Well, two months ago I was asked to be a mystery shopper for one of Auckland’s top Day Spas and that’s exactly how I felt when I left the Spa….totally hurt that I hadn’t been invited back.

Now for obvious confidentially reasons, this Spa (who is not an Inner Circle member) shall remain nameless, but I wanted to share my experience with you and show how a failure to ask simple questions or do any follow up marketing could be costing YOUR salon a bucket load of money every year.

Before you read on, this story is not to bad mouth this Day Spa.  In fact, I have to say that the service I received prior to and during the treatment was up there with some the best I have ever experienced when visiting a Salon or Spa.  But that’s what makes it so bad, they have spent so much time putting systems and procedures in place to ensure the customers have this amazing experience, but it’s then let down by complete neglect at the back end.

From the moment I made the booking on the phone the receptionist sounded delightful, asked all the right questions and took my credit card, explaining their 24 hour cancellation policy – a sure way to prevent those frustrating no shows!

When arriving at the Day Spa I was greeted and shown to a lounge where I was given a consultation and then shown the facilities available to me while I was at the Spa which included a sauna, steam room and gym.  Everything was done down to the finest detail, even matching the tea I drank to the type of treatment I requested through my consultation.

Before being taken through to the treatment room I was taken to a relaxation room and introduced to my therapist, as well as another therapist.  From the time I walked in the Spa I had met 4 different people, who all knew me by name and made me feel incredibly special.  I felt like a valued client of the Spa, and not just one therapist!

The treatment itself was also excellent, with music and lighting tailored to my mood and post treatment I was taken to a separate room to relax even further, drink some more tea and fill out a satisfaction survey.

I think you get the picture, overall the WOW factor was huge!

So you can understand my disappointment that I was NOT ONCE asked if I wanted to rebook another appointment.  It was pretty evident that I had really enjoyed my visit to the Spa, so as a guest to the Spa, why wasn’t I invited back?…HOW RUDE!!!

Please Let Me Come back To Your Spa...PLEASE!

Maybe I was missing something, was I meant to get down on my hands and knees and beg to come back?

One simple question would have turned a $140 sale, into at least a $1700 – $2000 client over 12 months, because you know what, if they’d asked me to come back, I would have said YES!

“Okay Chris, we would LOVE to see you back here at (salon name) again, so let’s make that next appointment for you now because we do get booked up very quickly and I don’t want you to miss out on the time that suits you best….how does 3pm on (date) or 10am on (date) suit?”

Now obviously I am just one client, so can you imagine how much money this Spa is losing if clients are not being re-booked…it’s scary!  But that’s the difference between a great salon/spa and an average salon/spa.  Members of our Inner Circle program understand the value of a customer, they don’t look at each client as a one-off sale, rather as a customer for life who will be worth thousands of $$$.

The next thing here was that I was not offered the professional products to go away with and use until my next appointment.  It’s a fact that 70% of client’s who are NOT sold retail to, will go down the road and buy it from a chemist or supermarket (a salons biggest rival) within 24 hours, the products will be crap and the client won’t be a happy camper!  Who are they going to blame first…that’s right, the salon/therapist!  So they will never return.  How sad!

Maybe they didn’t ask me because I am a guy or some other lame excuse like that – whatever it was, it wasn’t good enough and will be costing the salon a fortune!

*If you have never heard about former Schwarzkopf CEO John Lee’s 1000 hour customer care policy, you should google it, learn it and apply it to your salon!

Finally, the reason for me writing this story some 2 months after my visit to the Spa was to at least see if they did some follow up marketing.  A welcome letter perhaps, with a voucher to use off my next booking or an email with their latest offers…did it ever happen?….Nope!

After my visit to the Spa, I filled out a lengthy mystery shopper questionnaire making specific reference to these issues and how all the positive aspects of my visit had gone to waste because of the failure to rebook or retail to me.  I even made special mention that I would look forward to receiving follow up marketing from them as I REALLY wanted to come back.

