Remember back in Kindergarten when you were asked to bring one of your Dad’s old, white collared shirts to wear for Art Day? The teacher helped you slip it on backwards, buttoned you up the back, handed you an abnormally large paintbrush, and watched as you let the paint fly on the big paper easel in front of you. There were no rules or guidelines – you were allowed to create your own personal masterpiece. You were not trying to be like anyone else, you were not predisposed to ideas of right, wrong, beautiful, or ugly. You were truly exploring the newfound freedom of wet paint, and the ability to make a huge mess without getting in trouble. Then, at the end of the day when the paint was dry, you proudly walked home with very a unique work of art to be exhibited on the refrigerator.

Many of us have forgotten what it was like to have 5-year-old creativity, and have unfortunately fallen into the mode of being unimaginative, featureless, and boring. As we get older, we learn that the world has many rules and guidelines that we must abide by, and this sometimes stifles our creative growth. This can be dangerous to your business! An old saying reminds us that, “when you are bored, you are boring.” It’s time to borrow an extra-large white collared shirt, slip it on backwards and take a walk through your business!

As you skip through or run up and down the hall to your tanning rooms, (Why not? That’s what a 5-year-old would do!) you can find out if you are living in the world of lackluster by asking yourself a few questions. Do your retail shelves look like those in all the other tanning salons in town? (Boring). Have your products been in the same spot for a long time? (Boring). Are your customers visually excited by your exhibit of beautifully packaged tanning products, or do they walk past without a second glance? Are you bored? (Then you are probably boring.)

Draw inspiration from the celebration of color on the bottles of tanning products. Bring out the bright colors by adding more color with handled bags and colorful tissue paper throughout your display. Tap into the emotional and psychological depths of your customers by using brilliant color, a variety of sizes, and interesting shapes in your promotional signage. Rearrange your shelves by moving products from one side to the other for a while. Create a “feature exhibit” on your front counter introducing a new product, an item on sale, or highlighting your best seller. Generate excitement with props relevant to the name of the product, or an image on the label such as a silk flower, foliage, chocolates, caramel, etc. The tanning industry has so many great products to have fun with! You can have a blast exploring your creative freedom, and being unique while still playing within a few important retail guidelines; be well stocked, dust-free, and neat.

Behind every great masterpiece is inspiration, vision, planning, experimentation, and finally creation. Use your imagination to maximize the decorative shapes and bright colors of your tanning products. By discovering ways to create dynamic energy in the presentation of your retail area, you can powerfully tap into your customers’ human psyche, and stimulate them to buy.
Run, skip and jump to creative exploration, and discover the fine art of business profitability!