Your practices: Whatever you're doing, does it work for you? Do your clients compliment you on your phone handling?

OUR practices: What are we at SpaBoom doing right? What we can improve upon to make things absolutely fabulous for you?

One of the changes we made when switching to a newer phone system was to eliminate the mandatory auto-attendant step. Previously, when ya'll called us, you had to listen to our voice prompt and press 1 for support or 2 for sales, and then you'd get someone to answer the line. I really thought that was too much to wait for, so we went to the Land's End model — 1 or 2 rings at most, and then a PERSON answers, no auto-attendant hurdle to clear. If we're busy, then yes, you'll get a prompt to either hold or leave a voicemail, but overall the responsiveness is much, much faster and I'm happy about it. Let me know your thoughts on our current system – it helps me and it helps all of you!

Before I open up the floor, take a quick read of this wonderful article by Seth Godin, wherein he states,

Excellent insight, and something to think about as we start the next week afresh, ready to head into the heavy Mother's Day booking season.

Congratulations to everyone here, best wishes to all of our clients for the upcoming holidays, and we hope your November is going well so far.

For those new clients, take some time to browse through our older blog posts, especially those in the Marketing category, for ideas on how to make your Instant Gift Certificate sales blossom. Or just take a peek at our main Spa Marketing page for some initial tips and great guidelines.

Rolling around on the restored flooring can make quite a racket, but it is absorbed by soft modular walls, and filtered light comes in through huge skylights and opaque interior office walls.

  

More light = brightened moods. We are settling in, relocating our precious caffeine dispensers, and generally enjoying the new digs while we brace for a new round of holidays and the excitement that they bring.

Floors are laid, walls are being erected, and every week brings us closer to the unveiling of our fabulous new office space. If you've ever called us up and wondered if our office chairs were comfortable enough or if our desks had the right amount of drawer space, or even if we were all looking across the room at each other, you don't need to worry. We are settled in and happy in just about any environment, and even if it sounds corny, this is why: we love it here.

  

Being a small company means we know how everyone takes their coffee and whose kid's birthday is coming up, a familiarity that won't change in the foreseeable future: even if our new offices have doors the camaraderie can't be shut out.

We hope you all are having a great week.

If you're one of our amazing businesses that have jumped up your sales by using Instant Gift Certificates and you're looking for ways to enhance what you provide to your customers, you probably read this very blog for tips and updates.

Whether you check in a few times a week or daily, you should know about a quick and easy way to make sure you never miss a new post – the RSS reader.

Think of all of the magazines, catalogs, and newspapers that you love to read, and the mailman that delivers them to your mailbox every day, saving you the hassle of going to stores to buy them in person. The blogs you read online are like those print publications and the RSS reader is both the mailman and the mailbox rolled into one – no need to bounce around on the web to get caught up on your reading.

If you already use a reader, just point it to our RSS Feed (also linked on the left side of the screen) and you're good to go.

If you are new to RSS, there are many web-based services available, from Bloglines to Google Reader, and they are as easy to use as web-based email. Dive in and enjoy your SpaBoom Blog addiction!

When billing was run last night, you might have noticed some wording in the email that caused some shock and awe:

Naturally, some of you have been calling this morning wondering what in the heck happened to SpaBoom and if all of a sudden we are now a different company. The short answer is, "not at all!"

We’ve recently gone through some company changes — good ones! Changes that have allowed us to offer the Instant Gift Certificate capability to new types of businesses. They are not spa clients, and could range from restaurants to dog groomers and many more, so the name SpaBoom doesn't fit from their perspective, so BoomTime was created as a more generic brand without the 'spa' tie-in.

Those of you with keen attention to detail have already seen the name within the link of the GC page, which reads https://spaboom-id.boomtime.com/lgift and has been in use for awhile. But of course, we are still us — the same staff and same awesome GC features and marketing services.

Your account login is still at http://www.spaboom.com, as it always has been.

We apologize for any confusion this has caused. Do let us know if you have further questions, and thank you for being part of the amazing first wave of the BoomTime universe.

My title is a nod to Petula Clark, the British pop chick from the 60′s who sang "Downtown." It's rather fitting since the SpaBoom offices moved downtown this week. Technically, we are in east downtown or EDo (for all the hipsters).

Where our previous location was a somewhat generic modern office structure…

…complete with curvy glass and manicured lawns, our new building is old and full of charm. Built in 1926 in a much smaller city of Albuquerque. The only reason I know this is because above the main double doors it says, 1926, and then below it J.S. Brown Mercantile Building.

  

I'm already in love with the building and its richness of character. In taking a tour of the 3^rd floor–which will be ours when the build-out is done–it was easy to see ourselves there. The contractors discovered rough, hewn planks as the original floors and will try to save them in the design. Plus, they are removing decades of icky plaster and paint and are sand blasting the walls, to take it back down the original brick work. It will be lovely when it's finished.

So, why are we so excited and just bursting to share this with you all? Well–this place will feel more like a home to us in that the character and persona of a building used for commerce in the 20^th century, has now come full circle to be used a center for great ideas and service to bring e-commerce in the 21^st century.

What comes around, truly does go around. We feel inspired here. We hope that in time–it will reflect more in our work and our lives, both professionally and personally, in SpaBoom and in the community.

Your referrals, your feedback, your support, and your belief in our services has made this all possible, so thank you!

The show is February 21, 22, 23rd, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The Expo is open on Thursday, Feb. 22nd and Friday, Feb. 23rd. Let me know if you'd like some passes — I'll mail them to you, so please before Feb. 1st.

Educational sessions should be interesting, and our own Larry Donahue is presenting at a session entitled "Treat Your Website Like a Retail Location", on Wednesday the 21st from 3-5 p.m. He's also participating in a Gift Certificates and Gift Cards round table discussion on Thursday, from 3-5 p.m. Don't miss these presentations if you're planning to be at the show!

For more info on the show, visit www.dayspaexpo.com.

Be sure to stop by and say "Hi!" when you're there!

One of our goals at this conference is to make new friends and strategic relationships. We would love your suggestions and ideas for partnerships SpaBoom can make which will benefit you. Do you have any suggestions on who we should be talking to while at the conference?

We solved the problem of my inability to plan ahead with our first service, Instant Gift Certificates. We went live with one spa for Mother's Day 2005, and we've just completed our first Holiday season with a little over 70 spas, salons and massage therapists.

We learn a ton from our clients, and we're going to share it right here, focused on a really useful topic: how do you turn your website into a profit center?