I suppose I’ll NEVER know if they fixed any of these issues because I am still waiting to be invited back.

Try the Toolkit and the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program RISK FREE for 90 days – and see for yourself how you can literally DOUBLE your sales in the next 12 months. Click here to find out more.

Except when it isn’t. I’ve just had a less than exhilarating maritime experience that could have been much worse had it not been for one of the most remarkable examples of ‘above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty’ customer service I’ve ever encountered.

Managing all the electrical and mechanical systems on a large, modern boat such as mine can do one’s head in. And, because it’s a boat, Murphy’s Law is even more applicable; if it can go wrong, it will, at the worst possible moment.

Michelle and I had been looking forward to this recent long weekend. The late summer weather was forecast hot and still, so with fuel and fresh water tanks brim full, we eagerly pointed the nose of our 40ft Caribbean ‘Tides’ west, gunned the diesels and skimmed across the 15 miles of Gage Roads to our mooring at Longreach Bay on the northern side of Rottnest Island.

My elderly parents arrived late the following day on the ferry, and it wasn’t long after that that the wheels started falling off.

Without plenty of fresh water on a boat, life afloat can be pretty ordinary. You need it for drinking, washing dishes, showering, flushing the toilet…try doing without it for a day, you’ll see what I mean.

So the Milner floating household was not a happy one when, just as the sun dipped below the horizon and we were all looking forward to a nice hot shower followed by dinner on the deck, the fresh water pump down in the bilge decided to call on Murphy.

Rottnest Island raft-up - looks great from this angle, entirely different when you're down in the bilge lathered in sweat...

Without that pump, you’re toast. It ain’t like turning on a tap at home, where it just falls out of the thing. On a boat, it has to be pumped out of a tank.

All that night, I glumly contemplated the prospect of heading home the following morning, and missing out on a weekend of the best weather we’d had for weeks.

I knew my chances of ferreting out a new pump and getting it across to the island were worse than slim, they were anorexic. But I knew my brother Peter was bringing his boat across that day to join the family.

I called him. He called a guy he knew who owned a marine parts business. That guy was also at Rottnest Island, enjoying his weekend. “But I’ll call one of my staff, see what he can do.”

Within the hour, as Peter pulled alongside one of the jetties that dot the river banks down near its Fremantle Harbour mouth, young Alex arrived with replacement pump.  Barked knuckles, a layer of sweat and three hours later, I’d restored our water supply, and our weekend afloat.

How often have you heard of a business – any business – going to those lengths, particularly on a Sunday.

I often rant about the Sales Prevention Department that grows like a cancer in all businesses. Maybe I should start an award for the Above and Beyond Department.

(But the Sales Prevention Department will always be more finely-tuned, and much more widely distributed. Two days ago I paid a $9,000 invoice for some cosmetic work on the boat by another marine supplier. The actual work was okay, but the mess left behind by the tradesman – pencil marks on the gelcoat, tiny sharp metal filings all over the teak deck – was totally unacceptable. And not so much as a phone call from the owner of that business to check if I was happy with the job. Good grief.)

If you have any similar experiences of extraordinary customer service, tell us about them below. The world needs inspiration, and most business owners need more than that. A size 12 boot up the backside, for example.

It failed my report card.

I won’t name the salon, but if its owner is reading this, she’ll recognize herself. This salon is one of three owned by a young entrepreneur who’s done a lot of things right, but still lets money fall through the cracks through lack of attention to detail. And there is magic in the detail.

I wandered in late yesterday afternoon, a Monday, to get a haircut. The layout is impressive – 20 chairs line the walls, with a massive raised catwalk down the middle for the fashion shows the salon has become known for.

That’s a tick for laterally thinking about how to create a ‘buzz’ that spills over into attracting new clients, an ‘involvement device’ to acknowledge that as the majority of customers are women, they’re interested in all things fashion and style, not just getting their hair done.

