Want to increase your sales this busy season? Sure you do — but how? You could bring in new equipment, create new packages and promotions, or explore new marketing methods. Or you can enhance your potential to produce more revenue with the same equipment, products, and customers you already have by improving the proficiency of your sales team.

Whatever other upgrades you’re considering as we kick off the New Year, don’t overlook the importance of your staff’s ability to sell. When you look at the big picture, elevating the performance of your sales team has the potential to reshape the trajectory of your business. “Winning” at sales happens one client interaction at a time, but when you add them all together, even seemingly minimal improvements in sales efficiency can make a significant impact on your bottom line.

“Let’s say someone has an average sale of $5. They might be in the middle of the group. Someone else comes along that has a $6 to $7 dollar average. Let’s say they see 500 people a month. That might be $1000 extra for the store. Now multiply that by the number of employees,” says Scott Nichols, co-owner and General Manager of SunSeekers by Rosie in Wisconsin.

In this three-part series, we will delve into the three primary ways to upgrade your salon’s sales skills by the time we get into the heart of the prime tanning season. First is recruiting new talent, second is better training, and third is optimizing your commission structure to maximize the pinnacle of employee motivation and salon profits.

The road to significantly increasing sales this year begins with enhancing your staff with new talent and creating a competitive culture that keeps every team member motivated to keep on winning.

Target Acquired

There’s a good chance that you’re happy with the people who currently work for you – if you didn’t, they wouldn’t still be there. But what if you were able to add a new employee who turns into your best seller? Now, you’re making more money. Now your previous best-seller is second best, and they’re motivated to regain their spot at the top. Now your weaker salespeople are starting to realize that their hours, and possibly their jobs, are on the line if they don’t step it up.

Finding and hiring your next superstar salesperson is easier said than done, but it’s almost certainly worth the cost and effort to try.

Start by evaluating your current approach to staffing in order to get a better grasp of what exactly you’re looking for. How many new people are you looking for? What kind of people are you looking for? What kind of hours do you want people working? Maybe the ways you’ve always approached it aren’t actually the best.

In a Smart Tan salon survey, more than a quarter of respondents said they typically maintain four salespeople/tanning consultants during busy season. The majority said either four, five or six. In the off-season, most salons said they maintained four or fewer team members. When asked “Do you prefer to have more employees who work fewer hours or fewer employees who work more hours?” salons were nearly equally split. When we approached that subject in a 2022 article, we heard completely different perspectives from salons, both of which are equally valid.

Tim Freeman, owner of Altima Tan in Ohio, said he maintained the same eight staff members for over a year at his single location. Having more people that work less helped him enhance flexibility that staff members valued and increased the likelihood of someone being able to cover in an emergency.

On the other hand, by offering more hours and benefits, Four Seasons Tanning in Pennsylvania was able to tap into a more dependable crowd who weren’t interested in their previous part-time jobs. One might think that more hours means less flexibility, but they actually found that having more full-time staff allows them to cater to everyone’s schedules.

“We got more people that are older, and they have a better work ethic. They’re all still set in the ways of going to work and doing your job. Now we have six full time people and fill in from there. That way there’s someone that knows the job at all times,” General Manager Sandra Baker said. “None of them work Monday through Friday; they just have to put in 38 hours. One girl can’t work Thursday, so she works on Saturday. They can still switch shifts with another full timer,”

Since he lost nearly all of his staff members during the pandemic, Scott Bushey hasn’t been impressed with the hiring pool available for his salon, Solarius Spa in New Mexico, so he, the president of his company, and one other staff member have been running the front-end alone ever since. While it’s not necessarily what he’d prefer, he’s noticed some benefits of having such a tight-knit team.

“We’re having the biggest year we’ve ever had,” Bushey told us late last year. “We’re up twenty-one percent over last year. I think what we’re seeing is we have a consistence message. All of us are saying the same thing. We know how to answer questions and all say the same thing. It’s really important because if they’re hearing it from three people, it must be true. We’re getting a lot of loyalty because of that and it’s changed the energy of the facility.”

As you may have read in some of his previous articles in Smart Tan Magazine. SunSeekers by Rosie co-owner and General Manager Scott Nichols strongly believes that overhiring is a key factor in their sales success.

