ETS READY TO BETTER SERVE SALONS

by Nikki Brand

The month of July marked a new and exciting beginning for ETS, Inc. as the company was divided into three distinct companies – Australian Gold, Inc., ETS, Inc., and Helios LLC – which results in better inter-office communication and more efficient service to customers.

The companies, located in Indianapolis, IN, are now three separate entities within Sunshine Holdings, Inc., owned by Trevor and Edna Gray. As ETS, Inc. celebrated its 20th anniversary this summer, the transition that reorganized their lotion and manufacturing divisions was completed as seamlessly as possible for the staff and customers, Trevor said. “We are unbelievably excited and we’re already seeing tremendous benefits with the separation of companies,” he commented. 

All of the departments associated with Australian Gold, Swedish Beauty and Caribbean Gold lotions are housed in one building – including sales, marketing, design and others – which promotes effective communication between departments. “We have created individual territories and customer reps, sales reps, and other departments are assigned to a territory to concentrate on those customers,” explained Leslie Hartlieb, President/CEO of Australian Gold, Inc. “This will benefit our customers, as they will have great communication with the staff in their territory, and will always deal with the same staff.” John Keiffner, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Australian Gold, Inc. said Australian Gold, Inc. and ETS, Inc. still communicate with each other. “We capitalize on the synergy of the two companies,” John said.

Helios LLC is also located in the same building as Australian Gold, Inc., and Bill Pipp remains the CEO of Helios with Tony Toepfer continuing on as president. The salon software company has doubled in size since it was founded in 1988, and about 70 percent of computerized salons use the software. “This year we are doing more extensive training for current and new customers so they won’t have to travel as much for training,” said Scott Bogdan, Chief Administrating Officer of Helios LLC.

The equipment division of ETS was formerly split between the Spectrum Products, Inc. building that housed the manufacturing facilities, and the building that is now the Australian Gold facility. Now the entire equipment division staff is in the same building, located approximately 15 minutes from Australian Gold, and the Spectrum facility has been renamed ETS, Inc. “We now have the entire tanning equipment organization working side by side, which allows increases in productivity in all departments,” Bill Pipp explained. “We are particularly excited about the consolidation of our Technical Service group and our Engineering group, as we believe this will significantly improve our ability to service our customers’ needs more efficiently and effectively. For example, a salon owner who requested a quote on a sunbed with a certain number of lamps might have waited more than a week for that quote in the past, but now could get their answer in six hours.”

The staff of all three companies within Sunshine Holdings, Inc. is enjoying their increased productivity, more efficient communication, and enhanced ability to serve customers.

Lotion Innovations

New Products are “Tanner Magnets”

by Nikki Brand

Australian Gold, Inc. plans to start off 2005 with a bang with creative new lotions, a new sunless spray unit, and an interactive in-salon display system to facilitate product sales.

Improved Lotion Potions

“Colorology: For the Dark Tan You Love” is the new Australian Gold lotion line with a theme behind each colored bottle,” explained John Keiffner, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Australian Gold, Inc. John said the company wanted to add value to the products and have coupled them with such gifts as moisturizer sample packs and Sun-e™ UV Top Coat by Essie® nail products. “We have gathered input from salon owners by hosting salon councils and implemented their ideas – such as all of our boxed lotions now have a front window in which to view the bottle.”

Spray Tanning with Ease

Australian Gold also is introducing their Laser SprayTans™ sunless solution technology. “The Laser SprayTans™ machine is laser guided with two lights,” John explained. “When the two lights combine into one, the gun is at the optimum distance to spray.” The plastic handle doesn’t heat up, the unit is quiet, and can be used with two solutions – clear and dark bronze. 

Don’t Miss Out on Communication!

Australian Gold’s Interactive Display allows salons to communicate with tanners even when the staff is busy. The unit includes a screen and scanner – lotion info from all of Australian Gold’s lines is loaded into the system on a computer chip and tanners can simply scan their lotion bottle to bring up product info on the screen. Salons can also give clients a card for the appropriate lotion, which the tanner can scan to learn more about a product. In one week’s time, Australian Gold can customize the program for salons; they can also add up to 15 photos of their salon to create a “virtual tour,” or list their monthly specials. The system can tie into any TV screen(s) in the salon. “The Interactive Display can increase sales by up to 40 percent,” John Keiffner said.

Money-Savings for Salons

Australian Gold, Inc. offers many salon SPIFF, rebate and co-op advertising opportunities  – check with your distributor for details.

Manufacturing Excellence

No Detail Overlooked When Making ETS Equipment

by Nikki Brand

ETS, Inc.’s manufacturing facility uses testing and multiple quality checks to ensure all of its equipment is top-notch and meets FDA standards – including some exciting new tanning units for 2005.

Called the “Center of Excellence” the 150-member manufacturing team helps the company produce 65-450 tanning units per day. “Our facility is totally integrated to provide a turnkey process from marketing and design to distribution and field service,” said Steven Bloomer, President of ETS, Inc. “A fully equipped laboratory consisting of coordinate-measuring equipment, an optical comparator, and many other tools provide the insurance of conformance to the requirements of our customers. We also have a dedicated regulatory team, as well as quality team, to insure that we are in continual compliance with the Performance Standard for Sunlamp Products and the Medical Device ‘Quality System Regulation.’”

ETS, Inc. CEO Bill Pipp is already getting a good response to the new 2005 products. He said the Velocity™ high-pressure sunbed, which has a unique open design, was introduced in the middle of 2004 and is already in more than 100 salons. He said the SS 756V stand-up unit is also in high demand. It has 56x200W Wolff lamps, an integrated cooling system, and is available with a protective grid or acrylic over the lamps.

Sure to capture some attention is the Sunstar 432 Series with its 32 body lamps, 160W lamps in the canopy, optional 3x400W facial lamps, and a 12-minute session. The Sundome 548V has 48x160W VS-R Wolff lamps. “We also have the Sunvision Elite Line that appeals to salons that offer tanning as an add-on, such as a hair salon or Laundromat,” said Bill Pipp. “These tanning units are basic and meet the needs of these types of salons, but also have steel frames and will never fail in performance.”

The new ETS, Inc. equipment will be displayed at the ETS, Inc. booth at the ITA World Expo Nov. 11-14 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL.