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NEW FACES 67 ❘ SMART TAN MAGAZINE ❘ MARCH 2015 WWW.SMARTTAN.COM "These certificates are like the golden stamp of approval," says Monica. "I want to be able to promote that my salon staff is educated. It's about the professionalism of my tanning salon, and that's what I want to showcase." Tan Club is a direct result of the mentorship Monica has received from her sister and the direction she found at the Smart Tan conferences. By focusing on memberships, EFT, and updated equipment, she hopes that Tan Club will be a reflection of the next generation of tanning businesses. "Smart Tan is a great knowledge base, and the constant information keeps me on the cusp of trends and what sells. The bottom line is that I learn a lot at the conferences, and I like having news feeds and articles to refer back to. After I get some more time under my belt, my plan is to do more training," says Monica. For the future, Monica has some pretty ambitious goals: She hopes to open four or five locations in the next five years. Ideally, her Smart Tan membership will allow her to make educated buying decisions and equip her locations with knowledgeable tanning professionals to keep the momentum going. As her business grows, she hopes to train her employees to manage day-to-day operations so that she can enjoy her retirement more fully. SALON OWNER: RON HAMMOND SALON NAME: SUN HAVEN LOCATION: PLEASANT GROVE, UT Ron Hammond had a desire to own a business from childhood. On the advice of his brother-in-law, he pursued a career in accounting to master the skills that he hoped would make him successful when the time was right to begin his own venture. After working in large corporate environments, Ron longed for a smaller company where he could be involved with more than the numbers. He didn't have the best experience as a tanner: Lacking the proper guidance, he got a sunburn that had since turned him off of the service. But Ron decided to look a little deeper when he realized that owning an indoor tanning business could satisfy his desire to be involved in the community and invest in an undervalued asset. After learning more about the industry and the science of tanning, Ron realized that the tanning industry was tremendously undervalued. "I was totally unfamiliar with the positive information about sunlight, but when I was looking at businesses, I saw what I perceived to be potential in this tanning salon," says Ron. "I wanted to buy in at a time where, frankly, tanning salons are undervalued, and have an opportunity to perhaps do a better job at trying to provide more education." Sun Haven values a balanced message about UV exposure and relies on Smart Tan to help communicate with customers in the best way possible. His staff is gearing up to take their certifications, and Ron is taking advantage of the Smart Tan Membership Services team in the meantime. After reading the "Selling Sunshine" feature in the January issue of Smart Tan Magazine, Ron decided to move away from traditional messaging about tanning and focus more on marketing sunshine to his customers. His membership services representative consulted him on messaging and gave him the support to go in this exciting new direction. Since the salon recently opened under his ownership in December 2014, Ron and his team have been tackling the learning curve one day at a time to make sure their customers are educated. One way they are encouraging moderation while selling sunshine is through a special initial session called a "First Kiss." "Sometimes people feel like they want to get their money's worth by going in a tanning bed as long as possible, which is something I want to discourage," says Ron. "We structure the first session for a lower exposure time at a lower price to encourage people to be satisfied with going for up to six minutes to begin, then increasing exposure over time. We call that session a First Kiss and tie it into our messaging about getting a sun-kissed look." Ron hopes that a conservative approach and thoughtful exposure schedules will help his community change their perception of indoor tanning just like he did. Despite any negative media attention toward the industry, he continues to see great potential in the business and knows that professional businesses like his can make a difference. These three new tanning salon owners are only a sampling of the fresh talent in our industry, and in our community of Smart Tan members. We are proud to welcome them to our family of tanning professionals, and can't wait to see the positive impact they have on their communities and customers. There are two sides to every story, but having passionate entrepreneurs see the value and potential of indoor tanning is a story to remind all of us that there is still room to succeed as the industry matures. Together, we can grow and tan with confidence. Grow with Confdence