• Create a Rewarding, Harmonious Working Environment for Staff
  
• Create a Spa Experience that will make clients choose Spa Gregories over any other
  
• Optimize Operations and Profitability

1. Staffing
   • Hiring
     
   • Recognition and Rewards
     
   • Communication
   • Lead by Example
   • Compensation
   • Training
     
2. Superior Customer Experience
   
3. Marketing
   
4. Retail
   
5. Profitability
   
6. Keeping Balance
   

• Hire the best; make sure they share your philosophy
  
• Hire for ATTITUDE
  
• ALWAYS recruit- even if you are fully staffed, and leverage your staff
  
• Interview with multiple staffers. A person may act differently in front of different people
  
• 90 day ‘probation’
  
• Weed out poor performers
  
• Week or Day “Try Out”
  
• Check references
  
• Don’t be afraid to look outside spa industry for admin, management, operations

• Recognition is the #1 Motivator
  
• Share customer praise, sales successes with your staff
  
• Post Testimonials on Web
  
• Hugs in the Hallway
  
• Bonuses for desired behavior
  • Spa Bucks
    
  • Gee That Was Nice
    
  • Movie tickets
    
  • Spa Gregories has a staff drawing for a trip around the world twice a year uses its AMEX points to pay for it
    
• Birthday Bonus

• Daily Open Door Policy, 2-way communications
• Be proactive
  
• 360° Reviews
  
• Take action on recommendations
  
• Fun activities – Ball game, Holiday Party
  
• Regular team meetings – open dialogue
  
• Serve FOOD!
  

• Always be calm and positive even in the midst of chaos
• Be the person you want your staff to be at all times

The best staffing practices for Compensation include:

• Pay as well as you can!
  

• Ongoing skill building
  
  • In-House
    
  • Extra-Curricular
    
• Team Building
  • Community Service
  • Group Activities

• Foster Passionate, outstanding Therapists & staff
  
• Special Touches – the ‘Wow’ Factor
  
  • Gift in locker or treatment room for special occasions
    
  • Reading Glasses in rest areas
    
  • ‘Special’ lockers/robes for large clients
    
  • Key system to avoid crowding
    
  • Welcome sign for groups/special occasions
    
  • Recognize top clients by name
    
  • Notes in client files (babies, weddings, special needs)
    
  • Guest name on assigned locker
    
• Customer Service
  
  • Spa concierge, Front Desk, Telephone Staff, Attendants
    
    • Telephone standards
    • Responsiveness to needs
      
    • Anticipate Needs (know the guests' names, favorite magazines, teas, make a restaurant reservation, call a cab, etc.)
    • Service Excellence Manager
      
• Offer Something Unique
  
  • Fruit-infused water
    
  • Positive Affirmation Cards
  • Warm robes
    
  • Wishing well (Spa Gaucin)
    
  • Rituals
  • Freebies for very good customers
    
• Follow up!
  
  • Satisfaction Survey
    
  • Thank You Card / Offer (i.e. 10% discount for self or friend with expiration date)
    
  • Birthday Card/Offer
    
  • Targeted Special Offerings
    
  • Reward Frequent Guests (guests accumulate points they can use on services or retail, total appears at the bottom of their receipt)
    
• Overcompensate your mistakes
  
  • Empower your Front Desk to take care of small problems so they won't become big ones. Try to get them to come back again..next time...
    

3. Marketing
The best Marketing Practices include:

• Leverage!!! Get others to market for you.
  
  • Clients (bring a friend, reward referrals, etc.)
    
  • Other businesses (cross promote a spa date with a local restaurant)
    
  • Vendors
    
  • Concierges
    
  • Community Events
    
• Events
  
  • Med Spa ‘Med Fair’: Seminar, food, vendor participation
    
  • Free GC for first service (in a series)
    
  • Vendor-specific specials
    
  • Girls Night Out (tarot, handwriting analysis, fashion show)
    
  • Anti-Aging Festival (with plastic surgeon, fitness centers, vendors - have them pay to participate)
    
  • Bridal Bliss Event
    
  • Healthy High Teas
    
  • Participate in Community/Charity Events
    
• PR
  
  • Send out at least one press release per month
  • Web
    
  • Email (2x/mo)
    
  • Charities (offer 25% proceeds of a charity day if they promote the spa to their database of names and post on their web site)
    
  • In Store Merchandising, tie-ins (must be consistent)
    
  • Time-based promotions – call to action
  • If a slow day, email a last minute deal
• Advertising
  • A typical advertising budget for an existing spa should be 4-6% of the gross. For a spa just opening, it's 20%.
  • You must advertize 7-9 times before anyone sees your ad. If you're not prepared to be in it for the long run, don't bother starting.
  • Use a "Who's calling" service to track what calls came from which ads.
    

• Set Retail Sales Goals for Front Desk & Therapists and then measure how they are doing
  
• Private Label – House Branding
  
  • Send the experience home
    
  • Build Profit Margins
    
  • Brand’ your name
    
• Locker Room Samples
  
• Product of the Month
  
• Tie products to services
  
• Sampling: Create Passion for Products in your Staff – let them test them! Same for guests - give a sample to the guest. If they bring back the empty container, give them $1 off full size.
  
