Pat and Larry Vernon, Le Sun Club

Partners in business and in life, Pat and Larry Vernon are the co-owners of single-location salon Le Sun Club in Covina, CA. Their service and passion have kept the business going strong for 18 years. Adding sunless tanning to their lineup took things to the next level, but Pat shares how their success was tied to an emphasis on consumer education:

We knew a salon owner who recommended that we get a sunless booth about six months after it came out. We took his word and immediately saw a great difference. The salon got so busy that I decided to put in a second unit to eliminate the wait times. Unfortunately, when we moved locations, we only had space for one booth.

But we had to give our sunless customers as much prior knowledge as possible. We didn’t want them to use an alkaline soap or an oily lotion before coming to get their spray tan. We have had people show up dressed for prom wanting a spray tan because they don’t understand how it works. That’s why we try to educate people as soon as possible. When people call about sunless services, we spend about five minutes on the phone with them, letting them know how long it’s going to take, what clothes to wear and what they need to do or not do after the session.

If they are unhappy with the results, we do it again for free. Most of the time this has happened, it’s because a customer doesn’t listen to our directions and they mess up their tan. Especially if it’s a new client, I give them the benefit of the doubt. One time, a woman called screaming about how her sunless tan turned out wrong, and it was ruining her anniversary. As it turns out, she got the service from a different salon, but I helped her remove the old tan and resprayed her. I wanted her anniversary to be special! But those are the opportunities to make a good impression on a client.

For more information about the salon, visit www.lesunclubw.com.