How to start a Day Spa Business
Day Spa business is prosperous and can be very profitable for gifted professionals who are very good at making people feel like a million bucks. Day spas provide various on-invasive beauty services; many of these services help attract new clients and make the existing ones keep returning.
You can start competing by offering the most soothing and therapeutic experience in an immaculate facility. However, you would need the help of a skilled team full of people with likable personalities.
How to start a Day Spa Business in six Easy Steps
- Decide which services you’ll be offering.
Spas provide a wide range of treatments like facials, hair care, manicures, pedicures, waxing, aromatherapy, acupuncture, seaweed wraps, face, and full-body massages.
To decide which services you’ll be providing, you will need to identify your area of specialty, find out who your competitors are, the services they provide, and the possible gaps in the market.
To learn more about advanced techniques that can give your company a competitive advantage, visit the American Spa Magazine online or the International Spa Association.
- Raise Capital for your business
You’ll probably need more than $100,000 to start your spa business. The money would be used to pay for training, rent, payroll, equipment, advertising, supplies, furniture, and licenses, insurance, and permits, so you’ll need somewhat substantial start-up capital.
Creating a business strategy when you know every necessary information would significantly increase your chances of getting funds. As a new day spa business just starting, you might be unable to get bank loans.
Nevertheless, try getting U.S. Loans from a Small Business Administration, personal loan, or an investor. You can use the sample spa business plan you find online to help you create a strategy that would outline all your expenditures, future revenues, and potential barriers.
- Obtain approved license and training
From massage therapists, to estheticians, to make-up artists, to stylists, you will require a state-approved licensing and training in your area of expertise. Consult the local Cosmetology Board for details on licensing requirements, the range of services covered by each license, and the accredited schools in your area.
You should think and conclude if getting the services of professionals from different fields would be financially preferable than getting the training yourself. This is possible if you make up your mind to concentrate on the business aspect of your day spa. Small Business Administration is a great platform to learn fundamental business management skills.
- Get all the necessary Permits.
Immediately you have decided a name for your business, you might also want to set up a limited liability company, or LLC, and register it with your Secretary of State. LLCs have definite tax benefits that can be negotiated with a professional accountant.
Many of such permits will include sales tax, a federal tax ID, and an Occupancy Certificate. You will also need a liability insurance policy that secures your business against debt, theft, damage, and fire.
This also includes insurance for commercial vehicles and employee compensation. The employee’s compensation isn’t necessary if your employees are self-insured contractors renting space in your Day Spa.
- Find a suitable location for your Spa business.
The location of your Spa is essential. The more accessible you are, the lower your advertising costs. This is because you don’t have to spend a lot of money advertising, primarily when your Day Spa is situated in an open environment. This can make your Day Spa very visible for customers.
Preferably, you can also check out affluent areas with a lot of foot traffic. Make sure that you have ample room for all the services you offer, like a spa and bath area, chairs, waxing, tables, manicure and pedicure stations, shelf for goods to be purchased, a lunchroom, a waiting room, a reception room, a storage room and a room where you have quick access to supplies.
Once you’ve narrowed down your selection, you can discuss with an agent or someone who has previously rented commercial space to understand your rental agreement fully.
- Employ Staff
Hire a diverse team of trained professionals for every area of service you intend to offer. Your employees should often visit trade shows or industry websites to remain updated about new trends, services, or products.
Employ experts who have existing devoted customers, people that suit and align with the vision of your day spa business. Before you hire your employees, make sure they have been licensed to operate.
Read also: Implications of Hiring a Staff in Small Business
5 Things You Should Know Before Opening Your Day Spa
Every new business comes with its challenges, notwithstanding Day spas brings a whole new level of complexity to the table. Attaining success is easier when you set realistic goals. If you are just starting this business recently, you will probably start to be proficient at handling multiple tasks simultaneously.
While making your business plans, from making financial predictions to purchasing equipment, drafting a menu, and employing workers, you must have assumed running your business would be the natural part. You never know that you were only setting the stage for the main show. This is the show that will come to play every day you open the doors to your business;
- Financial Matters – Money is the main reason why many of the newly started Day Spa businesses fail.
Day spas are currently trending in the news, making them very popular. As a result of this, clients are having higher expectations, especially when it comes to the facility. If you want to create a Day Spa business that would last and not just fall apart a few months after you started it, you will require sufficient funding.
Furthermore, you’ll need to consider many workflow and ergonomic issues to create a facility that will support the standard of business you intend to start. If you hire professional architects and designers, you can expect to spend at least $200 per square foot to build, furnish, and equip your day spa.
