If you wish to run a tight ship as a spa owner or manager, you’ll need a range of essential spa management skills. It won’t be an easy job – imagine having to do multiple tasks or be the one-in-all. However, these skills can change the way you run your spa. Here are the top seven spa management skills for business success:
1. Hands-on industry experience
To get an intrinsic understanding of the industry, it’s important to experience the most crucial role at a spa – that of a therapist. A real understanding of how things work comes only when you do the job yourself and get a few years of experience under your belt. Practical spa experience can provide the kind of insight that one may not get by sitting on the peripherals.
2. Industry knowledge
Not the same thing as hands-on experience, industry knowledge enables you to stay on top of trends. When you know what spas around the world are doing, what are the new treatments and services, which spas are doing what it takes to be cutting edge yet warm and approachable, and what are the new strategies that are working for your competitors, you will be able to define a clear goal and identity for your own brand. It’s essential that you have a keen interest in learning and looking out for what’s likely to be game-changing in the industry.
3. The ability to craft a business plan
Any entrepreneur must be able to envision what their business is going to look like in the future. And to put that broad business idea into a real, workable plan will need them to craft a solid business plan. A business plan must put a variety of things into perspective – funding needs, target audience, competitors, staff requirements, marketing, and so on. Instead of chasing an ambitious dream, putting your unique thoughts and ideas into a realistic business plan is the way to go.
4. People skills
A spa is all about people – working with them or for them and ensuring staff motivation as well as client satisfaction. Your adeptness at managing employees will ensure your staff has both an inspiring as well as a respectful environment to work in, encouraging them to put in their best. Your customer management skills will come into play when you offer them the right services at the right time, egging them to upgrade services, come back for more, and have a good word to say about you to their social circle. Without people skills, business success can be a tough ballgame.
5. Financially savvy
It’s a commercial business after all, and even if you’re a good employer and a great service provider, it’s important that you know how to manage money. A spa needs investments toward rent, equipment, inventory, human resources, insurance, and maintenance. A sense of where your money is going and whether you are doing enough to make profits is necessary for the good health of your business. Knowing your numbers is a must-have skill to running any business successfully.
6. Operational skills
As a spa owner or manager, you’ll need to be at different places at the same time, doing different tasks. While this may seem impossible, it is quite a reality. Taking control of stock, ensuring therapists have a full schedule, keeping track of staff KPIs and payments, making sure service rooms are cleaned frequently, reaching out to clients with the right therapies, and offering to delight them each time – these are just some of the roles you’ll have to step into every day. As overwhelming as these may get, it’s necessary that you have the operational skills to be on top of things consistently.
7. Marketing acumen
While you don’t have to be a professional marketer (there’s always help), only you know your spa business well and understand what works for you and your clients. Although you may not run marketing campaigns on your own, you will still need to guide the hired professionals by communicating the goals for your brand. You’ll always need to keep a finger on the pulse of the market and offer your insight on what promotional strategies suit best for your spa.
A spa management software will take care of most of these tasks. From managing the guest experience, tracking inventory, and automating payments to managing employees, running personalized marketing campaigns, and assisting you in running multiple locations – a spa management software takes the load off your shoulders and reduces your dependency on hired resources, putting you in the driver’s seat of your business, as it should be! It lets you ‘own’ your spa, without the little things of running the business taking up all your time.
