Finally, what nearly every salon owner has been waiting for: a sure-fire way to improve your spa service sales!
Since opening two years ago, SunTouched Tanning Salon and Spa has always offered massage therapy. Unfortunately, the many other massage businesses in North Ogden, UT overshadowed the salon’s efforts to provide this service to the community. Enter manager Ryan Abriel, who knew that putting the SunTouched massage therapy offerings front and center was the key to boosting business. Abriel’s “Spa Saturday” promotion not only called attention to the salon’s massage therapy services, it turned many of its tanners into believers and massage clients! Best of all, his promotional idea can be used by any tanning professional whose spa services are currently gathering dust in some room at the back of their salon!
With massage sessions moving a bit too slowly, Ryan gathered the massage therapists together and presented them with an idea. As he explained, “I told them I wanted to host an event called ‘Spa Saturday,’ when we gave everyone a free, 10-minute chair massage.” He thought this would be a great way to introduce the community to what SunTouched has to offer, and he advertised the event with flyers, signs and plenty of cross-marketing with area businesses. He also sent text messages and emails announcing the special to clients in the SunTouched database. “We wanted to make sure everyone heard about it,” he added, “and this was a great way to do it while still keeping our advertising costs down.”
Knowing this event would draw a crowd, Ryan prepared to make the most of this sales opportunity. He developed a special for everyone who got a free massage that day: $10 off a 60-minute table massage. What’s more, he pitched this to each client the moment their free massage was completed. “I felt like a used-car salesman,” Ryan commented, “but I wanted to catch them while their pleasurable massage experience was still fresh in their minds.”
Apparently, this high-pressure approach worked – the SunTouched staff booked 18 pre-paid massage appointments during the four-hour Spa Saturday special. They also gave each client a menu of SunTouched’s spa services, which helped sell five facial packages and a handful of massage EFT programs that offered one 60-minute massage each month for $40 per month. (A $15 savings off the single-session price.)
Ryan’s next step to spa service promotions could be considered a stroke of sales genius. He said, “I called one of the largest employers in our town and explained who I was, and what we had to offer. I found out who their insurance provider was, then I called the provider and found out their health plan covers a certain number of massage sessions each year.” After completing the insurance company’s application process, SunTouched became the massage therapy provider for each of the company’s covered employees. Ryan added, “Now, all those people have a place where they can receive massage therapy that’s just two miles down the road from where they work. Needless to say, none of this would ever have happened if we didn’t decide to promote our massage therapy!”
Quick Tips
Spa service success requires marketing and promotions. Here’s how you do it:
- Pick a service and offer it free for one day.
- Advertise the event on social media and with other low-cost/no-cost methods.
- Offer a deal on the spa service immediately after the free session.
- High-pressure sales can bring high-level results!
- Use the event to promote all your spa services.
- Take advantage of other creative opportunities to promote these services.
