Island Sun Times

As its last symposium event of the new season, CTS, The Tanning Experts reports its Beach Party 5.5 was a success.

Coming from all over Michigan and surrounding states, 125 salon pros attended the CTS, The Tanning Experts “Beach Party 5.5,” the second Beach Party event to be held at the Michigan location this year. These tanning salon owners, operators and managers were treated to an event filled with the type of value-added services on which CTS prides itself – training and education. The morning kicked off with salon operator certification hosted by American Tanning Institute, and progressed throughout the day with product information and valuable sales tips presented by the representatives of the event’s many sponsoring tanning lotion companies.

For Frank Hutton, CTS Vice-President, the Beach Party 5.5 was a great way to prepare salon pros for the upcoming tanning season. “Our first Beach Party is typically held shortly after the ITA World Expo in the fall of the year, and we have this second event in February/March to give our valuable salon clients the opportunity to get their new seasonal salon help certified, and better understand how to sell the retail products,” Hutton said. “We know this knowledge will assist our salon owners in driving retail sales at their salons, giving us the opportunity to increase our sales in partnership with them.”

The CTS Beach Party proved to be a good introduction to the indoor tanning industry for Theo Deming, the newly-hired Director of Franchising for Tropi-Tan salons in Flint, MI. “For someone just getting into this industry, this event was very informational,” he commented. “It gave me the opportunity to earn my salon operator certification, as well as pick up lots of useful product sales tips. All of the lotion reps had a lot of energy and made some entertaining presentations, and it was good to be able to sample the products they were discussing.”

Every Beach Party attendee walked away a winner. In addition to the valuable training and education they received, they also took home a sample bag containing more than $300 in lotion samples. The event’s suppliers donated products totaling over $10,000, which were given away as door prizes to several lucky attendees.

CTS has hosted the event at its Michigan headquarters for the past four years, and introduced the concept to its customers on the West Coast by holding a party at its Los Angeles satellite office, too. While the symposium season might be over for the year, the company looks to continue offering these popular educational events to its salon clientele. “Their success is tied to our success and this event continues to grow every season,” Hutton commented. “We already have dates planned for the 2008 season in the Southeast, Midwest and Western markets that we service through our regional distribution centers. We plan to continue to grow our training events around the country as our sales base keeps growing throughout the continental U.S.”