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Relationship Marketing: How It Can Help In Today’s Economy
 
Can a bad economy put a dent in your sales? A colleague of mine thought so as she watched her sales decline during the last six months. Like most of us, she has heard the news reports suggesting that we are in a recession and wondered if that is the reason her sales are down. I was not so sure, and asked if she had recently cut back on her advertising and marketing. Her response? Yes—as a means of limiting expenses. I then asked if she was meeting new people and developing relationships. She said no. To me, that indicated these two things could be a large part of the problem.

The economy may have something to do with fewer people spending money, but there is nothing you can do about that. What you can do is practice relationship marketing with people in your sphere of influence to increase your business sales. Think about this:

Joe Girard was listed in The Guinness Book Of World Records as the “World’s Greatest Retail Salesman” for 12 consecutive years. Girard wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth; rather, he was abused by his father as a child, lost multiple jobs as an adult and eventually went bankrupt. Finally, he landed a job at a Chevrolet dealership and did very well—in fact, he personally sold more cars than most dealerships. People stood in line to buy a car from Girard—but why? Because he practiced relationship marketing.

Every year, Girard sent 13 handwritten cards to each of his clients and prospects: one card per month and an extra card at Christmas. These mailings were cards of appreciation, tips and giveaways—never about special sales, discounts or promotions. Over the course of 15 years, Girard sent 13,000 handwritten cards. Each of Girard’s recipients began to anticipate a card from him every month and he was always the first person on their minds when they were ready to buy a car.

So, how can you implement relationship marketing in your business? Try these strategic objectives (which also will help your businesses to better withstand the impact of economic downswing):

Develop Strong Relationships
People do business with people they know, like and trust. It’s your job to make this connection happen. To do that, you must go beyond the superficial and become genuinely interested in your customers and prospects. For instance, you can meet clients at a coffee shop and get to know them personally, without the usual business discussions. I often do that. I make mental notes on what is going on in their lives, so I can refer to it the next time we connect. Then I nurture my relationships by consistently staying in touch.

Consistency Is The Key
You can stay connected with your contacts by sending heartfelt cards like Girard did, or through phone calls, e-mails and newsletters. You lose 10 percent of your influence every month you do not have contact with our clients, but just a five-percent increase in customer loyalty could add 20 percent to 80 percent to your bottom line.

Form A Strategic Objective To Stay In Touch
One way to do this is to set up campaign postcards to go out once a month. Also, find or develop a system for remembering birthdays. In addition, you can think of something unique to your salon clientele or the tanning industry. For example, some real estate agents record closing dates and send anniversary cards, while some veterinarians record the birthdays of client’s pets and send birthday cards. I have found that a simple and sincere card can make a huge impression on someone, especially if they are having a bad day. Sometimes, I include a gift card or small gift with a thank-you card.

Understand & Use The Law Of Attraction
When you express appreciation, recognition or encouragement, you are focused on giving and abundance instead of scarcity. Every human being wants to feel acknowledged, loved and appreciated—and when you send love and thanks out into the world, you get it back tenfold. This is the Law of Attraction, where what you focus on expands. The opposite also is true, however, meaning that if you are focused on your lack of money, you will continue to have a lack of money. Instead, try to inspire yourself by visualizing what you want in your life—those good feelings will bring good things to your business.

Use The Rule Of 250 To Build A Referral Network
As a small-business owner and entrepreneur, you probably know at least 250 people. In fact, you may know many more than that. And each one of those 250 knows another 250, and so on. See where this is going? When you make a commitment to stay in touch with people you know—and remember they each have hundreds of contacts—you have the potential to reach thousands. Additionally, you can build your network by joining local and online business-networking groups. Referred customers usually are already sold on us through the testimonial of the person who referred you.

Ultimately, when you build strong networks and nurture meaningful relationships with the people you serve, you will garner unlimited referrals and be less affected by economic down cycles. Start making relationship marketing part of your business today and watch your business grow.

