Half of all tanning businesses say their business performance for the first six months of 2011 was better than expected, according to a SmartTan.com poll conducted in the last week of May — another sign that the tanning market’s leaders are finding ways to succeed this year.

According to the poll, 50 percent say business is better than expected, while 22 percent say it was worse than expected in the first half of 2011. The remaining 28 percent said business was about as expected. That poll closely approximates the SmartTan.com poll for the first three months of 2011, when 49 percent reported better-than-expected results, with 26 percent reporting worse-than-expected numbers.

“Half of the market is reporting good numbers in 2011,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “This is consistent with conversations we’ve had with players in the market. From what we can tell the ones with black ink on their ledgers this year are the ones who have re-vamped their organizations to better service and retain clients in the tanning business environment today.”

A SmartTan.com poll in late May suggested that spring sales were strong — bolstering market confidence. In that poll, 61 percent said business was stronger-than-expected for the month, with only 19 percent reporting weaker-than-expected results.

For 2010 as a whole, in contrast, only 32 percent of the tanning market reported stronger-than-expected results, with nearly half — 47 percent — saying performance was weaker-than-expected.

“Clearly there are more winners in the market this year,” Levy said.

Looking at the ever-changing key elements to winning in tanning — along with what will work in the years to come — is the foundation of the conference portion of Smart Tan’s 2011 Convention in Downtown Nashville Oct. 12-14. For more information about that event, click here: www.SmartTanDowntown.com