Spa Letters
Steve Capellini, LMT
Author's note: The Spa Letters column features news, personality
profiles, trends and plenty of professional possibilities for LMTs in
the spa industry. The style is epistolary, meaning the articles are letters
to a fictional massage therapist friend of the author.
Dear Lou,
So, the roller coaster ride isn't over yet, just because your new day
spa is open, right? In fact, a new ride has just begun. The ups and downs
of the long planning stages are over, and you find yourself behind the
wheel of a new enterprise with all the unforeseeable problems and challenges
that are sure to arise. You're encountering one of those problems right
now, in the very first month of operation. Though it's not a pretty one,
it's all too typical.
After months of training and coaching, trusting and coddling, and friendship
and teamwork, your lead esthetician, Marie, has shown her gratitude by
not showing up for work one morning - quitting without giving notice.
Isn't it amazing what goes through the minds of some people? What could
she have been thinking to justify such an unfair move? Now, she's taking
her newfound knowledge with her to a spa that is going to open across
town in a few months - a new business, no doubt, inspired by the splash
your Spa House made. The competition is going to be fierce, especially
with the "insider's" knowledge that Marie will take to the other spa.
"Life is not fair!" You think, and perhaps you're right. But, as we say
in the spa industry, Lou, it's no use crying over spilled milk and honey-
exfoliating paste. There are a few proactive steps you can take at this
interesting juncture.
Job Security - In Reverse
Usually when people talk about job security they mean the employee,
not the employer. As a spa owner and employer, you are looking for the
same kind of security from your employees as they're looking for from
you. How can you trust them when you give them your best and they still
abandon ship - like Marie? How can you know they'll be there for you in
your time of need? Is there really any such thing as job security in the
spa industry?
Spa employees know that their security is somewhat tenuous at times.
There are a couple of spas that are unionized but, by and large, the majority
is not, and employees have little recourse in instances of dismissal.
Perhaps that is part of the reason why so many of them are ready to leave
even a good job at the first sign of something better on the horizon.
How can you get employees to be loyal?
There are some techniques that work well for some spa owners, such as
offering money for continuing education, contingent upon the employee
staying in the position for a certain amount of time; increasing pay scales
over time often work; and giving people responsibility and a clear path
toward career advancement helps, too. However (and this may be just my
own overly nihilistic opinion), in the end, employees are out for themselves;
they will do what they will do. It is better to go into your role as boss
realizing this. It may be a mistake to put too much stock in your friendship
with your employees. Doing so will often lead to disaster (emotional,
as well as business-wise).
This is not to say you shouldn't be friendly with your staff - that is
desirable. Remember though, that part of the relationship, no matter how
friendly it gets, is also based on economics. Employees need you for the
money you give them. You need them for the money they bring through the
clientele. Friendships that exist within that dynamic are sometimes fragile
things. That said, now what do you do? You're short an esthetician. In
fact, you're short your only esthetician. You've spent months training
her and thousands of dollars on the products she was going to use. Ahhhggg!
Of course, you've got to begin the search for a new esthetician. You
might offer some of those incentives I mentioned earlier to your new recruit.
Tell her you're going to increase her pay over time, and offer money for
continuing education after a year of service. Tell her she'll make a higher
commission rate as a "senior employee." And treat her like a professional
first, a friend second.
In the meantime, before you find this person, you can take some immediate
steps that will help you fill the gaps in your appointment book and make
sure that you'll never ever again have to explain your complete lack of
facial services to clients.
Face Treatment Options
You have a secret weapon on your staff when it comes to facial services.
I'm talking about your massage therapists. You haven't been thinking about
them offering esthetic-type treatments, but as I told you before, there
is no reason to confine their scope-of-practice to the body alone. The
face, in fact, is a part of the body, right? There are many face-specific
services that massage therapists can perform to the satisfaction of your
guests, the great support to your bottom line, and all without greatly
angering the folks at the cosmetology board.
For example, I teach an Ayurvedic face massage treatment to students
in my spa workshops, and they love it. The treatment consists of an application
of herbs that are left to dry and then exfoliated off with the fingers.
A hot towel is applied, and then herbal floral water followed by a pressure-point
massage with essential oils from India. The treatment is finished up with
a short massage using an emollient cream. It takes just half an hour,
and it does not include extractions, diagnoses, or any of the specialties
of our esthetician colleagues; however, clients report a healthy glow
to their skin afterwards, induced, no doubt, by the balancing herbs and
oils, plus increased circulation from the massage.
Clients also report feeling relaxed and cared for in that particular
way that facials can make you feel. An esthetic treatment is different
than a massage treatment. They both have their advantages, and these hybrid
"face massage" treatments sometimes offer the best of both worlds. The
Ayurvedic treatment can be emulated with a wide range of other products
and techniques. Some of the more popular these days are Balinese, Indonesian
and Thai. Getting your entire massage staff trained on these modalities
is a great way to offer guests something different and assure that you
won't be left without a facial service to offer if something like this
ever happens again.
Of course, it's always a good idea to be aware of the laws in your state
regarding face treatments. You definitely do not want to break any of
them; in a few states, it is actually quite difficult to do even simple
treatments, like the one I described above, if there is any chance it
might impinge on cosmetologists' practice. Just be careful and do the
right thing. I'm sure once your business starts to really rock, you'll
have more than one esthetician on staff, and perhaps this problem will
never arise again, but it's always good to be prepared, right? And don't
forget about the new retail possibilities you'll be creating by adding
these spa face massage treatments to your menu!
Well, Lou, I hope your second month in business is a little less traumatic
than your first, and that you and your partner, Barbara, get the operation
running smoothly after these initial hiccups. Always know that in the
spa business there are usually more surprises than certainties. This makes
for some great rewards, as well as challenges. I know you're up to them
all!
Talk to you soon,
Steve Capellini, LMT
Miami, Florida
www.royaltreatment.com
|
