Question from Neetz: October 1, 2017 will be my 2 year anniversary of owning my first tanning salon. In the two years I have owned it, I have changed it from the drab black and gray interior, to a bright and beachy theme. Customers constantly come in and compliment me for the new look. I have increased my client base, but can’t seem to increase the long-term memberships. I have 12 beds, 1 Versa-Pro machine, and we also Custom Airbrush.

I would like to know how I can increase my long-term memberships? I run monthly specials, but this has not worked. Do you think adding another service could increase the memberships? Any and all suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Lisa Parsons: 

First of all congrats on your anniversary!! Its difficult to say if you need to add services, at this point, until you increase your membership retention rate I would say no. One membership option I have found to be very successful in keeping clients on a membership is the hold/freeze option. If you don’t have one of these programs basically what it is is that instead of your clients canceling their membership they can “hold” it for $5 a month so they don’t have to pay a rejoining fee and they are locked into their current pricing. I have seen this be extremely successful when you incorporate the $5 a credit when they come back. For example – lets say I choose not to tan for 3 months because of a crazy work schedule, planned trips ect. Instead of canceling and having to pay a rejoining fee I can put my account on a “hold/Freeze” so that when I come back into tan 3 months later, I don’t pay to sign up again and I receive that $15 I spend in freeze money as in store credit. This I view as a win win, the customer has a reason to come back and they are accumulating credit while they’re gone and you are still drafting a small EFT amount to ensure they stay a client of yours. You will also find that they may rejoin quicker because of the credit they have on their account.

I hope this help! Thanks for your question! We will be sending you $250 in Devoted Creations retail product for your question! Any questions you want answered in a future post and to be automatically entered to win $250 in Devoted Creations product, please email your questions to InTheGlow@smarttan.com

Happy Tanning!

Xoxo Lisa