As explored in the previous installment of this series, the recruitment process for a sales position in a tanning business is often centered around assessing potential. It’s rare to encounter a flawless candidate, but identifying individuals who exude charisma and harbor a genuine passion for your work environment significantly boosts their likelihood of success in sales.

Subsequently, the task of unlocking their full potential largely falls into your hands.

Today, there are more resources than ever that detail the different elements of industry-specific sales training, with plenty that even delve into more advanced techniques. Smart Tan Sales Training serves as an optimal foundation for new employees, with industry product suppliers offering a bevy of additional support. Hundreds of webinars, video trainings, and supplementary resources are available from Devoted Creations, Sun Evolutions and New Sunshine, and they cover the full spectrum of salon operations and sales topics. If your staff is motivated to succeed, and you’re willing to invest in their education, all the information you’ll ever need is there for the taking.

Given the accessibility of information, perhaps the greatest challenge as a tanning business sales trainer comes back to helping team members develop confidence and express enthusiasm for the services and products they’re selling. In practice, that means they need to be willing and able to actively engage with clients and guide them toward the purchasing options that will give them the best experience and results while also aligning with the most important sales objectives of the business.

“A core belief I have is, ‘People are silently begging to be led.’ They want to make a good decision, and if you have 100 percent belief in your product and you convey that with 100 percent enthusiasm, you will succeed,” says Sundays Sun Spa owner Dennis Ligon.

“If you are not enthusiastic about what you offer, chances are your clients will not feel any need to spend their time and money with you. Before they can believe in our services and products since they haven’t used them, their decision to buy is going to be based on your belief and enthusiasm.”

Get Your Priorities Straight

While covering policies and procedures is certainly a fundamental part of the onboarding process for new hires, this article is concentrated specifically on training staff members to sell. Just as last month’s article encouraged you to hire with a focus on potential for success in sales, your training should heavily emphasize sales techniques and strategies as well as continuing to make it clear that sales is a fundamental part of the job.

First things first, you need to get your new hires up to speed as quickly as possible so your investment in them can start paying off and they can start earning commission that will help cement their satisfaction with their role. Along with the basics of operating the salon, you need to prioritize your most important sales objectives in your training from the start.

“We put new hires through a two-week training program – sometimes a little shorter or longer. We have a project management program we put all our training in with a checklist so we can see where they’re at. Last summer, we revamped our whole training program and specified what they should know after so many hours of training, as well as what our top priorities are – the main things we want to push,” says Scott Nichols, co-owner and general manager of Sunseekers by Rosie.

In the modern tanning industry, the top training and sales priority should be the same for virtually every tanning business. “We spend quite a bit of time on perfecting the tour, and we preach that EFT membership is king,” Ligon says.

A membership is the best sale there is for most any tanning business, and the most fundamental method of selling a membership is the salon tour. Your memberships should be structured so the value of your higher-level memberships outweighs the additional cost, so you need to show new customers everything you have to offer and educate them as to why your more expensive offerings are worth the cost.

In a sense, the salon tour is not only an important sales tool but also a useful training tool, because it will need to include a solid foundation of knowledge about all of your services and types of products.

“We focus a lot on the salon tours. For every one of us in this industry, it’s the EFT that keeps you alive. Product sales is more than the ‘gravy,’ but you make your money and you pay your employees with EFTs. They have to get the tour right, so we practice it,” says Sol Spa Tan owner Jeff Mills. “The tour is the most important thing. I can be pretty lenient on some things, but if you want to really make me mad, let me see you standing at the counter pointing at a price board with a brand-new client. We’re going to work on that or you’re going to be gone.’

Once you get past EFTs and salon tours, here are some of the most important considerations for your initial sales training:

Knowledge is Power: Ensure that your employees have in-depth knowledge about the tanning products and services your salon offers. Understanding the features and benefits of each item equips employees to make informed recommendations to customers.

