We just finished with Columbus Day and it is time to think about the winter holidays. The holiday season will be upon us before we know it and as savvy spa owners know planning for the rush is imperative. Develop your holiday strategy to increase your service and retail sales, capture new clients and create a buzz surrounding the spa that will benefit your business well into the New Year. Those of us in the aesthetics industry know that when it comes to holidays, we are either planning for it, living it, or recovering from it. If you want to have a successful holiday season, it is never too early to start planning. Here are 3 ways for you to maximize your cash flow during this lucrative time of year.
Ever thought of sending sales representatives to busy office spaces with your gift cards in early November to sell to busy business executives or how about dropping by a colleagues office so he can purchase for their staff? Why not offer prospects $25 in retail products for every $300 they spend with you? Don’t discount services in your gift packages as it takes away profits. Use retail which has no labor cost as the incentive. Seasonal help is a necessary investment every spa should make. An overloaded and overworked front desk team is the last challenge any owner wants to be faced with come mid-December. Beginning the hiring process now is the prudent and wise choice. New staff members need to become proficient not only with the management software but with the services, retail products and culture of the spa before the holiday rush hits. Also, many individuals seeking seasonal employment will begin their search in October. Think of students, high school and college age. Do not make the common mistake of shortening the interview process. Interview candidates by following your normal hiring policies and take the time to properly screen and identify great future staff members.
Suggestive selling is one aspect of merchandising that is often overlooked, yet it can make a tremendous difference in the total retail sales of a medical day spa. It is a proven statistic that close to 40% of clients will say yes when asked by a staff member if they wish to upgrade in size or quantity. There is a fine line to being perceived as pushy or merely suggestive, though. A good way to assist your staff with suggestive selling is through the creation of simple scripts. Choose two to three products that you wish to feature during a holiday time. Write out key features and unique selling points of each of the products and ask the staff to get comfortable with the language you have chosen. If you find this step challenging, your product representative is a great resource to turn to for help with descriptions and sales techniques for the featured products. Then require staff members to be sure that each client receives at least one mention per visit. When clients are scheduling their next appointment, and paying for their service, this is a wonderful opportunity for your staff to suggest gift cards for the holidays and your packages. The “every client gets one mention” is a great way to boost sales of gift cards, turn a seasonal item before it is too late or a product that you are looking to move off the shelves. Ask your product representative for all press releases and endorsements the product line has. Suggestive selling may also be accomplished simply by featuring a ‘product of the month’ in a high visible area. This technique is great for seasonal specials and time-sensitive products. Cross-merchandising is imperative for your staff members to learn and master. It is a technique that is used with tremendous success by top medical day spas. It is simply the art of matching products together that complement each other. Try using merchandise from different parts of the spa, with the intent to introduce clients to ancillary services as well as products. Displays using this tactic present a wonderful opportunity to introduce clients to other services the spa offers than what they usually visit for. Just like it’s counterpart cross-marketing, cross-merchandising creates opportunities to increase sales while creating loyalty to your medical/day spa. It is highly effective and is the suggestive selling technique that can offer a significant reward to your business when applied consistently.
Identifying services sold in packages such as luxury facials, body treatments, medical grade peels, and massage services is a great way stock up the dollars in the business coffers. Selling a series has a client come in with frequency to maintain the service and are more likely to be loyal to a service provider or business because of the consistent service and results. You have collected the money up front so they are committed to your business. In addition, they will tend to spend more on products and other services in subsequent visits as they are not paying for the service after the first time. Do not discount series as it takes away all service profits. Instead use retail as the incentive for a series purchase. It keeps the client loyal, maintaining their service results and again has no labor cost associated with it. Example purchase a series package for $1,000 and receive a retail gift package worth $100 at the time of purchase.
The Med/Spa can create valuable benefits to reward your most loyal guests and thank them for their patronage, support and trust.
Med/Spa VIP program cost for annual membership:
• $500 for an individual (saving)
• or $50 per month
The Med/Spa VIP program provides them with additional opportunities to make their experiences at your Med/Spa more valuable. View example opportunities for saving below.
10% off retail purchases
Full Privilege points on product purchases when you spend $300 on product enjoy a $15 product credit in the retail store
Insider savings on new services
Med/Spa gifts for special occasions
5% discount on series purchases all year (VIP use only)
Complimentary Delivery of Gift Cards and Gift Boxes
15% retail bonus dollars on gift card purchases during the months of Jan., Apr., Jul. and Oct.
• Membership can be paid up front or automatically deducted from their account each month.
The Med/Spa VIP program provides savings based on anticipated use. Memberships will expire 1 year after the date of purchase. There are no refunds, credits, or cash given for “unused memberships.”
The VIP program renews annually upon each client’s enrollment date.
You will need to create signage and information about your program to create awareness among your team and client base.
Signage can involve large posters throughout the business, station and treatment room signage, POP displays, and flyers for the retail bags when purchases are made. A banner across your website promoting the program is a good idea!
Other marketing tools to promote the program are business newsletters and e-mail marketing to your data base.
Additionally, you can offer your team member incentives for each VIP membership they sell. For the Front desk, you can offer an override to the team based on total sales.
Compensation – Technicians are paid commissions after the VIP savings is taken off their service. This is a tool to help them grow their business long term
Use the holiday season to stockpile your reserves for the post season which may be leaner. Collecting cash up front in as many ways as possible allows for you to have flexibility and dollars to grow your business and be merry year-round!
Yours in Success,
Bryan Durocher