their team to recommend. In other words: you pick your
battles, right?
Here are my top two insights on how to reframe the
perception of selling:
1. Don’t Treat Upselling as an Integral
Part of the Experience
This might sound a little radical, but let’s discuss it. Put
simply, insisting that retail is an integrated and expected
part of the spa service does not motivate us to action.
What actually happens is the opposite—knowing that
you must recommend and sell leads to stress, which then
leads to avoidance. This is how it usually goes: first, the
therapist knows they should talk about products. Then,
stress hormones are released as they feel unauthentic and
uncomfortable about up-selling. Next, if they do ask the
guest to buy, it is likely that they will be ignored because
the therapist didn’t really think the guest would say “yes.”
Once this occurs, the therapist might just stop asking. This
cycle creates a stifling, negative culture to cope with the
reality and subsequent stress and personal pressure of not
selling, which can lead to burnout and the creation of tac-
tics that make recommending nearly impossible.
However, by simply reframing the idea of recommend-
ing, you can empower and free your team from the pres-
sure of the myth that upselling is part of a single, unified
spa-going experience. Instead, view recommending and
upselling like this: each guest has two wallets—the one
that they booked the treatment with, and the second for
all other additional purchases. The spa service, which goes
in the first wallet, is a sunk cost. All other additions go into
the second wallet. This system means that even if a staff
member didn’t upsell—and didn’t use the second wal-
let—it doesn’t change the fantastic guest-focused behav-
iors and actions that occurred during the spa service paid
for with the first wallet. Focusing on the second wallet is
just like flicking a switch—have a go! This model builds
confidence and purposefully drives the right actions and
words throughout the service, as well as protecting thera-
pists’ self-esteem.
2. Drive Change by Disrupting Equilibrium
Imagine that new recommending behaviors are sur-
rounded by a force field; there are forces pushing to
change and forces pushing not to change. The forces that
push for a new behavior are mostly logical. The forces that
push against change are often emotional, such as fear of
rejection, self-doubt or a perceived lack of knowledge. The
forces push in opposite directions in perfect equilibrium,
often leading to no change.
To make a successful change, you must first identify
what forces drive your recommending behaviors and what
MARCH 2020
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