Top 250 Salon Search

[JeffK]

Originally Posted by jbizz

Also, please note that last year we had about 1,200 entries representing close to 5,000 salons.

1200 entries is more than I would have expected..

Each and every salon that made it to the final round of judging was contacted personally by our elite panel of judges. Every attempt was made to verify information so that each salon could be evaluated on its own merits. If a salon owner or operator did not return phone calls to verify information, they did not make it to the next round of judging—even if they were a past winner.

This is where the rubber meets the road, as far as Alan's point of seemingly sub-par salons making the list.. how many of the 1200 entries would go past the first step and answer all questions, etc.. I'm not actually asking.. just adding to Alan's point from yesterday.. that ends up making the true pool to choose from..

[jbizz]

Jeff, last year was the most entries we ever had. Some salons choose not to divulge information on the form, but ask us to call them to discuss numbers. We always have broken the listing down into 5 regions.

Salons were compared to others of similar size within their respective regions. Therefore, an 8-bed salon in Idaho was not judged against a 40-bed salon in Florida. However, a 12-bed salon in Massachusetts was judged in the same capacity as another 12- bed salon in its area.

Also, salons have to submit a form to be considered. Every year, we get calls from people saying a salon should not have been on the list. Some are valid. Some are not. When I ask if they submitted their salon they say no. It's tough.

[sunsally]

I think it is a fabulous thing that Looking Fit has put together and don't understand the grief.

It's self nomination and there is an evaluation process. If you don't want to participate, for whatever reason, then don't. But those that do seem to be very proud of the distinction, and why not?

How would anyone else judge the "best 250"??

Cleanest? Fanciest/newest beds?

Or profitable? (seemingly that is letting the customers "vote")

Or active in the industry - members of the ITA, working to get out Vit D and positive tanning information, etc.


I think this is a nice opportunity for those salons that choose to participate and is a nice little "award", not unlike the Industry Choice awards that IST runs and have been trumpeted here. Are the winners of those awards any more or less "legit" if they are driven by just a few voters or a email get-out-the-vote campaign??

My goodness - so much to complain about we are even fiesty about awards we can win! You can tell slow season is upon us!

[JeffK]

Originally Posted by jbizz

Jeff, last year was the most entries we ever had. Some salons choose not to divulge information on the form, but ask us to call them to discuss numbers. We always have broken the listing down into 5 regions.

Oh yeah totally.. I take back a bit of what I said.. 1200 is alot more than I thought you got..

Also, salons have to submit a form to be considered. Every year, we get calls from people saying a salon should not have been on the list. Some are valid. Some are not. When I ask if they submitted their salon they say no. It's tough.

I defy anyone to try to make a perfect list of this type.. you can't do it, no matter what..

I think it's a great thing to do both for you and for the salons who choose to participate.. Win-win all the way.. and without repeating myself too much it generates content for you.. it's a smart idea..

That said, I won't be entering. (variety of reasons, including I haven't owned the salon for a year!)

[Alan @ TanToday]

Love the information shared in the last 24 hours. Its an eye opener to me and I am sure a good many who have read this post over its course. That was the entire point of my original comment(s).

Behind the scenes at Virgo, I know men and women are running around like mad to get things done right, done ethically and done professionally.

I just want the TanToday members to sorta get a peak behind the curtain on the inner workings of these industry events so we can make informed decisions on matters that pertain to us.

I think the Top 250 is a great idea as is the IST Industry Choice Awards. Both take work and effort to win and at the end of the day, the only perfect people are 6 feet under.

Lets get 1,500 submissions covering 6,000 salons in 2008.

Fill out the quick form today to get your salon(s) in the hunt for Top 250 status.

[Kathe]

The thing that has always stopped me from entering is the financial data required. I just don't like that being out there.

[jbizz]

Kathe, trust me. No one sees that financial data but our judging panel. It is not sold, distributed or anything. You have my word on that. The data is crucial to determining the state of the entire industry. In fact, you can always put call for exact numbers--we do. Just ballpark your growth or lack of because it gives us an idea of how your salon is doing in its particular area.

[JeffK]

Originally Posted by jbizz

The data is crucial to determining the state of the entire industry.

Then I think it's fair to ask why you would even need it for compiling a top 250 list..

[jbizz]

Jeff K, the data helps for a host of other articles we write. I think it's pretty cut and dry. Say for instance that you have been providing us with info for the last 5 years and all of a sudden your data changes dramatically. That tells us we need to look at your area, what is going on? Is there more/less competition? The demographics picture is huge.

[RL4010]

I filled out the form online this year instead of mailing it in and I have 2 suggestions for you. On the lines where you have the question on the left and the answer on the right they don't line up very well and it was hard to tell which answer goes with what question. Also the boxes where you write out the "other" answer doesn't have enough space allowed to it. Other than that it was an easy thing to do.

Thanks for the help.

Rich Morgan
Oasis Tanning

[jbizz]

Thanks Rich, I will let our IT dept know.

[JeffK]

Originally Posted by jbizz

Jeff K, the data helps for a host of other articles we write. I think it's pretty cut and dry. Say for instance that you have been providing us with info for the last 5 years and all of a sudden your data changes dramatically. That tells us we need to look at your area, what is going on? Is there more/less competition? The demographics picture is huge.

Let me say three things:

1) There's no direct link for the top 250 survey and asking that question - which may be why some salon owners don't really participate, some people just don't want to give that info up.. making it a pre-requisite to participation in the top 250 may in some ways be lessening the value of the top 250 list over-all..

2) I agree with Looking Fit's point of view that it's very valuable info.. "pure gold" as I called it in a previous post.. You can use that for all kinds of things, as you say. I would absolutely ask for it too. I completely see the logic and, in LF's case, the need to have this info..

3) Mostly for other owners.. LF may have no better way to gain this info from salons than the top 250 list.. so I would bet that's why it's included in this process despite the lack of a concrete direct link to the 250.. Even an anonymous survey wouldn't provide the year-by-year analysis that LF wants.. it could be difficult to correlate results from one year to the next.

[jbizz]

quote:
making it a pre-requisite to participation in the top 250 may in some ways be lessening the value of the top 250 list over-all..

Jeff, I never said it was a pre-requisite to participate in the Top 250. Some choose not to answer the confidential questions. That is why we call to talk to salon owners if they make it through the first few rounds of judging.

We are the only magazine that has tracked this type of info for the past 10 years.

[JeffK]

Originally Posted by jbizz

Jeff, I never said it was a pre-requisite to participate in the Top 250. Some choose not to answer the confidential questions. That is why we call to talk to salon owners if they make it through the first few rounds of judging.

Yet again I misunderstand..

I wonder why some salon owners are saying "I never participate because I don't want to give up my finances"... strange... based on those statements I assumed that disclosure was part of the process..

Feel free to just shoot me.. hey atleast I'm inadvertantly helping you clear up misconceptions!

[jbizz]

No worries. We ask for the info and would like it filled out, but it is in the confidential section. Some salons just don't want to give up numbers and I understand that. Again, that is why we talk to each and every finalist.

[jbizz]

Here is the link to the PDF.
http://www.lookingfit.com/Top_250_salon_survey_09.pdf

[jbizz]

Just a reminder that there is about 6 weeks left to enter the 2009 Top 250 Salon Surveys!

Click here to enter online.