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There are many new ways to generate spa client leads today, but direct

mail remains one of the most powerful lead-generation tools. If you

are not using this for your Day Spa, Salon or Massage Practice…

you should start!

 

Lots of successful businesses within the Spa and Salon industries

are discovering that direct mail is essential for growth, since

newer spa marketing tactics, especially online via internet spa marketing… such as

SEO, social media blogs, and email marketing, often have limitations

because of the rapidly changing rules and technical issues

involved. And a steep learning curve!

 

While a mailer isn’t as sexy as a viral spa video emailed to one

another and it’s not a hot topic at industry conferences &

tradeshows, it’s the most reliable way to reach people at home or

at work. Its reach is wider and deeper than any other medium’s.

Plus, there are few restrictions on format and no message filtering

headaches that plague email marketing.

 

Isn’t direct mail expensive? It can be. But don’t think that you

have to create big, flashy mailers. In fact, when your goal is to

generate new client leads, simpler, cheaper formats often work

better. That’s because the purpose of a lead-generating mailer is

not to tell the whole story but to say just enough to get people to

ask for more information.

 

Here are five basic direct mail tools that you can use to generate

new client leads quickly and inexpensively.

 

1. Sales Letter

The letter is one of the simplest and most effective direct-mail

tools available. It won’t win any design awards, but if written

well it’s one of the few types of advertising that people will

actually read all the way through. And generate a response!

 

To generate new leads with a letter, you generally want to offer

something free, such as a brochure, sample, treatment,

consultation, or information kit. There’s no need to get fancy when

writing your letter. Keep it simple. Identify a problem, present

your solution, and offer to send your freebie. Doing so allows

interested prospects to identify themselves and gives you a “foot

in the door.”

 

The simplest letter mailing includes a one- or two-page letter and

a reply card in an envelope. You can enclose anything else you

like, but remember that your goal is to get people to ask for more

information, not to close the sale immediately. Less is more.

 

2. Postcard

Yes, simple postcards are a terrific way to generate leads. They’re

easy to print and as cheap as mail gets. If you’re a small

business, you can even print postcards through a variety of online

printers and apply stamps and address labels by hand.

 

To get the cheaper postcard rate, the minimum size of any postcard

you can send in the US mail is 3.5″ x 5″, and the maximum size is

4.25″ x 6″. You can certainly create larger postcards, and many day

spas & salons do. You simply have to pay more postage. Larger sizes

give you more room for your message and photos or graphics. Just be

sure to talk to your printer first to determine the most efficient

size for printing so you get the most for your money.

 

Postcards are particularly good for generating a quick phone call

or for driving people to your Website. Since cards are small and

offer little room for copy, your product or service should be

familiar and easy to understand. Your offer should be simple and

direct. People don’t read postcards as much as they glance at them.

 

Your phone number or Web address should be big and bold so people

can’t miss it. If you’re driving people to your facility, make sure

to give clear directions and a simple map if you have room. Telling

people what you want them to do and how to do it is the best way to

maximize response rate.

 

3. Flyer

You want simple and cheap? Print up a flyer on ordinary paper, fold

it, affix a mailing label and a stamp, and throw it in the mail.

This kind of guerrilla tactic is dirt cheap and can produce

fantastic results for day spas, salons and massage clinics alike.

It’s particularly good for small, local businesses (or businesses

that want to appear small). Unless you’re selling Mercedes sedans

or Rolex watches, no one expects you to do fancy mailings anyway.

In fact, in a pile of over-designed ad mail, a simple flyer from a

local business stands out. People are subjected to so many clever

ads, they develop “ad blindness.” To get people to notice you, just

mail them ugly flyers that don’t look like ordinary advertising.

Ugly gets opened!