“For a while, I delegated the hiring duties, and we weren’t hiring as many people as we should have been. What was happening was we weren’t then having those people fighting for hours. It’s kind of like in soccer or football, it’s good to have a couple people on the bench who want to get in the game. If you’re a starter, it’s good to know there’s somebody on the bench trying to take your spot. The ones that don’t want to perform will lose their hours,” Nichols says. “What we do is hire quite a few people. It’s better to put them through the training and see them talking to customers and figure it out from there. One or two people out of five will quit during training. One or two never thought they could really do it, but they find out they love sales.

“You might think you don’t have the resources to hire two people when you only want to hire one. I’m going to tell you, if you take it over a 90-day period, you’ll probably see the results are more positive when you hire more. If you don’t select the best one, you’re stuck with that person or they quit in a month and you’re going to have to start over. What people forget about with payroll is to look at the bottom dollar. The real number that needs to be looked at is payroll percentage. If my payroll is up $10,000 in a month but my sales are up $30,000, I’m OK with that.”

In order to combat increasing difficulty with hiring and maintaining quality staff members, September Smart Tan Member of the month Denise Graves, owner of Tropical Tan in Missouri has instituted her own approach to giving new hires a chance to prove themselves on the job.

“One of the things we’ve found successful to our salon is our hiring process we implemented several years ago.  During busy season we hire what we call salon support. We train them to only clean beds, do laundry, and support the sales team by answering phones, but they are not allowed to sell behind the counter until they go through at least one busy season, get Smart Tan certified, then have proper training,” Graves says. “That has eliminated a lot of headaches with new girls. It helps in the training process. If they’re not cut out for it, a lot of them don’t stick around long.  If they do, they generally stay with me at least through the next busy season.”

How many salespeople you need will also depend on how many people you need working at once. It’s a delicate balance, but Dennis Ligon, owner of Sundays Sun Spa is a proponent that too many is always better than not enough.

“I’ve always been a big believer in over-scheduling rather than under-scheduling. With tours, now we have five or six different spa services, and you need time to do that. I want to have people take the time and show them around and do it the right way. We try not to overstaff too much, but there’s only so much you can do,” Ligon says.

It’s easy for someone who isn’t paying the bills to say, but it’s worth at least considering if having more salespeople on the schedule at a time would actually pay off via higher sales, not to mention better customer service. Freeman told us that he had to increase prices in 2022 in order to accommodate his staffing needs, but if that helps you retain strong salespeople and give them more time to consult with and cater to clients, maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all.

Clear Expectations

Before you even begin scouting for talent, you’ll want to have a clear picture of the most important facets of the role. Customer service is arguably just as important as sales – in fact, in the Smart Tan survey, more than three times as many salon owners said customer service is the most important skill they’re looking for – but the two largely go hand in hand, and service may be easier to teach than sales. If you focus your hiring on getting the best salespeople you can, that person will likely succeed in other facets as well.

Present the job clearly as a sales role in order to set proper expectations and attract the right people. You want people who are motivated by money and the opportunity to earn more by selling more. You don’t want people that would rather make less money to work less hard. So, make the sales portion the focal point of your job postings and initial communications.

“If you applied online, I would send you a formal letter via email. I’d tailor it to the individual, and I tell people up front, you’re not going to make a lot per hour. To make money, you have to sell. I never hear back from some people, and that’s perfect. I don’t want to waste my time,” says Jeff Mills, owner of Sol Spa Tan in Indiana.

When it comes to sites where employers post jobs listings, there’s a clear favorite among tanning business owners. According to the Smart Tan survey, Indeed.com is essentially the only job-specific site salon owners are using, although posting and promoting job openings on social media is also popular. More than half of salon owners agree that social media is a valuable tool for promoting your business as an appealing place to work.

Of course, hiring customers, referrals from current staff, and other people you’re already familiar with is always another option. Mills says he’s been particularly successful with hiring customers and others who he knows a little more about. In fact, while it might sound impractical in this day and age, Mills isn’t in the habit of promoting his job openings at all outside of the salon and their website. He wants people who are going to stick around, not just somebody to fill in, and he’s been around long enough to know the type of people who will do so. He’s focused on quality over quantity. If he can find people who really want to work there, his training and aggressive commission program can usually take care of the rest.

