What Fast Food Taught Me about
Spa Management
A Guest Article by Melinda M. Minton of Minton Business Solutions
I worked my way through high school, college and graduate school. Years of food service taught me a lot about life, business and management. During my stint as a full service spa and salon owner, many of the lessons learned at previous part time jobs proved to be useful.
My first job in food was at McDonalds, the father of the franchise method. The manager put me on the drive through register. As a high school cheerleader, my cheerful exuberance over the speaker at the drive through was somewhat of a shock to customers. Apparently I was too excited about taking their order. Many times the voice on the other end would just say, "Mindy, I didn’t know that you worked here!" The lessons learned from McDonalds were timeless. Although the company had not yet offered the super-size option, they did have other tricks up their corporate sleeves.
McDonalds could take any thug off the street and train them into doing exactly what they wanted done. How? They used simple brainwashing and repetitive programming. The inventors of this method clearly chose three primary actions that they wanted each employee to execute. They showed videos on the three points. They measured the three points based on the employee’s actions. They instructed managers to stalk each employee and chant the three points. They gave quizzes on the three points. They caught you doing or not doing the three points. They had little signs everywhere with the three points. Eventually every employee would succumb to the goals of the McDonalds gods that be. Even after the employee embraced the three points, management reinforced the three points. Spa staff can be trained…try using the three points method.
One of them was the "add on" sale. "Do you want fries with that?" This phrase is almost timeless in this day and age, however, we still don’t see it happening in spas. If you have an underutilized employee, have her go around your entire facility offering lash tints, brow shaping and lip waxing. Have your stylists offer make-up touch ups and explain to them how to sell what they used in retail. Suggest that your estheticians offer a paraffin dip with facial services. Offering an add on service can be so profitable that you might want to give an additional commission rate for the extra effort. Retail staff can practice the same technique by offering an additional impulse item. "Do you need a lip balm?" (in the winter) and "Do you have a fresh tube of sun block?" (in the summer). When a gift certificate sale is made, why not ask if they would also like to include a little thoughtful gift like a bubble bath sampling or an aromatherapy necklace. Gift certificates are intangible and the notion of including a gift is thoughtful.
I moved up in the food world to Bennigans. I managed the kitchen and also waited on tables. Bennigans seems to naturally employ fun people. I loved working there. I became an expert at expediting food and that led to the kitchen management gig. At Bennigans the food allotments are carefully pre-measured. No mistakes could be tolerated. Expediting meant placing side dishes consistently on the right area of the plate. Garnishing each plate the same was also crucial. Getting a food runner to get the food on the right table was a part of the game plan. Making sure that each meal came out within a matter of minutes was also on my "plate".
I learned a lot from this adventure. Teamwork, consistency, measuring…ohhhhh, where to start? Let’s begin with measuring. Give a technician a tub of mud and the options for use are endless. Because it is bulk, employees can steal it, waste it or let it dry out by leaving the cap off. Expediting precise amounts of product, measured to the last micro-ounce seems over the top and a waste of time, however, this process can save your spa hundreds of dollars per month. Serving the tiny cups of cleanser, toner and scrub on a silver or brass platter upscales the process to new proportions.
Consistency is king when it comes to service related business. Clients want to know that facials will be done with the same procedures. They feel comfortable when body treatments are always done in the same fashion. It is reassuring to know that one-hour massages follow the same general format and last for a predictable amount of time. When services become unpredictable, clients begin to wonder if the company is knowledgeable, cohesive and reliable. The nail in the spa’s coffin comes when friends compare notes and one friend got a foot massage during the facial and the other did not. Both paid $80—neither is now happy!
Ways to ensure a consistent service include careful expediting of product before the service begins. A step by step instructional on the exact way to perform each service is a must. Employing mystery shoppers to check quality on a point by point audit of various services is also a must. You can’t possibly know what is happening in the dark seclusion of a treatment room. Find out with well-informed industry veterans who can experience a service and then recite every detail of the treatment. Just as every Bennigans waiter delivers consistently prepared food with their own style infused, the technician’s personality will shine through in her demeanor and touch.
