ISM Flooded with Applications for Spa Management Program: The Need is Real

The Institute of Spa Management (ISM) is as hot as the spa industry is right now! This is evident with the flood of applications that ISM has received since they opened their doors less than three months ago. The spa industry is severely lacking quality trained spa managers, but fortunately ISM is now providing this well needed training to highly motivated and career oriented individuals who want to make the spa industry better than it has ever been before.

More than 200 applications have been received for the 12 full tuition and 25 partial tuition scholarships being offered by ISM to qualified spa management candidates each year. The competition is tough, but even if you don’t get one of those scholarships that doesn’t mean you can’t study at ISM. With their easy payment plans and study at your own pace scheduling, ISM is the perfect fit for any budget or busy schedule.

Soon, these students will be entering the spa workforce as qualified and trained spa management experts, so if you’re looking to get into this ever-expanding field, now is the time to start! So, what are you waiting for?

Unique Ways to Keep in Touch with your Spa Clients Between Visits

One of the most difficult things you have to deal with as a spa manager is keeping the lines of communication open between your spa and your clients between visits. Attracting and maintaining returning customers should be your ultimate goal if you want to remain successful. However, this can be a challenge and coming up with new and exciting ways to get your clients back into the spa can be difficult.

One simple thing you can do is to send out birthday, anniversary, holiday, or thank you cards to your clients throughout the year. Along with a handwritten note from the spa manager or owner, include a coupon for free products or discounts on their next visit. Customers like to feel appreciated, so personally reaching out to them on special days will get you noticed and will keep you in their minds.

You can also have special customer appreciation days several times throughout the year and invite special clients in for complimentary massages, prizes, food, and drinks. Rather than just mailing out advertisements that get tossed in the trash immediately, give your clients incentives to open your mail by offering special discounts that make your clients feel valued.

Compensation for Spa Staff: A Look at Different Options for Therapists and Aestheticians

Deciding how to pay your spa employees in order to best benefit the spa while also keeping your staff satisfied can be a difficult balancing act. While you want to make the spa as much money as possible, you also need to remember that your employees are there to make money too and if you are not fulfilling their needs then you will create a negative atmosphere and a continuously revolving door.

There are different ways to pay your staff, including hourly, salary, commission, performance-based, or even team-based profit sharing. All these methods have positives and negatives, so choose what works best for your spa.

In order to keep your employees vested in your spa’s ultimate goals you might want to invest into theirs. Offering health insurance, paid vacations, and a retirement plan can go a long way. You might want to offer other benefits, such as education assistance, credit union affiliation, or daycare assistance.

You can also offer bonuses such as free spa treatments, appreciation parties, performance awards, or weekly training sessions to improve their skills and knowledge. All of these efforts will benefit both the spa and the employees by creating a positive, motivating, and empowering work environment.

Retail Sales Management in Your Spa: Gift Certificates are Hot - Is Your Spa Cashing In?

Gift certificate sales can provide a continuous flow of steady income to any spa throughout the year, but can also significantly boost profits during the holidays. These sales can account for nearly 25% of your spa’s total sales, increase new client traffic, and lead to regular return business.

In order to make the most of your gift certificate sales, sell them for a specific individual service or for a specific dollar amount that can be redeemed over multiple visits. Once the gift certificate is redeemed for services, have any credits applied towards product sales.

If you choose to sell gift certificates that can be applied to specific spa packages, try creating smaller packages for shorter times to make scheduling easier. Rather than discounting these special packages, you actually want to charge a little more for them because people are more likely to spend more money when purchasing gift certificates.

Also, make your gift certificate sales as easy and convenient for your customers and staff as possible. This might include making them available online, selling them through a third party service, programming them into your POS register, or training your staff in the process ahead of time before the holiday rush.

Retail Sales Management in Your Spa: Moving Product 'Duds'

Oftentimes, some of the best spa products don’t sell for reasons other than quality or effectiveness. Sometimes these spa product duds are the victims of staff familiarity and shelf isolation!

Many products don’t sell simply because your staff is unfamiliar with them. They may become attached to certain products and push them solely based on familiarity. Instead, make sure your staff is familiar with all of your products by creating tester bottles and conducting weekly training sessions to educate them about new products.

Shelf isolation is a common problem with most products because they tend to get lost in the displays. So, you need to regularly rotate products and create high-visibility displays out of product duds and place them in easily accessible locations. Rather than marking products down, create excitement about these slow moving products by placing them out in the open and making signs that say “new product” or “featured item” to get clients interested.

Creating a sales competition for product duds is another great way to stimulate sales and get your staff excited. Have a contest each week and award prizes for whoever sells the most of the featured weekly products, in addition to their regular sales goals.

What Does Your Spa Reception Area Say to Clients & Visitors? First Impressions are Important

The next time you walk through the front doors of your spa, take a good look at what your reception area is saying to your clients. Is it saying “come in, relax, we’re here to serve” or “go away, time for stress, we don’t want you here”? Whether you realize it or not, your reception area can say all of this and more, so make sure yours is projecting a positive attitude, not a negative one.

Create a welcoming environment by making your reception area light and open. Stay away from harsh colors that are too dark or too bright. You want to create an atmosphere of serenity, so don’t distract with unusual artwork, ugly furniture, or unnecessary clutter. You might want to consult with an interior decorator or room planner to help you develop the right atmosphere.

Your front desk should be low enough for the receptionist to see everyone in the reception area, but not so low that all of the computer wires and desk clutter can be seen. Studies have shown that higher desks or ones with closing windows make clients feel unwelcome. So, make sure your clients know they are welcome by creating an inviting atmosphere.

