“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” ~ Coco Chanel
Getting your spa's design right the first time not only saves you money in the long run but also allows you to enhance clients' experiences.
In this increasingly competitive industry and tight economy where clients are both sophisticated and courtesy of such discount providers as Groupon and Living Social have an increasingly wide range of choices as to where to spend their dollars, it is no longer enough to just provide exceptional signature treatments and superior customer service. We must leave clients with unforgettable memories that make them come back; and ideally memories unique to your business at that.
In most areas, when one looks around its obvious that many of the spa businesses that seemed to sprout up overnight on every corner during the height of the recent economic boom are now gone and that the fewer businesses that have managed to hold on have done so by seriously streamlining operations, negotiating lower/better terms with venders and leasing companies, and really tightening their belts over the last couple of years.
But without doing more than simply "holding on" these same spa businesses most likely will find themselves having to resort to more aggressive price competition to survive unless they figure out ways to add value rather than deep discount and develop a unique and defensible brand position in their marketplace. Simply competing on price is a slippery slope and in most cases it is a path to an inevitable death by a thousand cuts!
Clients pay a premium when your brand, products, services and name is distinguishable from the competition and captures and amplifies, in a fully integrated way, your unique philosophy.
For example, a breathtaking design is one of the necessities for a spa's survival, growth, and reputation. The ultimate end result of a masterful design is its ability to strategically plan a defensible brand experience from the very beginning. So if you don't have such a defensible brand experience get one fast before your increasingly competitive counterparts do so.
When embarking on the path of spa ownership or even the renovation, expansion, or repositioning of your existing spa business, you'll should therefore consider the real benefits of involving an experienced team of consultants—a team whose makeup can enhance and increase your spa'schances at success.
These consultants should be able not only to bring creative talent to the table but also to understand your priorities, anticipate your needs, and maximize your budget's impact and design uniquely. And they shouldn't lose focus that whatever is developed must support your bottom line and business plan, provide you with a competitive advantage and added real value as well as increase your return on the investment dollars spent. Your spa should be designed to have at least 60 to 70 percent of its square-footage actively generating revenue. And the planning for the treatment rooms and other areas needs to anticipate and accommodate changing trends.
So, today more than ever before, in striving to balance aesthetics and profitability in one's spa business, it really isn't so much a question of onlyselecting the right materials as much as it is also about selecting the right team of experts to help bring it all together the right way.