine whether a person has lost their color vision. With this test, your salon guest gets a quick eyewear education and a free pair of disposable protection that costs you about 20 cents. You can mix it up by asking one of nine questions that often surprise tanners and open the door to explaining why eyewear is important.
May your summer sales be visionary!
If you’d like the test photos & the list of questions to enliven your summer sales, email Brenda@EyePro.net.