Summer is in full swing – which usually means your customers are flocking outside to get that coveted bronze glow. While they don’t need to rely 100% on tanning salon services during warmer months, there are still plenty of ways to connect with customers old and new. Following are our top tips.

• Focus on spray tan services and products. People are outdoors for a variety of reasons – but tan lines aren’t one of them. They want to attend summer happy hours wearing tank tops and strapless dresses or rotate through their favorite swimsuits of every style and cut, feeling confident in it all. A spray tan evens out skin tone, erases dark or light patches from sunburns,  and leaves skin looking moisturized and healthy so customers can look and feel their best. Offer summer specials on spray tan services or self-tan skincare and promote them on social media, in email campaigns, advertising, and through in-store displays.

• Create bridal packages. It is peak wedding season. Help the entire wedding party get camera-ready for the big day with group discounts. Whether your salon offers tanning alone or other spa services, make it special with a package that includes champagne and grazing boards. Brides and grooms alike can start their bachelor/bachelorette party or wedding weekend off right with some group pampering. An alternative could be a discounted sunbed membership for brides and grooms to give as wedding party gifts leading up to the nuptials.

• Be the go–to source for healthy skin. Just because customers may visit the salon less frequently  in the warmer months doesn’t mean you can’t still be their go-to source for skincare. Promote your inventory through giveaways, discounts, and informational videos and articles showing how your products are beneficial year-round. Share your specials and beauty advice through in-store displays, on social media, and to your email list. 

• Expand your retail offering. Add seasonal items throughout the year such as swimsuits, nice-smelling lotions, holiday gifts, or hair accessories and makeup. This keeps traffic flowing through your salon even when tanning appointments slow down.

• Improve ways new customers can find you. Do you have a website? A Google Business profile? Online reviews? A digital presence is important for attracting new customers – especially those on vacation in your area or new to tanning. Unless they have a word-of-mouth referral, most customers are taking to their mobile map or search engine apps to find the salon closest to them. When you have more downtime at the front desk, learning a little bit about search engine optimization, social media, business listings, and website development can go a long way.

• Network with the local businesses around you. Reach out to travel agencies, wedding coordinators, event planners, hair stylists, colleges, and apartment complexes near your business. Supply them with postcards they can make available to customers, students, and residents, the add a unique code to the back so if a new customer comes in with the postcard, you can track the referral source. Find ways to reward the source, either with a free tan or by sharing their promotional materials with your customers. 

• Optimize your customer – and employee – experience. The slower months are also an ideal time to take stock of business operations. During the busy months, a heavy influx of customers can be difficult to handle unless salon owners are prepared to scale. Long wait times, chaotic front desk experiences, and an inability to keep up with cleaning can cause customers and employees to quit on you. Consider how optimal back-office operations, automated customer prompts and payments, online booking, and marketing at the touch of a button would improve your monthly revenue. Affordable, easy to use software solutions like TanTrack exist to make salon owners more efficient, more profitable, and more scalable. Check out our latest features here to learn more.

Every business has its seasons. Take advantage of the slower, warmer months by making strides to connect with existing customers in meaningful ways and prepare to serve new ones once the cloudy, colder days return.