“I look for somebody who I think is going be with us for a while. Do you even like what we do? If you don’t like what we do, if they’re not excited about it, that won’t translate to the client. I want people here who want to be here,” Mills says.

“They have to like what we do first and foremost. That’s critical. How do they present themselves? We’ve all been wrong about people we hired. We thought they’d do well but they didn’t. We have people I didn’t anticipate much from, but I liked them, and they did well. We try to avoid hiring a ‘hole filler.’ We run on a thin schedule. If you’re not there a couple times a week, you don’t really know what’s going on.”

 Most tanning businesses aren’t going to be hiring as many people as Sunseekers or Sundays, but the fact that those businesses are consistently generate an abundance of hiring options tells us that they’re doing something right. Having a well-established presence and strong brand identity certainly helps, but it’s also about the reputation of the work culture.

“It’s a competition of all the different jobs out there. They could be a waiter or waitress. There are a lot of things they can do. Why are they choosing a tanning salon? It’s because they hear from friends or know somebody that worked there, and they really liked it,” Nichols.

“Our culture is about goals. It’s the push to win and have success. I think that’s very addicting. We celebrate the wins. We can say we’re great at management, but I think it’s just about being there with them, having contact with them, and teaching them how to win.”

Seeing Potential

Begin the evaluation process by thoroughly reviewing each candidate’s resume. Look for relevant sales experience, familiarity with the tanning industry, and any specific achievements or recognitions in previous roles. A solid resume provides valuable insights into a candidate’s professional background and accomplishments.

A candidate’s past performance in sales is a strong indicator of their potential success in a tanning salon setting. Look for candidates who have consistently met or exceeded sales targets in previous roles. Sales professionals with a proven track record can bring a level of expertise and confidence to your team.

Before inviting candidates for in-person interviews, consider conducting initial phone screens to assess their communication skills, enthusiasm for the role, and alignment with your salon’s values. Use this opportunity to discuss their motivation for applying and to gain a preliminary understanding of their sales approach.

Even in a hiring market that remains highly competitive, it seems that many salons have plenty of candidates to choose from. More than 20 percent of salons surveyed said they generally interview more than 10 candidates for a job opening.

Ligon makes it clear how much he values the importance of the interviewing process by maintaining a hands-on approach. Even as the owner of more than 20 salon locations with a full-blown management structure, Ligon is most often personally involved in interviews. He views the process as just as much about selling the candidates on the company as the other way around. You can’t hire the best candidates if they don’t maintain interest in working for you. By making a whole production out of group interviews, Sundays also makes a tremendous first impression on those they do end up hiring.

“We set up a group interview with myself and several staff and show a keynote presentation with videos and music and create a very upbeat environment emphasizing growth and a fun work environment. We are selling them on Sundays and what we have to offer. After the group interview, we take a few minutes with each of them individually and dive a little deeper into what they are looking for and deciding if they would be a good fit,” Ligon says.

“When most people come to a group interview, they probably aren’t quite sure what the job entails. They’re probably assuming it’s something that is easy to learn, and they can make decent money and one day move on to something else. However, when they see how the industry has changed and how valuable the staff is to the success of the store, they realize they can earn a really strong income. With a competitive base pay along with commissions and bonuses plus the opportunity to move to management and upper management, for many it becomes a chosen career path.”

Evaluating candidates based on an interview can be tricky because they’re going to tell you what they think you want to hear. In many cases, you will learn more about a person from their demeanor and personability than from the answers they’re giving to try to impress you. You can also employ more creative techniques to try to “read between the lines” of their responses.

During in-person interviews, use behavioral questions to delve into a candidate’s past experiences and behaviors. Ask hypothetical questions that assess their ability to handle common sales scenarios they’ll face. For example, inquire about their approach to selling specific services, dealing with objections, and creating a positive customer experience. Ask about situations they’ve faced in the past where they made a big sale or achieved success in another way, how they’ve handled challenging customer interactions or adapted to changes in the sales environment. This approach provides a more nuanced understanding of their skills and abilities.

