Find your Authentic Spa voice
to transform your Sales
What if reading this article changed your entire perspective on how you view your sales and
marketing and helped you completely revolutionize the way you advertise promotions, speak to
your guests and motivate your team? Well, you’d keep reading of course!
as a sPa oWNEr, you may be
giving away your power to influence your
guest’s buying behavior—and it’s an
unconscious industry epidemic that’s
been undermining your earnings for years.
Moving Past Brand Proxy
Spas have traditionally relied on two
sources of communication to create and
maintain the relationships with their
guests: the voice of the professional
brands they carry and the voice of their
service providers.
Conscientious spas carefully choose
partner brands that reflect their core
values, philosophies and demographic—
and then rely on that brand’s marketing to
engage their guest, communicate key
benefits and facilitate the sale of their
products; this is brand proxy. But to what
extent do you allow their voice to
represent yours?
I recently toured a premium day spa
that had expanded from 5,000 to 11,000-
square-feet to include a yoga studio, water
therapies and an extensive retail boutique.
Without question, this spa had been well
thought-out with a specific guest journey
and destination in mind. Their list of
services and what they offered was well
communicated, however I was expecting
at some point to be guided to a central
message that would connect me to their
story and enroll me into their sacred
philosophy of wellness. As a consumer, I
was curious. But for some reason, the
only voice I heard was that of the major
brand they carried. Near the check-in
By
taNya
cHErNova
click here to watch chernova's conscious salesperson videos.
desk, I was greeted with a large picture
that said shouted the mission of that
major spa brand, and all I thought to
myself was, “why has this spa, who has
invested so much in their facilities, décor,
treatment rooms, snacks etc., not placed
their own brand philosophy at the
forefront of their hard-earned consumer?”
I mean with all due respect to just
about every well-known professional
brand out there, I could find their
products online, at other spas and salons
within walking distance, in other cities,
and even local retail malls. Yet this spa,
like many others, missed the value of
establishing their own credo above all
others.
I am not underestimating the impor-
tance of our quality brands as valued trust
symbols. Often when I’m traveling to
remote places overseas, I might walk into
a spa where I have no previous
relationship and feel relieved to see
familiar brands I know will serve me well,
but it doesn’t mean we should expect
those brands speak fully on our behalf.
Yet even the most premium spas do it
every day.
It’s important to remind ourselves that
most quality spa and salon menus offer a
very similar list of services. The brands
they carry—unless they are a cult brand
or private label—can be found elsewhere,
and nearly everyone positions themselves
as the service leader in their area. So,
what will really make the difference when
it comes to building trust and loyalty? It’s
not what you offer or what you carry, but
who you are and why you care.
Move Past Brand Pressuring
service Providers
As a spa, our mandate is to inspire our
teams to recommend retail products with
every service they provide to help increase
the value of the long-term guest
experience and maximize results. The
problem is, although we have called it
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