Pulse May 2018 | Page 37

1. Your employees don’t see a future with you. High turnover rates have become an issue for many leaders in the spa industry. Lindsay Ebbin, co-founder and president of Make Up Factory states that one of the biggest challenges he is noticing has to do with leadership changes, more specifi- cally getting to know and adapt to new leaders’ communication styles. “This is difficult for all parties to continue to be successful, especially in retail,” Ebbin told us. “Turnover at times can be high, but we are able to adapt to any change.” According to the ISPA Spa Workforce Study, culture and work environment is the main reason employees choose to stay at their current organization. Make your culture attract and keep employees by giving them something to be excited about. The Study also found that over a fifth of service providers don’t feel inspired by their leaders with 68 percent having left their previous role due to poor management. Solve this problem in your organization by finding ways to let your staff know they are a vital part of what makes your business boom. More times than not, building up confi- dence is really all it takes to see a difference in behavior. 2. The spa’s retail products aren’t selling. According to the May 2017 ISPA Snapshot Survey on Retail, 56 percent of spa respondents said retail sales make up more than 10 percent of their spa’s total revenue. That’s a large portion of the bottom line. Unfortunately, spa retail products do not and will not sell themselves. Empower your staff to sell by ensuring them that sales is nothing more than a conversation—something they’re already excellent at! Show them Michael Sherlock’s upsell technique on page 44, or bring in educators from your product companies to help make sales a fun part of the job for your staff. happy, you have to first make sure that your employees are happy. Employee happiness contributes immensely on how your employees will treat guests. Try incentivizing a wellness program using a workplace rewards system of healthy living. Take care of your staff so that they can take care of your guests, and that means ensuring their wellbeing needs are met above all else. “If you want your customers to be happy, you have to first make sure your employees are happy. ” Pamela Maes of Mirbeau Inn and Spa says her biggest challenge is exceeding guests ever-increasing expectations. With information at every customer’s fingertips, it can be hard to impress the customer of 2018. Unfortunately, customers will not continue giving you their business if they don’t feel well taken care of. You have to make your clients want to come back. Show genuine interest in who they are and what they like. Think of them as a person, a friend or someone close to you instead of a client. Building client relationships should always be your top priority. It’s truly all about the customer experience in 2018. For more tips on improving your customer experience, read Adam Hoette’s article on page 48. 3. Customer service quality is inconsistent. So much of how an employee treats a customer is due to their own happiness (or lack thereof). If you want your customers to be 4. 5. Customers aren’t coming back. You are working too many hours. As noted, spa management has a culture of working long hours. It’s essentially understood as “just part of the job.” Eventually, those hours will catch up with you. Before they do, May 2018 ■ PULSE 35