Spa Product Sales

Now that you're thinking about holiday planning, keep up with the To Do list, and next thing you know you'll have set your spa up for a memorable and successful season!

Holiday To Do List (cont'd):

• Plan a customer event right before the holiday season.
• Use client email list to send out an invitation.
• Plan an evening of beauty to promote the spa’s services and product selection.
• Educate customers with a sampling party. Invite vendors to come and promote their products.
• Make sure your in-spa product displays are ready for the holiday.
• Place product orders to ensure that the spa can meet customer demand.

Execution is key, now. You've set the wheels in motion, now it's time to attend to the finer details and enjoy being so very proactive with your business this holiday season!

Posted in Spa Product Sales, Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, General • Comment »

Before you know it, pumpkins will be all over the place and then a week later you will walk into Target and see red. It is in this moment that fear floods through the body and the realization strikes: procrastination has gotten the best of you. You have waited too long to plan a successful holiday season.

Don't wait. It is not too late to plan your holiday promotions, and with a little planning you can make this a record-breaking holiday for your spa. Take advantage of the lull that the end of summer brings and GET BUSY.

This is the time to think about how you can provide value to your customers. It is no secret that great service brings the prize of customer loyalty. Making your client's spa experience special and memorable is valuable to that person. They will want to help you succeed by buying Instant Gift Certificates from your website over the holiday.

So get ready now and you will experience a smoother, happier and more successful holiday sales season.

Holiday To Do List:

• Clean Up.
• Make sure all internal processes and procedures are working smoothly.
• Make sure spa employees are ready to make each client spa experience special.
• Clean the spa from top to bottom and give staff a visual image of your service expectations.
• Take care of the little things that are missed when everyone is too busy over the holiday.
• Make sure your spa website is updated and ready for the holiday.
• Update all content and contact information.
• Add a map and directions to your spa.
• Use the SpaBoom promotional content tool (accessed from Setup/Events) that allows you to enter your promotions that will go live at the dates you preset.
• Update your email list.
• Gather as many new email addresses as possible from your current customers.
• Purge the addresses you know are not correct.
• Have your list ready and set up in SpaBoom.
• Start thinking about a great service/product holiday promotion.
• Make sure you have the product in stock.
• Create POP (Point-of-Purchase graphics) to promote the promotion.
• The promotional offer should be visible in the spa and on the website.
• Make sure customers know your spa offers Instant Gift Certificates on the website.
• Develop POP that promotes the Instant Gift Certificates.
• Create an Instant Gift Certificate flyer to go into each clients bag.
• Make sure your website address is prominent in your spa.
• All advertising.
• On the door.
• Bags to business cards.

Now you're cooking. See how easy it is once you just get started? Go on, start ticking off the To Do list items, and look for more next week.

Posted in Spa Product Sales, Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, General, Spa Gift Certificates • 1 Comment »

Thanks for all of your feedback on our product "project." Many of you have posted responses on this blog and others have emailed or spoken to us directly. There is tons of good information to extract, but today I want to focus on one topic; the awkward relationship between estheticians and product sales.

Many spa owners report a consistent discomfort on the part of their staff when it comes to selling products. This challenge hurts two groups of people; the people who work in spas and the clients of spas. It hurts spa owners and employees because the spas make less money. After all, a spa has only so many treatment rooms, with so many potential treatments to sell in a day. However, product sales are not bound by the same set of limitations. Less money for a spa means less money for spa improvements, staff and salaries.

Perhaps more importantly, the spa clients are not well served when the person in the best position to recommend a product to a client resists doing so. Why? More importantly, how can we change this perception? One theory is that "sales" is too crass a process for professionals accustomed to providing treatments. Much like the mechanical and required "would you like fries with that," some professionals feel uncomfortable initiating a discussion about product. Another is that the personality types that make up the majority of estheticians are somehow incompatible with product sales.

Another theory is related to the fact that spas are for passionate people and by passionate people. In the movie High Fidelity an independent record store is staffed by extremely knowledgeable and passionate music fans. In one scene a customer asks a clerk for a teen-pop record for his young daughter, only to be told "[that's] sentimental tacky crap. Do we look like the kind of store that sells [the pop record requested]? Go to the mall." That scene (for me) illustrates nicely how hard it is to get passionate, knowledgeable people to interact with folks who may not be quite as passionate and knowledgeable, without judging them.

There are other theories, including lack of training, resistance to whichever brands are carried by the spa. As we continue to develop our product program we are interested in understanding this important component of product sales. Part of our concept is to get that ball rolling by "selling" products as part of gift packages. We are interested in what you think will, or should happen next. Please post your thoughts, comments and feedback on the blog to any of these ideas or other product related issues.

Posted in Spa Product Sales, General • 7 Comments »

Problem: Spa packages don’t produce any retail product sales.

Solution: Guarantee it! Create spa packages designed for gift giving that include some home-use products and price it accordingly. Since most spa packages are sold as gifts, they aren’t as price sensitive as other services.

• Your Stress Relief (example name) package can include a facial, massage, pedicure, plus an aromatherapy candle and scented bath gel (or whatever you want to include) that will continue the recipient's enjoyment long after their appointment.
• Average out the price of the certificate to reflect a revolving retail selection you’ll use in the package.
• This ensures retail sales that aren’t subject to sales commissions, and helps you to clear out some slower-moving inventory. You’re a business genius!

Posted in Spa Product Sales, Preston Professionals, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »