12 flights behind me, 10 still to go… and 49 days until Christmas

Happy Friday my darling,

I need to say something out loud, and I need you to be kind about it.

I am SO over flying.

In the last month, I’ve been on more than twelve flights. And over the next four weeks? Another ten.

Ten. I’ve counted. Twice.

I can now do airport security with my eyes closed. I know exactly which bag goes in which tray. I’ve started to feel like the crew should be giving me a staff discount.

And because I can’t skip a single one of those ten flights (believe me, I’ve looked at the options), I’ve done the only thing a tired person can do. I’ve started planning every leg properly. Where I’ll sit, what I’ll pack, what I’ll do with the waiting, and what I’ll have ready before I land.

Somewhere around flight number ten, I stopped being cranky and started noticing something.

Every stage of that journey is designed to sell me something, at the exact moment I’m most likely to say yes. The seat selection when I check in. The priority boarding at the gate. The lounge when the delay is announced. The tons of delicious restaurants when I’m hungry. The shop I have to walk through to reach my gate.

Not one of them feels like a hard sell. They all feel like help.

None of that is an accident. Someone sat down and planned it long before I ever arrived.

And that’s what I want you to hear this week, because your calendar is doing exactly what my flight schedule is doing. It is not moving.

From today, it is 49 days until Christmas Day. Seven Fridays, including this one. Black Friday is on 27 November, just three weeks away.

I can’t add a single day to your calendar, just like I can’t take a single flight off mine. What I can tell you is that how much effort you put in over these next seven weeks will show up in your revenue. Not in theory. In your actual numbers, in January.

Last year at this time, I asked 48 of you two questions: do you want to double your festive revenue, and are you willing to put in a little extra energy to make it happen? Every single one said yes.

The difference between yes and done is what you do over the next seven weeks, including on the days when you’re tired too.

In Session 5 of the Marketing Masterclass, we ended on a rule that fits this perfectly: a number, not a wish. “Get more bookings” isn’t a goal. A specific rand figure, your starting numbers written down and every single enquiry tracked, is. (The scorecard that goes with it belongs to the people who were in the room, but the rule is yours to keep.)

So here is where I would start. Four festive moves that don’t involve a single discount:

1. Give a bonus, not a discount.

South African shoppers are tired of discounts. Bizcommunity ran a piece around this time last year on exactly that “discount fatigue”, and what shoppers want instead is value and trust. So instead of “R1,000 voucher for R800”, try this: “Buy a R1,000 voucher and your gift recipient also receives a R150 mini treatment, valid from January.” It costs you less than a discount of the same value, and it fills your quietest month with people who are often brand new to your spa. Launch it on Black Friday and you give shoppers a reason to choose you over yet another discount. (Use your own numbers, of course.)

2. Book January before they leave in December.

Every client who walks out in December leaves with their January or February appointment already in your diary. Not “call us in the new year.” A simple line at the till: “Let’s get your January reset booked now, while I still have your usual time.” You’ve just protected the quietest month of the year, and turned a festive visit into a regular client.

3. Wake the sleeping list.

Pull every client you haven’t seen in the last three to six months. Don’t send an email blast. Send a personal WhatsApp from the therapist who looked after them: “Hi Nadia, it’s Thandi from (spa name). I was thinking of you, and I’ve kept a December slot aside. Shall I hold it for you?” Ten of those a day for two weeks is well over a hundred personal conversations, something no social media post can give you. And track every single reply (that Session 5 rule again).

4. Sell the “I’ve just landed” treatment.

December is when everyone is on the move: family flying in, holidaymakers coming home, hotel guests arriving straight from an airport. If I could book one treatment right now, it would be one that takes a travel-weary body apart and puts it back together. Create a 60-minute “Land & Restore” for legs, back, scalp and face, and put it in front of the people about to travel and the people who’ve just arrived. If you run a hotel spa, this one is made for you: the guest who checked in at noon after a long journey is the most spa-ready person on your property. Put the offer in the welcome note.

None of these four needs a big budget. They need someone to decide, this week, that they’re doing them, and to keep going on the days when the diary is full, the team is tired and coasting looks very tempting.

Seven weeks of coasting gives you an ordinary December. Seven weeks of planned, daily effort gives you a very different one.

So here’s my question for you this week:

If I asked you right now for your number, the rand figure you want to bring in between now and Christmas Eve, could you tell me? And which one of these four moves are you starting before Monday?

Go and write your number down. Tonight. 

Have a wonderful week.

Lots of love,

Marisa

P.S. These four moves are only half of a good festive season. The other half is what happens when a client picks up a gift set and asks, “Is this any good?” The therapists in our Retail Masterclass have been working on exactly that: how to recommend the right product to the right client without ever feeling pushy. More on that soon.

P.P.S. Think back to the last time a client bought a gift set from you at Christmas. Did your therapist recommend it, or did the client just pick it up off the shelf? If it’s the shelf doing the work, what happens to those sales in January, when the Christmas tree is gone? And what if retail could be 50% of your total turnover? Most owners will assume that’s impossible. It isn’t.