I've attended each Spa & Resort and Medical Spa Expo and Conference since the first one in 2002. This year the 7th annual event was held at the Jacob Javits Center September 21-22. I attended on Monday September 22. I listened to four presentations and include details about two of them below:Excellent Customer Service and How to Deliver it by Tammy Pahel and Angee Smithee and the Media Speak Out moderated by Nancy Trent with editors from Allure, Elle, Daily Candy and Massage and Bodywork. I spent the rest of the day touring the Expo.

Excellent Customer Service and How to Deliver it
by
Tammy Pahel Spa Management Solutions, Inc.
Angee Smithee of The Spa at South Coast Plaza.

Do you know why client don't return to the spa? According to Tammy and Angee:
1% die
3% move
5% other relations
9% leave for competition
14% dissatisfied with product or service
68% leave for discourteous service

The two most complained about areas of the spa from a customer service standpoint are the front desk and locker room which is often understaffed.

The focus has to be on the guest from the first contact with the spa. Angee reminds us, "you never have a second chance to make a first impression." The receptionist has to be an excellent multi-tasker. The receptionist is expected to provide one-on-one focus to the clients while checking in 10 clients at a time, answering the phone, remembering the client's name, keeping eye contact, smiling and keeping the positive energy flowing. For as important as these positions are, the front desk staff is usually the most underpaid.

Spas can't blame their staff for things they haven't been trained on. Operations manuals are necessary, yet over 50% of spas don't have them. Operations manuals show what is expected.

While 68% of clients leave for discourteous service, the percentage is probably higher. Most clients don't provide feedback on bad experiences. They don't complain. They just don't come back. The spa never has a chance to "rescue them." Spas should encourage guests to provide feedback. Give them an incentive to do so to thank them for their time. Train staff to listen to the response to the "how was your service" question. Look at the guest's facial expression and body language. Listen to the tone of their voice. You'll know if they were satisfied or not. Take action if they were not.

It costs 5 times more money to attract new customers as it does to keep an existing customer. Keep in touch with your guests to promote retention. Call them. Thank them. Tell them you'd like to see them again soon.

Don't let anyone leave the business upset. Fix the problem immediately. If guests leave, they won't come back. The average customer that has had a bad experience tells 9 others. The average customer that has had a good experience tells 3 others. If there's a problem, apologize. Pay attention to what they say. Listen with the intent to understand, not with the intent to respond. Write their complaints down. Promise to fix the problem. Thank them. They must believe you care. Everyone can live with a mistake if it's handled well. If a complaint is resolved, 70% of customers will return. If a complaint is resolved quickly, it increases to 90%.

7 keys of customer service

Important customer service behaviors:

Follow the mobil 5 star guidelines.

Media Speak Out with Amy Keller, Beauty & Grooming Director, Allure Nicole Catonese, Associate Editor, Beauty and Fitness, Elle Pavia Rosati, Executive Editor, Daily Candy Leslie Young, Editor in Chief, Massage and Bodywork Moderated by Nancy Trent

Nancy: Where do story ideas come from?
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Everywhere. Innovations.
Nicole (Elle): Most information comes from PR companies.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): We know which publicists do which releases. We would rather to the work. Just provide the facts.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): From a reliable network of freelance writers with passion as scouts, inputs from many sources, advice from trusted sources
Amy (Allure): We are always looking for new studies, surveys, new angles and ways to reinvent stories.
Nicole (Elle): From new treatments, polls from doctors and researchers.

Nancy: What should be in a press kit?
Amy (Allure): They should be factual and straightforward, not editorial, fact sheets with bullet points
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): I prefer electronic, CD ROMs and e-images.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Don't send big packages (produces waste). Get straight to the point. Stand out in the subject line because I rarely read past the 2nd paragraph.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): PR reps often don't give all the information. Don't make us work to get more information.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Make it very easy for us. Don't use teasers.
Nicole (Elle): Don't tell us what we already know - the 101 stuff.

Nancy: What about photographs?
Nicole (Elle): We use in-house photos. We like photos of rooms WITHOUT people in them - clean, simple.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Know what 300 dpi means.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Don't email big files without being requested.
Amy (Allure): Product shots are all done in house, but occasionally we use outside shots. Only send images when requested. We almost always throw CD ROMs away.
Nicole (Elle): We need to know what products smell like, package appearance, etc. Send products. It's better than just an email.
Nancy - Send customer size, not sample size.

Nancy: What is the best way to approach you?
Amy (Allure): Phone is the last option. Email is preferred. Hard mail is OK.
Nicole (Elle): Email is the fastest.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Email honors time and the environment.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Email.
Nancy - Don't call to see if they got your email!
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Don't call us!!. If you call, don't leave pitches on phone messages. You get my full focus with email. When on the phone, I am distracted. Don't send CD ROMs. Email is FREE and effective.

