I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone in a class or seminar say, “You know, we don’t really have that many issues in our spa–we just have people problems.”
According to a terrific new study of 1350 spa guests from Coyle Hospitality Group, “people problems” are the predominant issue in every spa. Coyle, the leading mystery shopping firm in the hospitality industry, undertook a survey to determine the most common spoilers of spa experiences.
The summary notes that, “62% of the respondents mentioned ‘People’ as a significant contributor to the bad experience…Nearly two out of every three people that have a bad experience at a spa are talking about staff behavior. This is most interesting because most spa owners feel that the quality of their staff is their most significant competitive advantage.”
This is a bad news/good news situation. As the Coyle report points out, behavioral problems, unlike issues with your plumbing, are usually inexpensive to fix. However, unlike a one-time fix, correcting people problems–and keeping them corrected–requires focus, discipline, and follow-through. It sometimes requires a cultural shift. It sometimes requires more supervision. It always requires training.
Hearing what guests actually experience is an eye-opener. The top complaint in the Coyle study? Over 100 of the respondents indicated that the “staff was not listening, responsive about special needs, or accommodating,” and 100 more felt there was “too much conversation.” 64 guests experienced “unfriendly, impersonal, robotic staff.” Others noted that they were “ignored by staff during treatment; not checked on,” and a significant number encountered, amazingly enough, “offensive, demeaning” staff. (We took pains to include some of these issues in our customer service training DVD, including role play examples of the wrong and right way to handle various conversations.)
If like many spas you’ve been focusing on promotions to get new guests in the door, there’s encouraging news–and perhaps a cautionary tale–in one statistic. “Only a total of 35 out of 1,350 respondents spoke about value…the price paid is not at the heart of the problem” for most dissatisfied guests. This rogues’ gallery of poor communication skills, in short, has more to do with a lack of repeat business than economic conditions.
This is counterintuitive during a major recession, when discretionary spending has shriveled. The new generation of social-networking discount promotion sites, like Groupon, may seem tempting to a spa with lots of empty space on its books. But focusing on quantity over quality will quickly erode any perceived value that remains for your customers. Taking the high road–staying focused on delivering a stellar guest experience–is a healthier strategy for a spa that wants to be in business in 2011.
I’m a small business owner who voted for President Obama, with one big reservation: his support for the controversial “Employee Free Choice Act,” which fundamentally changes the process by which employees can be organized by a labor union.
According to the National Federation of Independent Business, under the new card-check system mandated by the Employee Free Choice Act, “a union gathers authorization cards signed by workers that express their desire to unionize. The unions would be able to collect these cards from your employees and independent contractors for as long as it takes to get 50 percent plus one,” says author Lena Anthony, who penned an article on the topic for the current issue of NFIB’s My Business magazine. (www.mybusinessmag.com)
Under current law, the “card check” system is a voluntary option for companies. However, the preferred method for most employers is a secret ballot, which is supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.
“The NFIB believes a secret ballot election administered and supervised by the NLRB is the only way to protect the integrity of a worker’s right to vote because it is a more accurate indicator than authorizing cards of whether employees actually wish to be recognized by a union. Each employee’s choice is made in the privacy of a voting booth, with neither employer or union knowing how the individual voted,” explains Anthony.
Enabling employees to vote privately on whether to unionize seems to be the best way to prevent manipulation and intimidation by either the employer or union organizers. The bill, named the “Employee Free Choice Act” (remember the “Clear Skies Act”? Sounds like the same folks named this one) there is an implication that employees currently don’t have a free choice. Hello? Secret ballot? Reminds me of how we elect…a President!
Call me an idealist, but my belief is that if all businesses were run well and run ethically, we wouldn’t have a demand for labor unions. Alas, we know that there are plenty of badly run businesses out there, and employees that are badly treated, and in a bad economy, things will likely get worse.
I think it’s a testimonial to the core values of the spa industry that there are few unionized operations. However, unions would take a dim view of my perspective because like all other institutions, they now exist, in part, to perpetuate themselves as institutions. They need and want more money, like institutions do.
Yet union coffers have been dwindling since the 1980′s. Perhaps the decline in labor union dues is a sign that the “price value” equation offered by unions has lost some of its appeal–after all, union representation is a service that employees pay for.
However, the conclusion that’s been drawn in Washington by politicians that rely on union support is that this decline is due to the fact that it’s too hard to organize. Hmmmm. I realize the President owes a debt of gratitude to organized labor for his victory, but I would like to finally see a President who pays more than lip service to the idea that this nation is sustained, built and ultimately healed by small business. And I’ve yet to meet a small business owner that thinks things run better after their company was unionized.
As hard as it is to make a go of it now, if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes reality, your path to profitability will be that much steeper. Don’t think you’re safe because you’re small; it’s actually easier to unionize small businesses. Under the card-check system, you won’t even know you’ve been organized until you receive the notification that your spa is, voila, a union shop, says NFIB Executive Vice President Dan Danner. “Then the clock starts ticking for you to agree on a contract. If you can’t agree on a contract within 120 working days, the Employee Free Choice Act mandates compulsory, binding arbitration on the employer and the employees as part of the collective bargaining process.”
If they’re forced into a collective bargaining situation, I know plenty of spa owners who will throw in the towel. We all know that there are easier ways to make a living than by employing people, even without having to navigate the delicate protocols of operating a union shop. Many an esthetician-turned-spa owner will likely just turn esthetician again, and slip off into the peace and quiet of a more profitable private practice. (And heaven forfend, we’ll have yet another batch of spa consultants flooding the market!)
Personal service businesses are old school, old economy, and often labors of love. When labor doesn’t love us back…beleagered small business owners will find other ways to express our entrepreneurial urges. And I guarantee you they will involve fewer, if any, employees.
Unfortunately, we small business owners are a squirmy bunch. We’re independent, we don’t play well with others and we’re politically all over the map. (Instead of lobbying, we’d rather do something productive–like generate two-thirds of the jobs in this nation.)
If our new government is serious about job creation, the first order of business is to ensure that it’s easier, not harder, for companies to succeed, and to keep employing the workers we currently have. I desperately hope that one of President Obama’s first “shovel ready projects” isn’t digging a grave for small business.
Please contact your US Senator, forward or excerpt this blog wantonly, and learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act.
