on ISPA's June
FASTFACT Based
2011 Snapshot
Survey, 93 percent of day spas offered discounts to loyal/repeat customers while
83 percent of resort/hotel spas preferred
discounts for local consumers.
The first step, she says, is reclaiming
your company’s ability to dream and
create a vision. A major obstacle,
however, is that “most business owners
are suffering from a form of post-traumatic stress,” Borgman indicates. “Right
now, spa owners lack confidence, even
in their ability to think about the future.”
With spa owners doing more with
fewer resources, there is just less time
for creative thinking. “Owners are just
not taking time to think and, therefore,
to plan,” indicates Carol Phillips, founder
and president of BEAUTEESMARTS in
Carlsbad, California. “I have seen a disproportionate amount of owners running
their business by e-mail or texting. To
strategically plan for the future, you
need to slow down and have time [to
think], even if you have to block out an
appointment with yourself. One of the
best times to do this is after attending a
trade show, especially ISPA—book an
extra day or two to develop an action
plan that incorporates the amazing ideas
you learned.”
Developing a vision statement is critical—especially after going through a
major change like a recession. Spas tend
to want to be all things to all people—
they accumulate different treatments and
product lines over time, depending on
what’s popular or in demand. “Even if
there was a clear vision at the beginning,
it gets fuzzy,” says Borgman. “There’s
just stuff that’s been added, thrown out
there, hoping it ‘sticks’ and gets customers excited. A clear, articulated vision
of what the spa is and is not is
absolutely critical, regardless of the spa’s
life cycle.”
A key focus of any strategy is getting
more clients to walk through the
door. “Most spa owners are hoping that
better advertising, promotions, enhanced
Web site, and social media are the
answers,” says Paul Cherry, president of
Performance Based Results, a sales training and management company in
Wilmington, Delaware. “These are all
important, but it’s Marketing
101. What’s essential and getting overlooked is how to have important
dialogue with prospects, understand
their needs, and educate them on what
a spa can really do for them.”
Expand Your
Customer Base
Getting new customers isn’t as easy as it
used to be—the spa landscape is much
more competitive today. Spas need to be
more innovative on how they approach,
engage, and motivate prospective
clients. For example, the corporate
market can be lucrative because compa-
nies want to contain health care costs
and motivate employees to maintain
healthy lifestyles, but most spas lack a
good strategy for how to approach it.
“Corporate [account] is a perfect
market for spas,” says Cherry. “The
single biggest thing spas need to do is
take time to develop a powerful value
proposition that is persuasive, concise,
and shows how their services can
benefit the company and why they need
to meet you.”
“The price/value equation has
become extremely important to virtually
every market segment,” agrees Borgman.
“People desire spa services and experiences more than ever, but they need to
be motivated by powerful emotional
benefits in order to part with their hardearned discretionary income and time.”
The value proposition can be pitched
as a letter, e-mail, e-mail followed by a
letter, or phone call. Good contacts are
HR directors, corporate benefits managers, and small- to medium-sized
business owners.
There are more opportunities to pitch
your value proposition when you
become more involved in the business
community (yes, this takes time and
may take you out of your comfort zone).
Get out of the spa and meet prospects
in their own environments or by partici(CONTINUED ON PAGE 36)
34 PULSE
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November 2011