3 Ways to Create Better Cash Flow Now!

Hearing about the slowing economy and uncertainty is nothing new for all of us in recent days. Turning on the news it is inevitable for this topic to be in the first five minutes of the broadcast. We all need to be mindful of how we run our business no matter what type of economy we are experiencing. There are smart business practices that are universal no matter if times are good or otherwise. Have a clear message about how your business follows CDC and WHO information and best practices. Highlight your safety, efficacy and training standards. It should not take the media to remind and shake us up regarding what we need to do to grow and prosper within our businesses. What you know has brought you to where you are now. It perhaps is what you don’t know that will take your business to a new level, one that can thrive even in a slowdown. Here are 3 Ways to Make More Money Now!

The ‘slowing economy’ is affecting the productivity and profitability of businesses everywhere. With clients watching their pocketbooks closely, it is imperative for owners to do the same. This is the time to aggressive in your marketing and detailed in your education and client service experiences. Invest in retail, networking, and sales dialogue training. These are the tools that can empower and alter your bottom line. It is not the time to switching out entire product lines or spending additional resources on un-traceable advertising.  

Now is a good time to take a good hard look at your business structure and systems to ensure that every opportunity is being maximized. It is time to get back to the basics by connecting and networking with new clients and business associates. It may have to be by phone right now and plan a meeting a few weeks down the road. Dedicate effort towards effective networking and you will set your business up properly to remain profitable thru this economically lean time. How many members of your team belong to a productive networking group such as BNI or LeTip and go on a regular basis? People who belong to at least one group make on average 20% more than their counterparts who don’t.

The services you offer your clients are a part of their wellness experience. Get them thinking services not only help them look and feel better, they help them to reduce stress and be able to give more to their work and the important people within their lives. On average, during a downturn in the economy, the first things to be excluded from an individual’s budget are “perceived” luxury services and products such as massages and aesthetic services. We want most clients to consider our services a necessity, not a luxury. However, one must agree that clients are pushing appointments out further than normal, attempting to maximize their dollar. Instead of visiting every four to five weeks, we are seeing clients returning six to eight weeks, which translates to one less visit per year per client. When we do the math, this can add up to a considerable drop in profitability at the end of the year, not only for the overall business but also to the practitioners and technicians. You can counteract this with the right type of training.

Everyone is affected by the economic slowdown, so it is everyone’s responsibility to come up with solutions. Do not fall into the trap of your staff chanting “You need to do more.” The truth is everyone needs to do more. Everyone needs to market more. Everyone needs to network more. It needs to be a collaborative effort working towards common goal of procuring more business for everyone. There is NO magic bus of clients that will drive into your parking lot for services.

Suggestive Selling - Train Staff on Selling Techniques

Suggestive selling is one aspect of merchandising that is often overlooked, yet it can make a tremendous difference in the total retail sales of a medical day spa. It is a proven statistic that close to 40% of clients will say yes when asked by a staff member if they wish to upgrade in size or quantity. There is a fine line to being perceived as pushy or merely suggestive, though. A good way to assist your staff with suggestive selling is through the creation of simple scripts. Choose two to three products that you wish to feature. Write out key features and unique selling points of each of the products and ask the staff to get comfortable with the language you have chosen. If you find this step challenging, your product representative is a great resource to turn to for help with descriptions and sales techniques for the featured products. Then require staff members to be sure that each client receives at least one mention per visit. When clients are scheduling their next appointment, and paying for their service, this is a wonderful opportunity for your staff to suggest gift cards and your packages. The “every client gets one mention” is a great way to boost sales of gift cards. Offer prospects $25 in retail products for every $300 they spend with you? Don’t discount services in your packages as it takes away profits. Use retail which has no labor cost as the incentive.