I was greeted at reception by a pleasant young lady (one of five staff on duty, only one of whom was actually cutting hair, being a Monday) who informed me that my haircut would cost an eye-watering $71. This for the privilege of having the services of the company’s ‘art director’, an innovative way of describing their most talented stylist.

When I visibly gulped at this – in a town where an average male haircut might stretch to $35 – she offered me instead, one of their ‘artists’ – another inventive term for what ordinary salons would call a ‘senior’ – for only $62. And if this was too much, I could have one of their ‘designers’ – their version of a mere apprentice, for a few dollars less.

Another massive tick from me for innovation. This salon owner is doing what I’m constantly nagging our Members to do – to re-think what it is they’re selling, to re-invent the business in such a way that it differentiates itself from the competition, simply by re-branding the common and thus making it un-common. Out of thin air, creating more perceived value. “Ordinary salons have seniors and apprentices. We have ‘artists’ and ‘designers’.”

Here’s what’s instructive: using differential pricing, you can elevate the perceived value of your own services. Example – clients insisting they only want the owner pay more for that privilege.

Next, I was asked to complete a client details form – name, all my phone numbers, email address – and crucially, tick-boxes for how I found out about the salon. A database-building system most salons are too lazy to implement, too ignorant to recognize its value.

I was introduced to my ‘artist’ who led me to her chair.

Unfortunately, that’s about when the shine started to come off an impressive start.

I was handed a selection of magazines. They were dog-eared, months old. As she washed my hair, my ‘artist’ cheerfully asked me the standard questions – ‘had a busy day so far?’ Yes, thanks. … ‘Got a big weekend planned?’ Mmmm…couple of social functions, that’s all. ‘What line of work are you in?’

I knew she was going to ask this, so I threw in a truthful answer, specifically to check her pulse.

‘Er, I show salons how to market themselves more effectively, more efficiently, how to increase the per-visit ticket price, and get customers coming back more often…’

“Really….and do you live locally?”

She might have been thinking, but it wasn’t about what I was saying. Nice enough girl, no pulse.

But the wheels really fell off back at the reception desk. Here I was, a brand new customer just walked in off the street, happily paying my $62 buzz-cut bill. I stood there idly chatting with the receptionist, my ‘artist’ attentively nearby.

Sigh. No attempt to sell me product, despite earlier telling my ‘artist’ I always use gel in my hair.

No request for feedback (i.e. testimonial) about my experience in their business.

Not even the slightest effort to re-book me next month.

I walked out the door, the sound of staff chattering to each other about their Christmas plans fading in my ears.

What a crying shame that it’s like this in almost ALL businesses. Attention to detail is its own economic stimulus package.

]]> http://www.worldwidesalonmarketing.com/does-this-happen-in-your-salon/feed 2 http://www.worldwidesalonmarketing.com/takes-from-the-sales-prevention-department-does-this-happen-in-your-salon-or-spa?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=takes-from-the-sales-prevention-department-does-this-happen-in-your-salon-or-spa http://www.worldwidesalonmarketing.com/takes-from-the-sales-prevention-department-does-this-happen-in-your-salon-or-spa#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:34:00 +0000 Greg Milner http://www.worldwidesalonmarketing.com/selling-salon-products/takes-from-the-sales-prevention-department-does-this-happen-in-your-salon-or-spa Call me old-fashioned, but I have this quaint idea that salespeople are supposed to sell things. After all, until something is sold, nothing happens. No income is generated, therefore no taxes are paid, and if no taxes are paid, no schools are built, hospitals staffed, roads constructed.

But salesmanship is dead. Which is curious, because we love to buy things. My brother’s wife had her credit card stolen once. He didn’t report it for a month, because the thief was spending less than she was.

Yes, it’s a joke. But the lack of salesmanship is not. And the following appalling example should be enough to curdle the blood of any business owner who employs staff, e.g. presumably YOU if you’re the owner of a salon or spa.