 

When you’re mailing a flyer, you should fold it in thirds (called a

“roll fold”) and affix a tab to hold it closed so it can survive

the journey. You will put your main message on the inside with

teasers and your mailing information on the outside. And be sure to

design the flyer so that when you read the address, the folded side

is on the bottom and the tab is on the top. Most printers, even

small ones, should know this…

 

4. Invitation

When you see the word “invitation,” you probably think of small

cards with heavy paper and elegant printing asking you to a wedding

or formal dinner. But invitations can take almost any form. They’re

simply a way of presenting an offer that feels personal and

 

important to your prospective client.

You can certainly go the expensive route if you have an expensive

products or treatments. But you can invite people to an event with

any of the formats above: a letter, postcard, or flyer. Just start

the headline with the words “You are invited to…” then tell

people what the event is.

 

You can invite people to an open house, special sale, party for

your best clients, product demonstration, informational

presentation, or anything that requires getting people to a

particular location. The key is to make people feel that they are

special and not everyone is being invited. Once they get there,

your staff can go to work.

 

5. Special Delivery

FedEx, UPS and other quick delivery services are far more expensive

than regular mail, but this is a technique for a special “wish

list” of your best prospects. If you have 100 key people you want

as customers, spending the money to overnight a brochure or product

samples may well be worth the investment.

 

This mailer is guaranteed to get opened. Who can resist opening a

FedEx package? Inside, you should include a personal letter

explaining who you are and what you are offering. You might send a

sample with a note that says, “Here’s a small sample of our skin

care products. If you’d like to see the real thing, call me and

I’ll have a full size product shipped to you.” Or you could enclose

a disk with a video presentation or an info kit with detailed

information about how others have used your products and treatments

and now look 10 years younger!

 

Once again, don’t try to fancy it up. You are sending a message to

a highly select group of people, so it should look like you’ve done

it personally. This isn’t advertising; it’s a personal contact from

you to them.

 

No matter what direct mail tool you use to generate leads, remember

to follow up quickly once you get the lead. Hot leads cool off

quickly. Ideally, you should respond to people within a week, more

than this is tooo long.

 

Give your leads to the receptionist and make sure they understand

what was offered so they can follow up with a phone call.

 

Almost every day a new marketing technology or technique is

developed. But good-old-fashioned direct mail hasn’t lost any of

its power for generating leads.

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Lessons from the Field – Updating marketing and sales strategies mid year NOW is essential

I have learned in my career to consider the marketplace, the competition and the overall trends and cycles if I expect to be successful. In the past, this has usually meant creating an annual marketing plan and working that plan. Weekly and monthly action plans would lead to quarterly reviews and updates. The next year’s plan would take those updates and trends and as a team or a corporation, we would decide the next plan of strategies and tactics.
I must share that I read two interesting and disturbing articles within the past three weeks:

1. In late May, The Travel Industry Association ( the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $740 billion travel industry) released what they called a ‘First-of-Its-Kind Study Demonstrates Travelers Changing Behavior Due to Immense Frustration with Air Travel Process’. This survey  offered some alarming statistics about something we all know: ‘…… Deep Frustration Among Air Travelers ‘. The results of the survey documented that a staggering 41 million trips were avoided, with a negative $26.5 Billion hit to our industry.

The survey took opinions on a series of topics:

• Whether travelers believe the air travel system is either ‘broken’ or in need of ‘moderate correction.’

• Which direction the air travel system is headed

• The level of air travelers satisfaction with the air travel system,

• The sentiments of frequent air travelers (5+ trips per year)

• Who is responsible for the air travel process, – is it airlines ori issues the federal government can address

The frightening statistic is that of that $26.5 Billion dollars, $5.6 billion was allocated to hotels and $3.1 billion to restaurants. These lost trips would also have generated $4.2 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue.

