Hello there, fellow spa professionals!
With the blazing summer heat under way, many of you may find that your spa traffic is slowing down. Your clients are dealing with the typical summer activities, such as vacations and children no longer spending the days in school. It happens every year, the slowest season of our industry.
As I conduct my quarterly trainings with my spa partners, I see the panicked look in their eyes when I ask how things are going. So I thought this blog should be all about some of the most important business practices that guarantee growth.
These fantastic habits are not organized in any particular order, so keep in mind that numbering them is arbitrary and solely done for easier reading.
1) Schedule your business year. This one ties in directly to the summer lull. One should have a full year planned out ahead with quarterly revisions to stay ahead of the game. Each spa director/owner should know what promotions they are planning for Christmas before summer even hits. Know when you will hire your next therapist. Know when some will go "on-call" during which months. Anticipation means you will have a leg up on preparation and you have plenty of time to be ready for any event. Vendors, media, and clients can be given a heads up with enough time to help you. Meetings and trainings should be planned year round to avoid that pesky therapist who always claims she wasn't aware of any mandatory meetings. I will go further to say, that as a vendor, this is one that affects me directly. I often receive requests for event support less than a week from the scheduled event. Sadly, I usually have to turn these requests down, due to lack of sufficient preparation and a fully committed schedule.
2) Know your forecast and make it a goal. It never ceases to amaze me that there are many business owners out there that have no goal or approximate forecast of how much they plan to revenue each year. If you are flying by the seat of your pants, going month to month, wondering how much money you might make each week, YIKES!!! This is a sure way to lose money. Of course, the first few months of any business are guesstimates, but once you have a full year under your belt, you have a starting point. You need a clear percentage of growth you want to hit each year and each month. Working forward towards your goal will make every business decision you make have a purpose. You might think twice about an impulse buy, when your costs affect that forecast. Clarity comes from goals, and reality stays with you. For those of you who are my clients, call me if you want help with this. I have my own forecast, and my team pushes towards it every day!!
3) Know your philosophy. Amazingly, this, along with your forecast, should be an integral part of every decision you make in your spa. From who you hire, to what services you offer, there should be a clear sense of who you are and what you do. For example: If you are a "natural spa" and you start offering injectibles with a doctor, your clients may feel like your business is drifting from what brought them in in the first place.
4) Hire the best and treat them like the best. Try to hire somebody better than you, without fear that you will be replaced. Trust me, if you hire an awesome employee, pay her well, and treat her like family, she will be less likely to quit. Sure, in a few years, she might take what she has learned and branch out on her own, but that reflects well on you. I would rather have an ex-employee succeeding out there and pushing me to improve my business, than a reputation for high turnover. And, by the way, everyone in town knows who has high turnover!
5) Treat your vendors well. I like to give people stuff! Eminence lets me give people stuff, but only a limited amount of stuff. Who gets to decide who gets this wonderful extra stuff and attention? Me. Point taken? Joking aside, most vendor representatives are independent contractors with heavy say on when and how they work. If you want your representative to go the extra mile, be kind, give her advanced notice, and respect that she is a human being. She can be one of your biggest business assets and source of support for your business. Also, be respectful of your vendor corporate policies and choose one that fits your philosophy, otherwise you will be continuously trying to shove a round peg in a square hole!
6) Don't do anything out of fear!!! Afraid that the new spa across the street is going to take your business? Don't discount your services! Afraid that your best employee is quitting? Don't cut her off of trainings and hold resentment. Afraid that raising your prices to match the increase in business cost will drive away clients? Don't give old clients a break out of fear of losing them. Trust me, these are knee-jerk reactions from a debilitating emotion. Change happens, all the time. Clients leave but new ones come. Breathe and continue on with the challenge!
7) Invest heavily in retail! This is where the money is in our industry and sadly, where many spa businesses lose money. If I were to run a spa, I would evaluate and give preference to my top selling employees. Those with the "I'm a therapist, not a sales person," attitude would find themselves without a job quite quickly. Magical hands in the facial room, but a low sales to service ratio means the therapist is actually COSTING you money to employ. Unacceptable. Also, make sure your retail shelves remain stocked and bursting with eye-catching decorations. Make them shoppable and fun to explore!!
8) Follow up with customers. To this day, after touring around and experiencing the most amazing spas in the country, I am still pleasantly surprised when I receive a follow up call after a service. I love it and wish more of my partners did this on consistent basis. Keeping a close relationship with each client makes them feel special and part of your business. Complaints aren't the only reason to pamper a customer. Bring them back to your business with each call, even if it's in their mind. Your retention will sky rocket!!
I hope these tips will help your business! I am always available and open to helping if you have any questions!
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