Retaining your spa and salon clients.

Do you want to retain clients?

Well of course you do, you are after all in business and it's a business that depends upon clients.

Great spa and salon treatments can only go so far in setting you apart from everyone else.

If you want to go beyond the treatments, beyond the experience, you must connect on a personal level with your guests. Get to know them, and let them get to know you.

Practice the service of listening. I say service, because I mean active listening, not the zoning out variety. Service listening involves thinking on what's being said and then asking pertinent questions, watching the physical cues and demeanor of your spa guest.

Make them know that your time with them is important which means putting the cell phone away.

Be respectful. The client is putting themselves into a position of vulnerability.

All in all be the best servant you can be, because it is the heart of a servant that will impact those people the most and bring them back again.

And what does the heart of a servant look like? It is a heart that puts aside itself for another.

So how do you connect with the client after they leave the four walls? Well, come to MoreSpaTraffic where we can help with that.

Do you reward your clients?

That reward should equal the value of the client to your spa/salon business.

I'm certain you have clients who frequent your spa or salon on a regular basis? You can tick them off on your fingers naming each one. They are regularly booked.

You know who they are when their day goes by and they don't show or they call in to cancel, you miss them because in a big way they have become part of your family.

It's those clients who are your fans. The people who come not just because of the quality massage or facial or hair treatment, but because your business offers them something more, sometimes something as intangible as friendship or a place to rejuvenate.

How do you reward those guests for their loyalty?

Is the reward equal to their value as a customer to your spa/salon?

If it's not equal to the value of that client to your business than you may want to study upon that for a little while.

Unless you're one of the big chains with large marketing budgets as large as their square footage, you are going to find it difficult to let the people within driving distance know you exist. Harder still is finding a way to keep your name before those people on a regular basis.

Those loyal clients know people and they will willing spread your brand because they have found value in you. They are the people who will bring others via that old fashion marketing mechanism of "word of mouth".

In essence those clients are the coals to your fire that you need to nourish and keep burning. If you let them cool then getting that fire going will be more difficult, or worse, you might find that all your coals have become wet!

So as you consider ways to reward your best clients, consider that reward in relation to their value.

Remember, we're here to help connect with those customers:
www.MoreSpaTraffic.com.

I'm testing out Ping.fm for the first time. I like the concept.

What did your clients take with them when they left your spa?

I realize you probably have an immediate answer to that question but stop for a minute and get into your creative mind. Imagine yourself in the position of your client driving into the parking lot for your spa or whichever mode of transportation is used in your area. You, as the client, are probably stressed, perhaps muscles tight from being hunched over a computer keyboard or dealing with young children all day, and you walk through those spa doors which promise escape from that stress.

Then what? What's the check in like? The waiting room?

Mentally walk through the spa to where you as a client need to go for your appointment for your facial or massage, etc. What do you as a client observe, what do you hear? Music, voices, noises, smells?

Now, the appointment is over and you leave, what's that process like? You exit the doors of the spa, hopefully refreshed and cleansed, you pull out of the parking lot onto the busy road and head to your next destination.

Ask yourself, "What did you take with you from the spa?"

Did the client JUST receive a massage or an aromatherapy treatment? That memory and sensation won't last without some key ingredient attached to it.

Your client needs an experience. Is that experience one of thorough and enjoyable service?

Is there an element of your spa that rockets it above your competition? What is it that your clients journey out into the world with that makes them say, "You've got to go to my spa. You will be transported and the dust of the day will wash off your soul"?

Only you can figure out what that element is, but when you do you can strengthen that element thereby giving your clients the ability to become your cheerleaders, your cubicle/water-cooler preachers. We at MoreSpaTraffic.com can help you with that process with our proven technology that will increase your referrals and connect you with your clients beyond the life escaping walls of your spa which you love and into which you pour your passion.

What is the thing you do well?

It's a question you should step back and think about in relation to your business.

Why? Because it is not just your strength but your innate talent coming to the forefront of your business. The trick is to recognize that talent and push it completely to the front.

