FROM CONDUIT TO MAIN SALES DRIVER Traditionally, sales volume in the spa has been a result of the technician – client relationship with the front desk team serving as a conduit between the two. While the role of the front desk team has not changed with regard to creating an easeful experience for both technicians and clients, one critical step a savvy spa owner or manager can take is to train his or her front desk team to be responsible for sales growth.
As volume increases, many responsibilities( rebooking, referrals, and gift certificates, to name a few) can be shifted to the front desk team, allowing the technician to focus on the service experience. Another point to consider is the fact that a spa business prides itself on having a calm and soothing environment for its guests and clients. The busier a technician becomes, the more challenging it is to maintain this type of environment.
Let’ s look at how to train your front desk team to drive sales growth.
To begin, reconnect your front desk team with the WHY part of what they do each day: vision, mission and values.
BEYOND GOOD In his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don’ t, Jim Collins and his research team discovered some fundamental differences between companies that outperformed their market and comparison companies that were“ merely good.” The good-togreat companies founded their strategies on a deep understanding of answers to three key questions:
● What can we be the best in the world at?
● What drives our economic engine?
● What are we deeply passionate about?
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You can’ t“ motivate” people to feel passionate. It is not something that can be formulated, but must be discovered and enhanced. These questions can be a great stepping stone for the leader and their front desk team to use as a segue to sales training, connecting what the business cares about to what needs to drive it. The next step is to create a training plan based on what the front desk team will be responsible to sell. Here is a recommended list:
● Gift certificates or gift cards
● VIP packages
● Series packages
● Rebooking
● Referrals
● Retail and service add-ons
● Current specials and promotions
COMMUNICATION OPPORTUNITIES Work together with the team to focus on where in the service experience the front desk will communicate these opportunities. Some of them can be communicated via shelf talkers or
brochures, table tents, displays, etc. Others, like rebooking and referrals can be handled at the close of service. One implementation strategy you can use is to add a certification process to this. Each of these areas should have written steps, scripts and instructions, should be role played and demonstrated, and finally, team members must be tested in order to be certified. This creates validity and merit while adding structure.
The ultimate goal is that any sales that happen at the front desk are a natural extension of the clients’ experience in the business. Once a training plan is created, spa owners must ensure that they have the right people up front to handle these complexities.
Today’ s front desk team member must be organized and have the ability to operate autonomously. They should crave the opportunity to produce results, have an affinity for statistics and tracking, and love the challenge of hitting sales targets while tempering their approach with easeful and confident energy. A good idea is to look for someone with prior sales and customer service experience, computer savvy and has a strong educational background.
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