At Smart Tan Nashville this year, it’s all about making a difference. Our practical sessions on sales, professionalism, industry politics and more will make a difference in your salon, and on your bottom line. And we’ll also talk about how you, as professional indoor tanning businesses, are making a positive difference in your respective communities.
We want to hear about how your salon is benefitting the lives of your customers, a bout your salon’s smartest tanning client – the client(s) whose success story tanning in your salon makes you proud you’re in the tanning community. Is it someone who couldn’t tan without burning before they met you? Are they self-treating a skin condition by following your cosmetic guidelines? How has regular non-burning UV exposure made her/his life better? Send us your best story and win a chance for an expense-paid trip to Smart Tan Nashville – tanning’s biggest convention – Oct. 3-5, 2014 (includes admission to Smart Tan Nashville 2014 and hotel accommodations). We’ll announce the finalists and the winner to the tanning world at the convention, when Smart Tan’s Matt Russell and Joe Levy discuss some of the stories we’ve received, and how these types of anecdotes will play an important role in the continued success of the tanning market.
After that presentation, we’ll get back to business with keynote speaker Tabatha Coffey, who has devoted her professional life to achieving excellence, as a successful businesswoman, company owner and hair designer and educator. Drawing on her years of hands-on experience, Tabatha now travels the country as she helps struggling business owners turn around their lives and businesses, for the fifth season of Bravo’s, Tabatha Takes Over. In her Nashville presentation, “It’s Not About the Tan,” Coffey will explore the concept that a great tan is just one reason people visit your salon; customers really want the overall experience. Her in-your-face honesty, contagious energy and undeniable business sense is sure to capture your attention and get you rethinking they way you view your salon and your customers.
Then, in our breakout sessions we’ll cover the topics most vital to your salon: Sales, marketing, politics, and professionalism. Along with the latest on these subjects, we’re bringing you some brand new session concepts in response to the current needs of the marketplace.
For the first time, we’ve designed two sessions specifically for employees – the ones working the counters, cleaning the beds, and dealing with customers on a daily basis. The first session is dedicated to sales. Employees at your salon aren’t just bed cleaners or timer setters, they’re salespeople who should be actively steering your customers to spend more money at your salon. This session teaches real-life techniques that will change the way your staff performs their role as a sales professional. The other session is dedicated to professionalism. Today’s tanning customers demand professionalism from the salons they visit, and that starts with the frontline employees that regularly interact with them. This session focuses on concrete ways to raise the bar when it comes to professionalism.
For the individually owned and operated salons out there, we’ll have “How to Thrive as an Independent.” Our market is maturing, and that means your business is changing. Although there might be new challenges for independent salons, there are also plenty of new opportunities. Come find out ways to not only survive, but thrive, as an independent!
The Ignite Your Network 2-hour networking event networking event will cover a multitude of topics that are faced by owners and managers of salons of all sizes: sales, marketing, management, diversification, innovation, expansion…you name it. But this isn’t just a presentation; it’s an opportunity to sit at tables with peers that face these same issues and brainstorm real solutions. For this networking event, you’ll easily be able to identify those salons that are the same size operation and in the same boat you are; people that deal with the same challenges you deal with. Whether you’re new to the industry or have an empire of salons, this is the networking event you don’t want to miss.