No, this doesn't mean to forget or even neglect all the other things that you do. Those things still need to be accomplished in a professional way. But that thing that you do well needs... no, wants... that thing you do well wants to become the thing that you exceed at.

Perhaps the thing you do well is encourage your clients when they visit your business. If that's the case focus on that and find ways to take that encouragement to the next level. You've got their addresses. Follow up with those clients some days after their visit with a special hand written note thanking them and encouraging them.

Perhaps that thing you do well, is a particular treatment. Consider taking that treatment to a special community event or fund raiser and volunteering your time during that event. Take the opportunity to gather some client testimonials and pen a press release announcing that special day and treatment to the press.

Make that talent part of your brand and clients will remember.

Or as Walt Disney once said:

"Do what you do so well that they will want
to see it again and bring their friends."

Oh, and don't worry, identifying that strength, working it and making it more strong, will then overflow into the rest of your business in a natural way. Impress upon your staff, this is what we do well as a team. Search them out for ways to improve upon it and listen. Help them to catch the vision of expanding upon that talent and help them to see their clients coming back with friends.

Don't forget that if you are a spa owner or manager of a spa, be sure to check out our website at MoreSpaTraffic.com and see the video on how we can help you connect outside your walls over the Internet with your clients. See our video which shows how we can help you with our program.

Pumkin Seeds and Growing and Harvesting Foods for Spas.

Good afternoon!

I just came across a couple of interesting items today on the Internet and I thought I'd share them with you.

The first was news to me. I had no idea that pumkin seeds were such a great source of nutrition and health. I found it via a twitter follower @SerendipityJane

My twitter account of course is @MoreSpaTraffic.

Any way, here's the link to the interesting low down on Pumpkin seeds:

The Benefits of Pumpkin Seeds.

The next item of interest is this item from Vision Spa Retreat:

Growing for spas: a local enterprise

The demand for body care products has proliferated dramatically, along with the growing spa industry. 'Green' products have commanded a premium (and not always justifiable) market price. With increasing evidence of green washing, body care product manufacturers face scrutiny from conscious consumers who also represent a significant percentage of spa consumers.

This ought to encourage spas and other related venues to examine their choices and offerings more closely. The best and most creative solution, I believe, is to source local and to involve the community - from suppliers, to staff, to customers - in the creation of a unique and varied spa menu. For a spa venue, making food-based spa treatments, including sourcing local materials for these, will require either:

• establishing their own on-site organic garden, perhaps with bee hives for honey and wax, or

• researching and networking to find good and reliable local suppliers

Click over to read the full piece. It's quite good.

Don't forget that if you are a spa owner or manager of a spa, be sure to check out our website at MoreSpaTraffic.com and see the video on how we can help you connect outside your walls over the Internet with your clients. See our video which shows how we can help you with our program.

It's about Customer Service in the Spa Industry.

I was reading and twittering today and there was continuing thought which popped out to me yet again.

A successful business requires great customer service. Sure, you can offer a unique and new beauty product or a great new massage technique, but if you can't back it up with quality customer service you won't go far.

The reason why is that quality customer service for your client builds a relationship and a relationship lasts.

Here's an article that got me thinking on this today:

NJ Day Spa Owner Comments On The Industry’s Struggle With Customer Service

The Spa Industry has long struggled with finding good customer service for the front desk. If you ask any salon or spa owner what position is the most important in their business, most will say it’s the front desk. Why then is finding qualified individuals to work the front desk in a salon or spa such a struggle?

Valentina Chistova, owner of Aquamedica Salon and Day Spa in Long Branch, NJ shares her thoughts on the day spa industry’s struggle to hire professional help for the front desk.

Here's another that fit in:

The Top 10 Key Success Factors: Reaching the Pinnacle in the Beauty Industry

5. Customer Service

You're in the business of pampering your customer. There's no such thing as being too attentive in this highly competitive industry.

Don't forget that if you are a spa owner or manager of a spa, be sure to check out our website at MoreSpaTraffic.com and see the video on how we can help you connect outside your walls over the Internet with your clients. See our video which shows how we can help you with our program.