Customer-Centric Approach: Train your staff to adopt a customer-centric mindset. Encourage them to actively listen to customers, understand their needs, and tailor their sales approach accordingly. Building a connection with customers fosters trust and increases the likelihood of successful sales.

Role-Playing Exercises: Conduct regular role-playing exercises as part of sales training sessions. Simulating real-life customer interactions allows employees to practice their sales techniques, handle objections, and refine their communication skills in a supportive environment.

Upselling and Cross-Selling Techniques: Teach your employees effective upselling and cross-selling techniques. Whether it’s promoting premium tanning packages or suggesting complementary skincare products, providing guidance on how to upsell without being pushy is crucial for maximizing revenue.

Overcoming Objections: Equip your team with the skills to address common customer objections. Whether it’s concerns about safety, time commitment, or pricing, employees should be well-prepared to provide thoughtful responses and alleviate any apprehensions customers may have.

Understanding Customer Buying Signals: Train your employees to recognize buying signals from customers. These signals can include specific questions about products, prolonged interest in a particular service, or a willingness to explore additional offerings. Being attuned to these signals enables your team to capitalize on sales opportunities.

Effective Communication Skills: Place a strong emphasis on effective communication. Clear and concise communication builds trust and helps customers make informed decisions. Encourage your staff to articulate the value of your products and services in a way that resonates with the customer’s needs.

Consultative Approach

Building confidence is a key part of this conversation because your sales team members need to understand and internalize the fact that they are the trained experts. They aren’t there to take orders. They’re there to help clients identify the best methods for achieving the results they want and expose them to other options the client might not have considered.

Your sales staff needs to take control of the dialogue, analyze what customers are looking for, and propose a solution to get them the best experience. The ideal situation is to propose a complete tanning regimen to take them beyond their expectations. In that respect, the employee’s personal recommendation is the best sales pitch they can give. Employees need personal experience with everything they’re selling so they can have an honest conversation about their own experience.

 One of the best ways to ensure that employees actually follow your training is to adopt a more systematic approach. A successful salesperson will have to know how to adapt on the fly, but arming them with talking points and scripts as well as intensive knowledge of the preferred tanning protocol for customers and the business is a great way to set them up for success.

“The main thing is we take people through a system. It’s very straightforward and clearly defined. We set the system so if they follow our guidelines, they’ll have success. The whole idea of having a system is that people follow it. It clears up the confusion for both employees and customers,” says Solarius Spa owner Scott Bushey.

“We have a phone outline we follow based on bullet points. When a person calls, we have certain things we ask during the conversation that leads people to come in to visit. When they get there, we take them on the tour starting at the top level of equipment, asking questions all the way through. What kind of time do you have? When can you come in? How often? We have to know these things to give good guidance. Guidance and educating to help them make a good decision create a lot of trust and care and a good relationship, and that’s why we’ve been in business 39 years.”
As Ligon stated previously, “people are begging to be led.” But that’s not to be confused with wanting to be sold to. Salon staff members face a delicate balance between pushing for sales and providing quality customer service that will retain and enhance loyalty. That’s why the preferred approach is to be conversational, ask questions and offer personalized recommendations.

“I’ve always found that if sales are down, they’re not asking for the business. Mostly you can see they just don’t talk. You have to engage to get a conversation going. Sometimes people stop before the customer is ready to buy. Be ready to sell it to them because sometimes they’ll surprise you,” Ligon says. “It’s a nice little dance you’re doing with the customer. When they know you’re out for their best interest, they’re not worried about the cost as much as the value. They pay that because of the way it makes them feel. Those are the customers that stay the longest, are the most loyal and buy the add-ons.

“It’s a thin line between being good at sales and being too pushy. When you’re commission-based, you have some people that don’t sell right. Sales is something you do for someone, not to them. That’s why we call them clients, not customers. Try to teach them and learn a little about them before going into selling. I always say that if you have 100 percent enthusiasm and belief you will never need to close anybody out. There’s a time people want to buy, and a time they don’t. We preach over and over the long-term value of the client. Focus on retaining their loyalty over the one-time big sale.”

