By Grant Miller, Salon consultant

I’m sure that you’ve heard of the 80/20 rule. The concept was invented by Vilfredo Pareto who was a 19th century Italian engineer, economist, and philosopher. The 80/20 rule is named after him and is also known as the Pareto principle.

The basic rule of thumb is that 80 percent of outcomes can be attributed to 20 percent of the causes for a given event. The 80/20 rule is something that persists in almost every situation on a daily basis. A relatively small population of people in this country have the bulk of the wealth. If you look at the average of 10 business owners, eight are struggling to pay the bills and two are doing pretty darn well. The rule almost always universally applies.

Many tanning salon owners think they are only in the tanning business. They’ve put themselves into a tiny box and labeled themselves as “I am only here to do tanning.” But “tanning” is not really the business you are in. The benefit of what tanning provides is that you make your clients look and feel better. You give them confidence and pride in their appearance.

So what else can you offer to your clients that would give a similar benefit? At Smart Tan Nashville this year, there were several products and services that could easily be added that would grow your existing business.

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.