Even if the place was initially used for a similar business or you have a relative or friend who can do it for you, It doesn’t matter because it’s hardly ever done for any lesser amount.
Moreover, another financial constraint is having enough cash left after funding your business for the first six to nine months. You will be funding your business from your pocket until there is a constant flow of income, and the business is now capable of supporting itself.
Make sure you don’t forget to add this vital element when calculating the funds you’ll need.
- Leadership Realities
Beauty therapists and technicians are known to be a unique set of engaging people. They enjoy their work, put their all into every task, and always want to give their clients the best. And this routine can last for eight or nine hours everyday day.
When the day is over, and their vessel is empty, your staff relies on you as their leader to fill them back up. You should shower your employees with enough care and praise as they need it even more than an average office worker. If you know you’re not the caring type, ensure you employ a manager to do so as this is an essential factor.
- Physical Wear and Tear Due to Unforeseen situations
Clients spend more time in a day spa than they usually spend in an average mall store. Guests can spend a lot of time in your facility for 3-4 hours, but it all depends on your service mix .
In a bustling facility like a day spa, you should be ready and prepared for any accident. We recommend that you have a handyman nearby, in case of an unexpected need that arises.
- Keys to Client Retention
Many clients would respond to your advertisement and would love to visit the latest Day Spa in town. However, getting these clients to come another time and keep returning is the only thing that can make your day spa stay successful for a long time.
Regardless of the advantage that an excellent looking facility has in attracting customers, more is required to keep them loyal.
Here are various means of earning their loyalty
- Hiring a staff who meets their needs
- Offer efficient treatments
- A delightful ambiance
- Your genuine participation in the community you serve
Do all these, and you’ll earn loyal customers.
Read Also: How to turn your customers into marketers
- Bring Your Passion Into Your Business
Months of discussing with contractors and licensing authorities, employing and training your workers, developing your marketing strategy e.t.c all these tasks require lots of efforts and time. Anybody can easily get worn out by trying to do all of them.
Notwithstanding, when the day has ended, your initial vision and passion for what you want to achieve is what drives you and keeps you moving forward. Ensure you clearly understand what that vision is, communicate it to your staff, remind them of it during staff meetings, and share it with your clients. By doing this, everyone around you will achieve this goal as they now share the same vision with you. This would give you the group effort you need to succeed.
Ten steps to a successful Spa Business
- Identify your target audience.
At first, many new business owners usually refer to everyone as their target audience. For instance, if you are a licensed massage therapist, you could decide that you will massage everybody that comes into your Day Spa.
Sometimes that might actually work, and things might be going smoothly; nevertheless, you need to sift through things and ask yourself a few crucial questions. Doing this can pay off.
Questions like;
- What kind of massages do I want to give, and what kind of people will need this service?
Although your Day Spa business is indeed open to everyone, nonetheless only specific kinds of people are more likely to be your regular customers. These sets of people are who you should consider as your target audience.
By identifying your target audience, you have provided the basis for creating your messaging, story, imaging, and marketing outreach strategy. Recognizing who your target audience is right from the beginning makes choosing the spa marketing tactics that your audience would respond to a lot easier.
Hitting your business goals is a critical factor in success; it’s ensuring that the income you get after all the investment you made rewards you significantly in terms of the sales and profits you make. Thus, it is better you identify your target audience rather than assuming who they’ll be. By doing this, you’re getting a step closer to your goal and increasing your chances of succeeding.
- Make friends with your competition.
Don’t see your competitors as your enemy because they aren’t. These rival businesses can offer you useful information. What’s their positioning here? What kind of copy are they using in their brochures and ads? — Services are they offering? Creating a marketing strategy for your company involves scrutinizing and knowing the critical qualities of rival brands.
By checking out their website and approaching them as though you are a potential client, you would understand the pattern of your competitors. This information can help you make your business unique and exceptional. Put in all you’ve learned into creating your marketing strategy for your Day Spa.
When you’ve identified your competitors, during your promotional campaign, you would be able to say something that makes you stand out while advertising your services. When you don’t end up doing what everyone else is doing, you can be sure that your customers will look for you based on their benefits and values. You might have thought about reducing the price for the services you render, but this technique would prove to be more lucrative.
- Claim your online listings
With free online listing platforms like yelp, yellow pages, craigslist, Classified Ads, etc. You could potentially rake in tons of businesses through these platforms, and it saves you advertising money. However, don’t be too tempted to remain here as there are other advanced marketing strategies like Facebook Ads you could employ.
- Know where your tribe lives
After identifying your target audience, you will also want to determine the media platforms that they spend the most time so that you can spend the budget on advertising your Spa in that area.
