Perfect Key Indicators = Perfect Growth Performance

As spa days go, yesterday was almost perfect.  The entire spa was humming along, with the following percentage of spa services:

• Skin: 20%
• Massage: 45%
• Nails: 20%
• Hair: 10%
• Fitness: 5%

Of course, you match your retail to the service mix to see how each department performed.  The retail percentages were as follows:

• Body Care: 5%
• Clothing/Fitness: 13%
• Gifts: 5%
• Hair: 16%
• Makeup: 5%
• Nails: 10%
• Skin: 46%

Without becoming too number obsessive (I have a fixation on numbers), you can easily see which departments are performing with retail.  Other numbers that are reviewed on a daily basis include:

• Average Service Ticket ($127) – Above National Average, But Below Our Goal
• Average Retail Ticket ($55) – ($1.00 Above Goal)
• Pre-Book Percentage (34%) – (6% below Goal- we had a bridal party of visitors)
• Retail to Total Service: (28%) – (5% above target)
• Add-Ons & Upgrades: 24 Massage, 5 Skin, 4, Nails, 4 Hair (Look at those Massage Therapists!)

For a Saturday, not a bad performance.  So this begs the questions, which numbers do you look at and why?  Which numbers should you look at?  At the end of the day, should it just be the profit for the day, or are the indicators above the drive for profit.  The drive for profit should have started from day one of doors opening…just like you build a car for speed, you need to build your spa for profit.  The key indicators above are your road map to success–do you have your goals in place?  Do you check your numbers?

 

Spa Retail and Empowering Your Front Desk

Do you want to take your retail to new heights?  Get your front desk involved.  I was not a believer until we gave the front desk the power.  The power?  Yes, more like empower.

Your front desk, your reception area, the people who have client interaction…they have the power.  The power to recommend and the power to receive the commission for retail. 

It has always been a touchy subject in the salon or spa to have the front desk receive retail commission, but I must say, it is one of the best decisions.  We have 4 full time front staff who retail between $4,000-$6,000 a month….that is $16,000 to $24,000 in additional retail.  Yes, some of that might have been purchased anyway, but when you put together a program for the front desk to give them incentives for their hourly wages and for their retail commission, your results will be empowering.  The implementation of the retail program took 6 months from the initial introduction to seeing the weekly goals attained.

Not only does it make the therapists aware of their daily numbers, but it gives your front desk staff something to crow about.  Often it is the front line that takes the hits from the clients, and the staff.  There is a great deal of pressure to perform and smile.  When you can take home a fifth weekly paycheck every month just from retail commission–now that is incentive and that gives them the power.  Another benefit is the added teamwork from the staff.  They work together now to create home care recommendations for the guests and clients.  Spa retail teamwork—now that is empowering.

I Want to Take the Sheets Home

You know you are on to something when the client wants to take the sheets home.  Now, you ask, how did that happen? 

In 2004, I was attending ISPA, and met this great couple at a booth.  They had these incredible sheets…very soft…very stain resistant and really beautiful.  Up until then, the industry used twin sheets.  The couple were Robert (from the robe industry) and Mia (a massage therapist who designed her own sheets).  The best part was the fabric…at this conference, they were pouring wine on the sheets to show that they would not stain.  I placed an order in of course blue Jacquard and tan fabric, with blankets, table covers, and the sheets.

I waited and waited and waited.  I would talk with Mia from time to time and they were perfecting the fabric, checking the dye lots, re-sewing the pockets, shortening the table covers, putting in new elastic.  Mia and Robert were getting it right–and today they continue to get it right.

Today, you can order directly from The Comphy Company for your spa.  You can mix and match your fabric and your colors, or of course, you can special order.  You will not find better sheets in the industry–even from copycats. 

Additionally, now we have sheets to sell to our clients.  They kept asking, “Can I purchase those sheets?”  “I want to take the Sheets Home”.  You can also purchase Twin, Queen, & King size sheets.  Of course they come Mia style with a jacquard tie.   Great massage retail!

Ever Shopped for 3 Shoes At Nordstrom’s?

You go to the most famous shoe store in the world, you only need one pair of shoes and you end up with 3 (three) pairs of shoes.  How does that happen?  It’s easy and you could do this in your spa too.

Somewhere many years ago, I read in a book, probably Seth Godin’s, that Nordstorm’s sales clerks were trained to bring out 3 pairs of shoes instead of one.   The sales clerk that made the most money actually made it a personal goal to bring out 5 pairs of shoes.  When you think about this, it is really very simple.

So at our monthly meeting, we walked through the step by step 2 part form for recommending the next appointment and home care.  Each department has their own form.  So I called on each department to recommend to each client 3 home care products–now this wasn’t a check the box routine, they were responsible for analyzing each client and recommending appropriate products, whether nails, massage, skin or hair.  We want to be Nordstorm’s 3-shoes for a month.