• Seasonal Solutions – Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
  

• Candles - by switching from burning candles to battery operated flicker tea lights, Spa Gregories saved $7,000 per year. Additional bonuses included no more soot on the walls and ceiling and cleaner air to breathe.
• Water- Spa Gregories invested in a $6,000 Reverse Osmosis water treatment system for the entire spa. Eliminating bottled water saved $5,000 per year plus lots of storage space.
• Vichy Room Sheets - Spa Gregories switched from using heavy towels to disposable towels saving $3-4 per treatment in laundry. These can be washed up to 6 times.
• Robes - Don't buy robes with pockets. No pockets in Robes = no lost jewelry! Also, never touch a client's jewelry. Whoever touches is last is responsible for it. If a client takes of jewelry in the treatment room, have a cup for them to deposit it into.
• Laundry: Air dry before heat drying (save ¾ of energy costs!)
  
• Cups - Use appropriate size cups for tea and water - smaller
  
• SHOP for best pricing: supplies, insurance, cleaning, etc
  
• Towels - Use appropriate (just big enough) towel sizes for treatment, shower, hair, washcloths
• Portion Control -
  • Pre-kit products to limit amount used
  • Limit access to supplies use a sign out system with a manager's signature
  • Doing the above saved Spa Gregories $27,000 / year
• Eliminate stand alone 30 minute services - the room turnover is too costly. Only use 30 minute services together with other services.
  
• Examine Budget REGULARLY
  
• Payroll
  
  • Reward with non-monetary strategies…flex time, benefits, trips donated by vendors
    
  • Outsource Payroll: EE Manual, Worker’s Comp, Hiring/Firing, Flex Spending, Retirement Plans, Compliance with State/Federal Regulations – save major $$ and headache
    
  • Control Overtime
  • Convert from commission to flat rate
    

• Faith and Prayer! - Remembering ‘it's not about me’
  
• Put on a robe and go to a spa – puts it all in perspective
  
• Everything in moderation
  
• Make yourself happy in order to make others happy – “put oxygen mask on yourself before assisting others”
  
• A Good Book
• Exercise
• Gardening

How to Build a Marketing Plan for Your Spa by Wendy Bosalavage and John Gray

A. Key Elements of Successful Marketing Strategy

• Customer groups or segments
  
• Think through consequences of marketing strategy – realistic
  
• Monitoring and evaluating
  
• Constantly review and update Marketing Plan

B. Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses

• SWOT Analysis
  – Strengths
  – Weaknesses
  – Opportunities
  – Threats
  

C. Developing Marketing Strategy

• Draw up detailed Marketing Plan
  
• Question – who, what, where, why, how
  
  

D. Tips & Pitfalls

• Focus on market
  
• Follow-up
  – Market plan sets actions, dates, costs, resources and effective selling programs
  – Measure effectiveness of what you do. Be prepared to change what isn’t working.
  
• Pitfalls
  – Making assumptions about customers needs
  – Ignoring competition
  – Trying to compete on price alone
  – Relying on too few customers
  – Growing too quickly
  – Becoming complacent, failing to innovate.
  

A. Summary & Introduction

• Overview/Main points
  
• Business Strategy
  – Business mission
  – Key business objectives
  – Broad strategy for achieving objectives

B. External & Internal Analysis

• PEST Analysis
  – Political and legal changes (regulations)
  – Economic factors (interest rates, consumer confidence)
  – Social Factors (attitudes, lifestyles)
  – Technologies
  
• SWOT Analysis
  

C. Marketing Objective

• SMART
  Specific
  Measurable
  Achievable
  Realistic
  Time-bound
  
• EXAMPLE
  Business objective: increasing sales by 20%
  Marketing Strategy: targeting existing customer market segment to achieve growth
  Initiative: Sending online and direct mail survey to existing Day Spa Guests
  Objectives
  Specific: reaching 40,000 customers to achieve return business
  Measurable: responses received, date for returning responses
  1000 online responses, 4000+ direct pieces from mailer -12% returns (half way through the campaign)
  Achievable: target - 20% (8000)
  Realistic: quality mailing piece
  Time-bound: Date set for returned response, customer increase over six months.
  
  

D. Marketing Strategy for Plan

• Highlight main points of strategy in plan

E. Plan Marketing Tactics

• 7 Ps
  
  1. Product
     
  2. Pricing
     
  3. Place
     
  4. Promotion
     
  5. People
     
  6. Processes
     
  7. Physical evidence
     

F. Implementation of Marketing Plan

• How it will happen
  
• Schedule of key tasks
  
• Resources
  
• Cost
  
• Control
  

G. Writing Marketing Plan

• Set clear, realistic and measurable targets
  
• Include deadlines for meeting targets
  
• Provide budget for each activity
  
• Specify who is responsible for each activity
  
• Link to strategy
  
• Make it happen

There were hundreds of exhibitors and over 75 new products debuting at the expo. Here is a small sample of what was there:

Universal Companies	WholeFood Farmacy
Norex Enterprises	The Dead Sea Pavilion
Pure Inventions	Bath Bloomers
Blueworld of Water	Clear My Head
Kneipp	Millenium by HARMS Software
Nayer Kazemi Water Art	Spa Revolutions
New Reality Life