Thoughts on Sessions

[Din]

If Casper McWhity comes in and asks for a tan. She'd go in for lets say 8 min. and pay you $10. She'll come out with 15% more color than when she went in.

When Marshall O'tannednuts comes in and does the base bed, he's already dark and will do longer...like 15 min. He will pay you $10 and will come out with 15% more Color.

Razball Permatanana comes in and is very dark and will do the full 20min on that bed and pay you $10 and will get 15% more color as well.

My question is, why should Mr. Permatanana pay you more for the same increase in color and the same bed than Mr. McWhity? Why should a whiter person pay less than a darker person? If anything, a whiter person should pay MORE to be more like everyone else. Not less or a given a break.

You give tans.......everyone pays the same price for the bed, no favors for whiter people. That's racism.

Explain it to them like that too....tell them, as you get darker and need to go in longer in the bed and the minutes increase. You will still be getting 10% or 15% more color as you were when you first started....but now you'll be paying more.....that doesn't make sense. so as you get darker and darker and you go in for longer. The price remains the same. For everyone.

[daredvl_edm]

That makes perfect sense. Good bye minutes, hello sessions. :-)

[daredvl_edm]

Well an update for ya Din :-) I introduced sessions and wow, the response is amazing. I explain how they work and have no trouble at all selling them to anyone. People are loving them, which is good. I have to admit, i was a bit nervous at first, as I am in a small hick town, where people don't like change, but they actually feel like they are saving money with sessions as their is no limit to the time, exceptions being the max time on the beds. Works for me.

Thanks Din for the help and advice.

[Natureboy]

Edmonton is a small hick town? It's like 750,000 people!

[daredvl_edm]

i live in edmonton, yes, but my salon is in a small town of 10 000 west of edmonton. Farming community more so.

[GreatShapeCo]

Originally Posted by Din

If Casper McWhity comes in and asks for a tan. She'd go in for lets say 8 min. and pay you $10. She'll come out with 15% more color than when she went in.

When Marshall O'tannednuts comes in and does the base bed, he's already dark and will do longer...like 15 min. He will pay you $10 and will come out with 15% more Color.

Razball Permatanana comes in and is very dark and will do the full 20min on that bed and pay you $10 and will get 15% more color as well.

My question is, why should Mr. Permatanana pay you more for the same increase in color and the same bed than Mr. McWhity? Why should a whiter person pay less than a darker person? If anything, a whiter person should pay MORE to be more like everyone else. Not less or a given a break.

You give tans.......everyone pays the same price for the bed, no favors for whiter people. That's racism.

Explain it to them like that too....tell them, as you get darker and need to go in longer in the bed and the minutes increase. You will still be getting 10% or 15% more color as you were when you first started....but now you'll be paying more.....that doesn't make sense. so as you get darker and darker and you go in for longer. The price remains the same. For everyone.

This makes really good sense to me. I admit I am surprised by that! LOL
I am a bit concerned though, I have no idea how to price the sessions. I have 4 older Suncapsule units (circa 1986). 40*
100w lamps.
The pricing from the old owner is still in effect and I am scared to change anything too fast or drastically since I just took over in June. I have minute and monthly packages at this time...how do I do the math to figure the cost of a session?

[Natureboy]

Either A: Get new units and start charging properly for sessions.

B: Don't be afraid to increase your prices.

C: Get into another business because you won't last long.


I can't even tell you what to charge for 100 watt stand up booths because Chippp isn't here.....actually, they are so outdated that you basically should charge the same as 100 watt beds.

10 Sessions $59

20 Sessions $79

Whatever. You can never survive with only those units. Well you can if YOU work the desk 60 hours a week and have no staff. And I am concerned why you bought this business in the first place? It sounds to me that you had no idea what your getting into (no offence).

[GreatShapeCo]

No offence taken at all.

I am looking at getting some new equipment, but for now these work and my clients like them. They have been very well maintained and with regular bulb changes I do not get any complaints. Just because something is older, like not even as old as I am, doesn't mean that it is no good right?

I worked here for the last eight years. The salon has a loyal clientele and is quite busy. It held it's own expenses wise all summer, so I have no complaints there. I am looking at trying to upgrade things and all going well will be able to do so a little at a time in the next few months.
I understand if the age of the units makes it hard to try to do pricing, thanks for the info and the effort though. I will try and figure it out on my own, I think I can...price of bulbs, hours, and other expenses incurred I assume all averaged out to a cost per minute then max tan time. Sounds reasonable to me...