2. The second article was almost a month later from Canada and a story found in The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters (6/25). This story offered that a ‘Reliance on business travelers this year could hurt hotels next year’. The lead off paragraph was that many U.S. hotels are depending on business travelers to fill the gap left by lower numbers of leisure travelers who are limited by the rapid price of gas hikes. The Globe and Mail inferred that a reliance on business travel could give companies a much stronger bargaining position in negotiating 2009 hotel contracts.

For those of us who have been in the industry for more than 15-20 years, the notion of occupancy and rate cycles is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the realization that the combination of gasoline prices affecting literally all products and services is going to hit the hospitality industry incredibly hard.

TIA hosted an emergency summit of travel leaders in June in Washington, DC to discuss next steps for moving this issue forward with policymakers and TIA has called on each of the major presidential candidates to commit to addressing this issue. This type of proactive leadership is healthy for the industry, but will it help individual hotels?

The title of this article is Updating marketing and sales strategies mid year NOW is essential. I offer the following observations:

• Increase the attention given to all revenue management strategies and tactics.

• Carefully evaluate all advertising. Be certain it is logical, measurable and targeted

• Consider increasing ways to improve your online presence – the return here can be outstanding – IF it is thought out, managed and monitored

• Consider ways to capitalize on the ‘green’ movement. Government and many companies are increasingly paying attention and there is not an automatic winner in this race yet

• Examine every marketing and sales strategy you have in place. I am a firm believer in ’staying the course’ if the course is correct, but the danger of global inflation, a weak US dollar, rising gas prices and the national presidential election all figure into what is a non-typical cycle.

Finally, for those of us who have been in the industry less than 10-15 years, think back to whatever industry you may have been involved with before and remember those cycles. If you are under 35 in age, look at the economic histories of other businesses and recall what they did well or poorly.

The hospitality industry has had a solid run of accomplishments these past ten years or so, but that was preceded by a very mixed 20 year cycle.

Look at what is going on in your hometown and figure out as many ways as possible to be an essential part of the community as a good corporate citizen. That commitment will help ride out some stormy valleys of lower demand and will endear you and your hotel to the community and help maintain your levels of success.

Service…
Giving what you don’t have to give.
Giving when you don’t need to give.
Giving because you want to give.
Damien Hess

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According to the International Medical Spa Association there are over 1,000 open medical spas in the U.S. Jeff Russell, CEO of MedSpa Financing says, “Competition is definitely setting in, and it’s not only direct competition from other medical spas, but indirect competition from businesses that offer the same services. You have salons that offer hair removal, day spas that offer dermal filler injections, and mall outlets that offer microdermabrasion.

If you are going to not only succeed, but thrive in this new environment, you are going to have to be better than your competition. Following these 5 tips will help you get that extra edge you’ll need to stay ahead of the pack.

1: Are you marketing to the right customer?
First and foremost, you need to look at your current customers and ensure your medspa is operating at capacity.

2: Get to know your neighbors
Do you know all the businesses surrounding yours? You may need to take another walk around the neighborhood, and see what new business building opportunities are available. As you are walking around, ask yourself these questions: Do they compliment my services? Can we help each other increase business by referring customers between us?

3: Network within your community
Many people associate networking with schmoozing. As a MedSpa owner, you need to always be networking. Where to network? There are many places from the local chamber of commerce, community groups, industry associations, or you can join a board or peer group.

4: Develop your communication skills
As a MedSpa owner, you interact with people everyday: staff, clients, suppliers, and the media. If there is one thing you need to master, it’s your communication skills. You need to be able to clearly articulate your key message consistently.

5: Recharge regularly
Quite often you are so focused on your customers, you forget about yourself. As a Medical Spa owner, you are going to find yourself absolutely drained. How are you going to grow the business? Should I advertise with this magazine? I just don’t have enough time. You need to achieve a balance between the MedSpa and your personal life.

“As you develop and grow your Medical Spa you are going to experience the same growing pains common to any new business, the key is identifying them and responding to them” says Russell. By following these 5 tips, you will see your revenues increase.