SpaTrade.com: An Excellent Resource for Spa Professionals Worldwide

SpaTrade.com is a wonderful online resource for spa professionals because it provides relevant and up-to-date industry information that can keep you connected with other spa professionals and armed with the knowledge that you need to know to keep your spa competitive.

This well-organized and easy to navigate website provides important spa industry news and press releases that you need to know, such as the latest ISPA industry trends as well as information about what other spas around the world are doing to improve profits. There is also an events calendar that lists all of the upcoming tradeshows and training seminars around the world.

Other helpful information on the SpaTrade.com website are useful articles on how to run your spa business, regular webinars and podcasts from industry experts, information on spa products and services, an online forum where you can chat with other spa industry professionals, a job board, as well as information about spa associations and programs.

Joining SpaTrade.com is absolutely free and once you’re registered you’ll receive a free monthly newsletter, discounts on spa industry reports, and access to all of the online forums, posts, and podcasts.

Knowledge is power, so staying informed is essential to your spa’s success.

Spa Employee Dress Code: Clinical VS Upscale - Which is Best?

When it comes to deciding what your spa employees should wear, it really depends upon the image you want to portray, the type of spa you are running, and your employee’s positions. A client’s first impression of your spa is formulated within the first five seconds they walk through the door, so you really should think about what you want that impression to be.

The dress code for a medical spa that provides liposuction and chemical peels is very different from a resort spa in Hawaii that offers mud baths and coconut massages. Clients who come for plastic surgery want to feel as if they are being treated by medical professionals who know what they are doing, but those who come for a relaxing retreat want to feel at ease and pampered.

You might consider setting your spa’s dress code based on the job the employee is performing. Supervisors and front desk personnel will probably look best in professional attire, while therapists and housecleaning personnel might look best in uniforms. There really is no one answer to the dress code question, but you do need to focus on your spa’s image and what kind of impression you want to make.

The Top Spa Services that Will Attract New Clients and Keep Them Coming Back

When it comes to attracting new clients to the spa, the oldies, but goodies are always a great place to start. Massage is the number one service that attracts clients to the spa. The most popular massage is by far the Swedish massage. This is a good massage for the beginner and when performed by a well-trained therapist, your clients will want to return again and again. You can also offer other types of massage such as hot stone, aromatherapy, and Shiatsu for those who want to try something new and different.

Other popular spa services include facials and body treatments. Providing exfoliating facial masks and treatments that relax the face, stimulate the muscles, and target problem skin areas are the types of services that clients are looking for. Body treatments, such as salt scrubs or body wraps are great for beginners and leave them feeling rejuvenated and ready to make their next appointment!

You can also add indigenous treatments to your menu that combine ingredients popular in the spa’s local region with massages or other therapies. This might include using peach scrubs in Georgia, volcanic ash mud baths in Hawaii, or blueberry body wraps in Maine.

Aestheticians and Therapists with Attitude Don’t Belong in a Client Focused Spa Setting

The spa industry is a people industry, yet many of the people who work in the spa industry seem to have forgotten this little fact. The main goal of any business is to make money and when you’re in the business of making people happy you have to remember that when they don’t leave happy, you don’t make money!

One of the simplest ways to assure that your spa clients remain happy is to treat them with respect and a positive attitude. While this is often easier said than done, your spa staff needs to remember that client satisfaction is the bread and butter of the spa industry. A successful spa is one that maintains a high level of repeat business and clients won’t come back if they are treated badly.

Aestheticians and therapists with a negative attitude need to keep this in mind because most repeat customers return to a spa because of how they were personally treated, no matter how wonderful their massage was! A bad attitude can ruin even the best spa treatment, so make sure your staff understands how important it is that the only attitude that’s acceptable in the work place is a positive one.

Trends in the Spa Industry: A Management Point of View

According to the International Spa Association (ISPA), nearly one quarter of Americans have visited a spa and the current trends are focusing on the needs of these educated consumers.

Spa-goers want lifestyle classes, such as healthy cooking, stress management, and medical health courses.

Spa-goers want stress relief in order to relax, soothe sore muscles, and to get an emotional boost.

Rather than being pampered, the typical spa-goer now wants specific results to repair injury, reduce pain, control headaches, or lose weight.

More clients want medical treatments, including chemical peels, microdermabrasion, body wraps, and acupuncture.

Builders are now building houses and condominiums that focus on spa-living and wellness.
Many clients go to the spa to meet other people, so provide opportunities or special activities that allow clients to socialize.

Spa-goers want to control their own spa environment by choosing their own music, lighting, temperature, scents, and oils.

Male clients want products and services that focus on their specific needs and requirements.

The majority of spa-goers visit the spa while on vacation and men are more likely to go to a spa on vacation.

Spa-goers are interested in experiencing new textures, scents, and sounds while at the spa, especially when traveling.

Rural Spa Marketing: Effective Advertising To Get Clients to Your Neck of the Woods

When you have a spa in a rural area, marketing is less about competition and more about getting people interested in new experiences. Rural spa clients have very different needs and perceptions to those in the city, so your advertising should focus on these needs and perceptions.

People unfamiliar with the spa industry believe that it’s only for the rich and famous, so you should change this perception by offering special introductory offers or coupons to get clients in the door. Advertising buy-one-get-one offers or free gifts can entice new clients to give you a try without feeling they are going to break the bank.

Establishing a customer loyalty or referral program is a great way to have your clients do the advertising for you. Giving your current clients an incentive to return more than once or offering free services or products for referrals will increase your first-time client traffic.

Using direct mail advertising is a great way to let people in the area know that you are around. You might even consider advertising in neighborhood newsletters to attract people who are new to the area or don’t regularly read the local newspaper where your other ads might be placed.