Creating a 'Selling Culture'
If you’re a small business owner, it’s likely you wear a lot of hats: overseeing staff, managing budgets, strategizing social media campaigns. But in addition to all these duties, do you find you’re also the only one recommending services, rebooking clients and selling products? Do sales drop when you aren't present?
Inevitably, small business owners are avid multi-taskers. But being the only sales person in your spa operation means juggling one task too many! Creating a “Selling Culture”— taking a proactive approach to increasing sales by distributing the revenue responsibility across your team—frees you up to focus on the bigger picture. With that in mind, here is an easy to follow roadmap designed to help you establish a ‘Selling Culture’ within your spa business that will ultimately boost both morale and profits.
1. Set Attainable Goals with Profitability in Mind
As a spa owner, you always have to keep your eye on the bottom line, hoping to see it improve every year. Since this is a business known for its seasonality and fluctuating sales, the smartest approach is to review your sales month-over-month from the prior year. Take a detailed look at your product and service sales from 12 months before, and then set your new monthly target based on those figures. Aiming for 20% higher sales is a reasonable goal.
2. Distribute Revenue Responsibility
Again, begin by looking at your total sales¾both products and services¾for a particular month from the year before (i.e., September 2015 to project for September 2016). Break the figures down by department; then, increase each department’s amount by 20% to create your new service and product sales targets. Now, count the number of total shifts for each department for the current month; divide the total sales figure for each department by the number of shifts in that department. That figure is each staff member’s individual service sales target per shift.
Sound confusing? Here is an example:
January 2015
Aesthetician Service Sales $50,000 / Aesthetician Product Sales $6,000
$50,000 + 20% = $60,000: New Service Sales Target
$6,000 + 20% = $7,200: New Product Sales Target
Six Aestheticians working 100 shifts per month
$60,000 divided by 100 Shifts = $600 service target per shift
$7200 divided by 100 Shifts = $72 service target per shift.
If Jenny the Aesthetician works four shifts per week, her weekly sales targets are:
Weekly Service Sales Target - $2400($600 X 4)
Weekly Product Sales Targets - $288($72 X 4)
Repeat this for each department and each individual staff member.
Important to note: If your product sales are not broken down by department, you can also distribute the responsibility by percentage. I usually rely on my Aesthetics Staff to sell 65% of the retail products, Front Desk to sell 25%, and Massage Therapists to sell 10%. However, you can break this down in whatever way best suits your business.
3. Create Daily and Weekly Staff Targets
Monthly sales targets for staffers tend to be too lengthy; with that kind of far-off goal, staff members can lose motivation and focus. To remedy the issue, we recommend setting staff ‘weekly’ sales targets. The dollar number is smaller and more attainable¾and it gives your staff the feeling of a ‘fresh start’ week to week.
4. Make It Fun
Once you have determined each staffer’s daily and weekly sales targets, another smart tactic is to create a weekly competition. Competitions can be straightforward, with simple rules such as the ‘Highest Product Sales to Service Percentage’ wins. Or, you can get innovative and create a team competition. For example, form two teams of staff members with an equal amount of Aestheticians, Massage Therapists and Front Desk personnel. Now choose 15 products from your retail boutique: the team who sells all 15 products first wins. One tip: The most successful ‘Selling Cultures’ are those that are always changing their competitions. That will help keep things fresh and exciting,
5. Set Incentives
If you want your staff to sell, they need to be incentivized¾and that’s where a prize comes in. Prizes can be anything from a product in your retail boutique to a service from your spa. If you really want to build the excitement, barter your services and products with local businesses¾perhaps a blow dry bar or a frozen yogurt store in your area¾and use these perks as prizes. Some spas have been known to use their American Express Reward Points to get $10 gift cards from iTunes, Starbucks and Amazon. Again, the most successful ‘Selling Cultures’ are always coming up with new prizes so momentum and passion stay strong.
6. Keep Staff Motivated
Begin your workweek an upbeat email to your staff that sets the competition and states the prize. Each morning, lead a five-minute huddle to review each staffer’s goal for the day. Midweek, send another team email with an update on how much each staff member has sold and how much they have to go to reach their target. And lastly, send a team email out at the end of each week congratulating the winner. Most importantly, start the process all over again the next week.
Creating a ‘Selling Culture’ is much like any system you introduce and implement into your business: you have to be consistent. At the onset, your staff might be resistant to your new methodology. But once they realize this system is here to stay, they will ultimately comply. And when they see a noticeable bump in their paychecks, it’s likely they’ll be on board with more energy and enthusiasm than ever before!