Another question is, where do you head to to get information about your audience? Assuming your target audience happens to be ladies under the age of 30 who are planning to get married soon or are probably engaged already, you certainly wouldn’t want to waste your time and advertising budget on a conventional print or TV commercial.
To get the best results, a Facebook ad would be a better option. You should also think about funding an event at a wedding expo in your city, where you’re most likely to find people who would be very much interested in the service you’re offering. You should also find out what other online platforms they are available on? If you aren’t sure, you can verify it with your clients.
For example, if you notice your target audiences are on Pinterest, you should post on bride-related boards rather than spa-related Pinterest boards. By doing this, you’ll get more potential clients. Additionally, if you want to go overboard and dig deeper, you can ask them for a survey. Try finding out what your clients are usually engaged in. What they watch, read, or listen to? Where do they visit digitally? Now, how can your day Spa appear in all of them?
- Ask for a media kit before buying advertising
Before, when you launch an advertisement about your company on any social media site, even Facebook. Ensure to request a media kit and a rate card from your sales representative.
A reliable organization always prepares a media kit that includes the target audience — their age brackets and the economic status of the people they reach.
Make sure the media channel is hitting your target audience; if it doesn’t, then you should rethink before you waste your time and money.
- Get the most out of your current real estate.
Take full advantage of all the space you can get in your Day Spa for advertising since it might only cost you little, or it might not even cost you anything. Another way to avoid spending much is by using the back of your business card? This is a small form of billboard for your Day Spa. This is where you can make a deal, promote a loyalty program, or include a happy client review.
We advise you to make use of every opportunity you have to advertise your Day Spa by doing this. You’re making it more accessible.If you have a physical store, you can use the front for advertising the services you offer on a billboard stylishly. You can also use it for advertising your rewards, your website, and the benefits of your service. By doing this, you wouldn’t have to pay extra money.
You can also customize T-shirts or cap for your employees, which reveals your day spa’s name or a sticker ad for your car. It’s also the right place to advertise your Spa. You can always use the counter of your Spa too.
Furthermore, you can organize a monthly competition, where the winner would be rewarded with a free aromatherapy session paired with reflexology.
- Use your WIFM (what’s in it for me?) language.
When you describe your business in paper form, digitally or in person, you generally think more about features. You can say, “I’m a qualified massage therapist.” Who is skilled in massage therapy: a calming muscle technique that can invigorate and re-energize you? When you use WIFM marketing language and photos, you will make your customers desire what you have to offer.
- Don’t compete with the price.
In the spa industry, the most significant opportunities are bundled packages like “Purchase four massage sessions and have the fifth one free.” As soon as you start blending services, you can forget about trying to compete with your competitor’s price by making yours lower and start offering value-added benefits that make you stand out from your competition. This is the basis of marketing your Spa.
- Concentrate more on keeping your existing clients
You may never know that you have clients that are invaluable to you. You might be getting them every one or two months. Thus, you might be tempted to neglect them (your steady source of income) and start concentrating on acquiring new customers. Nevertheless, you will need to expand your current customer base to use more of your services. If you don’t, then it’s an invitation for your competition to snatch it.
Beware, you might be tempted to neglect your existing customers in a bid to attract new ones. For instance, if you have frequent clients who come in for reflexology, allow them to try skincare, cupping, a hand massage, or acupressure. Strive to encourage your most loyal customers to become even better customers. So that they will spread the word about your Day Spa to their friends and also online, thereby boosting your spa marketing efforts.
Writing an engaging blog post can be a very effective way to keep your clients engaged. If you’re writing a blog for your Day Spa Business, your most fantastic posts are your golden geese. Make sure you keep these posts current and figure out ways of using them for spa advertising purposes. For instance, you can tell them, “If you like this post, we suggest you check out this other post on a similar topic?
- Price promotions to make profits
Before running a special promotion, like offering a body wrap combination reflexology treatment for $75, analyze if there are any chances of you making profits or loss on each customer.
For instance, you could assume that you’ve concluded to lose $25 per customer on this promotion because when clients visit, you’ll have to upsell them a bundled service. If you are giving any deal, make a cost-benefit analysis before concluding. It will help you know if it’s worth it. Also, don’t offer a promotion without doing a cost analysis, or you’re going to set yourself up to lose money.
In conclusion, remember that you’re in this business to make profits, so if your current marketing campaign isn’t successful. Try to find out why and how to make amends. This shows your dedication to the business. Don’t forget brand marketing is about being unique and exceptional. However, it is also about making profits.