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Allure Spa will be distributed free to 200,000 spas and salons in September, with plans to publish annually.Seeking to capitalize on the growing popularity of spas, Condé Nast’s Allure is launching an annual spinoff for the pampered set. 
Positioned as the “ultimate insider guide” to luxury spas, Allure Spa will cover topics including spa beauty treatments, diets and the growth of the medi-spa, spas that provide medical treatments. As for advertising, the title has such categories as beauty, fashion, spas and personal care marketers in its sights. 
Allure Spa will be distributed free to 200,000 spas and salons in September, with plans to publish annually.“It’s clear that women want more information on the spa experience, which makes Allure Spa an exciting next step for our brand,” said Nancy Berger Cardone, publisher of Allure and Allure Spa 

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Valentine’s Day Marketing and Promotions

 

Spa Business / Spa Press Releases / Spa Marketing

 

Smile Be Happy

When the phone rings and the desk is busy, employees can feel stressed. Schedule a quick staff meeting to remind your employees of the importance of customer service and ensure that you are properly staffed to handle the volume. Perhaps use this time to institute an employee incentive program for employees who put their best smiles forward for your guests.  Remember to smile yourself and set the example.   

 

Update Your Website

 

Are all your Romance Packages or Valentine’s Day Packages up to date on your website and all January specials off?

 

Are you all set to Sell Valentine’s Day Spa Gift Cards or Online Spa Gift certificates?

 

 Use the Valentine’s Day Traffic to encourage your clients to sign up for services and provide them the Quality services in a friendly environment to keep coming back.

 

Optimize Your Brand name, POP (Point of Purchase) and have a few holiday related Merchandising items that can carry through.  Red Candles from Christmas can come back into the shelves for Valentine’s Day and pair it with skincare products. 

 

Industry experts indicate that companion merchandizing is a trend with staying power. Accessorize your product shelves with Valentine’s touches to get your guests in the mood to bring the spa experience home.

 

Offer Guest Incentives

Many of your spa visitors this month will be first-timers, and you want to encourage them to come back. Use this opportunity to up-sell multi-treatment packages for your new customers, and throw in a coupon to prompt them to bring a friend. Or provide a gift with purchase.  Offer them a 10% discount on services if they book their next service before they leave.

 

Consider expanding seasonal services.   Have you added a chocolate spa product to your skin care line? With benefits to the skin, mood and long-term health, spas are increasingly offering chocolate treatments for a year-round service.  If it makes sense to have it all year long do it. 

 

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SPA CLOSING

ALL SPA VURE LOCATIONS HAVE CLOSED.  NO INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE.  IF YOU HAVE SPA VURE GIFT CERTIFICATES< OUR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT YOU SHOULD CONTACT SPA VURE AT:  401-739-7681 Ext 106 or Accounting at 103

 

 

 

 

Spa Vuré owner spreads love to clients and staff  Vure Kpea, principal of Spa Vure, has four spas in Rhode Island.

She took the reins of her family business two months ago, pledging to make accountability her No. 1 priority. Being the boss at the age of 25 does not affect Vuré Kpea’s confidence or ability to lead a luxury medical spa company with four full-service locations in the state, she said.Since taking the helm of her family’s business, Spa Vuré, about two months ago, Kpea has made accountability her No. 1 one goal for the year, because in the spa industry every little detail matters.  For example, if Kpea, as a co-owner, tells an employee that she will make sure the front-desk receptionist tells customers there is a discount on facials one day, it is important that she follow through.  “I’ve found that it doesn’t work when people feel like they’re not being heard … that you don’t recognize what they are doing,” she said. “I’m really making a concerted effort to listen to what [employees] need … to keep everyone informed of what’s going on” in the management of the company.  When there’s no communication it leaves too much room for fear and doubt, she added.  Kpea started working at the company as front-desk concierge. She answered phones, escorted guests to their rooms and made tea for them when she was home from college one summer three years ago.   She started working full time for the company as its marketing and public relations director after graduating from college two years ago.  Kpea said her father, Nomate Kpea, opened the first spa five years ago because “he had this vision for beauty spas that he’s had for years. … He was pretty much just waiting for God’s direction to start them.”  Nomate Kpea has been practicing dermatology in the state for 20 years. He is also founder and owner Skin Medicine USA Inc., a dermatology and cosmetic surgery practice with five locations.  

