Ms. Bankoski

Spas, Health & Fitness

A Spa's Best Marketing Tool: Satisfied Guests who Rave, Repeat, and Refer

Consistently satisfying the needs and desires of spa guests results in loyalty and valuable word-of-mouth advertising

By Linda Bankoski, Co-Owner & Managing Director, SpaQuality LLC

Co-authored by Julie Register, Co-owner & Managing Director, SpaQuality LLC

Marketing in General

A common definition of marketing is the process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the activities of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, pricing, delivery, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Marketing necessarily looks at business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. According to Theodore C. Levitt, Emeritus Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School, “marketing differs from selling because selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs.”

Marketing in Spas

For spas, the “tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs” takes the form of a spa quality management system that is designed to:

1. Know what the spa’s guests want (for spas in hotels, that includes hotel guests and local clientele whose desires and needs might be different),
2. Deliver what the spa’s guests want consistently and expertly and
3. Know whether or not what the experience the spa delivered met the guests’ needs.

The Voice of the Guest

Each guest’s voice is central to a spa’s success. Every guest comes to the spa with expectations, needs and desires and leaves with a story they will share with others by word of mouth and, increasingly, the Internet (TripAdvsisor.com, blogs, booking sites, etc.). If the spa experience misses the mark and does not meet the guest’s expectations or needs, the story may well be one of dissatisfaction, warning and disaster. Here are some interesting statistics:

• For every complaint received, the business has 26 unhappy customers it never hears from; six of these have problems that are considered serious. Additionally, the average customer with an unresolved complaint will tell 9 - 10 people; 13 percent tell more than 20 people. (Technical Assistance Research Programs)
• 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain, however 91% of those will simply leave and never come back. (1st Financial Training Services)
• It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. (“Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner) [How many spas get those 12 chances?]

If the guest’s experience meets their expectations and needs, the story they tell will most likely be one of satisfaction, inspiration and wellness. According to the International Spa Association’s 2008 Global Consumer Study, 46% of respondents said that recommendation from friends and/or family would be the top motivator for visiting a particular Spa.

Spa Quality Management System

The spa’s quality management system creates the story the guests will tell. All spas have a quality management system. Many quality systems at spas are informal, impulsive and reactive. The results they produce are inconsistent and often poor. However, if the quality system is comprehensive and well-designed, it will result in satisfied spa guests. Consistently satisfied spa guests become loyal spa guests. Loyal spa guests recommend the spa to others. Recommendations from spa guests are authentic and believable. Their stories are detailed and personal. The resulting referrals help the spa business grow.

In order to create spa experiences that will result in satisfied, loyal guests who will return to the spa and refer the spa to others, it’s necessary to make the experiences memorable – in a good way – from the first moment of contact to the last. The only way this can happen is to have a quality management system in place that is designed to deliver guest satisfaction consistently. This system must include three key categories of processes:

1. Processes that directly impact the spa’s guests
2. Behind-the-scenes processes and
3. Spa management processes.

Specifics processes found in each of these categories are:

1) Processes That Directly Impact Spa Guests

• Design and management for safety
• Branding, advertising, public relations, media planning (including web site) and community involvement
• Reservations and scheduling
• Reception and orientation
• Selection and management of linens and apparel (including robes, sandals, towels, sheets, blankets, etc.)
• Selection and management of treatments and services (including those that are subcontracted)
• Design and management of facilities (including the spa’s front door and entrance, reception area, waiting area, locker areas, showers, saunas, steam rooms, whirlpools, swimming pools, lounges, treatment rooms, Vichy showers, fitness area, retail area, etc.)
• Selection and management of equipment (including the spa’s massage tables, hot towel cabinets, hot stone heaters, facial steamers, pedicure chairs, hot wax pots, fitness machinery, etc.)
• Selection and management of products and supplies
• Food and beverage services

2) Behind-The-Scenes Processes (these may be managed by the hotel or subcontracted)

• Staffing and HR (including subcontractors)
• Purchasing
• Inventory control
• Maintenance and calibration
• Cleaning and sanitation
• Laundry
• Spa environment (HVAC, music, soundproofing, etc.)

3) Spa Management Processes

• Guest- focused culture
• Control of documents (including web site, brochures, price lists, treatment procedures and protocols, maintenance instructions, MSDS, schedules, blank forms, employee manuals, etc.)
• Control of records (guest treatment, liability release, serious incidents, risk analysis, maintenance, HR, etc.)
• Data collection and analysis (including guest feedback, staff feedback, calibration, cycle times, process performance, financials, etc.)
• Risk analysis, mitigation and management
• Spa audits (including quality management system, secret shopper, safety and risk, financial, etc.)
• Improvement (preventive and corrective actions, etc.)

Typically, spas concentrate primarily on Processes That Directly Impact the Spa’s Guests, secondarily on Behind-The-Scenes Processes, and are rarely aware of the value and importance of Spa Management Processes. And yet, all of these processes are equally important in a well-managed spa quality system that results in guest satisfaction.