Nancy: What are your deadlines? Newspapers have a 1 day lead, some magazines have a 4-6 month lead time, some 1-2 months.
Nicole (Elle): It depends month to month. Sometimes stories are added at the last minute. Sometimes a story is just the last one worked on (and hence there is an urgency about it).
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): 3-4 day lead time (internet). It goes from writer to editor to production to copy editing to research department (fact check) - which is often very close to the time of publication.
Nancy: Note to spa owners: Don't miss a deadline because there are many waiting to be in your place.

Nancy: Do you like desk sides? (meetings at editor's office)
Amy (Allure): There are 6 people devoted to the beauty team. On any week there will be 5-10 individual desk sides. I like thes option of desk side because I don't have to leave the office.
Nicole (Elle): I like them. They are one on one. Events may not provide same opportunity. Desk sides are more intimate.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): No desk sides.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): No desk sides.
Amy (Allure): Desk sides can be frustrating if they are scheduled frequently, Combine them.

Nancy: How many emails do you get?
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): 400 emails/day
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): 338 emails/day
Amy (Allure): same
Nicole (Elle): same

Nancy: Do you have advice on packages?
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Never send fresh food! I often travel for 2 weeks at time. By day four, the office is full.
Nicole (Elle): On fashion week, I didn't open boxes and had to hold meetings in the hallway because there was no room left in my office. I had to spend an entire day opening them.

Nancy: What do you do with packages that are hard to open?
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Pitch them.
Amy (Allure): Don't send scrolls.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Lotions often explode because of the altitude in Colorado.
Nancy: Don't send confetti!!!
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): We understand the desire to stand out. Unfortunately, many ways are just annoying and backfire.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Creative emailing does NOT mean black background with white text.

Nancy: Do you like press parties?
Amy (Allure): They are hard to go to because of time constraints.
Nicole (Elle): I agree. I have work and events all day. I am tired by 8pm. Sometimes I make an exception.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): I would rather have a root canal. A glass of free wine will not get me there. Do something special.
Nicole (Elle): I'll go when there is a new launch or speaker.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): A charity tie in is a must. Be credible and traceable.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Different media need different things. We link to web sites. They must be nice with nice graphics. Ideally, you should have a feeling on how each publication will handle the information. Daily Candy is only interested in spas just opening and new angles and only in NY.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Show editors you've done your research.

Nancy: What are your pet peeves?
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): I love when we can be the megaphone for good stuff.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): We have a small group. Don't try to play one editor off the other.
Amy (Allure): Calls and pitches that are turned down then pitched to different editor are irritating. We all share and talk to each other.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): No one owns pitch emails that are sent to too many people.

Audience: What about celebrities?
Amy (Allure): Allure editorial coverage is not tied to celebrity endorsements. Their focus is on science and efficacy.
Nicole (Elle): It's not Elle's angle.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): We are never asked to write about advertisers.
Amy (Allure): Most of the time, the advertising side does not know what's going on in editorial.

Nancy: What about PR?
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Hire a PR firm. Find colleagues who have great press and find out who does their PR.
Amy (Allure): We don't use PR Newswire. We don't want the same idea that every other editor has.
Nancy: PR Newswire makes editors nervous because the same information is going to competitors. Editors want individualized pitches with a specific angle.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): We like to think we will do a different job.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): Don't pitch to all editors at once.
Nicole (Elle): For Elle Spa Guide, we need art by the end of October.
Amy (Allure): Allure's annual spa issue starts work in spring for the next September issue.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): Publicists have working relationships with editors and will just present what is appropriate.

Nancy: How often do you go to spas?
Nicole (Elle): If invited, I would love to go, but don't get a chance. I go on my own time with my own money.
Amy (Allure): We use stringers - journalists in many cities. Allure pays for it.
Pavia (NY Daily Candy): I went last week. The time before was in July. It was a bad experience and I was left with scab on my face. I am happier to go to my own therapist. I don't get the opportunity very often.
Leslie (Massage & Bodywork): I often want to try new products. But I learned about an allergy to seaweed in a body wrap in Florida. And an allergy to eyelash dye in Calgary.

The Expo
One side of the expo was targeted for the resort and spa market and the other for the medical spa market. A few green spa vendors were in between. Here are just a few of the exhibitors at the expo:

The Green Spa Area	Gina Molinai with Astron Clinica, LLC
Asian Kissing Fish	REN Clean Bioactive Skincare
d'vine®, Inc.	Alexis Ufland with Lexi Design - Medical Spa Consulting
t spheres aromatherapy-infused massage balls	iinnLight Technologies, Inc.
ITO EN, Ltd (Teas' Tea)	Dynamise Botanicals, Inc.
Accents In Water	Lifebooker
Adorage MD	Niadyne, Inc. | NIA 24™
Apothecure, Inc.	RevitaLash