Every day we hear about more cases domestically and abroad about the spread of COVID-19 also known as Corona Virus. While this article will not go into what this virus is and what it can do health-wise as there are already enough commentary on these topics in the news, we will highlight some of the ways you can survive and thrive during this outbreak and beyond.
Whether your business has already been impacted or not, it’s important to review our suggestions and see how they can be applied to your business. Doing so will help you mitigate the negative effects COVID-19 can have on your business. You may even develop some good practices that will keep your business profitable and thrive to reach your maximum potential when the current outbreak is over.
Some of your clients may cancel appointments for fear that they might somehow catch this virus at your spa. These fears are real and cannot be discounted because people actually feel this way. In many cases, the fear may not be warranted. Your clients need to hear from you. If they are going to continue to see you, they need to feel safe and know that you understand the risks at hand, are trained in sanitation and disease prevention, and are doing something about mitigating them. Explain some of the things you do to keep them safe such as but not limited to: you disinfect all surfaces, product containers, testers, surfaces, faucets, door handles etc. before and after each client; you wear gloves and a mask during services; you space appointments as to avoid having several clients in your waiting/retail area; you personally avoid exposure/public places as much as possible outside of your spa. Please review our suggestions below and apply them to your spa. We are here to help.
Communicate with Your Clients
In any crisis and especially with the current one, COVID-19, communication with your clients becomes even more important to your business. This may be the difference between surviving this outbreak or not. Here are some tips.
- Don’t just rely on emails as many of your clients may not read emails regularly.
- Call them personally as clients tend to value the personal touch even more in times of uncertainty. Ask them if they have read your message about what you do to protect their health. Ask them if they have questions, and reassure them.
- Use text messages for shorter communication and follow ups
What to communicate
Let your clients know what steps you are taking to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19. Let them know that you understand the severity of the outbreak and their concerns. Many of your clients may not even know what you do to keep your spa clean and safe. Now is the time to let them know and make sure they know. This is very important as your success depends on it. This would include how you were cleaning before the outbreak and the extra cleaning during the outbreak after each client and what extra precautions you are taking with you and your staff. You need to get across that while the risks cannot be reduced to zero, you are doing everything possible to reduce the chance of transmission at your spa.
Focus more on retailing
If retailing has not been a big focus for your spa, now is the time to reconsider. It’s critical to find ways to sell products to your client base. Any shortfall in services revenue can be made up with retail sales. If your clients are not coming in for services as often, products can be shipped to them. Be flexible on different ways your clients can buy and receive products from you. Having inventory on hand is important as clients will want products quickly like they do when they come in for services and buy products when they leave. Offer to mail the products to them free of shipping and handling or allow them to pick up orders at your spa. You can pick up boxes at the post office to further reduce costs.
Discounting services to fill your schedule
Before you consider such an action, ask yourself this question. If you were afraid to get on a plane because you think it will put you at a much higher risk of getting the virus, would you get on the flight now if the ticket prices were 30% or 40% cheaper. For most people the answer is no. So the solution is not to discount your services but to address and mitigate the real fear your clients may have. If they feel safe and trust that you have taken the necessary precautions, they will come to your spa at your regular prices. This is not to say you don’t discount at all. Just make sure you discount for the right reasons. Discounting will not overcome fear.
Like many outbreaks before, this too will pass. Hopefully the above suggestions will make a meaningful impact on your business and the well-being of your clients.
We appreciate our partnership with you, care about your success and wellbeing, and commit to ship your orders even if the virus situation gets worse. We are taking measures to continue to do business as usual while keeping our team safe and healthy.