Well, you would be shocked, retail increased 22% that month from a 3 shoe spa retail promotion.  What was really nice, is that the therapists and the front desk took the promotion seriously.  Warning: The 3-shoe habit is very addicting. Not only for shoes, but also in the spa.  We have therapists now that live by the 3-shoe rule– we even introduced a 3 Shoe Aromatherapy massage that had 3 retail items with the Aromatherapy Massage and that month the massage department had retail sales of $5,700.   Need to run out for some shoes!

Who Said Samples Build Retail Sales?

Ever have a product vendor offer you samples?  Of course, the good ones.  What do you do with those samples?

 

• Do you have a bowl of samples in your retail area?
• Do you hand out samples with services?
• Do you put samples in your new client bags?
• When someone buys something, do you throw in samples?
• If someone does not purchase skin care do you give them samples?

Samples will build retail sales if they are used properly.  This means that they are used strategically to build sales.  Please don’t put samples in a bowl next to the register or give them to your estheticians to hand out to clients.  This will decrease your retail sales….remember the old saying, why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?  The same goes for samples–why buy the big size, when you will give me the sample size for free.  Every place that you utilize samples in the spa, be prepared to make sure that you are not preventing a sale.

Who Says Retail Builds Loyalty?

Long before there were spas in the U.S., there were people buying from store owners.  You knew all of your customers.  Not until the big retailers started reaching out with catalogues like Sears, did you not really see the faces of your clients.  Today with the Internet and on-line shopping, we have stepped back to creating a one-on-one relationship with our clients, both on-line and in the spa.

When someone purchases from you, they are demonstrating several actions:

1. They trust you.
2. They trust your recommendation.
3. They expressed a need or desire.
4. They like what you are selling.
5. They have a lot of money to spend and too little time.

Now all of the above could be true, but how does it build loyalty?  That is easy. 

Just imagine you are the client.  You have just had an incredible and memorable “spa experience”.  Now it is time to go back and run to the grocery store, pick up the dry cleaning, pick up the kids, fix dinner, do homework, vacuum the house, and fold the laundry.  Whew, you walk into your bathroom and pull out the relaxing herbal pillow that you bought at the spa today…you pop it into the microwave and there you have it…a sensory re-enactment of your day at the spa-sans massage of course.  Your client is reminded of the massage because of the herbal pillow?  Yes….and not once or twice, but over and over.

Retail builds loyalty if you truly and genuinely care and want to build a trusting relationship with your client.  The key is in the relationship…maybe it is not the retail, but maybe it is the trust that builds loyalty? –but the retail triggers the great spa experience and the memory of a great massage.

Merchandizing the Spa-5 Ideas from the Big Guys

You only have so many hours in so many days, but your retail area needs to look professional.  Normally, I would not suggest this, but jump in the car and run to the nearest class A mall.  Pick one with a Crate and Barrel, or Pottery Barn, or Bath & Body Works.  Walk, look, smell, and feel in each store.

1. Look at the displays.  How are they arranged?  Are there enough products on the shelves?
2. Look at the shelves?  Do you see explanations or images?  What do you smell?
3. Do you see clutter or are the shelves clean?  Are there testers?
4. Which items are at eye level?  You betcha, it’s the best sellers.
5. Are the products double faced, in rows of threes, by color, by size?

These are five very easy fixes for merchandizing your spa from the Big Guys.  Make it a quarterly event to walk the mall for merchandizing ideas.  Not only will you see new ideas, and new products, you will see holiday themes, simplicity, and classic merchandizing.  Make it a monthly or at least every six week event to merchandize your products.  You will see a huge difference in the shopping of your clients.  Watch.

Yes, You are in the Retail Business

Hey, you just thought you were in the spa business?  What does that mean?  Well it means that you are also a retailer.  How much is retail? What percentage is right?  What is the correct mix of business? When you suddenly realize the magnitude of running a retail operation, it will hit you squarely between the third eye.

Retail is your chance to make an okay or really great profit.  Retail is your opportunity to brand your spa in the eyes of the spa guest.  So where do you start?  What is your mix?  How does this thing called retail actually happen?

The first thing on your list is to plan…and maybe you could call this bottom up planning.  If you are an existing spa, you have the data on your services and current retail.  If you are a new spa, you are going to have to pull a guestimate on services and retail.  What percentage of your business is skin, hair, nails, or massage?  What percentage do products in those categories sell?  Cross analyze.  For example, if you have a strong skin department, this might account for 40% of your service sales, but 60% of your retail sales.  Keep up with this exercise until you can quantify your top services, your top retail, and most important, your clients that purchase retail.

Retail is a numbers and experience game.  People today love to go to spas for the experience and they will remember the experience by what they take home from the spa.