Step Four: Finding Your Location
Pitfall: Underestimating the synergy between your target market and your location
A Doctor’s office is considered a destination. It does not rely being in the hippest area of town. Patients will travel to see the their doctor. A Day Spa is different as its success relies on location. As a combination of the two, where do you go? A Market Feasibility and Competition Analysis is recommended prior to choosing a location. Many factors effect the selection of your location depending on your concept.
Demographics
Who is your patient? If you plan to offer expensive cosmetic treatments, you better make sure your surrounding towns can afford it. If you are an Alternative Healing Center with a spiritual flair, you probably don’t want a location down on Wall Street.
Street Frontage
If you are a cosmetically driven Spa, you need a great location. Other factors can now affect your success. If you have a high visibility, Storefront space, you can rely on walk-in traffic. In addition, your retail area will entice the passerby to come into your Spa.
Zoning
You will want to make sure that city/town zoning allows for a Medical Spa. This is a new business and many zoning boards do not understand what a Medical Spa is, so you may have difficulties even getting your zoning issues passed. Do this upfront. A good way around this is to collect zoning data from other existing Medical Spas.
Parking Availability
Patients may spend, hopefully, 3 to 5 hours in the Spa. A massage seems to lose its relaxation qualities if the client needs to step outside to put another quarter in the meter.
Step Five: Menu Creation and Product Selection
Pitfall: The Doctor Not Supporting Your Product and Services
The Doctor’s support of all Spa services and products is crucial to the Medical Spa’s success. The difficulty lies in creating a menu of service that does not compromise the Doctor’s integrity and yet is still a marketable product. Doctors often feel divided with regard to the benefits of certain Spa services. You have a couple options when creating your menu and choosing your product.
When selecting a skin care range for your spa, one choice may be purchasing an existing Spa skin care line. These products are designed specifically for use during Face and Body Treatments at a Spa or Medi-Spa. They come with step-by-step instructions on ‘how to’ perform the treatment, (which ensures that all staff are practicing the same standard service). They are sold in professional sizes, which means you buy larger economy sizes to be used in the rooms during the service. And, most of these lines have excellent marketing literature that helps your staff sell the product. Do your homework to find a range that has sound scientific background and is synergistic with your beliefs and concept.
If the Doctor is having trouble finding a Spa range of products, there are many pharmaceutical companies that are expanding their ranges to suit the Medical Spa. There are advantages and disadvantages with this approach. Working with a pharmaceutical range gives you flexibility when designing your menu, it allows you to create a menu specific to your vision which helps bring office and Spa together. However, this approach involves more work. Pharmaceutical companies do not impart technique (on which many Spa Managers and Aestheticians rely). You will have to design your own customized treatments, train the staff to perform these treatments, create your own private label/logo and sometimes purchase in larger quantities. If you are creatively inclined, choosing a pharmaceutical range allows you to develop a menu of service that is a perfect balance between clinical and luxury.
Step Six: Creating and Implementing your Business Infrastructure
Pitfall: Hiring a Manager and Staff, Then Immediately Opening The Doors
The main goal of a Medi-Spa is to create a caring environment. Your staff cannot focus on patient care or selling services and products when the operation is not a well-oiled machine. The merge of form and function begins at the foundation. The most important step of your entire project is having your business systems in place prior to your staff coming on board. It does not matter how beautiful the facility is, how nice your staff is, how clever your logo is or how strong your marketing plan is, if when the client enters the Spa, the operation is chaotic.
The systems and flow of your operation is what makes or breaks your business. On average, 75% of complaints in a Spa setting relate to what happens outside the Spa rooms, which includes your reception area, your taking appointments, your flow, your check out, etc. You are hiring a team of perhaps 15 people who need to come on board with policies and procedures in place. Without these systems in place, your staff will quickly take advantage of you, your Spa’s reputation will nose-dive and your business will not produce its potential income. If there is not a policy in place that indicates to the staff how many times they can be late to work, do not be surprised if they are late three times a week. Allot the correct time prior to opening to implement your Business Infrastructure. Hire your consultant and find an experienced Spa Director to put the following systems and processes in place before the staff comes on board.
• Develop an Operations Manual and Front Desk Manual
• Develop Service Technique and Product Knowledge Manuals
• Prepare Spa Menu and Medical Treatment Packages
• Flow - i.e. Check In, Pick-up Robe, Have Treatment, Check Out
• Policies, and Procedures – How many times is it acceptable for a staff member to be late?
• Input data into Computer Software - this system comes in the form of a blank template
• Set up system of integrating Medical and Spa patient records
• Create Job Descriptions, Daily Duties, Accountabilities, Hierarchy
• Set Spa revenue targets – Service and Retail
• Schedule pre-opening staff training in Sales, Customer Service, Products
• Create Staff work schedules
• Develop compensation packages, incentives and payroll
• Point of Sale Reporting - How do you close the register at the end of the workday?
• Establish inventory and purchasing strategies
• Offer front house collaterals: Menu, Gift Vouchers, Appointment Cards, etc.
• Have back of house collaterals – Sick Forms, Vacation Forms, Appraisal Forms
Back to...Steps 1-3