Spa Professional Corner: Sales, it’s a survival tool for your spa

No matter how much we try to escape it, sales is an essential part of running a business, even a spa. No one likes to be “sold” and as business owners, its tough to put on the hat of a sales agent or sales manager. But, the reality of the situation is that without sales, your spa business will never generate the revenues it requires to profit or even stay affloat. Sales is a part of our life., Whether we are selling a product, service or even ourselves, we are always selling.

When you take a step back and assess selling techniques, you’ll find that its not a scary subject. You just have to approach it with the right mindset. Rather than looking at it as “selling,” we can more easily relate to sales if we see it as a needs assessment proposition. When approaching clients to initiate a sale for a product or service you provide at your spa, you must ask the right questions. If the right questions are asked, you can gauge more accurately the wants and needs of the person you are presenting to.

Proper sales techniques are simply a series of steps that involve asking the right questions and coming up with the appropriate answers that will solve a problem. The next time you are faced with an opportuntiy to sell or “present” to a potential client, follow these steps and your presenation may go much smoother than you anticipate.

Step 1
Earn the Right
This step is simply an introduciton. The fact that a potential customer has walked into your spa or shown interest in your products or services has already earned you your right to introduce yourself and present to them.

Step 2
Need Development
This step is probably the most important part of the sales process. In this step you are asking the right questions to better assess a potential problem that you are trying to solve for your client. Depending on what you're selling, your question may simply be “How can I help you today?” Other examples of questions may inlude:
- What is your main goal for gettting a facial?
- What is the purpose of you getting a massage with us today?
- How active is your lifestyle?

Step 3
Awareness
In this step, you are thinking about what specific products or services you can provide for the potential client based on the answers you receive from the prevous need development step. This step is known as a “silent” step as you are thinking in your mind about what possible solutions may benefit the prospect. In this step, you are thinking about the right combination of spa treatments and at home products that will best fit the individuals needs.

Step 4
Solution
In this step, you are presenting the solutions that you can provide for the potential client’s that specifically meet their needs as they present themselves to you in the needs devleopment step.

Step 5
Close
This is the second biggest step in the sales process that many of us simply forget or fear to do. ASK FOR THE ORDER! You have gone through all the appropriate steps to get to this point, it would be a shame not to get the order after all that work. So simply ask: “how many jars/bottles would you like today?” or “when can I put you down for an appointment?”.

If we take the sales process and break it down in these simple steps, it will become less like selling and more like helping someone solve a problem. Try these techniques out the next time you speak to a potential client. You will be pleasantly surprised with how simple selling can really be!