On Saturday Michelle and I went to a nearby outdoor warehouse to buy one of those big market umbrellas for our rear deck. Chose the style and colour we wanted, handed over my credit card.

Did the ‘sales’ guy attempt to up-sell me to a nearby matching deckchair? Nope. Did he even so much as hint that I might like to take advantage of a special offer they had on barbecues that day? You’ve gotta be kidding. Nope, all the way out to my car, this poor dope blathered on about how hot it was, how bad sales had been because of the recession (!)

As he shoved the umbrella into my car, I gave him one last chance to do his job.

“Oh, does this thing come with a heavy base so it doesn’t take off in the wind?” I asked hopefully.

“Ah,” he said, “no it doesn’t, we do have them in stock though.” And then this idiot said the fatal words:

“But to be honest, you can get them cheaper at Bunnings”.

I nearly choked. Had I been his boss, he would have been fired on the spot. For criminal negligence, effectively stealing from his employer, for being an advocate for the competition.

There’s a Sales Prevention Department in every business. And the bigger the business, the more finely-tuned is their SPD.

Last month we tried to give an American magazine publisher nearly $10,000 for a full-page ad in a new beauty industry magazine. They declined to take our money because the ad we wanted to run wasn’t ‘the right type of ad to place in our new magazine given we are creating a highly aesthetic publication for our readers’. The italics are mine.

Never mind the fact that the ads we produce, both for ourselves and our Inner Circle salon members, actually work. Pardon the sarcasm, but it’s obviously of little consequence how effective an ad is, much more important how it looks.
So they miss out on our money. The Sales Prevention Department triumphs again.

The world doesn’t need government handouts, bailouts or rescue packages. The world just needs sales people to do their job, and sell stuff. The world economic crisis would self-correct, if the Sales Prevention Department would just get out of the way.

There is a lesson in this for all salon owners. Be paranoid. Be wary, suspicious, nervous about what your staff are telling your customers. Listen in. Make mystery calls. Take care that your employees are selling your stuff, not somebody else’s.

And if you were equipped with the Selling Like Crazy sales training module from the Inner Circle Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit you’d find that task a whole lot easier.

How to find them (staff), how to pay them, how to ‘get their heads right’.

It’s by far the biggest issue facing salon & spa owners all over the world, apart from actually getting customers.

Because even the best marketing on the planet will be sabotaged at the back end by lousy systems, and lousier staff. ALL businesses (including my own!) has what we call a

Sales Prevention Department

BUT… there is a solution!

Over the past several months, we’ve been working closely with Inner Circle coach David Osborne – a recruitment specialist in his own right – to develop a

World-Class Salon & Spa Recruitment System

Secretly, among a select group of Inner Circle members, we’ve been testing the Salon & Spa Recruitment system exhaustively. And th e feedback is nothing short of amazing.

Here’s just a taste of what these ‘guinea pig’ salons & spas are saying:

“Every salon owner should get this manual….” “Having my salon for 10 years now I know a little about a lot of things in small business but this manual has given me a clear direction on how and what I should be doing – as I really have not had that much human resource experience – prior to having my salon despite having 10 staff!!” Michelle Weston, Northmead Beauty Therapy, Sydney “Without doubt the best recruiting system the beauty industry has seen…” “The beauty industry being what it is, we’re constantly having to recruit new staff – this system makes it so simple, and really nails it when it comes to choosing exactly the right kind of person to fit any particular role in the business…” Michael Curtis, Blush Day Spa, Perth

The system has NOT yet been released onto the market. It will be soon.It’s the complete deal – CD tutorials, tick sheets, assessment forms, interview guidelines, tests, the works. In my opinion, it is ridiculously cheap – and for a select few early buyers, a special bonus will be available – a one-on-one consulting session with David Osborne himself.

Stay tuned. More information in the coming days.