work culture, values and level of customer service at all times.
“ Everything we do [ and ] all the standards that we aspire to— from a facility standpoint to our level of customer service— can fall under one or more of these values,” said Kolb. They practice DESIGN by selecting one of the values each time they do their twice-a-day“ line ups” or pre-shift meetings and elaborating on specific ways they can display these values at work.
Kolb said it is imperative to devote and invest time with your team every day. In this industry, it is easy to become drained physically and emotionally, largely because your team is constantly“ giving” away their time and energy to your guests. Thus, having a regular pre-shift meeting is key to ensuring that you allow your team to recharge on a daily basis, share vital business information, review lessons learned and celebrate successes.
REFLECT: What specific procedures do you have in place in order to help your staff recharge after a draining day at work?
BEST PRACTICE: Create a Memorable Brand. Jessica Timberlake, spa director at The Spa at Laguna Cliffs, talked about creating brand promises. A brand is your spa’ s identity. It is important to note that your brand positively impacts both your guests and employees. The brand messaging should be relatable and resonate on an emotional level. Timberlake used a Target ad of a hot air balloon landing in a town devoid of color as an example. In the ad, employees from Target, dressed in colorful outfits, jumped out of the balloon and immediately set about decorating and adding color to the neighborhood. The brand message was clear: Target is fun, lively,
and colorful. Timberlake’ s challenge was to create a compelling brand identity that inspires the team at work and attracts guests who want to be served in a memorable way.
REFLECT: In what creative ways are you telling your brand story?
BEST PRACTICE: Empower Your Employees. Travis Anderson, director of spa at JW Marriott San Antonio – Lantana Spa, talked about the importance of empowering employees. Empowerment is having the autonomy to make decisions without direct involvement from management. Customers judge the quality of your spa by the responsiveness of the first person they come in contact with to address their issue. Empowered employees are happy because they feel respected and valued by the organization. In turn, respected and valued employees are much more likely to make their guests feel respected and valued. According to Anderson, this is one of the reasons why Lantana Spa has some of the highest guest satisfaction scores at Marriott.
REFLECT: How do you show trust to your staff and allow them to make the best possible decisions?
BEST PRACTICE: Turn Your Team Into Believers. Karen Watson, spa director at The Essex Resort and Spa, stressed the importance of turning your spa team into believers in the products used and carried in your spa’ s retail area. This, she said, is a prerequisite to any type of sustainable retail sales strategy. Watson believes that“ whatever you focus on will improve”— a powerful concept in Total Quality Management, an integrative philosophy in management. She invested time in involving her team in developing the retail strategy and layout, educated them on the benefits of the products, and celebrated the incremental improvements that were made in sales. Now, her spa has sales figures to use as a benchmark to help them evaluate their retail performance.
REFLECT: What types of training do you offer to ensure that you involve your team in the spa’ s long-term retail strategy?
BEST PRACTICE: Stay Cutting-Edge. Anna Lempereur-Moine, founder of Reservoir, discussed new technologies in the medical spa world. During the Wednesday General Session at the 2012 ISPA Conference & Expo, keynote speaker Peter Sheahan discussed the increasing likelihood of the medical and spa worlds becoming more connected. That point was reinforced by Lempereur- Moine at the Innovate Session. She discussed various cutting-edge technologies and services that infuse the rigor of medical science into the art of spa. The“ Vampire Facial”— which involves blood
January / February 2013 ■ PULSE 35