Indoor tanning facility owners say customers choose Smart Tan tanning facilities primarily for the service and staff at the salons, according to a SmartTan.com survey conducted in October.

According to the survey, 65 percent of of professional indoor tanning facility owners say the staff and service at their tanning businesses are what their clients like best — more than double the number (24 percent) who said they think the equipment is what their clients like best. Only 9 percent in the survey said their clients liked their prices best.

“This survey underscores the Smart Tan philosophies — primarily that indoor tanning is a service, not a product, and that while equipment is important to the success of your stores, how your staff performs is the key to your success,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “We’ve always promoted this, and more and more professional tanning facilities have developed programs to fully market the service of tanning.”