While at Bennigans, I also learned how to turn a table quickly. A new table meant new money in the form of a tip. I would never rush customers. However, when they did leave I helped my busser get that table ready for the next guest. He appreciated the help and I appreciated getting more customers on average per evening.
The spa is no different. Know how much time it takes to turn your spa rooms. Time is money. If you offer 50 minute massages, schedule a new massage for that room on the hour. Encourage clients to come early to get their form filled out and use the powder room. Have a changing area so the room is cleared out before and after the service. If necessary have the reception or retail staff help change the linens and prepare the room for the next client. Try to free up the technician during the extra 10 minutes to greet the client or help the client onto her next treatment. Therapists should also be given time to get a drink, center herself or grab a 2 minute snack. Taking the time to analyze your room productivity can make a great difference in plumping up your bottom line.
While in graduate school, I stuck with five star restaurants. Alexandre’s was enormously French and even more expensive. At Alexandre’s I learned two crucial things: presentation is everything (almost) and the higher the ticket, the higher the tip. I also learned that the special of the day wasn’t "a steak." The special was "a hand trimmed, free-range, 8 oz. filet from one of the finest ranches in Wyoming." I also learned that garnishing could be quite over the top and a real enhancement to food. Drawing a background onto a plate using sauce changed the entire meal presentation.
What can Alexandre’s teach us about spa management? Plenty! It’s not a "facial"!! Sure it encompasses the basic steps of a "facial" but you must put your spa’s signature twist on it. If you are a clinical spa why not go for a living cell therapy hydration under the multi layer masquing? If you are more of an anti-aging spa, try the 60 minute face lift. Of course this is tongue and cheek, point being—market the heck out of your services. Don’t stop at the description in your marketing materials, make the spa visit an experience. If your service of the month is a 90 minute Thai massage, dress your massage therapists up in sarongs. Offer a lotus bath before the massage. Decorate the room in exotic flowers and bamboo. Offer a temporarily thatched floor. Allow your client to be in Thailand for 90 minutes. Charge them handsomely for their excursion, but make it out of this world. Or at least out of your state and their state (of mind).
Tiny details make more of an impression than you could ever imagine. Little touches like fresh flowers in each room. Heated towels, freshly squeezed juice, super comfortable massage tables that are padded with extra fluff, extra comfortable robes and slippers are just a few of the details that make the difference. Find your favorite brand of candles and burn them everywhere. Offer disposable razors, complimentary body spritzer, and ultra creamy body lotion. Make their experience better than they could have ever expected from a spa. Sell absolutely everything that you serve as an amenity in your spa as a retail product in your boutique area, including your music. Retail sales alone will pay for the luxurious amenities offered within the spa.
Up sell offerings, products, packages and gift certificates. You are most likely targeting a rather affluent group of individuals. Wouldn’t they like the deluxe package? Why just sell a gift certificate? Have an enhanced version of that sale where the spa goer is given a wonderful basket of goodies when she visits the spa. Include a sampling of your spa’s signature skin and body care. Throw in a fluffy robe and slippers. A manicure/pedicure kit is inexpensive and can be used during the spa package for extra sanitation purposes. Include a small sample of your spa’s massage oil for home care self massage. Upselling can mean giving the client a tangible reminder of her day in your spa.
The bottom line is that any industry can teach you something about spa management. Make it a goal to honestly assess your facility and the type of customer service given on a daily basis. Try to make it a goal to continuously improve some aspect of your business. Reinforce the improvement and continue to evolve. Supersize your opportunities!
Melinda M. Minton
Minton Business Solutions
"Your Spa and Salon Success Source"
7419 Streamside Dr. Ft. Collins, CO 80525
Voice: 970-226-6145
Voice/Fax: (970) 226-6627
E-Mail: melindaminton@cs.com
Web: www.mintonweb.com
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