The skin care industry is booming. It has been estimated that the worldwide market for skin care products should reach about $180 billion by 2024. At the same time, more and more people are going to spas. In 2016, about 13.7 million people admitted that they had been to a day spa within the previous 12 months. If you own or manage a spa, you may be on the lookout for ways to get more people into your business. The answer is not as simple as getting new spa chairs or touting the fact that you use professional spa skin care products. There are, however, things you can do to get more business.
- Pamper your clients. When they leave your business, happy clients may not tweet about your spa chairs but they will take to social media to talk about how great (or terrible) your customer service was. If you have people who come in month after month, make them feel special by offering special discounts or free retail spa supplies. It is much cheaper and easier to keep an existing client than to get a new one so the work you do to keep your existing clients happy will pay off.
- Make the experience less stressful. The last thing people want when they are trying to relax is to be given a menu of products to choose from. If you are going to recommend they buy professional skin care products or professional hair products, make real recommendations about which will work best for them. There are a lot of products to sell at a spa, pick the best ones to offer your clients and then make it simple for them to make a decision.
- Use a blog to promote the brands and products you sell. Blog about new hairstyles, manicure techniques, or sales and specials you are offering. You want your spa’s website to pop up on top of Google searches so you need to always be putting new content on your site that helps people. Create useful posts that customers and clients want to go to for beauty advice.
- Use your social media channels to bring in more clients and sell more product. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, and whatever the next best social media thing are great at spreading the word about your products and services. If you add a new product or product line, engage your supporters on social media.
- Consider traditional media. Host an event at your spa to bring people in. You can offer free haircuts to low-income people or kids. Have a housewarming, Announce your new spa chairs if they are something special. The more people know about you, your products, and your services, the more people will come in to buy them.
- Take a look at how your spa is arranged. Do you have your products where they are easy to see and reach? Can people who come in see the products that you have for sale? It is important to place the items that you hope to see in places that are easy to reach and see. No one will buy something if they do not know it is there.
- Give your workers a commission when they make a sale. Your staff should not be pushy when they are trying to upsell a client to take home some of your hair products after they are done with their cut but it helps to give your staff a commission for each product they do manage to sell. This can also boost morale and lower your turnover rate.
- Pay attention to your inventory. First of all, you do not want to run out of your best selling products. Next, you do not need theft to eat away at your profit margin. Lastly, keeping an eye on what goes low soonest helps you see what products are the most popular.
Even during a recession, people will often find a way to spend money on making themselves look better. Going and sitting in spa chairs to be pampered a bit is something most people can afford, even when money is tight. By following these tips you can develop relationships with loyal clients that will last.