Don't Just Fill Slots: Ensure Every Team Member Propels Your Business Forward

If you're managing a membership-based business like a Med Spa, Yoga Studio, Hot and Cold Therapy Wellness center, or any other business in the health, beauty, and relaxation industry that sells monthly memberships you understand the critical role your front desk and sales teams play in your success. However, there are several common hiring mistakes that can significantly undermine your business efforts. Here are the TOP FIVE hiring mistakes to avoid and why each one could be detrimental to your operations:

Mistake #1: Overvaluing Open Availability - It’s all too easy to prioritize candidates who offer open availability, especially when you're exhausted from covering undesirable shifts. Unfortunately, experience has shown that these candidates often commit to open hours only to secure the job, then begin to backpedal on their availability a few weeks in, complaining about working nights or weekends. These ended up being a scheduling nightmares for me and ate up much of my emotional and mental energy because no matter when I scheduled them, they were never happy. And unhappy employees ultimately don’t make for good salesmen or team players! And since you’re in the membership-selling business, this type of employee probably won’t work out for helping you reach your membership goals!

Mistake #2: Age-Based Assumptions - In the digital era, it might seem logical to hire younger, presumably more tech-savvy employees. However, excluding more seasoned applicants based on their age may cost you valuable interpersonal skills that are vital for customer engagement and retention. Older employees often bring a level of professionalism and life experience that translates into superior customer service and the ability to handle complex interactions. And because of their life experience - due to living more years - they usually can relate to and have a lot in common with prospects and members, so conversation comes easy to them. They might need a bit more time mastering your scheduling software, but they compensate for this with their ability to forge stronger customer connections, which is invaluable for membership retention and sales.

I was one of those who was a slow-learner when it came to mastering our Spa software, and I was so grateful that my manager recognized the value I would bring to the team because of my "people-skills" and hired me anyway, knowing she'd have to do some extra hand-holding with me. But I ended up being her highest performing Sales Associate and eventually ended up being promoted - all because of her foresightedness!

Mistake #3: Hiring The Over-Sharer or the Long-Winded Talker - It can be challenging to navigate an interview where a candidate turns every question into an opportunity to divulge excessive personal information, like relationship issues, and various challenges they are currently experiencing. While it's important to foster a compassionate work environment, over-sharing in professional settings can be a red flag for boundary issues that might later manifest in the workplace. You need team members who can keep personal and professional lives separate and focus fully on engaging and serving your customers. EVERYONE has problems they are dealing with outside of work, but generally a front desk staff member who is too focused on their personal issues - and needs to constantly talk about them - can detract from the customer experience and reduce overall workplace productivity.

A similar personality type is the one who talks way too much and goes into way too much detail. These are the people that irritate customers due to talking more than they listen. In my experience, the long-winded talker would talk prospects out of a sale because they "over-explained" all the details of the membership as soon as they got their first No, rather than paying attention to what the customer needed and matching the "pitch" to their needs. And when it came to personal responsibility, there was the inevitable long explanations of why they did this or that instead of taking ownership, usually before I had the chance to fully explain the situation to them. Theses types will sap you of all your emotional and physical energy, leaving you with less to give to your other employees.

Mistake #4: The Bad-Mouther - Candidates who criticize their previous employers during an interview often carry a negative attitude that can infect your workplace. Sometimes what an applicant went through at a previous job is valid and may even be based on truth, but bringing up negative things when they first meet you doesn't usually bode well for future interactions with coworkers, prospects, and members, because this behavior hints at a lack of professionalism that may end up causing conflict within the team. A positive and respectful work environment is crucial for maintaining good team morale and ensuring your business remains a welcoming place for both employees and customers. Your goal should be to find someone who demonstrates respect and positivity and is likely to contribute to a healthy, productive workplace culture.

This doesn't mean that an employee should never talk about previous job experiences where they've experienced negative behavior. Just about all of us have worked at less-than-stellar jobs where we endured bad behavior by co-workers or those in authority. But the job interview is not the time and place to air grievances. The job interview is their opportunity to show you what positive things they bring to the table as far as customer service that will lead to closing sales! Later - if they're hired - and have showed you what great things they're capable of and what good things they've accomplished for your company, there will be more appropriate times to talk about unfavorable things they endured while trying to do good work for a previous employer.

Mistake #5: Hiring those that are TOO quiet and/or shy - While you don't want to automatically dismiss a candidate because they're soft-spoken or shy, remember that working the front desk - where membership sales is a HUGE PART of the job description - is quite different from being a receptionist for another business, such as a doctor's office. So while a quiet or shy person will be able to handle taking phone calls, interacting with customers effectively, and your scheduling software, are they ultimately the right fit for closing sales? Maybe, maybe not. That's something for you to decide. You may feel they bring qualities that will help them to be effective at selling. But in my experience, while this personality type had lots of favorable qualities, they always struggled and ended up being my lowest performers. This didn't make them a bad employee! But for fulfilling a vital part of their job duties, their personalities just didn't mesh with trying to find ways to a bit more aggressive in securing the membership.

Why These Hiring Blunders Matter: Each employee you hire acts as a direct representative of your brand. They create the first and last impression your members have of your business, making their role pivotal in achieving sales and fostering member loyalty. Poor hiring decisions can lead to significant sales losses - and even damage your business’s reputation - potentially driving customers to seek services elsewhere. And who wants to constantly be appeasing members due to undesirable behavior from the front desk??

Your front desk is also the most crucial part of your whole team as far as bringing the sale home after all the good that was accomplished with your products and services!? If their head isn’t in the game, then lots of sales will be walking out the door, maybe never to return again due to not having the greatest experience with your "front line".

In addition to the above, hiring and firing is an expensive venture. It eats away at payroll and can be frustrating to team members who are constantly helping new employees learn the ropes and for your service providers who are constantly trying to understand and work with the personalities of new employees, since these are most likely working in tandem with the front desk to close membership sales.

All around, if you're going through the hiring process every four weeks to three months, it's a taxing affair - financially, emotionally, and mentally! Your goal should be to have a consistent front desk/sales team for at least 6 months, only upsetting the applecart due to hiring MORE employees, because your business is expanding, and you require additional front desk employees to manage the increasing workload of scheduling appointments for new members and closing sales with new prospects.

And I'm sure we can all agree that there are exceptions to every circumstance and sometimes certain personality-types have turned out to surprise you - as they did for me too - and end up being top-performing sales associates. But if you're tired of the seemingly never-ending cycle of hiring and firing, you may need to ignore the fact that you’re tired of working and nights and weekends on your days-off, and concentrate on taking the time to, not just fill positions, but find applicants who will be a great fit for your team and who will stick around for awhile! As was the case when I was hiring, the applications are usually coming to your inbox nonstop. So there's generally plenty of resumes to choose from to find that proverbial "needle in a haystack" if you take the time to be more selective and not rush the process.

Have you encountered these issues? If you’re striving to boost your team's performance and increase sales, consider my Membership Sales Mastery sales coaching program. Together, we can enhance your team’s ability to close more sales through enhanced customer service and accountability.