Engage candidates in role-playing exercises that simulate real-life scenarios they might encounter on the job. This could include handling inquiries about different tanning packages, addressing customer objections, and providing recommendations based on individual needs. As Devoted Creations Director of Brand Development Lisa Saavedra is fond of suggesting, ask the interviewee to role-play selling you a bottle of lotion. Observing their approach in these scenarios offers valuable insights into their sales techniques and adaptability.

Also delve into the candidate’s motivation for working in the tanning industry. Ask questions about their interest in wellness, personal experiences with tanning, and how they see themselves contributing to promoting the benefits of tanning within your salon. This helps identify candidates with a genuine passion for the industry.

Provide candidates with an opportunity to ask questions about the role and your business. This not only helps them gauge if your salon aligns with their career goals but also reflects their level of interest in the position.

Last but not least, even if you designated the role specifically as a sales position in your job listing, it’s important to continue to reinforce expectations during the interview. “We let everyone know in our interviews this is a sales position. Along with cleaning and customer service, promotions and everything else are strongly based upon sales,” Nichols says.

Pick & Choose

The ultimate evaluation of your interviewees should come back to your original vision of the most important qualities and abilities you’re looking for in an employee. Ligon and his team are looking for signs that employees that can live up to the Sunday’s mantra that guides most everything they do.

“Our three-prong diamond company mantra has always been Walmart pricing, Mercedes equipment, and Nordstrom service. So the two things we look for most in the entry-level employee is how they relate to clients: Do they engage with them and try to uplift their day? Do they look for things to do to keep the spa clean and appealing? We love to see entry-level employees taking ownership if they see something that may need to be done even if it’s not their responsibility,” Ligon says.

With a large company with proven success, room for advancement, and a lucrative commission structure designed to motivate sales and good service, a candidate with the right attitude who is willing to try to fit into the culture at Sundays is likely to find success with sales as well.

If you find a candidate with tanning salon experience and no red flags, they might be an easy choice. If they have other previous sales experience, that’s definitely a good sign. But, in many cases, tanning businesses don’t have the luxury of candidates with ideal backgrounds and experience. They’re left to hire primarily based on personality and potential. But even if someone doesn’t have specific sales experience, there are some indicators you can pick up on during interviews that can help predict their success as a salesperson. Successful salespeople often share a set of distinctive personal characteristics that contribute to their success.

Possessing exceptional communication skills is a cornerstone for a good salesperson. The ability to articulate ideas clearly, actively listen to customers, and tailor communication to resonate with diverse audiences is crucial. Effective communication extends beyond words to include non-verbal cues, such as body language and tone, which can significantly impact the rapport and trust established with clients.

Adaptability is another key trait found in high-performing sales professionals. A successful salesperson must be agile and open to adapting their approach to different situations. This adaptability allows them to respond to challenges, pivot strategies when needed, and seize opportunities that may arise unexpectedly.

Resilience and a positive attitude are indispensable qualities. Sales can be a demanding and rejection-prone profession, and individuals with the ability to bounce back from setbacks, learn from failures, and maintain an optimistic outlook are better equipped to navigate the inevitable ups and downs. A persistent and optimistic mindset not only helps salespeople weather challenges but also fosters a proactive and solution-oriented approach to their work.

Lastly, a strong sense of empathy is vital for building meaningful relationships with clients. Understanding the needs, concerns, and motivations of customers enables salespeople to tailor their pitch, offer personalized solutions, and establish a connection that goes beyond transactional interactions. This emotional intelligence fosters trust and loyalty, essential elements in forging long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.

Contacting previous employers and checking references is another crucial step in the evaluation process. Inquire about the candidate’s work ethic, reliability, and performance in previous roles. This additional layer of verification ensures the information provided aligns with the candidate’s actual performance. When conducting reference checks, if applicable, specifically inquire about a candidate’s performance in sales roles.

Next Steps

In the weeks to come, we will share more from this series, detailing effective practices for employee sales training and incentivization. Throughout the process of recruiting and hiring new sales staff members, it’s important to keep these next steps in mind.

You might not find candidates with an ideal sales background, but if you can find people who are charismatic, positive, eager to learn, and motivated to win, you can mold them into superstar salespeople with a well-refined training regimen and the incentive of a rewarding commission structure that prioritizes the needs of your business as well as those of your team members.