Spa Vuré got its name about two years ago when Mr. Kpea decided to rename what had been called The Spa because Vuré means love, Vuré Kpea said.  “That’s a very, very powerful thing, to run a business or provide a service for people that is really rooted in love,” she said. “That is the intention [of the spa]. … We really try to provide services, provide an atmosphere that is not judgmental.”  And because of her father’s profession, another thing that sets Spa Vuré apart is the fact that it is a licensed medical spa, which means it carries products that have prescription-grade active ingredients.   The spa uses a lot of glycolics, which is a fruit acid that eats away at dead skin, for example, Kpea said.  But there is a difference between what can be purchased over the counter and what can be used or prescribed by a licensed professional. For instance, Kpea said, glycolic acid might comprise 0.003 percent of an over-the-counter product. “When you go to the spa and [use] something with 10-percent glycolic acid you see the results right away,” she said.  And at Spa Vuré, she added, “You also have licensed professionals who tell you … what you need to look at … show you what you need to do.”   

The biggest threat to her spas isn’t necessarily competing spas, Kpea noted. It has more to do with people’s mentality about skin care, because there are so many spa skin-care products on the market. People don’t see going to a spa as something they should invest in.    Changing that mentality is one of the most challenging aspects of being in the industry, she said.  “It’s just amazing to me the investment we put into things that are essentially dead,” she said. “People don’t realize with massages … you’re actually breaking up toxins in your body and you’re flushing them out. … Your stress is not going to group up in different places and you can actually process information better.”  And because the best way to relay the message is through the health-and-beauty providers, Kpea said she has to focus on making sure her employees are the best they can be.  That involves listening and responding to their needs, giving them a supportive environment and caring about their families, she said.  “It’s really their business,” she added. “We provide the facilities. We provide all the extras. But really, each person is responsible for the lives they change and touch.”   That connection with the employee is what makes a customer come back.  

Spa Vuré’s four locations – at the Providence Place mall, Narragansett, Johnston and the newest one in Newport – each offer massages, facials, body treatments, hair-and-nail care, cosmetics, waxing, laser hair removal and cosmetic medical services, such as Botox injections. The Narragansett spa is in the same building as one of the Skin Medicine USA offices. One of the benefits of being linked with Skin Medicine USA is that the spa company has a pool of medical professionals to pull from for the cosmetic medical services it offers. In addition, medical professionals at Skin Medicine often refer people to the spa and vice versa, when a spa employee notices a skin condition that needs care.  “We love the synergy between the two,” Kpea said.  As for the future, Kpea said her first goal is to make sure each spa is operating at capacity. She’d like to build a better pool of repeat customers, and then to open more spas in other states and possibly even internationally. The spa employs 54 people at four locations.   Kpea said she is not concerned about talk of recession.  “I’m definitely at an advantage to be a partial business owner, because I was raised in a house of entrepreneurs and I saw hard times … I didn’t see fear,” she said.  Her biggest concern is that all the recession talk will affect employees’ state of mind in a negative way.  “It’s my job to encourage everybody,” she said, and to explain that there will be people who still come to the spa. “My biggest challenge is to continue communicating.” 

 

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With 12,000 Americans turning 50 every day, many doctors are expanding their existing practices with the addition of a Medical Spa. Since there is no shortage of Baby Boomers who want to stop the aging process, this is an excellent time for physicians to explore the Medical Spa industry.

The International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine (IAPAM) has completed this tip guide designed to help physicians who want to either open a medical spa or add aesthetic medical procedures to their existing practice.

