Adding Laser and Microderm.

[W8INLINE]

I am adding these two services in place of the two base beds I had.

Does anyone who offers these services care to share info about it?

Pricing? How well does it do in a tanning salon enviroment?

Since these two services DON'T compliment tanning, how do you go about promoting it? Do you have sep. price lists? etc.

[danggirl]

I would so stay away from this unless you are going to sell it alot lower than a medspa.

Many solariums in Europe tried these and it didnt work. I think a good facial tanning unit will work very well to bring in traffic. Sportarredo has one and my company sells them to. Beware, you can only charge $5 to $7 a session, but many people will tan in it just to get a quick bronze for the face.

My company's salons do very well in Europe with them. Just some food for thought.

[Mojave Tan]

In CA, you have to have a nursing license to operate those machines. Wouldn't work for us with the demand for nurses and the money they can make at a hospital or through agency.

Good luck!

[W8INLINE]

Thank you for the reply danggirl. Why would I sell less than a medspa? If a treatment sells for $100-$150 everywhere why would I lowball it? After all...it won't be a highschool teenager doing it.

Also I would be interested in knowing why a $5-$7 session in a facial unit be more successfull for me than a $100-$150 treatment of microderm, or a few hundred dollars in a laser treatment.

[danggirl]

You are not a medspa , now if you want to be a medspa then charge away. You are a tanning salon and adding something tanning related will always be better. It is your spot of knowledge stick with it.

In Italy we see about 200 per day for solairum and only a couple for other features. Your spot of knowledge will always out do a spot you dont know. Medspa's try to do tanning or airbrush and most of the time it doesnt work, because it is not there spot of knowledge.

[W8INLINE]

You are 100% correct. It is not my spot of knowledge. I am not a med spa.

11 years ago when I first opened the salon, tanning was not my spot of knowledge either. I made it my spot of knowledge.

I took all that knowledge, and ran a report for the last 6 months on my 32 lamp base beds, and in the last 6 months, those 2 beds have generated $278.25. Two 8x7 rooms have done that. I then took my knowledgable ass down the street and checked out a small hole in the wall they call a day spa. They offer these treatments at $100 per session and they are booked. They do a lot more sessions in microderm. than I do in the two base beds combined, and my salon has 100 times more of a spa feel than their store. That's what gave me the idea.

That, and the fact I do very well with my formostar, which is not tanning related. I mean...if I sell 20 bodywraps for $1000 to people who know nothing about IR treatments, why wouldn't they purchase something they DO know about?

[agk453]

I'll know more very shortly. I just entered into a sharing agreement with a med spa where they will use 1/2 my space for microderm, laser, mani/pedicure and a whole pile of other stuff. I get to keep 1/2 my beds which, as W8 says, were under-used anyway. So...1/2 the beds now getting twice the traffic, plus the add-ins of cross-marketing between tanning and medi, the future looks very bright. I just don't know whether I'll be a spa that offers tanning or a tanning place that offers spa services. What really matters is I get a piece of $25K of advertising they do monthly and that can't hurt either. More news later, after it all comes together. They want to be in and operational by Christmas. Hmmm.

[frankie]

George you have the right idea. I am slowly going into the same situation. I just added teeth whitening and I am doing very well with it. I have a large room that the walls go all the way to the ceiling. Very quite and it is large enough to add micro. I am going into this very slowly. I plan to add micro and LED light therapy later.

[danggirl]

Estectica & tanning do go hand & hand but adding all these services because tanning is slow, is not the route. I am just trying to shed some in light for you. This has been done many times over in Europe and it brought them much cash at first, then it died at the end. There are so many solariums selling over in Europe its crazy.

Stick to something tan related, the change that will come to the U.S. is the price of tanning needs to come way down. I dont like this idea myself but this is coming here. In Italy we can only sell hp for 8-15 euro. There is no level of tanning and never will be there. Its either low pressure, face, high pressure, and estetica.

We have change to this method in our U.S. stores and it has been going very good. Now we are not seeing 200 people per day as our Italy ones but when the prices adjust as prices are adjusting right now people will slowly come back to tanning. The number one thing isnt tanning causes cancer but our high prices cause cancer.

If you are going to add estectica to your salon, just becareful. I hope it works out for you lord knows well all need the extra income and people this year.

[Jones]

w8,
Add it, see ya at the bank!

