Right now most countries in the Western Hemisphere have not reached the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. We have no idea of what’s to come. What we do know is that directly or indirectly most areas of business will be impacted. Nothing will be as it was before. Smart companies will look ahead and talk about a future that includes diversification, introducing new products and discovering new markets. Read More
Change can be difficult to implement at a spa. New procedures are particularly hard because people are used to operating in a certain way.
I always begin my retail classes by asking therapists why they chose to work in the spa industry. It helps me to understand their motivation or lack thereof. Some say money, others say they like to make people feel good. Some come from a family of therapists and others don’t have a reason. It just seemed the best thing to do at the time.
Knowing your “why” is important because it can make decisions simple in the long run.
I recently spoke with a spa manager whose group I trained. It seems that two therapists are resistant to doing anything different. They are using “family problems” as their excuse for not executing what they were taught in class. They say the new protocol of customer engagement combined with their personal stress is too much to deal with. Bottom line, they are not interacting or making home care recommendations so guests are walking out with no retail products.
When I was a therapist at Rescue Spa, there was a brief period when my father was in the hospital. So I certainly understand that SOP’s are not top of mind when focused on a sick family member. I informed my spa owner what was happening and took time off. I was not receiving salary, only commission, so for the time my income stopped.
But my “why” for becoming a therapist was to ensure that my multi-cultural clientele received the of quality service that I wanted to receive. So knowing that I couldn’t give 100% I chose not to go in.
I am quite honestly perplexed as to why that wouldn’t be the first suggestion from the spa manager. When a therapist is under-performing, it is the customer who suffers. Most of us have seen the backlash that poor service can bring in today’s consumer focused environment. Is it really worth it? What am I missing?
When I worked for the largest telecommunications company in the United States my director said “Linda, you’re doing so well as a trainer I’m going to transfer you to a position managing the production team. They just lost another manager and you’re good with people”. Read More
I had an interesting conversation with a colleague recently about how difficult it is to convince senior management to add retail training to their budget. I’ve heard this story more times than I can say. Most often the decision maker is male, over 65 with a background in hospitality but not spa. Read More
If you’re still wondering about the value of engagement and retail training take a look at what the experts say.
Smart hoteliers know they can’t afford to ignore the next generation of luxury travelers. Why? Because they are an economic force to be reckoned with. Read More
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. That’s why as an “industry insider” I am constantly surprised at how spas and hotels continue to miss the obvious. The spa industry is losing millions in revenue from retail product sales. Obviously if you resolve that problem, a lot will begin to correct itself in the way of market share, customer and employee retention. Read More
It’s here! I just received my third and final post training retail sales report and the results are not surprising.
If you’ve been following me you know that three weeks ago, I wrote about training the hair stylists at a Five-Star property in Hong Kong. I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity because so many decision makers balk at the idea of budgeting for staff training.
In fact most of my conversations with spa managers center around their justification of cost. “What will the return on investment be? Is it worth it?” Read More
We’re now in the second week of tracking the retail results. If you’ve been following me you know that three weeks ago, I wrote about training the hair stylists at a Five-Star luxury hotel in Hong Kong. This was a new area of the beauty industry for me as my experience has always centered on spa. Read More
