Introductory lower priced practice spray tans?

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Joined
Feb 16, 2018
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Location
Glasgow
Hi everyone[emoji4]
I’ve just finished my spray tan training and have been struggling to find people to practise on and an idea popped in to my head but I’m not sure if it’s a good one or not. I thought of maybe putting an ad online for say an £8 spray tan as an introductory offer but explain without putting people off that I’m still building up my skills etc. I was thinking of doing this from home is this a bad idea?
Thanks all[emoji847]
 
Hi everyone[emoji4]
I’ve just finished my spray tan training and have been struggling to find people to practise on and an idea popped in to my head but I’m not sure if it’s a good one or not. I thought of maybe putting an ad online for say an £8 spray tan as an introductory offer but explain without putting people off that I’m still building up my skills etc. I was thinking of doing this from home is this a bad idea?
Thanks all[emoji847]

I feel like it might not be a good idea as I don’t want to be heavy undercutting people around me, I stay in a small area ‍♀️
 
No, I really wouldn't recommend offering spray tans that cheap, even as an introductory offer, unless it's purely to friends and family. Get your practicing done on them to perfect your technique before advertising to the general public. January and early Feb have been generally quiet I think for most tanners, but I've noticed things picking up the last couple of weeks (since Valentine's Day!). So hopefully you'll be able to entice some friends/family members to let you practice on them!
 
Thanks [emoji4]
 
NO NO NO......
£8.00 !!!....that then become's the norm! :eek:

Spray tanning is basic, once trained you don't need a lot of 'practice'......just do a couple of friends/family, and away you go...;)

Keep your standards and quality of service high.....
I wouldn't charge less than £20.00 for a good quality recognised brand if I were you.:cool:
 
You can always come down in price but it is difficult to raise your prices so don't sell yourself short. Check out what is happening in your area. Would not suggest any lower that £10 per tan. Have you thought of offering a 2 x person deal?
 
You can always come down in price but it is difficult to raise your prices so don't sell yourself short. Check out what is happening in your area. Would not suggest any lower that £10 per tan. Have you thought of offering a 2 x person deal?

Thanks for reply, was thinking about doing something like £10 first time offer then £20 after that plus mentioning in the ad that I’ve recently trained looking to meet some new clients etc but it was really just to get some practise in as I’m running out of people most people I know don’t ever get a tan so kind of thinking they might end up feeling a bit pressured to let me practise and obv I don’t want that so bit stuck here [emoji50]
 
NO NO NO......
£8.00 !!!....that then become's the norm! :eek:

Spray tanning is basic, once trained you don't need a lot of 'practice'......just do a couple of friends/family, and away you go...;)

Keep your standards and quality of service high.....
I wouldn't charge less than £20.00 for a good quality recognised brand if I were you.:cool:

Thanks for reply good advice about not needing a lot of practice obv I get what you mean you’ll still have to do a few before you can officially start but maybe less than I was worrying about as I’ve been fine so far so here’s hoping [emoji6]
 
It can take time to build a good client base but if you are good at what you do, then word of mouth is the best advertisement, and its free!!

Wishing you every success...
 
Stick with a decent price! Its so hard to bring your prices up...if you do £10 then try raise it to £20...assuming you intend on charging £20 as your standard prices after intro offer ends people will get a bit of a shock since it doubles! Instead I would try an intro offer for 20% off which will still let people feel they are getting a bargain but advertise that the offer ends on (pick a date) then stick to it even if you don't get anyone...this is crucial until you get to your next offer time(i do offers only at set times of year). If you just continue the offer you will show people that they do not need to rush with your offers because another will be running very soon or the existing one will just get extended anyway and so it reduces the urgency which is what an offer is all about...creating urgency and getting people through the door. If you price yourself super low and enter into a price war with others you will all fail and will all be making next to nothing and will lower the expectations of potential clients who will come to expect £10 tans as standard which gives no one room to move for future offers etc. There are many more ways than price to et people in the door. Perhaps offer a free item, an extra small add on of some description or do a loyalty scheme. You need to create loyalty and people that quibble on price are not going to give you their loyalty as their loyalty is to money. Aim for more quality clients and value yourself. If you only value yourself at some low price you are basically saying my skill and my time as well as my products aren't worth that. That kind of attitude is destroying many areas of the beauty industry. Set the standards high, give clients a great service, make it special and do a good job and they will come back. No business is built up over night. Most businesses take a good two years to get going and some longer than that! Don't be discouraged, you will do great but don't devalue yourself:) Good luck x PS I forgot to say that statistically people need to see your ad or marketing material 3 times on average before they begin to recognize you and your company so bear this in mind...theres a reason magazines try to get you to book in blocks and its not just about them making money out of you!
 