Ask your product representative for all press releases and endorsements the product line has. Suggestive selling may also be accomplished simply by featuring a ‘product of the month’ in a high visible area. This technique is great for seasonal specials and time-sensitive products. Cross-merchandising is imperative for your staff members to learn and master. It is a technique that is used with tremendous success by top medical day spas. It is simply the art of matching products together that complement each other. Try using merchandise from different parts of the med/spa, with the intent to introduce clients to ancillary services as well as products. Displays using this tactic present a wonderful opportunity to introduce clients to other services the spa offers than what they usually visit for. Just like it’s counterpart cross-marketing, cross-merchandising creates opportunities to increase sales while creating loyalty to your medical/day spa. It is highly effective and is the suggestive selling technique that can offer a significant reward to your business when applied consistently. 

Series - Sell Everything Possible in a Bundle!

Identifying services sold in packages such as luxury facials, body treatments, medical grade peels, and massage services is a great way stock up the dollars in the business coffers. Selling a series has a client come in with frequency to maintain the service and are more likely to be loyal to a service provider or business because of the consistent service and results. You have collected the money up front, so they are committed to your business. In addition, they will tend to spend more on products and other services in subsequent visits as they are not paying for the service after the first time. Do not discount series as it takes away all service profits. Instead use retail as the incentive for a series purchase. It keeps the client loyal, maintaining their service results and again has no labor cost associated with it. Example purchase a series package for $1,000 and receive a retail gift package worth $100 at the time of purchase.

VIP Programs

The Med/Spa can create valuable benefits to reward your most loyal guests and thank them for their patronage, support and trust.

Med/Spa VIP program cost for annual membership:

• $500 for an individual (saving)
• or $50 per month

The Med/Spa VIP program provides them with additional opportunities to make their experiences at your Med/Spa more valuable. View example opportunities for saving below.

10% off retail purchases

Full Privilege points on product purchases when you spend $300 on product enjoy a $15 product credit in the retail store

Insider savings on new services

Med/Spa gifts for special occasions

15% retail bonus with series purchases all year (VIP use only)

Complimentary Delivery of Gift Cards and Gift Boxes

15% retail bonus dollars on gift card purchases during the months of Jan., Apr., Jul. and Oct.

? Membership can be paid up front or automatically deducted from their account each month.

The Med/Spa VIP program provides savings based on anticipated use. Memberships will expire 1 year after the date of purchase. There are no refunds, credits, or cash given for "unused memberships."

The VIP program renews annually upon each client’s enrollment date.

You will need to create signage and information about your program to create awareness among your team and client base.

Signage can involve large posters throughout the business, station and treatment room signage, POP displays, and flyers for the retail bags when purchases are made. A banner across your website promoting the program is a good idea!

Other marketing tools to promote the program are business newsletters and e-mail marketing to your data base.

Additionally, you can offer your team member incentives for each VIP membership they sell. For the Front desk, you can offer an override to the team based on total sales.

Compensation – Technicians are paid commissions after the VIP savings is taken off their service. This is a tool to help them grow their business long term.

The point of this tale is simple. It is not only the owner’s responsibility to drive new business through the door by spending more dollars on advertising. It is a collective effort of every member of the team, especially during economically tough times. Act NOW to protect everyone from a smaller paycheck at the end of year. Ensure the downturn the country is facing does not affect your business negatively. Be proactive. Get creative with marketing programs, team coaching programs, special events…and have some fun while doing so.

Example Script

Dear Valued Clients,

At this time our office is open, and we are taking all recommended precautions. We have been diligent with sanitizing and disinfecting. We are striving to keep you, all our patients, as well as our staff safe so that we can continue excellent care. If you have been exposed to someone or you yourself are experiencing a fever, cough, or other respiratory symptoms, or have traveled outside the US within the last 14 days, we are asking you to please reschedule your appointment. We will be happy to assist you with any further questions or concerns.

Please see this CDC fact sheet below for more information about COVID-19. We will keep updated with any changes.

Thank you and stay healthy!

Sincerely,