Continuing Education

As a salon owner or manager, you most often assume the role of teacher, but it’s also important to not forget the importance of “always being a student,” as Nichols puts it. Just as your employees can always continue to learn from the variety of available sales training resources, so can you. As an experienced salon professional, you have a wealth of your own knowledge and information that will only continue to grow as long as you’re always looking for ways to learn and improve. Part of that can involve looking for inspiration outside of the industry in your everyday life.

“When you’re walking into the local restaurant, look to see what they’re doing. Look at the wait staff. When you’re going into a big department store, look to see what they’re doing. Study them,” Nichols says.

Most of your sales training will be proactive – you’re arming your team members with the skills and knowledge you know they need to succeed. But you also have to be reactive – continuously evolving your training based on changes in circumstances, what’s working and what’s not.

As Nichols has written in previous articles, as a business owner, you should consider it your responsibility to your employees to set them up for success. That doesn’t mean just the way you train them, but also continuing to evaluate what’s working and not and ensuring that you have the right services, products, pricing, and other factors in place to help them succeed for the good of the business as well as their own.

“Your own sales training is going to be based 100 percent on experience. You should be always adjusting your sales training. It’s just being very observant based on what’s going on and looking at your numbers. If your lotion sales are down, what’s going on? It’s discovering what the problem is and finding a solution,” Nichols says. “We can set up the environment to be better for salons. Part of my job is just problem-solving. There isn’t a golden answer to this. If sales numbers are down, it’s my job to figure it out.”

Continuing to enhance your team members’ sales abilities throughout their tenures is all about creating a culture of learning and that starts with you. With plenty of resources out there to help continue educating yourself and your staff, it’s really as simple as making education a priority. If you’re struggling to identify what all that might entail, here are some ideas:

Lead by Example: Demonstrate a commitment to learning by consistently engaging in your own professional development. Attend relevant industry events and share your insights and newfound knowledge with your team. Leading by example encourages your team members to view learning as a continuous process. 

Encourage Peer Learning: Foster a collaborative environment where team members can learn from each other. Facilitate regular knowledge-sharing sessions, where individuals can discuss successful sales strategies, share challenges, and offer solutions. Encouraging peer learning not only broadens the team’s collective knowledge but also strengthens bonds among team members.

Set Clear Learning Goals: Work with each team member to establish personalized learning goals aligned with their professional development needs and the organization’s objectives. These goals could include acquiring new product knowledge, refining skills, or staying updated on industry trends. Regularly revisit these goals to track progress and make necessary adjustments.

Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer timely and constructive feedback to help team members understand their strengths and areas for improvement. This feedback should be specific and actionable, enabling individuals to take targeted steps toward improvement. A culture that values feedback fosters continuous improvement and a commitment to learning.

Embrace Technology: Leverage technology to enhance learning experiences. Explore e-learning platforms, webinars, and virtual training sessions that provide flexibility for team members to learn at their own pace. Integrating technology into your training approach ensures that learning remains accessible and adaptive to the evolving needs of the sales landscape. 

Celebrate Achievements: Recognize and celebrate individual and team achievements related to learning and skill development. This could include acknowledging successful completion of courses, achieving sales milestones, or mastering a new sales technique. Celebration reinforces the importance of continuous learning as a positive and rewarding aspect of professional growth

Cultivate a Growth Mindset: Foster a growth mindset within the team, emphasizing that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Encourage individuals to embrace challenges, learn from setbacks, and see effort as a path to mastery. A growth mindset creates a resilient and motivated team that views learning as an integral part of success.

Check back in next month’s Smart Tan Magazine, as we wrap up this series by delving into the topics of optimizing commission structures and incentivizing your sales team. When it comes down to it, incentive-based compensation will always be the greatest motivator for your sales team to keep learning, improving, and making more money for your business.