Enrique founded a spa/beauty product line created from plants and vegetables unique to a village in South America. For each product sold he gave back 15% of the profit to assist the village in building a school. His distributor positioned the line in the spas of a very upscale hotel chain. Read More
A White Paper highlighting the opinions of spa industry leaders from the Asia Pacific region was released in April 2017. From a series of round-table discussions held in Thailand, one of the resulting conclusions was that people issues are still of primary concern. Despite industry growth that far outpaces global economic growth, the ability to ensure guest satisfaction and motivating millennials remain top of mind. Read More
Spa managers who achieve high retail sales know that a strong front desk team is worth their weight in gold. Conversely, show me a spa with low retail sales and chances are great that the receptionists are weak in product knowledge.
Recently I trained a city spa team with product sales that hovered around 6%. (25% and higher is ideal) Staff included three receptionists all of whom had worked there for over a year. A technique that I always use is to ask the front desk staff to tell me their complete skin care regimen based upon the products on the shelves. This does several things; it allows me to gauge their knowledge, comfort in explaining product use, enthusiasm for the brands and level of engagement.
None of the receptionists were well versed enough to inform me of an entire daily routine. Despite the fact that the spa carries only three brands, they have complete access to product samples and serve as treatment models during training, they were somewhat clueless.
I wonder what happens when guests come in to purchase products?
In contrast, high performing teams always have strong receptionists. They are more than just pretty. They’re highly engaging and product obsessed! If your guest has last minute doubts or questions about their purchase, a good receptionist calls upon their personal experience with the products. They can provide the reassurance necessary to close the sale.
For managers with a weak front desk staff, resolving knowledge gaps and apathy is not difficult to resolve. Take these five steps:
1. Ensure that down time is spent familiarizing themselves with your products.
2. Ask product related questions frequently.
3. Conduct role play sessions with them.
4. Include product knowledge expertise as part of their performance review.
5. Create a program to incentivize sales.
This is something that you can begin today.
Consider that your front desk is first and last contact for your guests. Make the experience excellent.
Day Spa Association cited an interesting statistic in their latest Snapshot Report;
Spas that generated 20% or higher in retail could potentially improved their sales by as much as 14%.
This is not surprising as success tends to breed more success. But if you’re in that lower 20% group and desperately want to make a giant leap into the elite 30% plus club, how do you make it happen? Read More
I just finished reading Day Spa Association’s Retail Sales Snapshot Report for 2016.
Sales are up. However, if your retail to service sales were from 0-20% you only saw a maximum of 3% growth in 2015. Read More
Recently I’ve read a lot of great articles from spa professionals and product manufacturers. The topics are mostly about how to get spa therapists to sell everything from post facial makeup to yoga clothing.
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Fable excerpted from an article by: Earl Nightingale
The Acres of Diamonds story ”a true one” is told of an African farmer who heard tales about other farmers who had made millions by discovering diamond mines. These tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself. Read More
I worked at a top spa in Philadelphia for ten years. We carried a total of ten skin care lines. I had used them all and was totally in love with maybe six. I could talk for hours about their benefits and the differences between what each product offered.
At that time therapists at the spa were averaging around $3,500 per month in retail product sales. I spoke with the spa manager last week who told me that figure has increased to $5000. That’s the impact of time and experience.
Many of you might assume that high pressure tactics are being used to sell, the clients are outrageously wealthy or the products are overpriced. Read More
Innovation is a hot buzzword. Senior executives in the hospitality industry are burning the midnight oil trying to find ways to innovatively one-up each other. Flying yoga, wellness strategies, sustainability campaigns, the list goes on with one thing in common. They’re all designed to target a larger portion of revenue from the upscale leisure consumer. Read More
Do you believe that every customer deserves a great experience? Your quiet, somewhat shy therapists are well skilled in treatments. They can perform a perfect massage or facial. They diligently attend product training and know the ingredients contained in your retail offerings. Read More