While crossing the Atlantic after attending the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (see p88), I reflected on points made by the speakers. Retail expert Paul Price shared some great information on how to improve the sales experience. He spoke about in-spa marketing, digital marketing, emotional selling, appealing to peoples’ dreams and more. He had great things to say but – yes here is the but – as an industry we’re terrible at selling products!

We only have a sliver of the self-wellness product market share. Why? Because spa teams don’t like to sell. Why are we so bad at retailing? It’s due to the lack of systems and training and, importantly, it’s also due to the lack of consequences when targets are not met.

Of course performance expectations must be set first. To improve performance, leaders need to outline obligations in detail and set targets for both treatment and retail volume per guest. Then they need to measure them daily and reward and recognise when it’s worthy.

But what happens when targets are not met? Typically when a team member doesn’t recommend retail, there are no established expectations and consequences in place – and this is the biggest mistake I see spa owners make. Every day guests come and go, leaving empty handed. This habit is costing spas major revenue. This is the only industry I know where a team can perform only half of their responsibilities (treatment without retail) and keep their job.

Spas need to address the ‘what if’. What if staff don’t reach retail targets month after month? What are you willing to do? You can train and coach them, but if they still don’t do it, what will you do? How much money are you willing to lose because your team doesn’t view retail as one of their responsibilities?

Contact Dori Soukup
Twitter: @inSPArationMgmt
Email: [email protected]

I’ve been in the spa and salon business for nine years, but my passion for holistic wellness was born in India in 2010. I spent a few weeks at a nature cure resort consuming healthy food, exercising and having massages. It was a life-changing experience as I got rid of my obesity, diabetic and high blood pressure problems.

My understanding of wellness matured. I realised that it’s about preventing sickness and that wellness should be embraced by every nation and delivered to everyone as a basic human right.

I’ve just returned from the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS) and I was happy to hear about the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) – the organisation that’s been set up to drive wellness tourism and the spa industry forward (see p94). It’s a great starting point, but more must be done to get the message out to the masses.

I come from a background of working with global corporations such as Unilever and have witnessed first hand how changes can happen if a clear strategy and action plan is put in place. I successfully lobbied at G8 level to fight against counterfeit products and fruitful results came from aligning interests. The GWI needs to do the same – lobby at UN and G20 levels – and fast. I have offered my assistance as it’s my true vision to take wellness and the awareness of it global.

I admire the GSWS team for creating an international community which has wellness as a common interest. Although I do think they lack true global representation, as there’s not much participation from the African nations or the GCC region either at the summit or on the board. This does leave me with doubts. But at the same time, I’m also hopeful that the GWI will be the light at the end of the tunnel.

Contact Talal Bin Ali
Twitter: @TalalMBinali
Email: [email protected]

Global representation is a top priority for the Global Spa & Wellness Summit and is core to its DNA, as evidenced by the 400 people from 45 countries that attended our recent conference in Morocco. As part of our new identity – the Global Wellness Institute™ – we expect even more opportunity to diversify our board as well as future executive functions and committees.

Additionally, we’re exploring strategic alliances and partnerships with organisations such as the World Travel & Tourism Council, the UNWTO and the World Economic Forum, as well as several multi-national corporations that are eager to both get involved in the work that we do, as well as to access the research and information for which our organisation is now known. We’re grateful for the interest and generous support of forward-thinking companies like Enaya Care and are committed to expanding our global reach and public sector initiatives as we build our resources and necessary infrastructure.