By Ashley Wottring, California Tan Sunless

The key to sunless sales is education. Sunless tanning is different than UV tanning and requires additional training, whether an employee has worked in the salon for the past five years of five weeks. Sunless tanning can be overwhelming to some end users, especially if all they remember is the spray tan they had in the early 2000s that was orange and uneven. These solutions were primarily made with cheap DHA and carrot oil. Sunless tanning has evolved and it is our job to educate on that.

Merchandizing can also have a big impact on sunless sales. Sunless products should not be an afterthought, sitting on the one salon shelf that is hidden behind the employee the majority of the time. Research shoes that moving a product from the bottom shelf to eye level can increase sales. Try rearranging your product shelves and giving sunless more of a prominent location. Many sunless retail products can benefit a UV tanning session as well, and salespeople should be sharing those benefits.

Tanners may be willing to pay more for tanning products that are formulated to work together. California Tan Sunless operates in a three-step system. Those three steps should be sold together as a regimen. The end consumer does not always understand the benefits of bundle purchasing, but again, our job is to educate them — sunless tans will develop darker and last longer with the proper prep and post care.

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