Managing these processes as a system is the key to consistently providing superb services and facilities as well as staff professionalism that meet the spa guests’ needs and expectations. This is essential for authentic hospitality and leads to guest satisfaction, loyalty and referrals. Guests experience the result of the system as a whole and rarely distinguish the results of individual processes. For example, a good treatment in a poorly maintained spa results in guest dissatisfaction. A poor treatment in a well-maintained spa has the same results. When there are disconnects in the system and missteps in the activities, the spa’s guests are the first to notice. It may take a lot of time and effort for the spa to discover these problems. However, it is essential that the spa takes the time and effort to do so in order to fix the problems and create loyal guests. Here’s why:

• Dissatisfied customers whose complaints are taken care of are more likely to remain loyal, and even become advocates, as those that are ‘just’ customers (Strauss & Seidel)
• Happy customers who get their issue resolved tell about 4-6 people about their experience. (White House Office of Consumer Affairs)
• A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%. (Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy)
• It costs 6 – 7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one (Bain & Company) Impact of Guest Perception on a Spa Business

Spas should strive to develop a long-term relationship with their guests. A guest may have an extraordinary experience on the first visit to the spa, and that may result in a referral. However, the spa has not yet demonstrated that the extraordinary experience is repeatable. If it isn’t, the dissatisfaction felt by the spa guest could be greater because that guest knows what the spa is capable of providing. It is the repeat visits that establish trust with the spa. Once a guest feels the spa can deliver an extraordinary experience consistently, they feel confident in referring it to others. The following chart details this dynamic.

 

First Time

When a guest visits a spa for the first time, the spa has an opportunity to anticipate and meet their personal expectations and to lay the groundwork for them to return. The goal is to help them feel welcome, wanted, valued and appreciated as an individual not as a source of revenue. The spa’s greeting is genuine. The spa seeks to understand the guest’s interests, goals, issues, needs, etc. – so that the spa can establish an authentic relationship with the guest and create an effective experience that meets their expectations. The guest feels that the experience was valuable and worth the time and money they invested. This is the first step in creating a guest that raves about the spa. The spa seeks information about the guest’s perception of the spa. The spa invites the guest to return and lets the guest know their feedback is valued. The guest is typically satisfied when their expectations are met and they feel that they can trust the spa for another visit. This has a positive impact on the spa business. The guest may return and they may share the story of their experience with others.

If the guest’s expectations were not met or if the guest is dissatisfied, they may express their dissatisfaction but be willing to give the spa a second chance. This is dependent on how the spa handles their dissatisfaction. No matter how the spa responds, the result is a negative impact on the spa business (comps, discounts, etc.) and the guest will most likely share the story of their experience.

Next Time

If the guest returns, the spa has an opportunity to develop the connection it began during the first visit. The spa recognizes the guest, knows their personal preferences and expresses authentic care for the guest. The goal is to have the guest feel that they belong and that a personal connection with them is valued. The spa must again create an effective experience that meets their expectations. The guest is typically satisfied when their expectations are met and they feel that they can trust the spa to meet their expectations in the future. This has a positive impact on the spa business. The guest will most likely return and become loyal to the spa, and they will probably share the story of their experience with others.

If the guest’s expectations were not met or if no personal connection was made, the guest is not likely to feel valued and most likely won’t return. No matter how the spa responds, the result will negatively impact the spa business, and the guest will most likely share the story of their experience with others.

Future

When a spa establishes that they can meet the spa guest’s expectations each time the guest visits the spa, it earns the guest’s trust. The guest is likely to be loyal to the spa and enthusiastically refer the spa to others. This will continue for as long as the spa continues to demonstrate that they can consistently deliver effective experiences that meet the guest’s expectations. This can only happen with a well-managed spa quality management system.

Julie Register contributed to this article. Ms. Register is founder, co-owner and the Managing Director of Operations of SpaQuality LLC. Her unique background allowed her to recognize and fill a large gap in the spa industry - the knowledge and use of quality systems to create effective and efficient spa operating systems that result in consistent delivery of excellent spa services and in guest and staff loyalty. For 15 years, Ms. Register has experienced spas worldwide and shares those experiences on her web site, DiscoverSpas.com. She is the co-author of The International Standards of SpaExcellenceSM and co-created and co-teaches Building and Sustaining High Quality Systems for Spas for the University of California - Irvine Extension's Spa and Hospitality Management Certificate Program. Ms. Register has an additional 25 years’ experience in engineering, quality consulting (ISO 9000, GMP), quality management, process and service development, supplier chain management, and management with a Fortune 50 company and a top 3 consulting firm.

Linda Bankoski is co-owner and Managing Director of Education and Assessment of SpaQuality LLC, a company that has provided a roadmap to authentic performance excellence for spas through quality system standards, education, assessment and certification since 2004. Ms. Bankoski is the co-author of The International Standards of SpaExcellenceSM, which provides a framework for spas to create effective and efficient spa operations that result in consistent delivery of excellent spa services, guest and staff loyalty, as well as business success. Ms. Bankoski can be contacted at 302-426-0274 or bankoski@voicenet.com Extended Bio...

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