Last edited:
Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to write such great replies I really appreciate it [emoji171]
 
You are always welcome:)
 
Hi everyone[emoji4]
I’ve just finished my spray tan training and have been struggling to find people to practise on and an idea popped in to my head but I’m not sure if it’s a good one or not. I thought of maybe putting an ad online for say an £8 spray tan as an introductory offer but explain without putting people off that I’m still building up my skills etc. I was thinking of doing this from home is this a bad idea?
Thanks all[emoji847]
I started offering to friends and family at £10 but told them it was limited.
I have only had a few re book now it’s full price and the others I’m guessing are “offer takers” so I suppose it depends if they’re real tanners or just helping you out for a practise body??
 
Hi :)
I can’t even get people to practise on for free it’s so hard and sometimes I feel like giving it all up because if I can’t get practising I won’t feel ready for full price customers but I keep telling myself don’t give up keep going...thanks for reply :)
 
Hi :)
I can’t even get people to practise on for free it’s so hard and sometimes I feel like giving it all up because if I can’t get practising I won’t feel ready for full price customers but I keep telling myself don’t give up keep going...thanks for reply :)
That's very unlucky that you can't seem to find people to practise on. In fairness after a handful of tans you should feel confident enough to start spraying proper clients though.

Can I ask whether you did much in the way of market research to find out how popular spray tans are in your area? It could be your area is already saturated with tanners (which is often why Tanning techs feel the need to reduce their prices to compete), or maybe spray Tanning just isn't popular where you live? From what I've learned from this forum there certainly do seem to be areas where it's more popular than others.
Are you hoping to make a full-time living from Tanning? Or just part-time, or to boost your earnings as a second income?

Do you offer other treatments as well as Tanning? If so, you could try incorporating a package deal, combining another treatment with a tan for a special introductory price to try and entice new clients?

I will be completely honest with you here, but this this is obviously only my own personal experience. When I originally trained in spray Tanning it was with a view to going mobile and hopefully to do spray tan parties as well. This was 7 years ago and as soon as I had finished the course I changed my mind about going mobile as I was really concerned about overspray getting on clients carpets/walls/furniture because in my honest opinion I think it's impossible to totally eliminate it. The only reason I have added spray Tanning to my treatment list (I am a beautician and nail tech) is because my daughter is very fair skinned and doesn't tan naturally so has a tan most weeks from Spring onwards and for any special events in the winter, so it makes sense to offer it to my clients as well but I really don't believe I could make a living out of it alone and I know others will say the same.

In my area Prom season is always popular, as are weddings (not just brides and bridesmaids, but their guests too). Clients often want Pre-holiday tans as well and for other special occasions.

I have noticed that a lot of people are going back to using sun beds again, despite the bad publicity about skin cancer risks. You also have your DIYers who want to look Brown throughout the summer months but don't want to splash out on having a professional tan done weekly so buy self-tanners and apply it themselves. To add to all this a lot of new clients are wary of having spray tans as they're scared of looking orange!

Spray Tanning is a relatively easy treatment to learn and only costs a few hundred pounds to set up so therefore it appeals to a lot of people who hope they can make some fairly easy, quick money from it but they often find out it's not quite as lucrative as they had thought. My advice would be to research your most likely type of customers and target them via social media using eye catching adverts.
 

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