[W8INLINE]

Danggirl, what you said about price realy wories me. I would love to debate the price issue with you, but I want this thread to stay on track and read more people's opinions, and get some feedback from people who have had these services successfully or not.

Danggirl...I have spent the last 6 months studying the Boca Tan and now the Soho tan type of price structure in and out and in your post you mentioned some key things that are missing from making it successfull here....but that's another thread.

[frankie]

I don`t do something just because tanning is slow. I have been thinking about this for some time now. I think it is all about how you market it. It will take time for the word to get out but I believe it will happen. When adding I am looking at the best of the best.

[Chelle]

Do you need a doctor on staff for micro derm & laser?

And agk... did they approach you or you them? I am REALLY interested in doing this as well but have no idea how to go about it.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I would love to get other's opinions that are actually doing this as well. There was a salon in Waterloo that offered both, and it was for sale awhile ago but I'm not sure whatever happened there. It was close to both universities.

[Ziti]

Do it! We have a full service skin care room with Lic. Aesthician. It works very well with tanning

[W8INLINE]

How do you work the price with them Ziti?

If you own the machine do you split 50-50? Do they own everything and just rent them the space? I know it's been talked before, but since were on this thread might as well post it here too.

[Jim Carlton]

We have been doing this for over 12 years now. A licenced aesthetician can do most of the microdermabrasion, LED Light Threapy, and facial treatments. We do have a doctor that oversees our medical peels. (He has tanned with us for 10 years)

Ususally you only need to be certified to offer the teeth whitening we use the BriteWhite and compete with the dentist four units down who uses the Zoom system.

You will need a cosmetology licence, if you are doing skin care. The laser is a different story, check your state regulations.

We pay our aesthetician 40% after deducting the cost of products used in the service, but pay them 15% on any products they sell with the service. It isn't in our best interest to rent the room.

You are also more in touch with your clients' skin condition and can make better recommedations on tanning or spray tanning after the consultation. We also have our own line of skin care products and make up. It really seemed logical all those years ago and produces a major part of the gross.

Success you all and a very happy Thanksgiving.

[dsuriff]

You can visit my Salon Welcome to SplashTAN and get an idea of some of our offerings. I have $250,000 worth of medical lasers. We can perform hair removal, tattoo removal, and spider vein removal but recomend performing only hair removal. This is not something to add in every salon as the expertise needed to ensure safety is a must.

Can be very profitable but must research all laws which vary by state regarding who can operate lasers. Microderm is very easy to attach to tanning salons. This is all about skin care and can be tied into tanning easily. My number one recomendation is teeth whitening which is very easy to perform, minimal risk, and highlyu profitable.

[Jones]

To pay the service preformer I suggest looking into your market to find the going rate...

I commonly pay on a sliding scale...encouraging the professionals to "add on" services to make more money. The highest commision you can pay and remain profitable is 50% less product expense. Start the scale @ 40% less expense and increase to 50% less expenses on perfomance.

One of my pet peeves is product cost...If I split the profit, I also split the product cost...this depends on usage... You must keep a close eye on what I call professional product usage...if they keep to normal usage I pick up half of product expense...if they don't they pay product expense.

Hope that helps.

[Beat]

Danngirl, italian solarium are years back the U.S. ones. Just 2 quick questions about salon you visit (have?) what about lotion selling? What about salon software? Ppl in Italy get what the market offer, if they have better (multi level USA salon type) they go there.

[danggirl]

We sell the same lotions we sell in the U.S. and our own companies software for italy.(smartsolarium)

Beat you should know very well that a multi level salon will not work in Italy. The average price for hp is 15 euros. So how you gonna do multi level when the price is that price.

I know a couple of people who have solariums in Milan and they wouldnt dare do U.S. pricing.Thats like saying the prices that HP sells in the U.S. they would pay for that in Italy.

The U.S. by far is the most expensive in selling tanning with Canada being close. Plus on top makers of hp's have there own solariums like Eversun or Eurosun on top of there distributors having them too, there is no way room for a multi level salon set up. They drop the price way to low.

I just came back from Milan, and Genova talking to alot of distributors and went down other places to talk to the makers and they just licked there lips over the prices we charge here in the U.S.

Italy people are very greedy people I'm pretty sure if they could do it they would of already did it. Heck companies that go to cosmoprof hate the last day of the expo because the public is allowed to come in, and they try to get everything for free or try to only spend 5-10 euros on product they will probably never see again.

And you think they will pay more for tanning?