“Medical Spas are a natural progression of medical practice expansion, having a medical doctor run them gives them the credibility and public confidence needed for their success,” says Jeff Russell, executive-director of the IAPAM. Physicians need to find a way to utilize their skills to expand the scope of their practice. The growing demand for personal attention and service in medicine may provide opportunities for physicians who see the benefit of addressing these needs.

Medical Spas are a natural progression of medical practice expansion, having a medical doctor run them gives them the credibility and public confidence needed for their success

Don’t try and re-invent the wheel, learn from our experience, here are 6 tips that will help you successful add medical aesthetics to your practice.

1. Do It Because You Want To Do It

Adding a cash-based revenue center in the form of a Medical Spa should yield great returns. However, if you are not doing what you truly enjoy, it will show on your bottom-line. As you will probably be spending more time and money than you originally planned, you need to make sure opening a medical spa is what you really want to do.

Why are more and more physicians looking at adding these cash-based aesthetic medicine procedures by opening a medical spa? One reason is fees are much higher than those for reimbursable procedures.

2. Start with a Road Map

You should have a clear strategy of what services, procedures and products you will offer. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Opening a medical spa typically involves combining medical and aesthetic procedures along with complementary physician-directed skin care products.

One thing I strongly advocate is having a plan. You should have a business plan that outlines what you want to accomplish (goals), and a road map on how you are going to get there. You should have a spa marketing plan to clearly outline what you are going to do in order to get the best return on your investment (time).

A very important part of your business plan is to clearly understand what the top minimally invasive procedures are, and who is having them done. You should clearly know who your target demographic for the procedures.

3. Choose your Products, Equipments & Service Menu Carefully

Before you purchase any equipment, you should know which spa medical procedures you are going to perform in your practice. Hair removal, although popular, is very commoditized. You may want to focus on vascular and pigmented lesions, skin tightening, wrinkles and acne scars, and skin rejuvenation. It is also important that your equipment can be easily upgraded as new technologies become available, and not need to be replaced.

Don’t forget about ensuring each room has sufficient space to highlight the physician directed skin care line you will also carry. When choosing your skin care products, choose the ones that have active ingredients, you certainly don’t want to compete with a department store or the spa down the street.

4. Building your Dream Team

Since you will not want to be tied down to the day to day operations of the MedSpa, you may consider hiring a medical spa manager. This person needs to have exceptional customer service values, and be talented enough to choose and develop the right team to perform your medical aesthetics procedures.

The nice thing about offering medical aesthetic procedures is that in most States you do not have to do the actual procedures, you can hire an experienced aesthetician, RN, PA, or NP to do them. Allowing these trained extenders to generate revenue whether you are there or not.

5. Spa Marketing and Spa Promotion is Key

First of all you need to let all your current patients know about your new medical spa, but do not think this is enough! You will need to have a comprehensive spa marketing plan prior to your grand opening. You may want to offer free informational sessions on popular topics (i.e. wellness) or a special promotional treatment package.

6. Don’t forget about regulatory and insurance issues

Since you will be incorporating medical procedures in your practice you need to ensure you have the proper liability coverage for the procedures you will be performing. While you may already have malpractice insurance, it may not cross-over to the medical spa. Many insurers are now requiring offices adding or expanding cosmetic aesthetic procedures to their practice to document clinical and/or accredited training on all non-ablative modalities before a policy of coverage will be extended. Please consult your insurance provider and your legal advisor to ensure you are accurately covered.

The underlying theme here is – Be Prepared! The key to any spa business success, including opening a medical spa, is having clinical expertise and a team in place to operate the medical spa.

As you develop and grow the medical spa, you are going to experience the same growing pains common to any new business; the key is identifying them and responding to them.

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MedSpa, Medical Spa, Spa Advertising, Spa Business, Spa Marketing, Spa Opening, Spa Professionals