Indoor Tanning Expos...
Ever been to one? If you have
than I know I don’t need to sell you on them. Fun, Excitement, Laughs, Free
Stuff, Food, Drinks… whats not to love? If you have never attended you probably have
seen pictures in the industry trade magazines and manufacturers/distributors
websites. Visions of tan people standing
up with their hands outstretched, sometimes screaming, trying to get the
attention of the speaker on stage as if to say “I NEED that bottle of tanning
lotion!”
If
you have been to an Indoor Tanning Expo then you have witnessed or experienced
the previously mentioned frenzy.
Hopefully that is not where your tanning expo experience has ended. Today’s
Indoor Tanning Industry Tradeshows offer so much more than free lotion. Don’t get me wrong, everyone loves free
tanning lotion including this guy, and if that is your only reason for
attending props to you! I’ll see you at
the next one with a bag full of samples.
For those who need more reasons to attend a tradeshow read on:
First
let me elaborate on the free lotion samples.
When bottles and packettes are flying into the audience there is not a
machine that is sending these goodies sailing towards your head. The human on stage is a National Sales Trainer for one of your favorite lotions
manufacturers. This person knows more
about lotion ingredients, scents, benefits, sales tactics, pricing, and usages
than you might think! They are more than
just hype men and women. They have seen
the best promos, deals, pitches, open house weekends, and fundraisers from
around the world. They have seen it ALL
and they want to share what they know with YOU!
Not only will they provide you with training on their product during
their seminars, but they are available to answer any and all questions at their
booth.
Indoor
Tanning Tradeshows are also a great way to check out the latest and greatest equipment.
Thinking of upgrading an older bed?
Perhaps you are interested in adding sunless to your salon. Most tradeshows do not have every single
model on display, but you can get a very good idea of the quality and style of
a brand of equipment from the models on the show floor. For the salons that are not currently in the
market for new equipment a tradeshow is still a great time to start making
plans for the future. How much will you
need to upgrade your electrical? How
much Air Conditioning will you need?
Questions of this nature can be answered immediately from a
representative that you can speak with in person. It beats waiting on hold for a technician
listening to your favorite Kenny G. cover.
Not only is it a great place to SEE the equipment, but many times there
are pricing specials, buy in deals, AND free promos when purchasing equipment
at an expo!
Training and certification courses are
another feature at many tradeshows. Most
states now require formal certification or training. Most certification courses are now offered
online making it easier to and more affordable to comply with state
regulations. However, Tradeshows still
offer certification courses for a reason.
Salons keep signing up. It is
convenient. If most of your salons
employees are going to be gathered at a tradeshow why not take 3 hours and certify
the whole gang?
If your
salon offers handheld sunless spray tanning there is certification and training
for you too! These handheld training
courses are a great way to perfect your skills as a technician with one-on-one
training or basic group spray tan trainings.
Even the most experienced hand held technicians will learn a tip from
these trainings. Oh did I mention
product sample bags to certification attendees?
Bonus!
Lotions and equipment vendors are not the only
vendors to get excited about; Eyewear,
modular walls, timing systems, software systems, lamp manufacturers, sunless
solution, and marketing vendors can all be found at an indoor tanning
expo. While throwing out free tanning
lamps or gallons of bed cleaner to an eager audience might sound dangerous it
is very entertaining. Okay so that
doesn’t happen, but maybe this will be the year!!
In my
experience every salon owner, manager, and employee has questions pertaining to
some aspect of indoor tanning. It could
be a question about EFT programs, lamp compatibility, or software. Maybe you have questions that you don’t even
know you want to ask. Mind blown, I
know. That is where the panel discussion
is very helpful. This panel discussion
is where industry experts from salons, lotion manufactures, lamp manufacturers,
and equipment distributors answer questions from the audience. Some great topics are covered, tough
questions answered, and there is usually quite a bit of jabbing between panel
members (entertaining to watch).
Lastly, allow me to stress the information that the speakers at an expo have to
share is priceless. Ultimately it is
your choice what ideas to implement in your salon. Tradeshow Speakers have been asked to share
their recipe for a successful salon with you because the more success YOU have
the more successful WE are! Some salons take an interesting idea from an expo
and use it to bump up sales, increase salon morale, change customer service. Other salons completely turn around their
business using ideas and connections gained from attending a tradeshow and go
on to open second and third locations!
Whether you take home free samples of lotion, a completely
new business model , or a new wave of energy and excitement, you WILL take something
from a tanning expo near you! Register
for one today!
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