Pulse : It sounds like you can build that into the incentive program , too . CS : Yes . If they win a free spa treatment or a stay at the resort , perfect ! Then they get to experience it and talk about it .
Pulse : Can you talk a little bit about how you use secret shopper calls ? CS : Inspect what you expect . You need to develop a checklist of what you ’ re expecting them to do on the call and do pop-up shop calls to ensure they ’ re doing it . You have them rated and if they don ’ t get to a certain percentage , then it ’ s a ding . Or if they get to a certain percentage , give them a reward . Every call should be treated the same .
Pulse : There are services that do that for you . Have you ever used any of those ? CS : Yes , and the important thing is nobody knows your location , your product or your spa like you do . So , make sure whatever they ’ re grading on is actually what you want . Don ’ t let them tell you . You tell them what ’ s important .
Pulse : What you ’ re doing is based on personal interaction . Many properties are shifting to using more electronic tools like apps for bookings . What do you think of that ? CS : For return customers who already know the property and know what they want to do , it ’ s great . But if they ’ re going to spend a lot of time and money , they are really going to make sure they ’ re getting what they want . So , while they might go on and add a few things on an app we are still finding that most of it is done on a call .
Pulse : How do you see some of these principles apply to a standalone spa ? CS : For every property , there are two parts of a call . There ’ s five-star service basics that should be ingrained in every call . I don ’ t care where you ’ re at . And then there ’ s that experiential piece of finding out why they ’ re really calling , so you can give them what they ’ re looking for .
Pulse : So many times , people will scrimp on that position and top-load a receptionist with the added responsibility for booking . So , they ’ ve got a customer in front of them and the phone rings and they can ’ t give their full attention to either of those tasks .
CS : Yeah , it ’ s really short-sighted . The people who answer the phone and the people who are in charge of booking are sometimes lower paid , but they are your gatekeepers . Paying attention to what they ’ re doing , paying them well and giving them the tools is super important and has a high ROI .
Pulse : At one point you did ROI tracking from your projects . What were some of your findings there ? CS : One of the great ways to track outcomes is by looking at conversions — the number of calls , versus how many people actually book . We found after the first 90 days of training , the conversion rate went from 17 percent to almost 40 percent , and then stabilized at 50 percent . That ’ s a lot of revenue ! At the end of the day , putting training in and giving people the space and right tools to really interact with a customer is a huge revenue driver . n
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26 PULSE n SEPTEMBER 2024